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muddycolors.bsky.social
Muddy Colors
@muddycolors.bsky.social
470 followers 6 following 49 posts
Daily Posts from the Fantasy Art Collective // Since 2009. Reposts by our contributing editors. Account managed by @corygodbey.bsky.social.
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www.muddycolors.com/2025/04/bob-...
Bob & Brad
In the past month we've lost two absolute legends of the Illustration community, Robert E. McGinnis [above left] at the age of 99 on March 10 and Brad Holland [above right] at the age of 81, following...
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April 21, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Muddy Colors
michaelwhelan.bsky.social
We’re pleased to announce Whelan Wednesdays, a new schedule for original art releases that will carry us through spring.

We’ll be adding an original to the shop every Wednesday at 11am ET, starting with this preliminary concept for WIND AND TRUTH.

www.michaelwhelan.com/shop/to-hold...
Tonal preliminary concept for WIND AND TRUTH featuring Dalinar Kholin in Alethi uniform standing with his back to the audience on a platform high in the mountains. He holds his arms up with his left hand clenched in a fist. There is a glow about him and a book is floating over his head. The sky is made of a broad swirling vortex of clouds with an opening at the center. The mountains are beautifully detailed, jagged with snow covering steep slopes and filling the crevices in the rock.
April 2, 2025 at 3:00 PM
muddycolors.bsky.social
www.muddycolors.com/2025/04/jim-...
Jim Henson Presents No. 1 - Labyrinth
Over the years, I’ve chronicled my affection for and work within the worlds created by Jim Henson and Brian Froud here on Muddy Colors. From the official prequel novels for The Dark Crystal (which bec...
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April 2, 2025 at 1:17 AM
muddycolors.bsky.social
www.muddycolors.com/2025/03/lines/
Lines
Unlike a painter, I work primarily in Line to separate shapes, as opposed to value. Unfortunately, lines don’t appear in the natural world that we see, but are an invention used to describe the separa...
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March 31, 2025 at 4:32 PM
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www.muddycolors.com/2025/03/full...
Full process on Bone-Cairn Butcher for Magic: the Gathering
A little over a year ago, I attempted to document every stage of the process in creating a painting for Magic the Gathering.  That painting has finally been publicly released: Bone-Cairn Butcher for t...
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March 26, 2025 at 7:53 PM
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www.muddycolors.com/2025/03/sket...
Sketching With Gurney and Kinkade
In 1980 young artists James Gurney and Thomas Kinkade climbed aboard a boxcar in Los Angeles and road the rails East seeking visual adventures. Drawing anything and everything all along the way, they ...
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March 24, 2025 at 6:07 PM
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www.muddycolors.com/2025/02/conc...
Concept Process
This time I’d like to talk about my concept art process which is a hybrid process that seems more complicated than it is. I lay that out below but I would like to say that, for the most part, concept ...
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March 3, 2025 at 3:06 PM
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www.muddycolors.com/2025/02/befo...
Before The Paint
The Character In Context Show first opened in 2024 at the A. R. Mitchell Museum in Trinidad, Colorado, and becomes an annual show with it's return this coming May. The show is curated by fellow illust...
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February 25, 2025 at 4:10 PM
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www.muddycolors.com/2025/02/to-g...
To Green Angel Tower - cover art
Periodically I make the choice to lean in heavily on a commission, dramatically increasing the amount of labor, focus, and intent I wish to bring to a painting.  This bar is raised by myself, never by...
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February 13, 2025 at 4:29 PM
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www.muddycolors.com/2025/02/fisc...
Fischer Paints: Gonti- the Night Minister for Magic the Gathering
Hey folks! This month I will take you through my latest for Magic the Gathering, Gonti: Night Minister for Magic: the Gathering- Aetherdrift. Pretty small piece for me at 12X16. We do a quick acrylic ...
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February 11, 2025 at 6:54 PM
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www.muddycolors.com/2025/02/cut-...
Cut Flowers Chapter 2 Cover
I've been hard at work evenings and days off, getting Chapter 2 of my comic Cut Flowers finished. It's finally complete and off to the printers! One of the great side benefits of a big personal proje...
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February 10, 2025 at 6:26 PM
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www.muddycolors.com/2025/02/kidd...
