This time, the title's not just a cheeky pun for MtG-themed lewdness. But as usual, every picture is its own story- and this story has a LOT of rambling.

A friend and I were glancing at some of the spoilers for the Jace Signature Spellbook and I couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed. For a special-release exclusive-art set of blue spells, the illustrations more or less boiled down to "Jace looks smug and magic flies out." I know one can only get their hopes so high for anything involving Blue Gerrard, but a little imagination would not have gone unmissed- then again, that's been a problem in MtG's art for a while now: Something as abstract and conceptual as a spell can be difficult to visually represent.

To make a long story short, the thought of Sydhar's Signature Spellbook came up... and with it, a reprisal of the question: How does one represent an abstract spell, particularly in a way that keeps focus on the caster's identity as a character? It seemed like a fun way to challenge myself. After some consideration, I decided that Rewind seemed like it'd be a good place to start. I set three criteria for the piece:

1. It needs to show a spell being countered.
2. It needs to show manipulation of time.
3. Sydhar needs to be prominently featured as the one actively doing both.

An idea on how Syd could be shown backtracking through time came to mind readily and early, but trying to contextualize it- as well as making it clear that it's not simply a 'dodge'- proved to be more of a challenge. Similarly, my attempts to show a cause-and-effect relationship with an oncoming spell being snuffed out started looking a bit less like 'Rewind' and a bit more like 'Avoid Fate'. But as time went on, I realized I was approaching this from the wrong angle: a 'literal' representation of a spell's physical effect wasn't the way to go here. I needed something more abstract. Something stylized.

And then it hit me: I needed to think like Quinton Hoover.

In the early years of Magic: The Gathering, the art for the cards was, stylistically, all over the place, and often with an abstract bend to it. Future expansions would make use of style sheets and guidelines to create more visually consistent theming and worldbuilding, but a lot of the game's earlier illustrations were made by artists who often just had a card name dumped into their lap and were told to do whatever. The late Quinton Hoover was one of my favorite early-run artists for the series, who had a visually crisp, almost graphic novel-esque style to his illustrations... and who would often render more conceptual/abstract spells almost in the style of an illustration from a mystic manuscript; art nouveau displays of how forces of spellcraft would interact, intercept, and leap beyond the borders of reality. I still remember sitting on the carpet in '94 and having my mind blown by his art for the Unlimited Regeneration.

With his work in mind, more elements started taking form. Interacting frames (admittedly making use of public domain textures) that delineated and terminated the scope of spells. Syd, himself, liberated from the image's interior constraints on reality while shaping its contents to his whims. Throw in a Walk the Aeons-esque pendulum pull and the whole thing comes together beautifully.

Is it on Hoover's level of talent and imagination? Perhaps not. But it's definitely more visually interesting than just having Syd mug as energy trails from his hands, right?

EDIT: Now with a vanity card version. Hooray!