Header Photo by Nick Wolf

Hello and welcome to the first edition of Spotlight: Community Art!

In this series, we'll be shining a spotlight on community artists who are inspired by Magic: The Gathering to create visual art of all sorts, from alters to custom prints, fan art to 3D crafts. If it's hand-crafted and related to Magic, we're into it!

Last month, members of the Space Cow Media herd gathered for their annual work retreat, and one lucky bovine — Tom, of Warp WorldWarp World fame (iykyk) and the company's Chief Operating Officer — won a one-of-a-kind, hand-painted Quiver, created as a raffle prize.

We sat down with the community artist behind it, Katie Strobel, to talk about a career that bounces between serious and silly, the D00-DL Off at MagicCon, and of course, custom Quivers.

Artist Katie Strobel (photo provided)

Tell us about your art career. How did you first get into the industry? How many years have you been creating art?

My art career has been a puddle jump between being a serious artist and being a funny one. In art I have different levels of seriousness and a variation of style that gives me a lot of room to play in. My undergraduate work centered around using water-based paints, which tend to be very unforgiving, and my personal work, which was derived from fantasy settings and aesthetics. My love for Magic allowed me a place to marry these visual languages.

So when it comes to Magic: The Gathering and my desire to do a bit of everything, I allow myself to follow my whims and to agonize less over how things are meant to be. With these dueling identities I started to make card alters, MTG fanart, and custom deckboxes on the internet.

Breaking into the industry started with a sketchbook at the last MagicCon in Chicago. Over the weekend I made a comic diary of my entire weekend at the convention, and I happened to have a few people ask about it. After showing it off I decided to post a few pages. This turned into me posting once a week, and snowballed into me regularly posting MTG illustrations and growing a following that likes to see a historical-fashion New Capenna drawing chased by some bizarre crossover.

I've been making art as far back as I can remember. When I was a kid I would grab a stack of printer paper and try to imitate other drawings. When I made a mistake I would crumple up the drawing and toss it over my shoulder to begin again.

I made bad art for most of the time that I've practiced, then slowly and all at once, I figured it out. I strongly think that anyone else can do the same. Art is one of the most accessible things, and a lot of my goals are about getting people to wade through the hardest part, which is being uncomfortable at not being good and just starting something.

How did EDHREC get you involved in this project?

Jokingly saying hello to my neighbors is what got me involved in this project. I was in line to meet an artist at a past MagicCon while the rest of my group was playing in an event elsewhere, so instead of putting my head down I started talking to my neighbor in line. I asked about what cards they were getting signed, and we ended up having a lovely conversation about fanart and community events.

This was before I had been a part of hosting anything, but I carry a custom Quiver that I painted imitating the Enchanting Tale version of Blind ObedienceBlind Obedience, by Olena Richards, so the topic of fanart came up naturally. Turns out he was a member of the Space Cow Media team, and he introduced me to someone else at a future con who put me onto this project. So I made this deckbox as a prize to be raffled off for one lucky employee.

What inspired you to get involved in the D00-DL Off panels at MagicCon? And what inspired you to start painting custom quiver boxes?

For me it was less of an inspiration to join the D00-DL panels and more like a blunt hammer bonking me over the head, compelling me to participate. The first time I engaged with the D00-DL Off was the audience-participation spectacle play at my first MagicCon. In short, I hadn't realized what I was agreeing to.

The con hall was loud and I didn't even hear the name of the event. What I did hear was that there were free packs for each round of participation, and I falsely assumed it was some kind of short-format, free-to-play thing that you see around Magic conventions. I'm a sucker for sealed products. So I took a seat to join, and they started to explain and hand out printer paper.

The idea for aD00-DL Off is that you have sixty seconds to draw a specific MTG character from memory, and tournament-style best-of-one, you get paired off with a person seated near you and rounds of play progress until there is an overall winner. So as someone with an art degree, the initial feeling was difficult to describe. I begin eyeballing my sketchbook. I get a pit in my stomach for a moment because I've been put into a situation to pubstomp and it's too late to turn back, so I pick up my pen.