Kiddos part 2
Hey everyone...Whew! It's been a surprisingly busy month, for which I’m incredibly grateful for.  I tend to be a happier Coro when I have too much on my plate, vs having nothing to do but obsess and f...
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February 6, 2025 at 7:26 PM
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www.muddycolors.com/2025/02/cine...
Cinematic Lighting for Outdoor Concepts
Here are a couple of lighting methods I use to help my outdoor concepts work better. These work well on interiors also but interiors will probably be a later post. I’m sure there might be a name for t...
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February 5, 2025 at 7:13 PM
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www.muddycolors.com/2025/02/shor...
Short Order Art
In Comic-book culture, there’s been a long tradition of doing convention sketches for fans and collectors. Back in the 70’s and 80’s, these used to be quick and free, but thanks to the secondary marke...
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February 4, 2025 at 6:55 PM
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www.muddycolors.com/2025/01/illu...
Illustrating Starling House
Today I’m sharing my illustrations for Starling House by Alix E. Harrow! I’ve been a fan of Harrow’s work since illustrating a special edition of The Once and Future Witches a few years ago, so when I...
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January 31, 2025 at 3:22 PM
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www.muddycolors.com/2025/01/year...
Year of the Snake
Well it’s officially The Year of The Snake, 2025, and I’m sharing my first painting of the year, titled Queen Cobra. This was painted for a group exhibition at Modern Eden Gallery with the Year of the...
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January 31, 2025 at 2:23 AM
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www.muddycolors.com/2025/01/trad...
Traditional-Digital Legacy with Matthew Schenk
Traditional and Digital tools together are being used in collaboration in  illustration today more than ever. I’m bringing Muddy Colors an artist and gifted teacher who rides the waves of technology ...
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January 28, 2025 at 6:21 PM
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www.muddycolors.com/2025/01/deja...
Déjà Vu
Earlier this month we all witnessed two horrific firestorms: the one that devastated the neighborhoods surrounding Los Angeles and the one that engulfed the career one of the most successful and impor...
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January 27, 2025 at 2:23 PM
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www.muddycolors.com/2025/01/tren...
TrendWatching Part 1: Philosophy
It's a big part of my job as a Creative Director to be on top of bookcover trends. Actually, no, that's not accurate. It's a big part of my job to be ahead of trends before they hit bookcovers. Which ...
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January 23, 2025 at 7:24 PM
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www.muddycolors.com/2025/01/fear...
Fear of Photos
Working from photos comes up every semester I teach. The students are always concerned that it’s cheating. Ridiculous. If you know how to train yourself to draw, then photography is not an issue. It c...
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January 22, 2025 at 3:56 PM
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www.muddycolors.com/2025/01/fisc...
Fischer Paints: Breathing in the Stardust
Ahhh Ziggy... You know of all of Bowie's personas, he is perhaps the most iconic. The music, the hair, the outfits, that lightning bolt. Heh, my father saw this piece in process. Dad is 80 years old a...
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January 15, 2025 at 2:38 AM
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www.muddycolors.com/2025/01/rest...
Restoration Angel Painting Process
Here's the full image of my Magic card illustration "Restoration Angel" for Innistrad Remastered, art directed by Jameela Wahlgren. It's 11 x 14 inches and done completely in acrylic, on a cradled Bli...
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January 13, 2025 at 5:47 PM
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www.muddycolors.com/2025/01/favo...
favorite subjects
Happy 2025! Here are some paintings I started over Christmas week of my four kids. i hadn’t painted them in a while, and Im trying to get a round of them out at least evert couple years to document th...
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January 9, 2025 at 4:00 PM
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www.muddycolors.com/2025/01/pres...
"Presearch" — Part 1 of 3
Amazing Spider-Man #638, Cover. 2010 Watercolor and gouache on Illustration Board, 11 x 17". Part 1: Why do we need reference? — Refining searches through specificity — Today begins a 3-part post on...
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January 8, 2025 at 9:03 PM
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www.muddycolors.com/2025/01/dold...
Doldrums and Sea Monsters
For this, my first post of the new year, I’d considered delving into the collapsed and cratered landscape of social media. But there’s no sunny upside to that, is there? That particular ouroboros wou...
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January 7, 2025 at 9:44 PM