aaronmiller

Panda Set Preview

I just can't make things easy for myself. Nope. But this was such a fun little idea that I had to do it for you guys.

One of you suggested different attack and defense and I ran with that. It's crazy for me to deal with, but here we are.

I sat down to make the alternate art, spinning ideas in my head. And while thinking about it I figured I already offered this crazy extra step, let's make it worth while for all of us.

Now, every card with a P/T has different art. I'm leaving the full art as the original painting.

And I'll randomize the metal tokens unless I get begged for a specific one within the first few days of June. I gotta get the order placed so I can get them back in a reasonable amount of time in order to get them to you guys.

As of now, while the page says we're past 1k we're really not. I'm not naming names but on of you has a credit card that didn't work from the last wave and hasn't addressed it. It happens I know. But for now, we're still under by $5. Or over estimated by $65, depending on how you want to look at it.

Oh, you wanted a closer look at the art? I thought you might.

These will only ever be available to Patreon people. Maybe tell a friend to sign up if you think they might want some too.

Trash Panda info

Here's what to expect from this crazy token wave. I don't seem to make it easy on myself. But you guys are totally worth it. 

If you're getting a single token you'll get a __/__

If we continue to hit the first goal achievement (sketch card version) the sketch card will be */*

Here is the full range of P/T versions; __/__, */*, 1/1, 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, 5/5, and 6/6.

The more tokens you're getting the more likely you'll get the full range. If you're getting more than the full range you'll get a few multiples.

The Metal Token will be __/__ unless you reach out and ask for a specific P/T.

Alternate art will be __/__.

And a reminder that the Trash Panda is only available through Patreon. If you are reading this and missed out and are a patron, message me.

Wave 11 question

Hi Everyone,

I've been crazy busy over here in the studio and hadn't created a poll for Wave 11. But, I do have a possible token I could create if you guys are wild for it. There's still a few days for me to take a poll and for anyone to switch around their reward levels (which you are always welcome to do). But this one is right up there with my Fox Token.

What do you guys say to having a Trash Panda Token? Now, obviously there isn't one for a particular game most of you play. But, all the players I've met have great imaginations and usually conceive of the best plans to use such tokens.

If you all are highly receptive to this I would also propose that the only folks getting it ever would be my patrons. It would not be in my store, any other store, or at an event. 

Any patron at any time though would be able to get one later as a special request or as part of the random tokens in the reward tiers.

Use the comment section liberally.

More studio info

I'm still waiting on metal tokens to be delivered for Wave 10. Levels without metal have been shipped.

I wish I could show you all the work that's going on in the studio but I can't. Magic stuff is super secret. But I can show you the new token stuff for the Kickstarter rewards coming early fall. Only 6 more paintings to complete.

Below are some new tokens with new art.

New Kickstarter Vampire Token.

New Kickstarter Goblin Token.

New Kickstarter Storm Token.

Drawing for the upcoming new Beast Token for the Kickstarter rewards.

Quick update

Regular tokens are on the way to me. Metal tokens ordered and should be in production in about a week.

Not everyone got back to me with a selection. I'll be making the choice for you.

I'll work up some desktops this weekend.

I'll also be working on getting 5x7 postcard sized prints of the paintings. This really is the best print size since it is 1to1. If this is of interest to you then let me know and I'll get it done sooner than later.

The colorless mana has been commissioned as a finished painting. So, that's something to look forward to in the future. As well as a Set 2 more than likely coming out in 2019. 

New Folks

If you're new here, I just wanted to say welcome and thank you. I wanted to let you know that your cool stuff should arrive by the end of the month or possible in the first week of the next. I usually get your stuff out as fast as I can once I get it delivered to me. Some things take a little longer, such as the metal tokens. But fear not, you'll get your sweet tokens.

Wave 11

I'll put up a poll soon. Please feel free to send me more ideas. 

Questions? 

If you have questions, just ask. 

What's happening around the studio

Secret stuff. More Magic card paintings for upcoming sets. Kickstarter paintings and drawings as well. I'm glad I can at least share the KS stuff.

I've been messing around with animating some of my art. I hope to get a little better at it. If there's a card you think really needs it let me know and I'll try. Plummet is certainly on my list.

Cubeamajigs!

If you play Magic this should be extremely relevant to your interests. Awesome storage for your cubes and other stuff, such as TOKENS of course. Plenty of options with my art on it too!

Mana Update and question?

First, I gotta know. I'm getting the feeling Blue Mana may be the most popular and I'm wondering why. Someone please fill me in. I'm intrigued. 

The paintings are still a teeny bit wet. I was hoping they'd be dry by now so I could varnish them and get them photographed. I'll instead use retouch varnish and get them shot tonight. I'm waiting on a few patrons to get back to me on some token choices. I foresee all the answers I need and being ready to place orders happening around the same time.

