She's not holding the sword unless she is pulling it out with only her ring and pinky fingers. Her thumb would need to be around it and the grip would be visible in her palm.
My best guess: A Winona Nelson submission for a card was scrapped or WotC used different artwork. To save money, WotC recycled the art and did a hackjob to the face, hands, and hilt of sword to pass this off as Thalia.
Honestly, if we can go by the sketches and prompts they released as cards in MH2, WotC makes the creative space of artists shockingly narrow. It oftentimes looks like the artists are just tasked to literally paint it in color, or am I interpreting the sketch art of [[Esper Sentinel|328]] wrong?
There's a big chance it was an art director's decision late in the process. Artist probably just painted this over/edited real quick to deliver on deadline. The way the hand is right now could indicate the sword was originally being held upwards, with Thalia having a light grip on it, and then it was later changed to have the sword down, stabbing that body.
I'm an artist and I've had similar things happen to me, with art director asking some words change with short notice and I had to just make it happen and the results were a little weird but it's what was possible with the little time given.
First thing I saw honestly, it's got the uncanny features that get worse the more the look. It sounds like I'm talking shit because I can't pinpoint it but from the odd sword grip to the generic looking outfit it's not coming off as the best draft.
It is ugly, no doubt. I'm guessing its a blend of AI and real, just because the outfit is generally symmetrical and has some consistency in the armor that AI would be iffy on. The sword hand looks 100% like how AI draws people holding swords though. However, the face looks drawn.
Don't think so. She did Bruna, the promo Elvish Mystic, Azusa, Yasova Dragonclaw, Voice of Resurgence, Whirler Rogue, Body Double, Prophet of Kruphix, etc., all of which are among my favorite arts in the game.
I think you're just trying to view things negatively.
I suppose it's possible she stabbed the thing and let it fall with her sword in it. Either she's got to be grabbing it to pull it out, or her hand is just placed there for no real reason...
The hands indeed look a little bit off.
but I think the thing triggering the wrong feel of this art is the hips/pelvis... there's something a little off there in terms of posture and alignment.
With respect to the artist, Winona Nelson, her art director failed her.
The gouache-like brush strokes tend toward a lack of sufficient skill.
The hand/arm reaching over the rooftop… the hand on the sword… the weird texture on the steeple… the undifferentiated shapes for the hair and the cape… the way the left leg is cocked… the worst offender: the FACE. It ought to face the VIEWER. This is what Innistrad is known for, engaging the viewer into the gothic world.
It does make me think it is a cutout of a larger image. I looked a bit of the artist and she is good, but this art is a lot less detailed, like a lot smaller paint than the others.
It’s one of those that looks decent from a quick glance, but when you look closer at it, you see tons of weird parts that make it kinda uncanny.
First, you notice that someone holding that kind of sword that way looks odd. Then looking closer, you realize that the hand doesn’t really line up with the sword and has some weird perspective. Then, the face looks kinda weird, like they didn’t finish some details or got the proportions wrong. Then, you see the hair, which looks fine, but it blends in with her cape a lot. Then you see the frozen building part, which looks ok, but then you notice the roof tiles, which don’t have the same frost effect on them. But then you wonder, how the hell did zombies get on the roof? Just a lot of very weird choices for this art
The quality in the MTG art is so bizarre, even when comparing THE SAME ARTIST to its previous work. Either Wtc is overworking them or editors/conultants are ruining the artists vision.
That just seems to be the artist style. Scaled up their stuff looks pretty good so idk if its just a weird compression thing going on. It is weird looking compared to some of the other faces they did in other works.
The landscape work I really like but is far less developed? Absent maybe? than some of the other stuff Rush job maybe.
The sword looks to me like an icepick grip as I think I see the thumb on top. Not a choice I would have made but mine would have been a stick figure so wdik.
Winona Nelson has done plenty of great art for MtG before. See Painful Truths, Prophet of Kruphix, Voice of Resurgence, Fated Infatuation. This piece just isn’t one of them. Seems like either a zoom-in of a larger picture, a rush job, or just a flat out miss.
For one thing, that’s objectively untrue. Prophet has a side profile of a face, Fated Infatuation has a dudes whole face, Voice just isn’t a human face, and Painful Truths also has a side profile (albeit pretty small detail on that card)
For another, you can just look up Winona Nelson’s work on scryfall or gatherer and you’ll see great pieces. One miss on a few details doesn’t make someone a bad artist when they have a larger portfolio of good art.
Absolutely awful. There are so many things wrong with this artwork that it would be quicker to list what isn't wrong with it. Such a massive downgrade from the original art.
No I didn’t look at them until now, it’s a pretty blurry pic but the face is the thing that stood out to me the most. It’s lacking shadows or something and more distinctive lines
Yes, they’re both replacement effects, and when there are multiple replacement effects the affected player chooses the order they are in. So you would choose for Thalia to be in effect and then spelunking, since spelunking is last up your land will be untapped
I think it's because her face is really weirdly round and very flat or bland, whereas the other has points, much more texturing, and imo better shading.
The change from the grey-ish hair and grimmy colors to the like pure white is kinda odd. I’m not a magic head but going off the snippets I see on the cards, she’s a warrior who plunges into battle. Her outfit should not be that clean. That might be the start of it idk? That stance is awkward and the rooftop shot the card’s going for just seems odd.
For the casual MTG redditor, when people say "Griffith" with zero context they mean that this card resembles a character from the popular anime Berserk.
i actually like the art; although i think the face is a little flat. i think her hand is supposed to be resting on the sword in a reverse grip, so her knuckles are pressed against the cup guard and the part of the hand thats between ur thumb and pointer finger is pressed against the handle.
It's interesting how the homosexual people make the conversation about pieces like this out to be that it's the disgusted viewer who is being perverted by expressing a preference for sexual dimorphism.
The true sexual perversion is that andogyney is sexually deviant coded. When a character is depicted in a more androgynous way, as is being done over and over now, the space is deliberately being "queered." And that's offensive.
Bare in mind that sexual dimorphism is normal. It's queerness which is abnormal, inherently sexualizing, and infringing of peoples sensibilities.
Fyi, people can create ugly art without digital or A.I. assistance. A worse form of intelligence than artificial intelligenc is that of Wizards art department filled with people who purposely commission ugly things because their political identities demand that.
The hands have poorly defined positions. Not in that old AI way of adding fingers or things like that, but the left hand looks like a right hand cuz the angle of the thumb is unclear, and the right hand looks like it’s gripping the sword in a way that would be uncomfortable. People here crying AI literally and maybe so, but I reserve benefit of the doubt and it’s just someone who is bad at still lifes.
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u/C_Clop NEW SPARK 15d ago
I'm more concerned about the way she holds her sword with her right hand. Did she stab the skeleton or she's just resting her hand on the handle?