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Zara Alfonso Illustration

@zaraalfonso.bsky.social

17K followers 300 following 810 posts

Freelance fantasy, sci-fi & surreal artist | Artist on Magic: The Gathering | WotC, Lucasfilm, Games Workshop
Prints: zaraalfonso.com/store
IG: instagram.com/artofzaraalfonso

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Zara Alfonso Illustration @zaraalfonso.bsky.social · Jan 14

Hi #portfolioday I'm Zara, a Canadian artist working mainly on Magic: The gathering and painting for myself in my free time 🖤

“Medusa Portrait” is a portrait painted by the artist Zara Alfonso. A portrait of a young Medusa who looks peacefully towards the viewer, her hair is flowing mass of thick iridescent dark indigo snakes tied up in a head wrap.

“Stasis” is a portrait painted by the artist Zara Alfonso, and is the first piece in her series about invisible illness. A portrait painting of a girl with skin so pale she’s almost translucent, her lips are tinged blue and she gazes upward through seemingly unseeing eyes. Pale moths and winged insects cover the expanse of her face and body, blending into her skin in places.

“Shalai's Acolyte” is a painting by the artist Zara Alfonso, done for the Magic: The Gathering Dominaria United set. A Serran angel floats night among the clouds, backlit by the rising sun. In her hand she holds a glaive grown from the poisonous foliage of the forest far below. Her plated metal armor is a mix of steel with embellished swirls of copper, tied together with long flowing strips of white fabric. She has massive white feathery wings, long flowing dark brown hair, dark skin, and glowing white eyes.

“Kithkin Billyrider” is a painting by the artist Zara Alfonso, done for the Magic: The Gathering March of the Machine set. A tiny kithkin knight rides a billy goat into battle against the Phyrexian invasion. She sheds a few golden tears as she feels the life leave her brothers and sisters who fight beside her.

Reposted by Zara Alfonso Illustration

Bruce Brenneise 🔜Dragonsteel Nexus

@brucedraws.bsky.social

"Things Left Behind", personal piece from 2019 or so. I'm always trying to remind myself to save some time for personal work like this, but I haven't been terribly effective at doing so.

November 30, 2025 at 10:57 PM

Reposted by Zara Alfonso Illustration

Zara Alfonso Illustration

@zaraalfonso.bsky.social

I’m really excited to share that I won the Frank R. Paul Award for Best Magazine Cover Art! My painting Stasis, a self-portrait about invisible illness, was featured on the cover of Uncanny Magazine Issue 58 🖤

#art #painting #portrait #illustration

November 26, 2025 at 8:28 PM

Zara Alfonso Illustration

@zaraalfonso.bsky.social

November 26, 2025 at 8:28 PM

Reposted by Zara Alfonso Illustration

Zara Alfonso Illustration

@zaraalfonso.bsky.social

I’ll be at the Calgary F2F tour this weekend, come say hi if you’re there 🖤

Zara Alfonso will be at the Calgary F2F tour from Nov 21-23. The photo is of the artist standing in front of a large printed banner of her painting of an angel for Magic: the Gathering.

November 20, 2025 at 3:14 PM

Zara Alfonso Illustration

@zaraalfonso.bsky.social

I’ll be at the Calgary F2F tour this weekend, come say hi if you’re there 🖤

November 20, 2025 at 3:14 PM

Reposted by Zara Alfonso Illustration

Zara Alfonso Illustration

@zaraalfonso.bsky.social

Little pumpkin witch pencil sketch 🖤🎃

“Pumpkin Witch” is a traditional graphite pencil drawing by the artist Zara Alfonso. The drawing depicts a cute witch with a pumpkin for a head, holding a broomstick with a tiny gourd cat perched on it.

October 31, 2025 at 10:49 PM

Zara Alfonso Illustration

@zaraalfonso.bsky.social

Little pumpkin witch pencil sketch 🖤🎃

October 31, 2025 at 10:49 PM

Reposted by Zara Alfonso Illustration

Uncanny Magazine

@uncannymagazine.bsky.social

Congratulations to Zara Alfonso, Galen Dara, and John Picacio! Their 2024 Uncanny Magazine covers are all finalists for 2025 Frank R. Paul Best Magazine Cover Art Awards! buff.ly/qvJxWdL

cover of issue 58, titled "Stasis" by Zara Alfonso depicts a brown gray background and a femme-presenting person with long dark hair staring up into space. Her eyes are glazed over white and her lips (and overall complexion) is a gray-blue-white. Moths of a pale-gray-blue-white rest on her face and shoulder

The cover for Uncanny Magazine Issue 56, “Resurrecting Venus" by Galen Dara: In the background, two planets overlap. A large red one is eclipsed by a blue one, the surface is decorated with waves. At the forefront, a woman's face is split in three pieces that are slowly coming together. Spread throughout the motif of sea waves are present in shades of light blue, dark blue, and purple. The outline of koi are spread throughout too, accompanying the woman.

cover for Issue 60, La Musica by John Picacio. A femme person with eyeliner and red lipstick smiles directly at the reader. On her head is a swirling headpiece made of brass instruments, the sides of her face framed by two halves of a cello, earrings of brass instrument parts. Her shoulder pads are made of the black, white, and shaded brown keys of a piano and the body of the dress the curling row of piano keys. Behind her are circular swirls of color

October 6, 2025 at 4:06 PM

Reposted by Zara Alfonso Illustration

die.

@rockthekoopa.bsky.social

It's cheap and versatile. Want to protect your creature after farewell? Remove an attacker that would kill you? Remove a blocker to make sure your hit connects? Remove a combo piece? Need one extra point of damage in your turn?
All for the low price of 1 blue mana thanks to @zaraalfonso.bsky.social