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Episode 45: Mail Time 2! with Adam Paquette
106 Plays6 years ago
Hello, Podwalkers, and welcome to the Goblin Lore Podcast!
In our forty-fifth episode, the goblin crew opens up their mailbag for YOUR QUESTIONS with Australian artist (now in Germany) Adam Paquette (@AdamPaquette)! Make sure you check out the beginning to the mailbag in last week's show.
Adam answers the important questions in this one, like how he worked on improving his artistic craft, what reprint he would request a commission of if he could, what MTG tribe and guild are his favorite, and how long he's grown a beard for.
A reminder that you can support Adam's incredible, inquisitive artistic work by buying a print, by following along with his Magic journey online, and especially by following his personal work on Instagram (@adampaquette).
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We have launched our new Patreon! You can join beginning at the $1 "Goblin Bangchuckers" tier, which gets you access to our private Discord server where you can talk all things lore, life, and love with other goofy gobbos like yourself. Additional rewards and tiers continue to be added!
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Remember: we've reached 400 followers on Twitter and will announce the lucky winner soon! Keep the word of mouth going; at 500 followers, we will do a random prize draw for two lucky followers!
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You can find the hosts on Twitter: Joe Redemann at @Fyndhorn, Hobbes Q. at @HobbesQ, and Alex Newman at @AlexanderNewm. Send questions, comments, thoughts, hopes, and dreams to @GoblinLorePod on Twitter or GoblinLorePodcast@gmail.com.
Opening and closing music by Wintergatan (@wintergatan). Logo art by Steven Raffael (@SteveRaffle).
Goblin Lore is proud to be presented by Hipsters of the Coast, and a part of their growing Vorthos content – as well as Magic content of all kinds. Check them out at hipstersofthecoast.com.
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Transcript
00:00:12
Speaker
All right.
Becoming an Artist: A Journey Begins
00:00:13
Speaker
We've got a question, another question from Matt Morgan-Wrightworth. When did you know you'd become a professional artist? Oh, is that what I am? This would be the best place for you to give that announcement because we would. Yeah, I'm an artist. I'll leave professional up to the to the critics, but
00:00:35
Speaker
No, I, when did I know I, I never, I never asked the question somehow, but like definitely as I said in the last episode, there was a switch from this vague idea of like being a writer, being a philosopher, being into art somehow to like, Oh, it's a visual thing. And that was obviously based on external forces of like, what am I, what are people interested in? And what am I being accepted for? And therefore what, what might work as a path for me?
00:01:06
Speaker
But I guess that from the very beginning, from when I was a young kid, I just had an assumption that I was going to do something vaguely in that territory.
Emotional Recognition from Family
00:01:18
Speaker
Exactly. All the people around me in my childhood were professional storytellers or somehow professionally involved in culture in some way. It was just an assumption for me that that would be where my road took me. My dad actually was a financial advisor. A couple of times he tried to rope me into that. He's like, my son's going to take over the whole family business when he grows up. I was like,
00:01:49
Speaker
I just work here because I can use the printer when you're not looking. Print off my artistic inspiration and pin it up at home. At some point, he got that. When I was living over in Bali, he came over at one point. My parents split when I was young, but I always saw him, but less often than I did my mum.
00:02:15
Speaker
So when I was living in Bali, he came over to visit for a couple of weeks. And for the first time, he lived in this house that I had set up as my art studio and had my painting stuff. And I just remember seeing it click for him, that this was what I did and that it was going to be what I did for the rest of my life and that I was relatively good at it. And seeing his fascination with what I was doing, the way that I was always looking at him and being fascinated by what he did for work was really cool.
Internal vs. External Validation
00:02:44
Speaker
Yeah, to answer the question, I think it was always an assumption, but it was probably more the moment that I realized I was an artist rather than that I was going to be one. There's like a gradual process of like, oh, this is it. It's becoming stable now.
