LOAF's Card Art Adventures! (or: Some Google Searches)

Bandit LOAF

Long Live the Confederation!
Hello WingNuts!

As you may know, I’ve been on a bit of an art kick lately… but my curiosity didn’t stop with thousands and thousands Wing Commander Academy sketches! I recently picked up the original art for a Wing Commander CCG card on eBay, the Kilrathi maneuver card ‘The Savage Feast.’ (It’s in the mail, I’ll share when it gets here!) I’d previously happened across (real darn cheap) two other WCA paintings, the Confederation battle damage cards Accidentally Shoot Wingman and Stabilizer Destroyed. They proudly hang in my living room! The card paintings are super cool; they’re larger than a card but not by much… almost feels like you have little religious icons hanging. And of course you can see a little bit more of each painting than appears on the card (the bleeds and the area covered by card text.)

So I thought to myself: I wonder if there’s any other CCG art online. The cards were done, largely, by fairly mainstream sci-fi/fantasy artists, and such people usually have an online presence if they’re still working today. So I sorted up the official card list, organized it by artist and then cut out all the ‘ORIGIN Systems’ and mission text cards and then started looking for them online! (Here’s the artist/card list, if you’re interested. Living document!: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ujTkaXeBywxlPiCxg5Fq_HgJJtvqqruH005WEpAd98s/edit?usp=sharing)

[Note for the list: I strongly suspect the art credited to Don Perrin, Nicole Harsch and Barclay Shaw are digital pieces and not paintings.)

Spoiler warning: I haven’t found any physical art yet, but I HAVE found some pretty neat digital discoveries I want to share! Without further ado…

The first and possibly most exciting hits were from William Hodgson, who has a DeviantArt page here: http://willtheartman.deviantart.com

He had two pieces of WC art posted, including one I’ve never seen before! It’s a swath of a promo ad he did for the CCG that I at least haven’t ever seen… so now I’m desperate to see the entire painting! Check it out:

9isFqAO.jpg


http://willtheartman.deviantart.com/art/Wing-Commander-III-detail-185954786

His note reads: “This is just a sliver of the promo poster for the Wing Commander III CCG. I really enjoyed the project, in which I got to work with a great group of people at Mag Force 7 (Margaret Weis, Don Perrin, and co.). I'll upload a full image when I can find one!” - I dropped him a line, sure hope he’s been able to find the full image!

He also has the original art for the tHE lOVE aNIMALS luck card:

GxEs5yn.jpg


http://willtheartman.deviantart.com/art/tHE-lOVE-aNIMALS-76146102

“16 x 20, mixed media on hardboard.

Illustration for the Wing Commander III collectible card game, a great game created by an awesome group of people -- but arriving on the CCG scene at the wrong time to be as successful as it could have been.

tHE lOVE aNIMALS were a "technotronic, retro-folk band of the 28th century," serving as a morale-booster in the game, when they toured the space fleet, cheering on the pilots and crews. I figured that some futuristic instruments could be offset by granny glasses and bell bottoms to get the effect.

Copyright W.J. Hodgson and Mag Force 7, all rights reserved.”

I went on to find the very cool Deviantart page of Mr Alan Gutierrez, who was responsible for a whole bunch of cards.

http://alangutierrezart.deviantart.com/

He has posted a full size version of the beautiful ‘pulsar snarls communications’ card. Check it out!

1lyiJ53.jpg


http://alangutierrezart.deviantart.com/art/Pulsar-358094018

His note: “Commissioned by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman 1996, for the card came "Wing Commander"

I did about 10 small illustrations for the card game, with various celestial effects, that might affect the outcome of the game.

This was the only one I ever scanned from the original art.

It's been many years, but my understanding is that a collapsed star-burnt out and becoming more dense, emits electromagnetic radiation (the blue streaks) and, spins very fast, with the light (the eruption in orange) "pulsing" as it spins.

There may be other more accurate depictions, but this was done just for fun, so I'm not interested in the specifics. Just the wonder of outer space...

Gouache on masonite, 7" x 10"”

Finally! From Bob Eggleton, I found a piece that he titled “Drinking With Aliens.” He actually had it up for sale at one point, but unfortunately some lucky person snapped it up! If you’re out there, Drinking With Aliens owner, call me!

r9pMDTb.jpg


http://bobsartdujour.blogspot.com/2016/04/been-awhile-so-here-is-blog-sale.html

This one is very interesting because it’s actually TWO cards: the Confederation Too Much Vak'qu (the right side) and the Kilrathi Too Much Fire Liquor (left) luck cards. For posterity, his note: “Card art to a game by Margaret Weis/Tracy Hickman 6 x15 inches, Acrylics SOLD!.”
 
Pretty cool, all of it. I am constantly amazed what still can be uncovered of our beloved franchise...thanks to never-tiring fans.
 
I have a really fun update! Mr. Gutierrez was kind enough to reply to my message on DeviantArt. He didn't think he had any Wing Commander art left, but he said if he came across any he'd let me know. Then he wrote me back: he still had one painting and was willing to sell it for a very reasonable price. I jumped at the chance and am now the proud owner of the painting used for both the Confederation and Kilrathi "Minefield" cards!

MMeH5Pj.jpg
 
The minefield painting is small, maybe 6" x 8" on a hard board.

... and I have a totally rad update! The art dealer I bought a piece on eBay from contacted me to say he'd found two more card paintings.
unnamed.jpg
I

wc_card_art_2.jpg
paid a bit more than I wanted to, but just look at them... the Shelton Slide!
 
Did you ask the vendor how they came to possess them?
 
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