Artist: Seb McKinnon

McKinnon drew this for the Throne of Eldraine set

Last December, I introduced an artist series, where I look at favorite or prolific Magic card artists. Then, I looked at Jesper Myrfors, Christopher Rush, Anson Maddocks, and Kev Walker. Fun artists, certainly, but not my favorites. This year, I'll cover some of them, and I'll with Seb McKinnon.

Seb McKinnon started illustrating Magic cards in 2012 (he had one card in the M13 core set). His distinctive and evocative style soon shone forth and became quite popular; his illustrations are easily identified and are considered "wistful" and "dreamlike" (source). I love his stuff.

As always, Scryfall is our source for searching cards. Using the following syntaxes in scryfall

artist:"Seb McKinnon" not:digital

artist:“Seb McKinnon” unique:prints not:digital

artist:“Seb McKinnon” unique:prints not:digital not:reprint

Yields the following results, respectively:

145 cards

313 cards

127 cards

Note: that last search isn't helpful. I include it for future reference, but it is confusing: the search would omit some cards McKinnon illustrated if the card was previously printed with an illustration by another artist. So let's ignore that one and focus on the top two.

So he has illustrated 145 Magic cards that have appeared 313 times (some show up in multiple sets or special releases). Here are some of my favorites:

McKinnon's works can portray evil, temptation, loneliness, or brokenness. And they evoke a longing—for strength, wholeness, and restoration. His art always stirs me in powerful ways. For some reason, though he has never (to my knowledge) done works on King Arthur, I think he captures the spirit of the Arthurian tales perfectly.

I haven't seen new cards from him since 2022 (in the Dominaria United set). I hope he does more in the future . . . his work is poignant and powerful.