Magic artist Ken Meyer, Jr. talks about his favorite MTG art pieces

Magic: The Gathering artist, Ken Meyer, Jr., singles out the favorite card art he's done for the game to date and tells the story behind each one, including the artwork for one controversial card. 

"My default is Stone Throwing Devils and that's because it's a combination of realism and a sort of cartoony goofiness because the devils are, really, very cartoony -- super tall, skinny, smiling idiots throwing rocks," he says.  "So, that combination I like.  That was fun."

Another piece of Magic: The Gathering art he's done for the game that stands out to him is his work for the card Kird Ape.  It's a card he painted from a reference photograph he found.


WATCH: KEN MEYER, JR. TALKS ABOUT HIS FAVORITE MTG ART PIECES


"I remember that I got it in National Geographic," he recalls.

As for which issue, Meyer, Jr. says "it was actually [from] the year Magic came out."

A third piece of Magic card art he's done for the game is one he says he never sees fans and players bring to him to be signed or altered, Benalish Trapper.  It was his final card art for Magic and a card for which he thinks features some of his best work.

"I think I was a little bit better then," he confesses.  "Some elements were a lot better -- the detail and stuff was a lot better."

Though he admits it's far from perfect.

"It just didn't read quickly from a distance," he says.  "There was a lot of detail, but the angle was kind of strange and I didn't make the angle work."

Ken Meyer, Jr., is a frequent guest at various large-scale Magic: The Gathering events, including MagicCon.