00:02:59
Speaker
you know, my mom isn't bringing me frozen soup anymore, you know, because I can't afford food. I can pay my own bills now. Cool. You know, that, that series of signals from the world of like, oh, and now, now like, I'm good enough that, that artists are interacting with me online. Oh, I'm good enough that D&D wants me. Oh, I'm good enough that I'm being poached from one company to a, to a higher brand, like those,
00:03:23
Speaker
Gradual feedback signals from the world that tell you like yes, what what you're doing is working Continue and then at some point At some point you stop getting that positive feedback and it's up to you what you want to do and and you have to learn to like set your own standards of acknowledgement from from you know internally of like
00:03:43
Speaker
What do I need to see in my own work to know myself that I'm on track, that I fulfill my idea of what it means to be an artist? And that's where I'm at now. That's what my 30s are about.
Art Scenes: Australia vs. US
00:03:56
Speaker
I mean that assumption that you talked about in the last episode of just, you kind of assumed that everybody had that viewpoint of creativity and imagination. So this question and kind of like you said, it was always an assumption. There wasn't really doubt because your brain didn't really think of a different world. It was just, that's how things are. That's how things are going to be.
00:04:16
Speaker
now I found my niche or I found my way that I'm going to tell these stories. But doesn't everybody tell stories? It's not like I thought everyone was an artist, obviously. The other difference I guess is that in Australia we don't
00:04:31
Speaker
there's not quite the same professional competitive thing in the arts because like for a number of reasons but one of the main ones being that art school isn't this incredibly hideously expensive debt that hangs over you for 20 years like it can be in the US and there's not this ultra competitive thing of like okay I want to work for magic I have to get my portfolio ready and then I have to go to Comic-Con and I have to get that time in front of an art director like
00:04:57
Speaker
we just don't have those opportunities and therefore we're a bit naive and we grow up with it. I mean, probably not now, but when I grew up without the internet, definitely.
Confidence and International Success
00:05:06
Speaker
So it was a bit of a like, I bumbled my way into it, you know? And I think that if I was the same age and grew up in the US, I probably would have had a lot more of a fire under my ass and a lot more fear and a lot more, you know, anxiety about getting that work because I was surrounded by other people that were hustling to do it, you know? So, um,
00:05:24
Speaker
Yeah, I lucked into it and at the same time I think that it was my naive confidence and enthusiasm that probably got me in the door because I was the one that
00:05:36
Speaker
you know, turned up to an art workshop in Massachusetts, barefoot coming out of the jungle of Bali, like, Oh, hey, guys, what's up? Oh, magic. That's cool. I'd like to do some magic cards. And he's like, Who is this guy? Like, dripping in prayer beads and rings and jewelry and wearing a sarong like, Yeah, we'll take him. He's weird. You know, I think if I turned up trying to get the job, I probably would have stuffed it up.
Illustrating Cards: Preferences and Mythology
00:06:00
Speaker
You know,
00:06:04
Speaker
So our next question comes again from at Wobbles, which is a very interesting question, I think, from seeing the art world versus the play world that we've talked about, that intersect between the fact that this is still a game, there is a commercial aspect to it. And he kind of asks, do you prefer illustrating a card that isn't powerful, but has an interesting art description, or a powerful card that has more prescribed directions? And that's, I understand it's kind of a
00:06:36
Speaker
I mean, if somebody who doesn't play the game a ton, that might be a very difficult thing to answer in the sense that you don't, I guess, know what the card is going to be at the end. But I do think that that's the interesting, like the obvious answer is, well, I'm just an artist, so I want the interesting art direction. But OK, what is interesting art direction?
00:06:56
Speaker
You know, in a game where literally everything is meant to be a cool image, all of the briefs are cool. You know, they're all equally visually meant to be. I mean, it's up to you to make them all equally visually impressive and do the best painting you've ever done, if possible. So what is interesting in that direction? Well, it could actually be.
00:07:14
Speaker
a reprint of a powerful card and being like, oh, now I have something to latch onto here. Like now I have some expectations to live up to. I have a bit of history behind this card. So, you know, maybe it's more important that it's a card with an identity in the game rather than it's literal card power, which
00:07:32
Speaker
Probably the only reason that's going to matter to me is if it's a card that's likely to do well in terms of selling the original painting. But unless it's a reprint, I'm not going to know that.
00:07:50
Speaker
You know, and I'm not a predominantly character artist, so I guess I would know if it was going to be an angel or a planeswalker or something like that. But I mean, that was the one thing I was thinking, you know, if you get a planeswalker, you at least have the idea that it's probably going to be meant to be powerful now, whether how much play it'll see is a very different question. Right. But getting, like, for Elise, you have a history element and you know that there's more of a prescribed
Goblins and Pop Culture
00:08:11
Speaker
probably direction and you're getting to do.
00:08:15
Speaker
a character that we haven't seen fully. So I would say that my two favorite scenarios are
00:08:23
Speaker
getting a genuinely interesting, different art brief that surprises me, which is that stuff we talked about before, like something weird and abstract, or something really central to the mythology of the game, where they're happy for me to play on the edges of what's possible in magic, or something with a really tight expectation, and really how can I
00:08:49
Speaker
How can I speak to the history of this thing and do a good job and make it rewarding for the players? Sorry, but you did leave off your third prompt that you would love to get, which is a legendary or planeswalker goblin of some sort. Right, yeah, exactly. Oh, that's part of the 60-foot oil painting in the castle. Okay, good. I was going to say. It's a central figure. I think your talent's being wasted. I see you as probably a goblin artist that hasn't had that opportunity. As long as you didn't see me as a goblin, I guess.
00:09:20
Speaker
I mean, we see everybody as goblins. Yeah, actually, you know, goblins in a weird way were kind of probably if I had to look at the very first most influential pop culture or entertainment thing that influenced me, the first and second movies that I ever saw were The Dark Crystal and The Labyrinth. And The Labyrinth was like all time like, like I dreamt about that for 10 years, you know, so.
00:09:50
Speaker
Yeah, actually, they've just announced a Dark Crystal Netflix. And I actually worked on like, I don't know, 10 years ago, I worked on what was going to be a follow up film. And I believe from watching the trailer that they must have gotten that work that I did for that and fed it into the Netflix guys, because there's a couple of moments in that trailer that speak pretty clearly to the work that I did. So I'm going to
00:10:18
Speaker
I'm excited about showing that. I think it's late August, it comes out, and I'll be able to upload that art. That's awesome. Okay, well then we know that there's some goblins on the way. Goblins are in there somewhere. Yeah, they're on their way. Wizards, if you're listening, Planeswalker, and let us preview it. We're just saying. Is there a Planeswalker goblin? Not yet. There is. They're ready.
00:10:43
Speaker
The ready is the planeswalker goblin. All right. I think I have enough clout to actually send them an email and be like, wink, wink, nudge, nudge. If this comes up, let me know. I mean, OK. We would love it. I mean, yeah. So we've already been pushing lately. I mean, our joke is that we're pushing for better representation of goblins and magic. Nice.
00:11:10
Speaker
Right. So again, another question here.
Balancing Personal and Professional Art
00:11:13
Speaker
At 4thos, Mike asks, you can paint traditional art, non-traditional, and do so. So where are all of your work? Prove it, buddy. Buddy, get it out on the market here.
00:11:27
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, this is something I spoke a little bit to before about the nature of the personal work that I'm doing, this boundary with going into spaces that don't allow photography, and my work is dealing with these questions of privacy and what do you show.
00:11:45
Speaker
Lately a big part of that is I've just done a big body of work in these private spaces. I don't want to plaster that all over Instagram, which would be the antithesis of the thing that created that culture in the first place. So I'm still figuring out what I do with that. Like do I, do I just respectfully show that body of work as a body of work rather than like spamming it all over Instagram over time?
00:12:11
Speaker
Do I not share it online, but I publish it, and I maybe promote that it's been published on social media, but keep the experience private to that publication? Or even do I just keep it for a local audience? That would be hard for me to do, because I'm excited to get it out. But there's a part of me that's like, maybe it's just meant to stay with the audience that was a part of its creation.
00:12:39
Speaker
That's one answer for now. The other answer would be that it's always been a process of balancing magic with personal work. And so I do, at least in certain periods when I've been more interested in social media than others, I have shared a lot of personal work. But a big, big part of my practice that maybe separates me from other artists is that my practice is in the world. So I am an oil painter.
