It´s a great pleasure for us to introduce this blog new section of " The artist of the month" , this first time with the amzing "Toriy" , hope you enjoy the interview :

(Read it in french HERE)

Who are you? And where are you from ? (Name, age, where you live ... a quick overview)

I'm (a bit) known as Toriy. I am 34 years old and I am Capricorn (I believe this is the most important information to remember). I spent most of my life in the South of France, where I currently live, near Marseille.

What is your educational background and / or professional?

After studying Fine Ars at the University - It was just a few month ago and a very rewarding experience, but I couldn't find my place - I changed logically to ..... Law studies . After a Master 2 (fifth year of university studies) I was graduared of the second cycle in the Faculty of Aix-en-Provence Law - University Also called "Paul Cézanne" ... a sign right ?.
Fresh from university, I did some short courses in legal and business firm, before finally choosing to trade. After few years I became bored and desire tickled me to do something with my hands. I must say that I have always drawn, as far as I can remember. Yet I have set aside this passion throughout my studies and it is therefore only recently that I returned to my first love.
As one of my college profs "The Law leads to everything"





How did you discover the alteration? Do you play Magic? Since when ?

I discovered the Magic by sheer chance: I got my hands on a lot of bargain-hunting Magic cards randomly from a flea market - There are some treasures!. I did not know at the time what it was and therefore naturally ... I bought them. I was therefore surprised to see the enthusiasm aroused by this game and also very appreciative to the creativity of the artists were showing "altereurs". I then learned to play and made some parts but not finding many Magic fans around me, I never had many opportunities to improve myself - I am not very good also and must say very poor loser. So you'll understand that I'm not a big player. So I stayed informed, and sometimes I play on computer to keep in mind - it is only an opinion, but I find essential, as an artist, to be impregnated with the universe in which we want change.
It was then when I began to paint. I learned to paint at the same time I was doing alterations, so the beginning was a bit difficult. A few weeks later, things improving, so I decided to persevere. It will soon be 3 years ago now.


I know you're from Ores,and you're already known on the internationnal level, do you alter mainly by orders ?

Yes I do , most of my alterations are by order . However I avoid to take too much. That gives me time to paint what I want. There are so many opportunities of  creations, I sometimes do not know where to turn: I start  a new card before you finishing the previous and the result : I still have a dozen aside  waiting to be completed.




What was your first altered card? 

The first really not worth mentioning; it is a basic land card - a plain, I believe. It wasn't really  great,
and I will be ashamed  to publish ^^  I still keep it  and I think to post it a day. I think it could encourage beginners to persevere because it is so far from what I'm doing now. By the way, now that I look back, my first reaction was, once it's finished :
"It's not well done ...".
Otherwise, the first card that was not a oand ,I think it was a "resounding Wave" with Pikachu riding the wave of Hokusai - What I used for my previous avatar on Facebook,nobody cares! its my fétiche card!!!!  I'll have to redo ít one day :)








Do you have an anecdote to tell us about an alteration?

There would be even many! The latest: A Thraximundar where Hello Kitty appeared and required
 me a full half-day's work well, it ended in the trash !! I want to say that some of my works sometimes disappear, but most of time I found them in books ... - Yes I admit it, I sometimes use them as bookmark!


Have you ever had to do your own creations? if yes which one ?

Concerning  paintings, no, I've never published anything but alterations. This is not envy missing but I have not yet had the opportunity to do it. In fact, it has happened to me to paint something else, but I am rarely satisfied with what I paint, it ends up in the trash - but there it is voluntary.

Concerning material , which brands do you use?  ... ( if you use Golden Fluid Acrylic ,personally I´d hate you  :P lol I've just  one desire and it's to be able to buy them !! ^^)

Yeah it's the Golden Fluid Acrylic! ;P that I order from Great Britain (Almost impossible to find in France). I'm not saying it's the best but it is verypractical, and economic! - If you use alterations. This painting is however not essential - The most important thing is the quality of the painting used.
I started out with acrylic lower quality - Range Liquitex Basics; Amsterdam Standard Series or Acrylic Louvres. But these paintings are quite poor in pigments  thus the colors are less vivid. In addition, the cards must remain fairly refined once painted, and as this kind of paint needs to be much diluted, this further contributes to tarnish the color. My advice: use only paintings rich in pigments - No need for a palette of 36 colors. I personally use an average of 5 color + black and white for almost all of my changes.

So to return to the matted : which brushes? (sizes brand, type of hair brush)

Here again I don't think that the  brand is essential because the brushes are very small and consequently they'll be used very quickly. There is no need to invest in a super beast brush hairs grain-fed.
To make a card, I used to use synthetic brushes - Kaerell Nº2 and Nº4 at Raphael . Almost all my paintings are made with these two brushes - More Another large one for large surfaces from any brand.An ordinary brand brush can also make it  - I I use them sometimes when I'm over brushes. Avoinding cheap brushes! Not even to troubleshoot! NEVER!!
Who talks about  brushes,talks  also about cleaning! Regularly clean your brushes with a convenient soap,it's indispensable for work precision.

How do you proceed?

I published a tutorial on the site (http://www.alteredmtg.blogspot.fr/2015/02/card-alterting-tutorial-by-toriy-netoriy.html) and I do not see much more to add. However it's true that it's in English. So for French people, I will remindr the procedure I use to make an alteration. The technique used depends on the subject, I will be based  on the most common practice: to reproduce a work by an imposed model :

1. Creation of a model.
I always start with creating a model with an image processing software - Usually Photoshop. This allows me to have an idea of ​​the final result and make adjustments to be as specific as possible (modification of some elements of the image / Square them so that they fit the size of card). Then I print it to transfer it on the card.
All this can take from a few minutes to several hours depending on the case.

2. Transfer of the image on the card
The card to paint,have to be most often prepared with a layer of gray (preferably Clair) on the portion to be painted (Note: I used the technique of erasing the card in some cases very specific *). I then transfers the design onto the card (classical technique carbon copy, with a pencil). Finally, I finalize the penciled outline using extra fine black felt (005 Pigma Micron or Faber Castell 0.1 - While waiting for the complete drying of the paint before passing the felt,if not it can be damaged).

3. Painting
Once the felt´s dry, I apply the paint. A first rough layer and dilution. Even for a simple implementation or one that contains few colors, I spend a very large number of diluted layers of paint (watercolor technique). This gives a better result - more bright colors and gradients well blended. Be careful though! With a poor paint pigments this technique is very delicate to use because there is a big risk of damaging the card - Due to the low amount of pigments,you should add more diluted layers, so more water. Result: The card may be deformed.

* It can sometimes happen that instead of painting a layer of gray, I erase a portion of the card. In this case I use a razor blade to trim the card and a scalpel to finish - The knife is for orders, I do not give myself much trouble to my own creations ;P. I use this technique only if I have to paint with little opaque colors, such as yellow. Thus, the white background of the card allows to make any brightness of this color - Otherwise, it would add more layers of white make up for any more .. and the result would not be as good!



Have you ever participated in tournaments? if yes, which ones ? If not why ?

No never! - see above


You've already met other artists? who?

If you mean the "alterors" , I have not.


Which would be the card that you dream of altering?

The next!


Finally your top 10 global artists? 

It´s quiet difficult to establish a list because the artists skills are highly variable - in my opinion. Some are very good on certain topics or certain techniques, but much less comfortable in others. So I'm not really sure I can make a list.However, I won´tt have much risk to place in the top 3 Klug only for the extreme care he takes in finishing his alterations.

You can follow Toriy on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/netoriy?fref=ts

Interview by Morgege