Tons of stuff going on in the studio so we'll see if there will be a Wave 11 ending this month or possibly next. 

If you were a Wave 10 special tier patron, feel free to move to a different tier as I make that tier unavailable.

If you're still reading maybe you can influence the next poll with a suggestion.

Green, Black, and Red

I wanted to share the progress so far. These little paintings have been enjoyable to work on. Each one is 5x7.

I should have them all complete before the end of the month. But if not within the first week. Then everything gets ordered and I'll begin shipping rewards. My guess is the last week in May.

If you have any questions just let me know. If you have a friend you think would enjoy these or being a patron please share with them.

On June 2 I will be at the Star City Regional event in Schaumburg, IL. If you're going be sure to say hi between rounds.

Goal Busting Exclusive Artwork

I'm working on a ton of drawings now. Patreon, Kickstarter, and of course commission work for everyone's favorite TCG.

I've completed the Exclusive Token that everyone getting a token in the mail will have added to their pack; a Colorless Mana Token. The goal was a sketch version of the card and it also makes for a perfect Colorless Token artwork.

It does occur to me some of you may want this as a Metal Token. If you want one, simply add $10 to your current pledge level. The Colorless Mana Token will not be available to non-Patreon supporters.

Thanks again for all your support. 

Mana Token sketches!

I'm pretty sure this is way more ambitious than I planned. Lucky for you guys!

The drawing will come soon enough and will be your Colorless Mana Token. I'm pretty sure the nature of the drawing will make it obvious enough. ;)

Goal reached!

You guys are totally on track for a sweet bonus token. A sketch version of the mana card. I'll keep it generic unless one of you gives me a fantastic idea. Of course the goal can change before the end of the month but if not, look forward to a free bonus token.

Wave 10 Mana Special!

Hello Patrons! 

I wanted to make Wave 10 pretty cool. I got the idea from a fan and I just have to run with it. Normally I've been doing a piece of artwork and then creating an alternate. This time I wanted to create 4 alternates so you all could have one of each color mana (white, black, red, blue, green). 

For April I've made some adjustments to the tiers. I've listed those adjustments below. I've also added one extra tier for April only, Mana Burn Special. It will include one of each Mana Token in metal.

One more thing I've been thinking about. I made the offer than any patron that supported the Kickstarter will have a free signed Artist Proof added to their pack. So, who gets these? Do I only include those from the launch month? What if a backer signs up now? I think the good guy thing to do is include all patrons between launch and my survey lockdown. Which is the same timeframe as this wave. Everyone wins!

Keep an eye out for some sketches sometime next week.

Adjustments to current posted tiers:

$5 The Greenhorn

• 5 Mana Tokens (1 of each color mana) / 5 will be signed
• 1 Random Token
• 1 City's Blessing Token
• Free shipping Worldwide

$10 The Journeyman

• 10 Mana Tokens (2 of each color mana) / 5 will be signed
• 1 Random Token
• 1 City's Blessing Token
• Free shipping Worldwide

$15 The Wizard

• 5 Mana Tokens (1 of each color mana) / 5 will be signed
• 1 Random Token
• 1 City's Blessing Token
• 1 Metal Token (mana color of your choice)
• Free shipping Worldwide

$20 The Magewright

• 10 Mana Tokens (2 of each color mana) / 5 will be signed
• 19 Random Tokens
• 1 City's Blessing Token
• Free shipping Worldwide

$25 The Alternate

• 20 Mana Tokens (4 of each color mana) / 5 will be signed
• 1 Random Token
• 1 City's Blessing Token
• Free shipping Worldwide

$30 The Alchemist

• 15 Mana Tokens (3 of each color mana) / 5 will be signed
• 8 Random Tokens
• 1 City's Blessing Token
• 1 Metal Token (mana color of your choice)
• Free shipping Worldwide

$40/55 The Elementalist

• 15 Mana Tokens (3 of each color mana) / 5 will be signed
• 1 City's Blessing Token
• 1 Metal Token (mana color of your choice)
• 1 Novelty Token
• 1 Skull Pin
• US and International shipping options

$50/65 Mana Burn Special (Wave 10 only)

• 10 Mana Tokens (2 of each color mana) / 5 will be signed
• 9 Random Tokens
• 1 City's Blessing Token
• 5 Metal Tokens (1 of each color mana)
• US and International shipping options

Wizard needs mana – badly!

Hi All,

In all the Kickstarter chaos I wanted to remind you I have not forgotten about you. I've had you on my mind quite a bit. I have a great plan for Wave 10 (May 1). 

I'll be poking around the reward levels to make sure everything looks good and make any adjustments that make sense. 

