In December 2022, I introduced an artist series where I look at favorite or prolific Magic card artists.
Today, I look at Terese Nielsen.
Terese Nielsen started illustrating Magic cards in 1996 (she had six cards in the Alliances set) She was active through 2020 or so; apparently her political views ran afoul of those at Wizards. Her style is instantly recognizable, using gouache (I had to look that up) to produce her signature look. On her website, she summarizes her approach/focus as follows:
Stirring within me is an amalgam of aspects I love: ancient texts, sacred geometry, whirling strands of DNA, earthly textures, luminous gold, the elegance of the human form, all swimming in an atmosphere of love and transcendence.
Reading through her page, I would disagree with her on many things, but I do love her stuff. I think the luminous part is what I enjoy the most; it does point to transcendence and something existing beyond ourselves.
I use Scryfall for searching for Nielsen's illustrations. The following syntaxes in scryfall
artist:"Terese Nielsen" not:digital not:artseriesartist:"Terese Nielsen" not:digital not:artseries unique:prints
yield the following results, respectively:
202 cards
202 cards
400 cards
So she has illustrated 202 Magic cards that have appeared 400 times (some show up in multiple sets or special releases). Here are some of my favorites:
So she has illustrated 202 Magic cards that have appeared 400 times (some show up in multiple sets or special releases). Here are some of my favorites:
