aaronmiller

Dragon Wave!

Hi folks!

I just wanted to pop in to let you know the Patreon Member Shop has been updated with the Rhino Wave goodies. Check out the previous post for the password since I make almost all posts public.

I also wanted to share the next wave will be the Dragon Wave. Wildly enough I have the art complete. I'll put this out there for some of the newer patrons that this is unusual. I would love to have art completed well in advance and I had to wrap this up for GenCon. 

I'll go into a deep dive about this piece in a later post. I'll show you the whole process. I tried some new things out and can't wait to share what I did.

I hope you all are enjoying the weekend. I'm enjoying a severe allergy attack. Yeah! (grabs inhaler).

The Kickstarter for the wild shape cards is going well. We're almost there. If you know someone that plays a druid consider getting a set as a gift. And then grab the exclusive token set for yourself as an add-on!

Stay safe out there 

(achoo!)

Guest Artist - Tim Taranto

I am incredibly excited to share our next Guest Artist with you, Tim Taranto! Probably better known as GoldSabertooth. I was scrolling through Twitter, as you do. And came across this beauty and I just had to reach out to see if being a Guest Artist was a possibility. I love it! Click those links and be sure to follow.

We're bringing you not one but two Guest Artist tokens (Dog and Cat). It will be a random mix which one ends up being the guest spot and which one will be the not-so-random-random-token. You'll all get at least one of both for levels that get a token. And of course, there will be a limited number in the Patreon Member Shop. 

Tim Taranto is an Arizona artist. Their art has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, Paris Review, Harpers, The Believer, FSG, The Rumpus, Buzzfeed, and McSweeney’s. 

They have a great number of furry friends under their roof. Five dogs and two cats. Their favorite Magic card: Yawgmoth, Thran Physician. 

This last bit of info is something I think I need to ask future guests. 

Where you can find Tim and his work online:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GSabetooth 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timltaranto/ 

Be sure to sign up before the end of June to get some of these tokens! And tell a friend.

Up Next: Rhino Wave!

I'm pretty excited to share the next token here. 

This is a portrait of Old Dent. 20 years of duty and Dent had received the honor of having his portrait added to the Gallery of Service.

There had just been a flurry of busy work over the last month where it seemed I hadn't even picked up a brush at all. Lots of drawing and planning and last-minute trips I didn't plan on. This year has so far been best described as "time soup". I feel great and productive, yet there's this crazy feeling like I should have done more work by now. I've been really busy and constantly working. I'm not sure where the feeling comes from, yet it's there.

When I sat down to paint Old Dent here it felt great to sit down and jam on this little painting. I wish they were all this easy. 

I'm still catching up on the last wave. I have one tiny painting to get done. It will get done I promise!

And all in the background I've been putting together a little Kickstarter launching in July. I know it's like über niche. But it's something I needed to make. If you play D&D and happen to play a druid you'll love this. If you know someone who does, they will love it. I use them every session.

Just a quick update.

Hey folks,

First, I wanted to update you on the current wave of mana tokens. All supplies are finally in and I should have all packs out by the end of the week. Except for the painted card, that patron knows it can take a while to get those done.

Second, I have the theme and painting actually done for the next wave which I will announce around June 1. That means no waves are closing this month. The painting will also be available on June 1 via Every Day Original at 10 AM eastern.

Third, I have an amazing Guest Artist from the community. I can't wait to share them with you all. I'm waiting for some details before I spill the beans.

Lastly, I wanted to let anyone know going to Cherry City Comic Con (C4) this weekend that I'll be there too! 

Custom sketches

Working on a few of these while in Denver for a short family visit.

More details soon as to what’s next. Rhino maybe? I’m feeling confident we will take May off. Give me time to figure out what I’m doing, catch up with back orders, and get a few more guests lined up.

I’ll be at Cherry City Comic Con at the end of the month in Traversed City, MI. The magic event there will be new thus an experiment for all involved.

Sketch Token - Colorless Mana

Hey everyone!

I hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was filled with running, working, eating, and some D&D.

All the tokens have arrived for the previous wave and I'm working on getting them in the mail. I should have them all out by the end of the week.

Along with the tokens I got a test deck of Skwirl's Wildshape Cards (stats for druid wilshape forms) They came in handy for a fun dungeon romp. These should be ready to roll out into a campaign soon. 

