Deckmaster

Dupa cum v-am promis, surpriza este un interviu cu Pete Venters in exclusivitate pentru Deckmaster. Pete Venters este un artist renumit si apreciat in randul jucatorilor de Magic (si nu numai), ilustrand cateva sute de carti pentru Wizards of the Coast si care a avut bunavointa de a raspunde la cateva intrebari pentru noi. Interviul il voi lasa in limba engleza pentru ca nu as vrea sa se piarda nimic la traducere.

Please tell us a bit about yourself.

I'm British, but I've lived in the U.S.A. for 13 years now and I moved here to work at Wizards of the Coast. I'm mostly a self-taught artist since the only advanced education I had in the arts was a one year foundation course. I had hoped to go on to a BA course, but it was not to be. I don't recommend being just self-taught though as it may take you years to make certain discoveries that you could have been taught in weeks. While I've spent nearly 15 years painting cards for CCGs, I started as a comic artist and I actually see myself more as a storyteller than a painter. I hope to eventually return to comic books.

When did you start providing art for Wizards of the Coast? How did you link up with them?

I met Jesper Myrfors, the original art director for Wizards, at the Philadelphia Comicfest in early October of 1993. It was an accidental meeting as I was actually trying to meet Richard Thomas, the art director for White Wolf Games, and when I finally caught up with Richard, Jesper was sitting with him. I got assigned my first work for Magic in late October 93 and it was an unusual assignment as they were commissioning Antiquities, Legends & The Dark all at the same time.

What aspect of your work do you enjoy the most? What gives you the biggest satisfaction?

I'm just not a natural painter, so much of the early stages of applying color can be very psychologically taxing or frustrating for me. I think I prefer sketching to painting, and adding the final little touches of the painting the most. I think my biggest satisfaction is when I succeed in any painting challenge; whether that is particularly tricky lighting in a scene, or making a creature or a substance feel very real. Succeeding in giving an image a strong emotional quality is very important too and is something I've striven for more in the passing years. Sometimes I'll look back at a painting I did and I'll be "Man, I had no idea I could do that!"

Who are your favorite artists? Which artists influenced your work?

I don't know which artists influenced my work. I never really studied other artists, but just liked to read a lot of comic books and watch a lot of science fiction on TV. I know that Curt Swan – the most prolific artist on Superman from the late 60's to the early 80's – was probably the artist I had the most exposure to when I was growing up. In my teen years, my fascination was for Brian Bolland, one of the great Judge Dredd artists, and then Glenn Fabry, who did the most amazing linework before becoming an even more amazing painter. As for fine artists, when I was younger, I was fascinated with the painstaking detail and near photographic quality of Constable, but as I've grown older I've grown to prefer the more emotional and expressive qualities of Constable's associate, Turner. This drift from detail to emotional can be seen in my work to a much smaller degree.

What is your favorite painting?

Again, I don't know. I guess I don't have one single painting that I would hold above all others. There are paintings I enjoy because of their technical mastery and others because of the stories they conjure in my mind.

Of all the cards you provided art for, which one is your favorite?

This is a tie between Tanglewalker & Drawn Together. Tanglewalker was a chance to come up with an image from scratch – with no art description – and they would fit it to a card, so I did a beautiful woman since I'm not often given those assignments. Drawn Together was the rare opportunity to do a Magic piece that was a retrospective of many of my creature cards from my career in Magic. Chances are I'll never get that opportunity again so I really went to town on that painting, spending three times longer on it than I should have. It took me nearly three weeks to paint.

Which card art, except your creations, do you like the most?

I love some of the dragon paintings that have appeared over the last few years, and the Basic Land cards for Ravnica & Shards of Alara just blew me away.

Who is your favorite Magic illustrator?

There's some amazing ones out there but Aleksi Briclot pretty much astounds me with every piece.

What type of cards do you feel fit your style best? What type of cards do you enjoy illustrating the most?

I like variety, but I prefer creatures cards best, especially Red & Black. I like something with a bit of action, and I especially like Legends because it's nice to have more info to really build a personality into a picture. I enjoy big, evil monsters the most; especially ones caught in pyrotechnic action scenes. Having said that, doing anything too much will lessen the enjoyment so it's nice to get to change a lot. CCGs naturally give you a wide variety of subjects.

What inspires you?

Really well–crafted stories. The buzz I get from an exceptional movie can't be beat.

Could you talk a little about the techniques and medium you use in your work?

For most of my Magic career I have worked with acrylic paints. Acrylics have the advantage of being very adaptable, opaque and mix well, without the unpleasant smell of oils that makes me ill. Over the years I've used some watercolor in backgrounds that need to have a softer focus, and occasionally colored pencil for some fine details. However, ever since Planar Chaos I have been working 100% digitally. This hasn't made me any faster at painting, but I had to switch because I had developed very bad eyestrain from years of working too close to my artwork, and working on a Wacom tablet & monitor means I can sit more than an arms-length from the screen, which helps keep my eyes from becoming too irritated.

What are some other places where your work can be found (other games, magazines, comics etc.)?

Before working for Wizards, my published work was limited to a few appearances in the comics 2000AD & Judge Dredd Megazine, and my own one-shot comic – Sweetmeats. I've also appeared in a number of CCGs – V:TES & Doomtown spring to mind – and I recently did 8 pieces for D&D 4th Edition Monster Manual.

What are your hobbies?

Video games, predominantly shooters. I used to play a lot of Halo, but my irritations with Halo 2 were not fixed in Halo 3 so I'm not playing it that much anymore. I'm playing some Team Fortress 2 currently, and I'm looking forward to Gears of War 2. I also play in a D&D group once a week. I've been playing RPGs for 25 years.

Do you play Magic? Do you collect cards?

I played Magic from Alpha to The Dark. When Fallen Empires came out I was still trying to work out what to do with the cards from The Dark & Legends and so I gave up because I was overwhelmed. I still collected sets of Magic up until Mirrodin. I didn't mean to stop collecting, I just got busy and before you know it a whole bunch of blocks have slid by. I gave up playing CCGs when I realized that I spent 20 times longer building decks than playing with them and they usually lost. I was a lousy deck-builder because I liked themes too much.

Ever thought of visiting Romania?

Sure. Me and my wife hope to make it there some day. Her great-grandparents were Slovanian, so checking out the whole region would be nice. Still, we hardly ever have time and airfares are so expensive now.

Do you have any advice to give to aspiring artists?

There are no simple answers. While knowing what brush or surface – or digital custom brushes – your favorite artist uses can be helpful, that is only part of the puzzle. Everyone uses a brush differently and the only way you're really going to improve is by practice. Also, use the internet; it's a great tool that my generation never had. There are so many art communities and forums out there – Imagine FX, ConceptArt.org & CGTalk to name a few – and they have so much potential to teach you and also to give valuable criticism from your peers.

A few words for your fans at Deckmaster...

Thanks for inviting me to chat. I think you'll really like the art coming up in Shards of Alara. I know I was amazed by how good some of the pieces are. My upcoming stuff is pretty evil. ; )