Artist: Daniel Gelon

Continuing artist month, today I look at Daniel Gelon.

Daniel Gelon was one of the original Magic artists. He started illustrating Magic cards in 1993 (he had nine cards in the Alpha, the very first set). His work appeared in many early core sets (Beta, Unlimited, Revised, Fourth through Sixth Edition) and expansions (Legends, The Dark, Fallen Empires, Ice Age, Chronicles, Homelands, and a few more). He was active through 2006 (Time Spiral), with only reprints since in subsequent releases. 

I don't know how to describe Gelon's style, but I like what I consider to be his nineties-era approach to fantasy art: creatures are done in a way that convey power without being scary (you know you're looking at the fantastic). Some even are light-hearted and amusing (like the Gobling Chirurgeon or Snowman, below).

Ultimately, what I like about his work is the nostalgia. I remember being awed by big creatures (Craw or Scaled Wurm) and enjoying the aforementioned light-hearted cards.

Today, you can still get many of his cards for reasonable prices. But not Wheel of Fortune . . . that will set you back $300 or more.

I use Scryfall for searching for Gelon's illustrations. The following syntaxes in scryfall

artist:"Daniel Gelon" not:digital not:artseries

artist:"Daniel Gelon" not:digital not:artseries unique:prints

yield the following results, respectively:
65 cards

232 cards

So he has illustrated 65 Magic cards that have appeared 232 times (some show up in multiple sets or special releases). Here are some of my favorites (Scaled Wurm, above, is number one):