My plan for Wave 10 is to cover a few things. One to thank you all for hanging with me. Second to possibly welcome a few new patrons that may come on board soon.

So... what's the plan?

Mana.

I've been asked for Mana tokens for a while now. And I figured there's no way to offer just one color. So, this will be a super special Wave of tokens. I plan on at least five colors. Instead of just one alternate I'll be making alternates for at least 5 colors. Everyone will get at least one of each above the $3 level. 

I have a few things to work out such as how to offer you guys as custom a package as I can. Maybe someone wants more blue than red for instance. I'll be looking at replacing some of the random tokens with more mana if one chooses. 

You can see in the photo I found a cool bottle for my reference. 

Also, don't forget City's Blessing is one of the boosters too.

If you have questions just shoot me a message. I'll have a way more official post soon enough.

City's Blessing

Hey guys, I wanted to share the City's Blessing with you all. Everyone getting a tier with random boosters will get this with Wave 10. Wave 10 will be coming back in April with a last chance signup of April 30th (May 1 billing).

Poison!

I know some of you guys have wanted a Poison Token. It will be part of the current Token Set 2 Kickstarter.

As a reminder, if you're a current backer and patron I'll be sending you a signed MtG artist proof.

The Kickstarter ends in about 2 weeks. I will resume the Patreon side of things after. I'll make a poll to see if you guys want me to have one ready for April 1 or May 1.

I respect all the help you provide and I always want this to be a pleasurable experience. I'm always open to suggestions and comments. 

Full Art Backs

I've updated the Collector Set 2 to have full art backs. Thought some of you might be interested.

Take a gander at the ol' Kickstarter. 

Kickstarter is live!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aaronbmiller/collector-tokens-set-2-by-mtg-artist-aaron-miller

Thanks to anyone that supports the campaign. As a bonus patrons will get a free signed MtG artist proof from me.

If this is not your jam, I will update you about Wave 10 and move forward with it once the Kickstarter is over. If I can I'll have something ready for April 1.

Hydra painting complete

And it's off to the printer. Once everything is in hand I will get Wave 9 folks squared away and get started on what to do on Wave 10. 

If you recently signed up and wanted to be part of Wave 9 but didn't quite make it just send me an email and I'll get you set up. And thanks to those that took advantage of this offer.

aaron@aaronbmiller.com

Thanks for all your support, YOU made this happen.

Hydra progress

Hi everyone, 

I just wanted to check in with you all to share a bit of progress news. The painting is coming along nicely. I decided to work a bit larger at 22"x28". 

I've also been working on the Collector Tokens Set 2 Kickstarter campaign. A lot of work going into the set behind the scenes.  There's some really cool stuff coming that I hope you might like.

Again, I wanted to thank you for giving me the opportunity to work on this painting. You really are patrons to the arts!

Hydra of the Tombs

I hope you're all having a great holiday season. And Happy New Years!!!

As I mentioned in the previous post I probably won't have a paid post for the end of January as I'll be traveling a bit to GP London and working on a few Magic paintings. Plus the holidays made it a little more difficult to get this painting complete before the end of the year. 

but...

I do have the drawing done! I'm really happy with how it turned out and should have the painting done the first week of January. 

In the meantime, enjoy knowing what the Hydra Token will look like in drawing form.

Thank you all so much for your support during the first year of my Patreon. As always if you have comments or ideas please share them. I do listen.

Hydra work begins and other news

Hello folks,

I hope you've had a great holiday so far. New Year's is right around the corner. I've started poking away at the Hydra token. Part of the fun for me is the research behind the creature. Where did it come from? Why did it exist? Was it a metaphor for something?

The other fun part is creating my own creative brief for the creature. I'm working on the twist to the usual. The thumbnails will help set the stage for the composition I want but that still doesn't solve my design problem. Colors, textures, and environment will need to come into play soon enough.

I wanted to go over a few notes with you guys.

First, thanks for sticking with me during the Patreon issues that came up and thankfully went away. 

While I might not have the final art before the 31st. I'll still hit the GO button for this token. It will be ready soon enough. I'll keep you all updated with posts as I go.

There may or may not be a January token. I'll be getting ready for GP London at the end of the month and traveling a little while overseas. Just a few extra days to go to Copenhagen and visit family. 

I am also gearing up for my second Kickstarter. You all will of course get some special treatment for backing both. I've sold out of my decks from the first Kickstarter and wanted to have a new special deck. I'll also be offering an a full art deck as well. Many new tokens,  variants, and exclusives will make it at least worth a look.

Many of you expressed some great ideas to make a new Kickstarter deck worth while and I'll be implementing as many as I can. This will also be a great way for me to finally get to a few of the tokens folks have been asking for. Storm? Merfolk? On my list of new tokens for sure.