00:13:09
Speaker
I do want to do big finished elaborate oil paintings, but over time I've realized that what really makes me me is that I sit in cafes and I draw people and I talk to people and I go to clubs or I go to events or I travel. And, you know, my daily artistic practice is to be in the world with a sketchbook and a pen. And my personal Instagram is full of that stuff. You know, so it is out there.
00:13:37
Speaker
But I've never had to present my work as a fine artist with consistency and gallery style. And yeah, they're all open questions for me about what that should look like and how I should balance my time.
00:13:53
Speaker
All I will say is that since I moved to Berlin, I've done so much art and it's there. It's stuff that I want to share. It's just a matter of timing and how I want to deliver that and how I want to balance my online presence between magic, between other things. I think one thing that Mike would probably yell at me if I don't talk about would be the magic art market and the changes on that too. You mentioned
00:14:22
Speaker
the sketching piece is something that you like to do. I mean, that's actually a big part of your art world is going out and interfacing with people, just people watching, drawing people. I mean, it almost sounds like kind of that concept art world where you're kind of getting those initial ideas down. I mean, I'm thinking of when we get a style guide from like Wayne Reynolds that we've seen stuff from where he kind of gives the representations. Mike would want to know, do you have things like sketches from your magic stuff that is stuff that you would put out there or that you would?
00:14:52
Speaker
look at making available at this point where there is a market for it and a changing market. Yeah, I definitely now that I'm so aware of it, I'm more conscientious about making that part of my process. I didn't always. I did it a lot of the time, but I didn't usually keep them. Actually, for the most part, the sketches that I have, maybe 50 percent,
00:15:21
Speaker
are done in my very personal journal and they're like on the back of a page. Me, my naked self-portrait in the mirror with my Kaladesh thumbnails on the back. I really know if that's available so much. As I said, I'm going to bring over what I have. It's very incomplete and patchy coverage.
00:15:47
Speaker
And that's just the best that I can do. My creative life is super busy. And I also don't want to promise going forward that I'm going to continue doing the oil paintings and sketches. I really don't know how I want to manage that balance of time.
Art Market Demands and Values
00:16:03
Speaker
It's an interesting question when you talk about the commercialization piece or knowing that you have passionate art fans in this gaming world that want this stuff. And I know personally, I don't want to see you change your process for that sake. I mean, and I think most artists are going to say that, even though there may be a market for doing that, and that's a whole other discussion.
00:16:27
Speaker
your authentic self also has elements of these sketches and these oils and these drawings that you have. And I know that we have a passionate market that would love to have those in their hands. It would love to be displaying that, which is a very powerful thing. Like I'm using it to help me like, okay, what part of this
00:16:46
Speaker
really interests me and is going to feed back into my personal work and give me good training. And like, I know a lot of people ask me for play mats and I'm like, yeah, like it's actually probably the easiest thing for me to do and even to put in someone else's hands. But I just haven't gotten around to it because it's not something that really relates in any way to the rest of what I do. Whereas, you know, oil painted color studies, like I've never done those before. I've never felt the need to do a color study before I did a painting, but I've never
00:17:16
Speaker
oil painted on a tight timeline like this into a brief. Like I'm so used to that flexibility of the digital process. And now I'm like doing the color studies like, Oh, this is super important. Like I get why, why these things exist. So I'm really happy to have those out there. And, and you know, way, way back in the day when I was getting some advice from a friend on the fine art world, he was like, you know, you have to respect that.
00:17:40
Speaker
that there are going to be people at all different levels that want to buy into you and your journey and this story that you're on and like you as an artist and you have to give someone at every level the opportunity to join you on that journey from free all the way up to like the mega collector who wants the one-off best painting that you've ever done, you know, and there's big holes in that spectrum.
00:18:02
Speaker
between a white back sketch or a proof sketch and a 36 inch oil painting. So I will navigate that and be creative about cool stuff that maybe no one's done before and stuff that fans will get a real kick out of up to the point where it doesn't serve anything other than an economic purpose in which case I would drop it. That doesn't really interest me.