Chromatic Mana

Hi All!

I've had the painting complete for a while but I needed to get a Magic card done and photograph everything together. I'm excited to get this ready in frame. 

I'll also see what I can do to make a playmat version. I have a file ready to be worked on and experiment. If it does work what I'd like to do is take a few preorders and they would come with a foil signature on the playmat. 

Guest Artist - Rich Kunz

Rich Kunz is a high school art teacher and freelance artist with over twenty years experience. In 2012 he began his company, Diligent Visual and has since had the opportunity to work on some of his favorite properties, including: Game of Thrones, The Hobbit, Marvel, DC and Star Wars.

Always striving to further his craft, Rich has participated in numerous workshops and courses, as well as showing his work at exhibitions and conventions. He completed a thirteen week illustration course with Donato Giancola and has been a member of Watts Atelier Online and Schoolism. Rich is also looking forward to attending the Fantasy Art Workshop this summer. (I'll see you there Rich!)

Rich has teamed with several talented writers in the fantasy genre to begin a world building project called, Realm of Thraul. The Realm feels familiar, as it explores the stories of the characters and suits in a deck of traditional playing cards. You can find more on the project by searching ‘realmofthraul’ on Instagram or Patreon. 

You can contact the artist and view his work online at www.diligentvisual.com. 

You can also connect with Rich via YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Patreon @diligentvisual.

Rich has just completed Mila as the Joker for his playing card project. And we get to enjoy it as a Vampire Token. He's been working on the playing card project for quite some time and it's exciting to see it all come together.

Chromatic Mana on the Easel

Te painting for the Chromatic Mana is just about wrapped up and needs to be photographed. Here it is on the easel. It was mentioned that a playmat would be nice. Once it take photos I'll see how well I can paint in sides to make it work as a playmat. 

The sketch will, like the last mans wave, be a colorless mana. 

Tomorrow I'll share our Guest Artist. I'm very excited to share his work and current project.

Chromatic Mana

I got a commission to paint up a Chromatic Mana. I hadn't painted a mana with a hand in a gauntlet so I felt like that was a great choice. Plus I loved that it made the hand non-gendered. It seems fun to add one more option to the mana choices as well. 

A great spring token, the Chromatic Mana Wave for April. 

Sketch Token - 1/1 Deathpact Cleric

I figured the sketch version of the card could take advantage of the opportunity to make a 1/1 Cleric to work thematically with Deathpact Angel. 

The artwork is a version I created for the workshop the original photos came from.

Here's a bit of trivia when looking at paintings of people. People painted from life generally are not in motion or in a dramatic pose. Even a smile can become difficult. Just try to smile for even 30 minutes. Gesture drawing is where one can really capture that drama in a very short amount of time. When I would have my models pose in semi-difficult poses we would take a lot of breaks. I've suspended props from the ceiling so the weight would not become a burden for models. 

It's been a long time since I've been working with models in a studio setting and I miss it dearly.

New "Random" Tokens

I'm adding a few new tokens to my catalog. At the last show folks were pretty keen on the constructs and it seems I could add a few more variations. You all know I prefer to make new art but, there's only so much time to work. Players don't seem to mind and quite a few liked that they were similar. So, that pushed me to make a Black Iron 6/12 and an Army Green 3/1. I also had some artwork from a beer label that's since disappeared, and I'm taking the opportunity to make some Pilot tokens. A bit of a self portrait as the pilot there. 

These will be added to levels that get random tokens. 

Over the weekend I was at SCGCON Indy. I had a great time getting back to what felt like "old times" at what we remember as Grand Prix. So many great fans out there. Plus seeing a lot of familiar faces and a few of you awesome patrons came by to say hi. I can't thank you guys enough! THANKS!!!! <3

Cleric Wave with Community and Magic

Earlier this month Chris Onagan from Community and Magic came to my studio to film a painting demo. I decided to use a photo from one of my Figurative Illustration Workshops. I have a collection of amazing photos of a dearly missed model, Courtney. Her necromancer was one of my favorites. Looking over all the token options some of you guys felt the 0/1 Cleric fit the best and I agree. Time to find a reason to add Rite of Belzenlok to your deck maybe?

While Chris was here we chatted about art and Magic the Gathering of course. Chris is working on editing the demo and once it's ready I'm sure you guys will have an early access video.

