Wanted to share my non-Pokemon collection. I’ve played MTG since I was a kid, and Donato Giancola’s artwork on them were always some of my favorites. It’s not an understatement that he influenced a lot of my own desire to start painting. His work has appeared in almost every MTG set, starting from Mirage.
Pre-pandemic, I’d table at a variety of art shows / comic conventions selling my artwork. At one of these conventions, Donato was also there as well, which was insane since his work was something I had idolized for so long. I stopped by his table during the artist staging hours before the show opened each day, and had an amazing time learning about his long career in fantasy art.
For those not familiar with Magic the Gathering, each artist is given 50 copies (and now, 30 foil copies) of what are called “Artist Proofs”. These have the front side of the MTG card printed on them, but the back side is blank. They’re meant to show the artist what their work will look like once printed on actual cards. Here’s a page of artist proofs, with the reverse showing that they’re blank backs:
They’re very similar to the Pokemon illustrator contest cards–each artist only gets a small number of them, and there are no other sources of the proofs. However, since they have identical card fronts to the actual printed cards, they don’t command nearly the same price premium. Artists will often sell proofs off with small sketches or paintings on the back. Donato was kind enough to illustrate Gandalf on the back of my Patron Wizard proof (he’s also known as the illustrator for many Lord of the Rings books & anthologies)
Donato still had several “master sets” of his proofs remaining from his 20+ years of illustrating for MTG. I made an agreement with him to purchase and maintain a set, and here it is! Each card is signed in gold by him per my request, and includes some rarities like the 1999 Japanese Gotta Magazine Archangel that was never printed in an actual set. As Donato is still illustrating for MTG to this day, this collection will continue to grow, but for now it is “complete”.