00:18:31
Speaker
So we have stuff coming.
Community Support and Significance
00:18:33
Speaker
You're making a promise right here, right now. I'm making super vague promises that I can go back on if I want to. Yeah. Like, oh, I offered something really interesting. You guys just didn't see it. No, I mean, definitely like right here in the studio now, I know I have like a good 20, 30 things that I'm waiting to be able to put out there.
00:18:58
Speaker
So yeah, it's on the way. We'll be looking. It's in the pipeline. And just like, I mean, not to be hyperbolas, but the amount of support from this community, it's humbling and it's even embarrassing at some point to
00:19:20
Speaker
to be supported not just by a company that has a profit incentive in this, but by people that just do it for the love of it. Everything from a signature through to someone that buys a painting is equally, for me, equally humbling. I take that support that people offer with maximum gratitude, really, in every way possible. Even the people that just
00:19:49
Speaker
There are some people that just want it because of their love for the game and their interest in the art is kind of tangential, but even that, I feel it as, man, thank you. Thank you for being even just interested enough in the game to reach out to me and to ask for a signature or a sketch or something like that. It's kind of a crazy ride to be on, to be a part of this magic world.
00:20:12
Speaker
So our next mailbag question actually comes from, let's see, at Hobbs Q on Twitter, and he wants to know, yeah.
00:20:22
Speaker
We have to include all the fans. He wants to know, have you heard of vintage artists constructed?
Role in Vintage Artist Community
00:20:30
Speaker
Yeah, only because of a guy named Mike. Some scrub. Some guy. Yeah, no, I apparently I've just kind of recently made the cut. I have enough now that I'm worth being a part of that world. So yes, I have.
00:20:45
Speaker
What do you think of that? I mean, I'm just interested, like you said, there is this idea.
00:20:52
Speaker
those of these people like Hobbes Q out there that look when a set comes out and wants to know what has this artist done? Does this push them into a new realm? Looking at a card from that evaluation of does this go with somebody who has, you know, there are artists out there that have hundreds of pieces and we can't build a deck around them because they're missing lands. Or we have people that have been kind of like you and Titus for a while that we had all the lands
00:21:22
Speaker
the database.
00:21:24
Speaker
But how did we win a game? I mean, it's really funny. When I think about turning a vintage artist constructed match into an animated magic feature film, I see the scene from The Simpsons where Bart and Lisa have saucepans on their head and they're battling each other. We'd be the most loser planeswalkers ever. Two artists battle off in the multiverse.
00:21:53
Speaker
How do I hold this sword? So like that would be hilarious for a start just to like imagine that. But I think, you know, I think what's what happens with something like VAC is this kind of like as an artist, I'm like, Oh, like,
00:22:10
Speaker
I'm so used to a one-way relationship being commissioned to do work, but now there's a bunch of people that desire to base their game that they're playing around my work as an artist. It's up to me to go to magic and say, hey, there's people that want this stuff and with their help, I understand what I would need in my repertoire of cards in order for that to work.
00:22:34
Speaker
Would you mind throwing me a goblin? Would you mind throwing me a planeswalker or whatever? And this opens up a really interesting relationship to have with a client that I'm so used to just saying yes to whatever they give me. I've never really pushed back and said, I really would appreciate this or that. And if I've earned anything by being a consistent artist and doing 200 cards,
00:22:59
Speaker
Maybe it's the right to go back and say, can I have this? Can I have that? And that gets me more involved as a midpoint between the players that love the game and the people that commissioned me to create it. So that's fun. I don't know what you would need. I mean, if you can tell me what I need to get commissioned, I can get right on that.
00:23:24
Speaker
We've already said it. I want full goblin tribal. I want, you know, all goblins moving forward for a while. No, but I mean, yeah, I mean, it is this interesting idea that I've.
00:23:33
Speaker
It also could theoretically open up space for you to try out new things that you may not have the strengths in. So if you're not somebody that's used to doing characters or specific creatures, but you know that that could be beneficial to this world or also it could impact your learning as an artist. Yep, definitely.
Artistic Inspiration and Sketchbooks
00:23:52
Speaker
At Morgan right worth asks, Do you have any tips for getting better at art? How did you do so? Well,
00:24:07
Speaker
There's going to be a million answers to this question out there already that are obvious. So what's different? What's different about what I did? I think I would answer that question by where do artists go wrong? What's missing? What stops you from being an artist? Or what stops you from being a great artist? And I think, not that I am one, but I'm certainly trying to go in that direction.
00:24:37
Speaker
The worst thing that you can do is to allow your practice as an art maker to disconnect you from the world that inspired you to make that art in the first place. So the short term view of how do I get better as an artist is obvious. Like you practice, you get critique, you work hard.
00:24:56
Speaker
same way you get good at anything. What you don't want to neglect is the long-term thing of like, how am I going to carry this through a lifetime, through 60 years of art making? What do I need to hold on to? What's precious? What's really me? What's driving me underneath all of this? So my advice would be to think about your art making practice, like to kind of pull back from that, zoom back from that and ask
00:25:25
Speaker
not, you know, who do I want to work for? What game do I want to, you know, how do I become a concept artist? But like, how do I want to spend my days? Do I want to be inside on a computer 10 hours a day, seven days a week to make a film?
00:25:41
Speaker
Do I want to be outside? And maybe the answer is yes. I say that and it sounds like I'm dissing it, but maybe the answer is yes. Maybe I want to be a part of a team. Maybe I want to be on my own. Maybe I want to paint in my underwear. Maybe what's most important to me is spending time with my kids because I want to have a family. Maybe it's being out in nature and constructing an art practice and a lifestyle that's going to keep you
00:26:07
Speaker
Inspired and happy for me that's i always want my work to be happening out in the world so i'm going to structure my life so that i can afford to travel.
00:26:21
Speaker
I'm going to buy gear that keeps me mobile as much as I would love to have a big fat tower with neon lights and whatever. I'm going to stick with a laptop or an iPad Pro. Finding that synergy between the art you make and the life that you live, and most importantly, always, always trying to create art from some kind of experience that you've had.
00:26:48
Speaker
which can be an external experience, a memory of a time in nature or travel or whatever, or it can be the memory of a dream, or it can be something that relates to a real feeling that you have from your life, but to not let your art kind of drift away
00:27:09
Speaker
into, you can get very good at knowing what other people want and what other people are going to see when they look at your image and you can start to create for them. And it's much more difficult to always continue to create for yourself with an understanding of how that's going to come across to someone else and to balance that.
00:27:28
Speaker
This is for me, this is what I believe in doing, but I'm also skillful enough to make sure that it makes sense to someone else, and it's fun for someone else to look at. That would be my advice. To keep a sketchbook, to keep a journal, to not just use that sketchbook for practice or for push-ups or for showing off, but to keep it as a real record of yourself.
00:27:50
Speaker
You know 10 or 20 years from now the most valuable Artistic thing that you're gonna have is your body of work and to look back through those journals and be like right like I was having this thought ten years ago. This is part of who I am, you know or Look look how my mind has changed from this this way that I used to think to now like those are the precious things not not the like 50-hour drawing of a dragon that you did in your sketchbook ten years ago that that
00:28:17
Speaker
You know, endless dragons are like a deep part of your soul. Yeah. And they should be. I mean, you're really describing kind of a value-driven life. So coming in from my area, that's the field that I kind of do is working with people who have had that where their life has been interrupted. They're not really
00:28:37
Speaker
the idea of purpose and meaning. This comes about mainly with older people that I work with, because like you said, if you have somebody who has been doing a job for 40 years, and that actually is a huge part of their identity, and they're no longer able to do it for whatever reason, that idea of how do I now find purpose and meaning when my values have, it's hard to, how am I gonna get those values fulfilled if I can't do what I wanted to do? Or as you're saying at a younger point in your career, how am I gonna keep this
00:29:06
Speaker
going, how am I going to keep the drive? You just described values. I mean, you described traveling, you described wanting to be mobile, you described wanting to be able to have something at your hands at all times. Those were the values. And that's what's keeping you right now motivated or keeping that drive going in some ways. Yeah, it may change in 10 years. Having that ability to look back on that is important.
