Early Work
This page contains examples of some of my earliest work, both in art style and deck box design. You will see a gradual evolution of it into better work the farther you go. If you don't see the sides of the box, it means the person commissioned just a single image and the sides had a template border matching to the top to fill the sides. When Possible, I will also include the review the person left for it.
First up is my "Journey of Chandra" deck box. I wanted to tell her story through the art and pictures didn't do justice. Its listed in the Legendary Lore for sale. (With an updated crown front)
Toggo/Ishai
This is my favorite deck utilizing artifact tapping shannigans to gain value. I have actually rebuilt this box 3 times, each time with better art.
Mayael the Anima
Once I posted a listing for this design, the orders started rolling in. I loved how this one turned out.
BAugustine VI
Another person wanted to get an Augustine deck box as a gift for their brother. They didn't know much about the game but I told em I'd add a little something extra. I put on the bottom the "Do you pay the one", so he could tap it every time an opponent does anything.
Daenerys
This was the first full custom exterior box that was commissioned of me. At the time it wasn't even an option, but the buyer messaged me and asked about the possibility of having all of the sides be custom. She had a Tariel deck but wanted it Game of Thrones inspired. We agreed on a price and this was the final product. Soon after, I decided to make it an official option. Now 90%+ of my commissions are for enough pieces to cover every side of the box.
Birgi
I loved the Meta-ness of the design this guy requested of me. Birgi, God of Story Telling gets a deck box that tells the story of how the player is going to storm off and win. The different cards involved are Ruby Medallion, Grinning Ignus, and Dragon Storm.
Phyrexians
One of my favorite works ever was this Phyrexian one. The buyer was getting it for a friend and said that he liked Phyrexian lore and specifically a few of the praetors. He didn't have anything specific in mind and left it up to me to come up with something really creative and awesome. I may have gone a little overboard.
We discussed a bunch of options for how to present the praetors. The one we landed on was to show them flanked by Phyrexians Scriptures. Then when you open the case, you see the translation of on the inner piece. The phrases you see here are from the Scars of Mirrodin trailor. I actually had to learn a bit of the actual phyrexian language in order to make sure this was depicted properly.
Long time MTG fans will recognize the center spire as the land card "Phyrexian Tower". The two swishy spires on either side are inspired by a certain mountain art from the Mirrodin Besieged set.
Also, I can't believe I didn't get a picture of it, but the inside of the top of this lid, there are more Phyrexian scriptures intermixed with bloody hand prints and smears, as if it were the walls of a flaying chamber.
The last pieces were these ones. The top is a depiction of Karn, Glissa, and Geth. The inside is the Heartstone, which according to Lore is inside every phyrexian.
It was a ton of fun to make this box but don't count on me going this in depth for every order. It took a long time to make. A long time.
Elspeth
The shadows were really weird to work with in this one. Certain things that were white in color appeared black and vice versa. Also what often happens is clipping - usually weapons, wings and other essential objects disappear off the side of the frame. I have to fill them in, or sometimes shorten them to make them fit within the square. In this one, Elspeth's sword goes off the side. I shortened it and rounded the tip.
A simple alteration compared to some other cards.
Kikki-Jikki, Tibalt,
BlightSteel Collosus, Custom Quote
An adorable Gisela design
a guy commissioned for his girlfriend
"Through every feast we enjoy to the worst famine we brave together..."
"... and every high of our everlasting fire to the ice of our coldest lows..."
"I love you Sierra, always and forever yours. - Ben"
I'm really happy with how this turned out, We had some discussion about which versions of the swords and then he asked about the possibility of putting a poetic message added to them. Of course I couldn't resist making it as cute as possible. His words on the matter:
"Holy s***, you are a god damn artist, like I cannot be more pleased. These are even more beautiful than I expected, EXACTLY what I wanted, completely unique and well crafted for our favorite two decks."
Do these deck boxes make great gifts? Maaaaaaaaybeeeee :)
Full: Mairsil, The Pretender, Magus of the Wheel,
Razaketh, Aetherling
Remember what I said about sometimes having to paint in elements that are cropped in the original art? Yeah, that was a major thing with these. I had to paint in Razaketh from the knees down, and everything on Aetherling from the elbows down. Also Aetherling has alot of elemental wispiness which doesn't work so well in this style so I had to redo a bunch of that to visualize better on the box.
Anime Karn, Geralf's Messenger
Orzhov Life Drain
Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
Wound Reflection
Debt to the Deathless
Font of Agonies
This one was fun to do because the recipient was very open ended about what he wanted. Just "life drain theme". So I wanted to symbolize the anti-symmetrical nature of one player losing life while another gained it by using all symmetrical artworks. I ran by a bunch of options by him and these are the end result.
Trostani
Temple Garden, Temple Garden, and Sunpetal Grove
I like this one because I managed to get the art pieces to wrap around in one continuous image. And of course, I somehow didn't take a picture to show this.
Hannah, Ship's Navigator
Decree of Silence, Solitary Confinement,
Solemnity, Phyrexian Unlife.
This art scheme is based around a few hard lock stax combos. Solemnity + any of the other pieces keeps opponents from casting spells, dealing damage, or causing a game loss. This was the first time I did this blue on white style. I'm not sure I'm going to offer it in the future. It was extra work and with no dark stain, any paint bleed in the wood grain couldn't be covered up. The polycrylic coating also made it more difficult to assemble the box because it would form a layer in between the sawtooth edges and cause the pieces to bulge outward. I had to go back in and sand those. Let me know if you want this and maybe we can work something out.
Full: Gargos, Viscious Watcher
Lifeblood Hydra, Managorger Hydra, Gaea's Cradle
Gatewatch
Thought Knot Seer, Reality Smasher
A little context on this one. This person ordered this for their Modern deck. A friend of theirs had made a cartoon version of them with a GateWatch Oath pose, so that went on top instead of a commander.
Yawgmoth, K'rrick, Yawgmoth's Vile Offering, and some phyrexian orb thing.
Mox Tantalite with a planeswalker symbol and a filigree border.
I've been wanting to try adding color for a while and this commissioner liked my idea of adding all four colors of Kynaios and Tiro to the box. The hardest part of this is how paint interacts with the stain, namely, it gets covered by it. So for these I had to stain the wood first and then really grind the tape on hard so there was no bleeding. I engrave and then paint. Then I mix a holographic filament into a transparent paint and layer that on top. I have to
re-sand all of the sharp edges and then restain those. Finally I use a clear coat to seal it all in since some of the filaments can be rubbed off.
This picture doesn't do it justice. It truly does radiate opalescent beauty in person. So now that I have had my first successful test, I have now made this "Nyx Treatment" and official option!
Check out 'Gallery the Third'
for my latest pieces and design improvements.