Every year, Wizards of the Coast holds a Magic: the Gathering panel at SDCC, and they'll show off some cards in advance of upcoming releases to drum up publicity and excitement. I'm very pleased and honored to have a piece of art among this year's SDCC spoilers- Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge was released to promote the Commander product coming out later this year!
Card Name: Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge
© 2013 Wizards of the Coast
Gatherer Link: http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=376382
Medium: Digital
Original Art Available?
Artist Proofs Available? No
Artist Notes:*Not to be confused with Gevalia, the coffee company.
Compared to the direction of my current work, Jeleva's (visual) design is simple. I made a conscious decision not to define her body under the swirly cloak; I think a black mass coming toward the viewer is more intimidating than a cheesy leg action pose or a heavily-designed outfit, and it doesn't distract from the face and arms, which are screaming "I'm HUNGRY, and I'm coming after YOU!"
(Or, as one commentor pointed out, she might be about to squeeze an epic booty. You decide.)
^^Here's the actual card^^
Getting to paint a mythic rare card is a special treat, not only for the collectible value, but because of the card's potential in actual gameplay. I know enough about the basic rules to play (poorly) now, but I've never played EDH/Commander, so the folks who use Jeleva as a commander will have to write to me and tell me how she does.
Wow, those hands are AMAZING! I love the cool tones in her skin, too.
ReplyDeleteI love this this art. After seeing this art, I had to look up what other cards you painted for Magic. Every card was like "She does that card too, I've always loved that art!" You have a great gift for making vampires very sexy and down right terrifying at the same time. (Among other great gifts in art too)
ReplyDeleteI am very excited to use this as my Commander. I'm making the deck now to be ready.
I play commander/edh :) Jeleva is the one of the strongest commanders out there. The great thing about her is how low the cost of playing her is, and how high of an impact her effect can have. The thing that really makes her stand out though (in my opinion) is the fact that even if she's destroyed, when you re-summon her for the cost of 2 additional mana, she no longer exiles 4 cards off of everyone's library but 6. So your chances of getting super strong sorcery/instant cards to play is increased. The more she is destroyed, the stronger she comes back and the stronger her effect is. Not many commanders can say that.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, the art is exceptional!!!!!!
I just want to let you know that Jeleva is the reason I started playing Commander. The art of Innistrad is what brought me back to the game after an 8 year hiatus, and Jeleva resonated so strongly that I decided that I must have the product as soon as the art was spoiled. I now have five Commander decks and love the format, and I don't think it's unreasonable to say that I have your art to thank for encouraging me to explore it. Thank you!
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