Merfolk Hydra!

Merfolk and Hydra are neck and neck. There's still a few days left to vote* since I am finishing up my last Magic card for the year. I'm looking froward to digging into something next week for you guys.

Storm Token is a really close third.

If somehow my Patreon jumped over 1k I might, just might consider a two-for-one wave. meaning I'd do two topics on the list and figure out the details later. More than likely you'd pick a main token and the second would be added either as a booster or an even split for the total number of tokens you'd normally get. First we'd have to get there to find out. 

If you're reading this and don't see a poll to vote on, well you need to be a patron to vote on stuff. Join in on the fun!

Alternates for all

I still need to update all the reward tiers and such but I've decided to add at least one alternate to all tiers that get more than one token. 

It was more initial first fund raising goal but I'll just think of something else to unlock.

You should be getting an email that informs you that from now on we're both covering the fees paid for by Patreon rather than just me. That makes it much easier to afford the added expense of little extras like an alternate token for everyone. I hope the news has you all excited for all the artists you support. 

I'm waiting for all the tokens to arrive. Normally I'd mention that folks getting metal tokens might be waiting a little longer for their packets but by a twist of fate, they arrived first!

Treasure Tokens Unveiled

Here's what's coming at you guys. If you want that silver skull version be sure to jump into a tier that has alternates.

Yule Goat Tokens!!

One of the extras that just might show up in your random token assortment for some of you.

We always had one of these by the tree growing up. We still put one out every year. The Yule Goat is part of some of the old pagan rituals my ancestors still honor today. Even if it's just as decor. 

Today I will be photographing the Treasure Skull painting and getting the token design ready. I will also work on an alternate version. 

The original is for sale in the last tier for any interested. As well as the original drawing. Either one would put me past my first goal (for this month at least) and guarantee an alternate token for everyone receiving a token.

Thanks again to everyone supporting me to keep painting. I know it's easy to see each month's item as just a thing to get. But each one really is a thank you for making this  possible at all.

Treasure Skull WIP

Getting some painting time in this weekend. Another pass or two and it should be good to go.

What does a pass mean? It usually means a detail and/or glazing pass. Glazing is where I use color transparently.

Elementalist Tier Update

I've updated the Elementalist for this month. It's now $40 instead of $50 and will come with a cool Golden Skull Pin and a Golden Skull Treasure Token. We're still working out the final details but it's shiny and gold.

On Wednesday, November 22 all the tokens and playmats will be 50% off for a week. Some items are already marked down.

This will all be happening at aaronbmiller.com.

This is your promo code: HUGESALE17

Treasure (skull) Token progress

Hi all,

I've finished my drawing for the Treasure Token. I'm going to paint a golden jeweled skull. A few things influenced this idea. There's the fact that I did not want to just paint a pile of coins. There really are ornate skulls around the world. And of course my logo icon is a gold skull.

Which means I'm going to totally add a tier to get a Golden Skull Pin. I'm also going to look into an alternate golden skull acrylic novelty Treasure Token. The drawing will be available as well. Look for an update in a week or so. 

Patreon Exclusive Dinosaur

Here is the exclusive alternate version of the Dinosaur Token. If you want one make sure you choose a tier that includes them.

Acrocanthosaurus Rawr!

I figured I'd show you guys the next token. 

I know it's been a roller coaster waiting for the last set. But all the packets are out in the mail. 

It's been a crazy adventure behind the scenes. Thank you all again for the patience in waiting for all the metal tokens. I do have a bunch of extras if anyone wanted more.

One more new tier

A fan reached out and convinced me to add one more tier for a smaller print option - The Gutenburg.

Here you'll get a signed print along with a bunch of cool tokens including some of the alternate art tokens.

Did I forget to mention the alternate art tokens will be exclusive to you guys? Well, they will be.

Dinosaur Token Drawing

I worked on the drawing of the dinosaur today. I'll be using this for the painting which will be a digital piece for your tokens. 

There are so many awesome dinosaurs to be inspired by and I gravitated towards the Acrocanthosaurus.  Or Andy for short.

For the drawing I used Strathmore Toned Tan paper. The pencils used are Prismacolor Col-Erase Tuscan Red and General's Charcoal White.

I love this warm red-brown pencil for it's smoothness and light touch that for some reason really resonates with my drawing style. I tend to be a little heavy handed and this seems to make me not press as hard. I think many comic book artists have a similar love of their non-repro blue pencils. 

The white charcoal pencil is the only one I've found that works well with the colored pencil below. But, that's just me. If you need a bit of a whiter highlight you can use a white pastel. Or even white gouache.

As there is an original, I'll make this first available to my patrons before it's open to the general public.