Community and Magic is a digital documentary series that tells stories of the Magic: the Gathering community from the community members perspective.

Also in the works is a TTRPG project. GM/player notecards. If you as a patron want some samples and to provide me with feedback send me a message. I'll keep this focused on US. If you're outside the US I'd be happy to send PDFs of what I'm doing. 

If anyone is interested in the original oil painting of the Cleric Token art (oil on 8x10 panel) send me a message before I make it public.

Guest Artist - Ben Schnuck!

I'm pleased to announce my next Guest Artist for the Cleric Wave; Ben Schnuck. Ben is also amazing the world with his synth-wave lands Secret Lair for Kamigawa- Neon Dynasty.  

Ben has worked on an awesome Shrine artwork for his own patreon and you'll be getting one here as well. But don't let that stop you from signing up for his as well. He's opened up a few more slots, they are going fast.

Ben makes some amazing stuff and I dig his retro designs having grown up in the 80s myself. Check out that cool Storm! I don't even know if you can get it anymore. But it is pretty sweet.

I love how everyone is getting the ability to style decks to their personalities and tastes. It's fun to have access to so much fun art and styles.

Here's a list of Ben's links once more:

Website: http://benmakes.cool

Patreon: patreon.com/BenMakesStuff

Twitter: @BenMakesStuff

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benmakesmagic/ 

Coming up next

Alright folks I have some fun news to share.

Tomorrow, Friday Feb 25 around 1-2PM CST start time, Chris from "Community and Magic" will be coming to the studio to film me painting. I've chosen the image above to work on. The photo is from one of my favorite workshop sessions with a beloved model, Courtney.

We'll be working out how to make the stream available to you guys. Worst case you'll get access to a video if it falls apart. I'll attempt to connect Patreon to Discord and have it stream there.

If it seems this is all last minute, well it sorts is regarding trying to stream it for you guys. The filming had been planned and I've been poking away at making the Discord. And while discussing details I threw out this idea to Chris.

Assuming the painting goes as planned in my head I'll have a cool new painting for a token in March. Although I might need some help from you guys as to what it should be.

With all that's going on out there I'm glad to have something like this to remove some of the stresses.

Warrior Samurai

Have you ever seen Seven Samurai? Great movie if you haven't seen it. It's inspired so many movies and stories since. I wanted to capture a bit of tension from the samurai living in a bit of danger as ronin. 

Well, I think that about wraps up all the art for this wave. I hope these tokens work into some of your decks, or maybe they are perfect for a friend.

I've recently bought a bunch of dragon shield binders to start organizing my own collection. I still need to get a few more colors.

Samurai Token updates

The Samurai Tokens are now updated. I'm going to make a new background for the Warrior. I have a fun plan for that. I kept this background so these could look amazing together.

The second Samurai Token, Matsuta, the older man, will appear in the random token portion of tiers. If you want to be sure to get all the zombies and samurai upgrade to a tier like the Goblin.

I'll get more metal Samurai Tokens and focus on those as the Main. I'll get a few extras for sure for those interested.

I don't plan on getting metal tokens of the zombies, if you really want one you'll need to let me know.

This is all getting pretty exciting. Thanks for letting me go a little crazy with this wave.

Samurai Tokens!?!

So, it looks like there might actually be Samurai Tokens coming. I can't not make a Samurai Token for a Samurai Wave.

Here's what I want to do, I'll make an alternate version of the Warrior Token since I'm sure there's folks out there that would still love an art like this on a Warrior. I'll split the difference and if you're getting an even number of Warrior tokens I'll send half warriors and half Samurai. For example, if you're getting 4 Main it will be 2 Warrior and 2 Samurai.

I also have one last piece of art (shown above) to make an additional Samurai Token which I'll add to the random tokens. I'll scramble to make a new background for it, maybe something to match the Warrior version. Anyway, I have some ideas. You guys are going to get a serious Samurai Wave of tokens. It's rare that I can do a wave with so many new tokens. 

I'll update you all what the line up will look like as soon as I can. 

Token line up - Samurai Wave

Here's the tokens coming to you soon. Your main token will be the Warrior Token. The bonus zombies will be mixed in with the random tokens. 

You'll be able to purchase more if you want via the Patreon Member Shop once the wave closes and the shop is updated. The access code to the shop will be posted in the final wave post at the end of the month. I'll only have a limited supply. If you think you want more than a handful you'll want to message me.

