What is your favorite piece of MTG art?

[Rinzler]

The title really says it all.  What is your favorite art on a magic card?  My favorite is probably Black Lotus from Vintage Masters.  The color contrast between the vibrant flower and the white background really makes it pop.  What about y'all?

[Elan Morin Tedronai]

The Ur-Dragon for me is probably the best. The flowering of so many colours is absolutely perfect.

[Akira Foxmind]

My absolut favorite artwork is clearly on Arcane Flight. I just love the cats eyes.
Though, it took some time for me to realize what exactly happens there. There are quite some possible interpretations of why the cat is flying (p. ex. hunting the bird in front of him, getting thrown by the guy, fleeing from that guy or beeing posessed by some arcane bird)

When I saw this card the first time I instandly began to search for items/merchandise/boxes/sleeves with it and bought my third playmat xD

[Morganator 2.0]

Probably Uktabi Orangutan. I just think the monkeys in the background are hilarious. I'm sure you understand why. I also really like Sydri, Galvanic Genius and Gaea's Blessing. It's hard to choose a favorite.




But without a doubt, my least favorite is Ekundu Cyclops. I just hate everything about it. The muscle and fat distribution on the cyclops is just so unnatural. Those skinny arms paired with that massive body. The front-butt. And I haven't even brought up the phallic imagery.

[WWolfe]

I know this is going to shock everyone, but my favorite art is on a zombie card.

Gravecrawler, but not the basic art. The one that was the Dark Ascension Buy A Box promo.

[Morganator 2.0]

This one?

[WWolfe]

Yep that’s the one! Thanks Morganator!

[WizardSpartan]

Mine is a tie between Baleful Strix and Dragon Whisperer.

Dragon Whisperer:


Baleful Strix:


I'm a big fan of the detail put into these cards, and I love fantasty-style art, so the weird wood/metal/I don't know wtf Baleful Strix is made of actually is cool & the eyes of both the Whisperer and the giant dragon behind them is so cool to me.

[Aetherium Slinky]

I love steampunk so one of my favourite cards and artworks is Aether Hub.

[CleanBelwas]

Man, I could talk about Magic art all day.

The way Nils Hamm blends colour to create an ethereal, dream like state.
Seb McKinnon's abstract and macabre interpretations.
Everything Rebecca Guay has ever done.
The way Noah Bradley uses light.
The way Jaime Jones creates a sense of scale and granduer.

-- EDIT --

Drew Tucker! How could I forget Drew Tucker. Ashes to Ashes is both an underrated gem in EDH and an impressionist masterpiece.
And Kev Walker. More than 400 Magic cards and hugely influential over the "look" of magic through the years. His old frame Swamp art is *chef's kiss*. And I love Foul Imp. Such a grumpy looking face.

-----------

Also, Brood of Cockroaches.

Absolute favourite is Baleful Strix. Nils Hamm is unbelievable.

[Xaarvaxus]

But without a doubt, my least favorite is Ekundu Cyclops. I just hate everything about it. The muscle and fat distribution on the cyclops is just so unnatural. Those skinny arms paired with that massive body. The front-butt. And I haven't even brought up the phallic imagery.

Robert Bliss has to be one of my least favorite artists ever, regardless of genre or format [doesn't top my hatred for Rothko though] for all the reasons you list as each trope seemed to be required in all of his work.  How do the legs of his figures not snap under the weight of those big bellies? 



Withering Boon is one I particularly dislike, even for Bliss' work.  At least the art for the cyclops has a decent composition, even if the figures are unpleasant to look at.

As for favorites, wow, I don't know that I could narrow it down to a top 25.  The list could change each day depending on what pool of cards I'd been looking through at the time as MTG has had no shortage of amazing art, especially since Jeremy Jarvis took over art direction.  Kulrath Knight is the only one that prompted me to actually buy a playmat.



But, there is a certain stable of artists whose work always seems to rise to the top for me: Magali Villeneuve, Wayne Reynolds, Karla Ortiz, Nils Hamm, Daarken, Terese Nielsen, landscapes by both John Avon and Rob Alexander, I like a lot of Steve Belledin's stuff [and am a fan of the original Gravecrawler art], Drew Baker and more that just aren't leaping to mind right this second.

@WizardSpartan, I'd never seen Dragon Whisperer before [wasn't buying much during Khans], I may have to move Rallis onto my list as that pic kicks some serious ass.

And how do you get the larger images to imbed?

[WizardSpartan]

go to Scryfall.com and enter your card name. At the bottom, there are 3 columns of options. In the 3rd column (labeled Images and Copy-Paste), there's a button labeled Download Art Crop. Click on it, then a page opens with just the card's art. Right click on the art and choose Copy Image Address. Then, just do what you would do for regular pictures.

Hope this makes sense.

[Morganator 2.0]

And how do you get the larger images to imbed?

It just depends where the source of the image is. For example, Scryfall has larger images than Gatherer.

[Slyvester12]

As others have said, basically anything from Seb Mckinnon, Terese Nielson, Nils Hamm, etc...

If I had to pick one, it would probably be either Deliver Unto Evil or Soulherder (with honorable mention to Rout from the CMD decks and most other New Phyrexia / Phyrexian art).

Honestly, there are a few blocks that always do it for me. Mirrodin, New Phyrexia, Innistrad, original Zendikar, and some of the older sets like Weatherlight and Urza's Saga.

[WizardSpartan]

I'm not an art guru, but I've decided that Seb McKinnon is God's gift to us. Every piece I see of his makes me go pog, so yeah.

Like, look at this: https://scryfall.com/search?q=a%3A%E2%80%9CSeb+McKinnon%E2%80%9D&order=released&unique=art

Bro, every single card is mind-boggling.