From the Vault: Exiled "Balance"

As many folks had guessed, the card in question was indeed Balance. Given the make-up of the set, it was kinda hard for it to be otherwise, still the good folks at Wizards thought it best that I keep it quiet and let people argue about it for awhile, so as to increase the volume of the "I told you so! Booyah!" shouts that would inevitably arise, I suppose. The reproduction on the Wizards site is colored weird due to the polychromatic foil on the card.

In the end, having been given carte blanche to do with her eyes what I wished, I decided that an eye-less Justice, while certainly blind, would just be creepy. And as the art itself was already something I thought would just make a great piece, I felt that detail would not only detract, but be downright off-putting. That's not an adjective an artist wants attached to their art, even when doing horror. Neither did I want blind, glowing eyes. So, I opted to close her eyes, keeping her sightless. However, her eyes underneath the lids are pupil-less and glowing, so much so that the light is spilling out through her eyelids and leaking out the sides. It was a nice effect, at any rate.

At 18x24", this is now the largest Magic piece I've done to date (beating out the prior title-holder, Sway of the Stars, which was 15x25"). It's a nice size to work at, and one which I've worked at extensively since. Due to a mishap at Wizards, the artwork was returned to me early (thank you!) and so I've had this one hanging on my living room wall for a few months. I'll be bringing it to GenCon next week, along with prints in two sizes: 11x14" and 13x19", my first larger-format print. The prints will debut there in limited editions, and be available here when I return.

A nice zoomify-view of it and further details can be viewed here. The original 3 drawings mentioned in the last post are already sold. And oh yes, this illustration was accepted for 2009's upcoming Spectrum 16 art book. More in that in the fall.