Painting 2
Jack Wilken “Magic Card"
10"x8", Acrylic paint/Sharpie/Print, 2021
So my idea was to create a card for Magic the Gathering. It’s a trading card game that revolves around creatures and spells and the card I created was a zombie, giant creature. It’s one of my favorite games and there’s different art from different artists on each card so I thought it would be fun to try.
I started with a canvas that I painted all black. From there I got a ruler and aligned the outsides and border lines. From there I printed off the key words and numbers I needed on the card and pasted them in their appropriate positions. Then I was able to paint the actual art on the card and then clean up any mistakes. The artwork is really meant for me to express my liking of cards and games in general. There’s really no hidden symbolic messages, I just wanted to try my hand at making a piece to the game I play.
The most difficult thing was the printing aspect. Getting the right font, and then pasting it into the text boxes, while painting around the actual letters was a bit of a challenge. It just took a little time to do but it was manageable. If I could change anything over again, I would probably skip printing and just try to use a sharpie freehanded. If I had to pick an artstyle for this piece, I’d say it’s decorative art. It was meant to be looked at and admired for what’s seen not anything that’s supposed to be implied. When creating it I had a lot of design principles in my head and I was really focused on keeping things looking smooth and aligned.
Jack Wilken "Loaded Hand"
8"x10", Acrylic, 2021
My idea was to create a funny card-playing scene. I was going to start with a group of goblins attempting to play cards but instead opted for a group of people playing with a horde of goblins crashing the party.
I started by creating the barroom, and then I filled the bar with people and objects. After that, I created the goblins breaking in and then cleaned up any mistakes and added necessary detail.
I just wanted the viewer to notice the one card player at the back, totally oblivious to the ensuing chaos. I like to imagine he has a good hand and is too wrapped up in his card game to pay attention.
The most difficult part for me was getting detail into the faces. I added the needed details but I think it could have been better. If I could start over, I'd try spending more time on adding detail. I'd say this is a symbolic piece.
My overarching goal was to show a fondness for cards in a fun, unique way. My favorite part has to be the oblivious guy. He reminds me of myself getting caught up in his interests and tuning out the outside world.