Alters by MIB Alters.
I started thinking about the concept for these alters a bit over a year ago before the commission. I saw that MIB did sets of lands with small characters on them, interacting with the original art or the frame. I thought it was a cool concept, but those lands were extended versions of the original Unglued lands, and by then I was already set on using Snow-Covered basic lands in the deck, which didn’t fit the style of MIB’s sets. Then after I commissioned my first Snow-Covered panorama, I thought to ask MIB for a panorama of two characters interacting, because he is great at making the wildest ideas come to life.
I’ve described a snowball fight between young Avacyn and Gisela, suggesting that perhaps Gisela should hide behind a gravestone because that would fit with the Command Tower that I commissioned from MIB previously. I also thought it would be funny if Avacyn was holding the white mana symbol from the card’s rules box.
MIB went with a full graveyard scene in his sketch. The only change I asked for was to swap the various crosses for the collar of Avacyn, like we’ve done with the Command Tower. Otherwise the whole thing was great, it captured my idea perfectly and the composition works really well as a panorama. I also really liked that MIB included Gisela’s swords, he has great attention to detail.
The colours on the final piece were muted compared to some of the previous alters from MIB but I thought it really fit the snow-covered scene, and it makes the included colours stand out more in contrast. I find the purple and blue hues quite lovely. Coincidentally these colours match nicely with the Snow-Covered panorama by Indra Antoneviča. The last change was to adjust Avacyn’s eyes from blue to white.
Facebook page: MIB Alters