Terese Nielsen - Fantasy Artist, Star Wars, MtG and Angel Art

The Inside Scoop: Magic the Gathering's Basandra, Battle Seraph - Commander Deck

2011-06-21T17:01:22-07:00

Basandra is one of the few Magic the Gathering images that I have hanging in my home. It's almost as if the wall in the middle room (which has been painted for over 3 years, yet remained barren) was waiting for this piece. I was excited to find out she is also featured in the soon to be released Spectrum 18: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art.

I have to say... umm, err... yes... I really do love this piece. It falls into my classic modus operandi of loving to paint beautiful women who also happen to be strong, powerful, intelligent and a tad intimidating. If you're feeling a bit weak, you can stand in front of her and breathe in the power she's willing to share with you. She seems to embody the evocative command, "BRING IT".

It's perfect for our houseful of Goddesses... a symbol of feminine beauty and power that happens to match our decor in an uncanny way, AND... I happened to have a frame from an old piece I'd done pre-Art Center that seemed to have been custom-made for it.

Here's what the art description from the art director looked like:

TITLE: [Basandra, Battle Seraph]

SIZE: 2 1/16" (52mm) wide X 1 1/2" (38mm) tall

ART DESCRIPTION:

Color: White and red legendary creature

Location: sky

Action: Show Basandra, a legendary angel whose presence heralds war. Like all Magic angels, she's a sexy badass, but she has fire-engine-red hair and carries a long cat-o'-nine-tails with steel cable whips. It's up to you to design her costuming and style; she should feel like one of a kind.

Focus: Basandra, the archangel of war

Mood: "The blood spilled today shall be sanctified in my name."

As always, one of the first things I look for is reference. For this, my very talented friend, Scott Harben REALLY came through for me. He has an amazing "warehouse" of images he lets me peek through when I need to come up with something original.

Be sure to visit Scott's Harben Pictures.

The model I chose from his inspiring collection was Erin Stern, 2010 Olympia Figure Champion.

One of the most interesting and enjoyable challenges of working on this piece was to find a way to integrate and merge the essence and symbolism of fire with Basandra's visual presence. I wanted you to feel hot standing in front of her, like you would in front of a raging bon fire. Did I get there? xP

The fire motifs you see in Basandra are inspired by the icongraphic symbols in Tibetan art as depicted in this fantastic reference book The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs by Robert Beer.

You'll find them in her halo, along the two side panels, and in her heavy duty armor... well, (conspicuously drafty) war-drobe. (click pic below for detail)

The original art is: SOLD

Size: 12.25 x 9.5"

Medium: Acrylic, oil, colored pencil, gold ink

Sketch: SOLD

SIZE: 14 x 11" Graphite on tracing paper parchment.

I have two sizes of prints. One large 17 x 22" size, frame-ready image size of 16 x 20 (the same as what I have on my wall) and a smaller 13 x 19" size frame-ready image size of 11 x 14". All prints come with flame retardant certificate, fire extinguisher and hazard insurance in case she accidentally lights more than your soul on fire.

*O.k., you caught me on a silly day*

The Dark Knights Joker as MtG's Force of Will

2011-03-07T10:06:12-08:00

The BEST Batman movie ever! Heath Ledger was brilliant and there's just nothing more to add to that. This altered card was painted with acrylic and oil and is available for the next 5 days on Ebay!

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Force of Will Print and Epic Tale: The Magic Life of Force

2011-02-25T17:03:11-08:00

Force of Will was the very first Magic card I ever did for Wizards of the Coast back in 1996. Though I didn't know it at the time, it turned out to be quite an auspicious debut, I guess you could say. It's remained THE most popular card I've ever done, and I've painted well over 150 images for the game since then.

The art director for MTG at the time, Sue Ann Harkey, had seen my art from comics I'd painted for DC and Marvel... I had also done some vampire paintings for a different WOTC department that she may have seen.

Anyhow, she called me up and asked if I wanted to take on a few cards in the upcoming set, Alliances. Of course I was delighted and eager to break into a new venue, and accepted at once. When she was talking to me about my assignments, she mentioned in reference to Force of Will, "I'm not sure, but I think this is going to be a good card for you."

Guess she was right. It's been one of the hallmarks of my Magic career.

Back in those days, the art direction and descriptions tended to be a bit looser... and they came over by fax. (For you young people, faxes came right after pony express in the timeline of things). I wish I still had the original art description, but as far as I can remember, here's all it said:

Red card
Depict a Shaman using fire or red magic
Working title: "Stop Spell"

I'd always thought Wolverine was a cool character, so I decided to give "Stop Spell" a don't-mess-with-me Wolverine-type attitude. I was surprised that when the card came out, it had a blue border, instead of red.

Back in the days of fax machines, I was also using another technological dinosaur... the polaroid camera. Actually, my custom was to shoot reference with a 35 mm camera, and then drop off the roll to a 1-hour photo place, but I didn't have the luxury of that much time when I was sketching Force of Will.

It was late at night, and I didn't have much time left on my deadline, so I had to spring for the polaroid (which cost me $1 per photo and looked pretty crappy most of the time). Neither did I have the luxury of some body-building superhero at my disposal for reference, either, so I used what I could get... someone close to home... uh... me.

Back in those days I was working out pretty hard (anybody heard of Bill Phillips?) and had about 9% body fat, so I stripped down to my underwear, set up some good underlighting and let my little 6-pack create the foundation upon which I built my studly Force of Will.

Actually, that's really kind of embarrassing to admit... in fact, after you finish reading this post, it will vanish in a *poof* of smoke, leaving no trace that it ever existed... either that, or I'll have to kill you. I don't actually like looking at that old photo... it's not that my body looked bad, but the granny panties... geez. I didn't know Victoria back then.

Anyhow, I painted Force of Will bigger than I generally paint Magic cards now... the dimensions were probably 18 x 14". Even so, I want to say it came together in a couple of days... on the faster side. And I hadn't been out of school very long, so I probably painted the whole thing with gouache and colored pencil.

In 1997 (I think?), I was invited to sign at a Pro Tour in Stockholm, Sweden. Force went with me, but didn't come home. He'd lost his passport and got wisked away by the Swedish authorities (the same ones that are after Assange). No... actually, he fell in love with a "player" (some of us have that unfortunate experience). I think his name was Sven.

Seriously, though, it was hard to let him go, but pretty exciting to be taking home a nice wad of cash from the trip. I haven't seen or heard of Force since... I'm sure he can take care of himself, but still, I wonder. Every now and then I'll see his face... I have these recurring dreams of painting over him, time after time after time, morphing him into other characters. Weird.

I've sold hundreds of prints over the years, as many people want him for themselves and as gifts for their friends. There are two sizes to choose from:

Small 8.5 x 11" open edition archival print
Large 13 x 19" limited edition of 425, signed and numbered, printed on archival watercolor paper

Learn more about EXTREME ALTERATIONS