This has been a fun art challenge to place these images into something that has more context than they started out. 

Ninja Tokens!

Miko has donned his dark outfit for a dangerous night mission. I referred to a great Dean Cornwell painting for the color and pushed it a little bit more intense. I've found I really enjoy finding these alternate solutions to images. Sometimes pushing myself to find a better solution, other times just to see it different. 

Here's the original illustration of Miko. 

There's still a few days left to sign up or tell a friend. As always shares are much appreciated.

Guest Artist - Allen Panakal

Cat Warrior Token

We're taking Allen's Bagh Deo god warrior and featuring it as Cat Warrior token. 

Bagh Deo is the leader of the Suns of Orion. After winning many great battles he went into isolation until years later the Keybinder known as Rohan Mathew finds him and asks him to help stop the World Machine from being reassembled.

Allen Panakal

Neon shapes, that's what I think about when I see Allen's work. Using mostly shapes Allen captures the essence of his ideas intro fantastic characters and landscapes. Also called "fracturism." 

Allen is artist and writer of the Ancient Ones: a space opera mixed with fantasy elements. Think “Star Wars” meets “Lord of the Rings.” 

Where to more about Allen Panakal

• Website
• Patreon

Hiroshi - Warrior

This is Hiroshi from the Shogun Rising comic I worked on. While sketching various landscape backgrounds I just fell in love with the aged woodblock prints. I set the background to feel like the paper but also act as a paper wall with some cherry blossoms I had seen in a few prints.

One of the other characters, Miko, will end up as a sweet Ninja Token.

Right now Allen is working on the finishing touches to the new Cat Warrior he's adding to the wave as our Guest Artist. Allen and I go a ways back. I love Allen's work and his color sense. I'm looking forward to sharing what's coming and more of his work soon.

Zombies!

Hey all,

I figured while I'm working on the the other tokens I'd do the easy ones. These will be reserved for the tiers getting random tokens. I'll start with with 2/2 for most getting 1 random token, then the X/X and lastly the Zombie Army. I figure I'll weigh heavier on the most useful zombies first. Most of those zombies are me and my wife. I set the camera up to take interval photos. We just took turns zombie walking past the camera from different angle.

If more interesting tokens pop up from Neon Dynasty that are more fitting I might make adjustments for the unknown. Just like the new Ninja Token. I'll see what I can do about that. ;)

Later in the week I'll introduce you to our Guest Artist, Allen Panakal. 

Currently working on a pretty bad ass Magic painting.  I can't wait to share it. But you'll just have to be satisfied with whatever comes out from Kamigawa later this month.

If you wonder what I'm up to in my personal time I have a few fun things going on. We're training up for a half marathon in the spring. We signed up with our favorite group, Chicago Endurance Sports, to keep us motivated. It can be rough running 10 miles, feels like 4 degrees, and the sun isn't up yet and when it is it's overcast. 

We've also started playing D&D with the neighbors and some great friends. Currently I'm playing a Firbolg druid. I even have a fun homebrew Wildshape mechanic.

We're also binging hard on Cobra Kai. It's way better than it should be.

Time to get back to work here. Thanks for hanging.

Year in Review

Thank you all for another great year and support. I wanted to highlight the 7 releases from this year. Having seven waves is not too bad for a very busy art making year.

I was chatting with colleagues on the number of paintings we can paint in a year for work and it's a surprisingly small number. We figured illustration wise (think typical Magic card) 20 paintings is a comfortable number that shouldn't cause you to end up near burnout.

I've painted about 23 "major" paintings and I think about 5 "minor" paintings. I am not going to count up all the card sketches I've done. Time wise though, they would add up to at least 1 major painting.

I was only able to generate that amount of work from the shutdown of the Magic events over the year. I really miss going to them. I hope they do comeback. Not only for the artists but I'll always see the value in people getting together in-person to play this game. 

This year also marks the Guest Artist spotlights. I didn't plan on it but I am so happy it happened. I love sharing this space with other artists you all might not know. And become a potential fan of. If you were not already aware, I do pay them as well and share a spotlight on their sites and other products.

Again I want to thank the Guest Artists. Dan Dougherty, Ernanda Souza, Mellisa Sue Stanley, Tony Moy, and Jessica Leonard (AKA Inklin Customs). For the time being their tokens will be exclusive to patrons.  