The first characters were ones displayed on banners or within eyesight of the hall before becoming more esoteric. Initially I held back a little, but when the people at my table saw my drawing they got really excited and started identifying our table as being like a team, and that if I did well it's the same as all of us winning. The mood was incredibly upbeat, and after a particularly good drawing of The Scorpion GodThe Scorpion God I ended up winning the round.

Afterward I met Jacob and Myhandsareblank, who had been hosting, and from there we ended up becoming fast friends. I helped out with something tangentially related to the D00-DL Off, and not long after they asked me if I'd be at all interested in helping to run the event, and the rest has sort of been history.

I think that trying to have more custom gear is what really inspired me to start painting on Quivers. In Magic there are many different archetypes to identify with, and yet there are only a few choices to distinguish that, which feels like a tragedy — but it's one that can be amended with quick thinking or a good idea.

Attendees at MagicCon Vegas earlier this year participate in a D00-DL Off. (Photo by Nick Wolf)

What techniques did you use to create this piece? How long did it take you?

This piece took me around ten hours across two weeks. As an optional starting step you can prime a deckbox using a fine-grit sandpaper so the paint can better adhere to the plastic surface of the deckbox, or you can use a matte medium to similar effect. I like using size 1 and 3/0 brushes (typically sizes you'd find for D&D miniature painting).

For this project I purchased a black deckbox and created a sketch with a dry brush of paint, so it would be enough of a mark to reference for placement of elements but it wouldn't leave a residue or texture the way that using a pencil or a full layer of paint might. When sketching I used the lid of a coffee container for the circle, to ease the burden of drawing a perfect shape.

For my choice of paint I like to use acrylic gouache. It has a nice chalky texture and an immediacy to its mark that I prefer to standard acrylic paint, which can be a little more transparent. I freehand a lot of my sketching, but I focus on the math and space of relative objects — for some areas I would use the letters in the quiver logo to reference how far apart certain forms were meant to be.

After building up the image and the deckbox is evenly painted, I let it dry for a full day to make sure everything is properly ready to be sealed. For sealing the paint I recently learned a really effective method: brush-on decoupage sealant instead of a spray-on. It's water-based, so not only is it safer for use, it also sticks better. Who would have thought that a sealant used to destroy vintage furniture would be able to perfectly secure my deckboxes?

It's been a learning curve full of experimenting, but customizing accessories means accepting a possibility of failure — or, more optimistically, a possibility of fixing as you go.

Katie's custom-made Space Cow Media Quiver (photo by Nick Wolf)

What is your next upcoming project, and where can we find it?

I'm going to be hosting the D00dle-off at MagicCon Atlanta with my co-hosts Myhandsareblank and Jacob Paris. We have our spectacle play event running on Saturday from 4 until 6, so if anyone is bad at drawing, good, or net neutral and able to attend, I hope to be able to see you there. We'll have some event-exclusive prizes made with the help of the art community, as well as participation packs for prize support.

Anything else you want our readers to know, or that you'd like to share about art in the MTG community?

If you have a question about how anyone does anything when it comes to altering, painting, or customizing, there is no such thing as a secret ingredient. If questions are raised to pretty much anyone in this circle on how they get a particular look, what you'll get is a swift answer, or at least a few tips.

At Shoebox this past winter there was a big gathering of community artists, and the amount of conversations that led to linked products to help with process or simple pro-tips was incredible. It's a close-knit community that accepts anyone willing to try, regardless of starting skill level.

The final product. (Photo by Nick Wolf)

Wrapping Up

Our thanks to Katie Strobel for walking us through the whole process: inspiration, brushes, sealant, and all. If you're headed to MagicCon Atlanta, swing by the D00-DL Off on Saturday afternoon and try your luck at drawing increasingly obscure Magic characters. And let us know in the comments what community art has caught your eye lately.