Art Description
The first step of the creation of a card’s art is its art description. The art description tells the artist what the card will do, what its flavor is, and what the mood of the illustration should be. Here were the instructions given to Chris for Higure, the Still Wind:Color: Blue
Location: Doesn’t matter; should probably be a night scene
Action: When you want something done quickly/cheaply, you hire a black-aligned ninja. When you want it done *right* you hire a blue-aligned ninja. This is a master blue-aligned human ninja, the height of artfulness. This character is *able* to assassinate as well as anyone, but is more suited to spying and thieving-type jobs.
Focus: the human ninja (male or female)
Mood: I will never leave a trace.
Notes: This is a legendary creature and should look it.
Next the artist submits one or more sketches with his vision of the art description.
Sketch
Here’s Mr. Moeller’s initial sketch submitted for Higure, the Still Wind (called "Leiko, the Silent Hand" during playtest):
Higure, the Still Wind sketch by Christopher Moeller
As you know, the Kamigawa block is inspired by Japanese mythology, but with a Magic twist -- and its ninja are no exception. Magic’s version of these traditional secretive warriors need to show all the legendary stealth and prowess of the ninja while at the same time placing them in a context of powerful magic and gritty fantasy. Chris’s Higure captures this well -- we can see that the figure is escaping from a mission, several steps ahead of his pursuers, about to make it worse for them with a smoking device.
Final Art
In full color Higure comes truly to life. And so does the background around him -- note the ogre bruiser (using a spiked club similar to Sokenzan Bruiser) recruited to help guard the building -- unsuccessfully, we might add.
Higure, the Still Wind final art by Christopher Moeller
Finished Card
And here’s how you’ll see the card in its final state, in booster packs of Betrayers of Kamigawa. Get ready to sneak in with ninja (with a little help from Chris Moeller) at the prerelease!
引用元
SKETCHES: HIGURE, THE STILL WIND Posted in Arcana on January 11, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/sketches-higure-still-wind-2005-01-11
《静風の日暮/Higure, the Still Wind》のプレビュー記事です。能力ではなく、イラストを元に語られています。
黒の忍者が暗殺を得意とするのに対し、青の忍者はスパイや泥棒を得意とする方針だったようです。カラーパイ的にも納得でしょう。イラストにおいてもそれは現れており、背景にいる、門番の鬼が警備に失敗したことが分かります。記事では言及していませんが、それは「ブロックされない」能力にも現れていると言えるでしょう。
アートの指示では「人間の忍者（男女問わず）」とあります。実際、プレイテスト中は《沈黙の手、レイコ/Leiko, the Silent Hand》という女性的な名前でした。「百合子」だったらなおさら面白いところでしたが。
コメント