And YOU all! I cannot thank you guys enough for being a part of this year's success and support. I hope you enjoy your next match and play some fun token decks!

What will next year bring? Certainly I'll keep the Guest Artist token. I will also deeply review my process and approach to the artwork I'll be creating for you all. I'm always open to suggestions. 

Have a great holiday and safe new year!

All my best,

Aaron

Goblin Token By Inklin Customs

This is pretty great. That's me right there. I love it. She gave me my orange glasses I tend to wear at events. I love the easter egg of my Rapunzel painting in the top left corner. (She's on one of the Human Tokens if you haven't seen it before.) I love all my little helpers.

I hope you all enjoy this incredibly fun Goblin Token. I've updated the shop as well. A few posts down you'll find the password if you need it.

For the time being, these will only be available in the Patreon Member shop. If you're checking this out and not a patron yet, be sure to sign up and snag some.

Blood Art Update

Hi everyone! 

I wrapped up the painting this weekend and got the cards ready. Everything will be off to the printers once we have the Guest Artist artwork. She aims to have it completed very soon.

The painting is oil on linen. I mounted the linen to an 18x24 inch panel. It was something I've been wanting to experiment with. If there is any interest in the original please let me know before I put it in the public gallery for sale.

I've updated the tokens in the store. I normally wouldn't get any metal tokens for the Vampire version so let me know by a raise of hands if I need to order some. You'll get them half off through the member only shop.

For any Magic art collectors out there I'm finally updating the site to have a section just for the original paintings. I still have many drawings to add to the original drawings page. I also have sketchbooks full of thumbnails and other pre-drawing stage sketches from many of my cards. These are all great starter originals for new collectors.

Guest Artist - Jessica Leonard of Inklin Customs!

If you've been to a Magic event you've probably seen Jess at her table or maybe even someone using her tokens. We've both had tables at events together and I love seeing the players get their personalized tokens from her and seeing laughing, smiling faces.

Jess is making you guys a token of me! lol I'm the Goblin King.

If you want more than the ones you'll get in your tier be sure to add more in the member only shop once it's updated  December 1. 

If you're unfamiliar with Inklin Customs, here's a great list of links to check out.

• Website: http://inklincustoms.com
• E-mail: inklincustoms@gmail.com 
• Facebook:http://facebook.com/Inklin
• Instagram: @InklinCustoms 
• Twitter: @InklinCustoms
• Tiktok: @InklinCustoms 
• Twitch: http://twitch.tv/inklincustoms http://patreon.com/inklincustoms

And right here on Patreon as well.

patreon.com/inklincustoms

Here's a treasure from Inklin Customs I have.

Blood Token sketch

I've got a sketch for the Blood Token ready. I have some reference ready but might just need one more shot with another model. It could also totally be a vampire token as well. I can also make one as an alternate, just let me know in the comments what color you want it to lean towards and P/T.  

I'm excited to be painting some figures again.

If you think you have some friends that would love to be a patron please share a link. I'll be happy to send the new member and current patron a dragon fire signed artist proof. Just let me know.

Coming up next is our Guest Artist token!

Cackling Culprit does murder!

I had quite a few pieces released with Crimson Vow. I've auctioned  the Welcome Booster artwork. I do have the moquette of the wine glass. I'll be looking into playmats for 2022.

I also had two flip cards preview. Foreboding Statue/Forsaken Thresher and Panicked Bystander/Cackling Culprit.

Mike Linnemann runs my auctions and he suggested maybe I reach out to Tom Babbey, the model for the culprit, for a word or two. We took it a bit further. I hope you enjoy the little movie.

If you're interested in any of these paintings or drawings, let me know.

Blood Wave!

I love the idea of the blood token. I have something in the sketch phase. This will probably be one of the few waves where the art will come a little after the wave ends. But something to look forward to. I have an amazing Guest Artist lined up. I'll introduce her soon.

Goblin - Sketch Token

I didn't create a drawing for the horse token coming out so I decided to sift through all my artist proof scans for something fun. I found this goofy looking goblin I drew. One of those owners that looks like their pets. It makes me laugh when I see it. I hope it makes you laugh a little too.

If you have a friend that loves goblins and they are not signed up, give them a link to the patreon. It'd help out a bunch.

Thanks!