00:29:30
Speaker
And also realizing that if you get to the point where you can't do that, or you have to change what it, how are you going to adapt? And I think that that's very mindful and something that you're thinking of. And also to know that in the phases of a career,
00:29:47
Speaker
you're probably going to have to bury some things for a while that will come up again later. Like whether that's in the beginning, like some of these great ideas that you just don't have the skill to accomplish, they're going to have to wait. And then you're going to have a career and you're going to have to like work on commercial stuff that you maybe don't want to be working on and that stuff's on hold. And I think if you just,
00:30:10
Speaker
Leave it to the side and just leave it in your mind and try and remember it it's i think there's a real danger of that slipping away and so i think like for me the sketchbook is like every day i can do it a twenty second thumbnail. Of a thought that comes to mind and that's enough like it's real i made it real it's there i'm not gonna forget it.
00:30:31
Speaker
That's who I really am and like I mean for sure my most precious possession are like these hundreds of sketchbooks that I have you know like that they're not not just for the work that's in them but they're like a symbol to me that at no point did I give up. That personal side of myself like it is a continuous record of that being an alive presence in my life.
00:30:54
Speaker
So Alex, I know that you're getting ready to go to a writing convention that you go to every year. And I'm guessing that part of this probably translates into that life where you kind of have your job and then you have your writing world or that side of the world building.
00:31:08
Speaker
Yeah well and this relates a lot to something I'm working on right now because I actually I've written two novels but I haven't written for years. I kind of set that aside some number of years ago I was having a tough time and just kind of stopped working on it and so now I'm going back and thanks to the magic of Dropbox and Google Drive and things I have all of this stuff just archived that I had been writing not just the novels themselves but
00:31:34
Speaker
all the planning documents, all the places where I had little thoughts and I threw things out there. And I'm going through now and reading documents that I created in 2011, planning for the first draft of the book and then things after the first draft and thoughts. And I'm trying to collect some of this together to kind of get myself back on track to working on these projects again. So that was very, I did that entirely by accident, but I'm super glad that I did.
00:32:02
Speaker
Yeah. There's a lot of stuff like that that, oop, I wish I knew that when I was 15, you know? And it was something that I saw that was like, you know, okay, how old are you? How many books do you read a year?
00:32:19
Speaker
How many years have you got left? You have the chance to read another 40 books before you die. Remember that. The next book you buy is like 140. Whatever that is. Maybe you read 40 books a month. But to think in those kind of scales. Everything I do each day is a part of my life that is now behind me and what did that contain?
00:32:48
Speaker
It should either contain a moment that is really special and isn't recorded, or it should contain something really cool that you made out of that time.
Desire for 'Terra' Reprint
00:32:58
Speaker
Well, we're going to move into just some nice lighthearted questions to kind of end this, because we've had some really- Oh, my big guest. We had some fun. Come on.
00:33:07
Speaker
Because this actually translates into something you talked about earlier, but it's from wobbles. Again, who asked what is a print reprint that you would most like to be commissioned for, which does get Oh, you think this is you think this is going to be light? Damn it. I tried my I would I would like to be commissioned for a reprint of Terra by Adam Rick.
00:33:28
Speaker
the darkest painting in magic. I mean, that fits with your tool imagery. And that would be cool. He actually he did a shout out to odd nerd room as well. Someone I think asked him on Twitter or something and he was like, yeah, I was looking at odd nerd room at the time.
00:33:43
Speaker
Nice. But like what a what a freaking cool artwork that is like I love it and just like I don't know the subtlety of the fact that they're just eating the foot like it's such a weird like kind of thing you know it's it's not like a full Urobura style eating half the body.
00:34:00
Speaker
Just the foot in the mouth. And also he has that light in the middle of the image thing. I think it would stand out as my all-time favorite piece of magic art, that one. And it's partly because it has that sound right in the middle. So I would love to do a reprint of that guy. And I would be completely overwhelmed and terrified to do it, which I guess would be the feeling that I would take into painting Terra.
00:34:28
Speaker
It's awesome too because you can actually get, there is a, Wizards put out a full art, Adam Rex's wallpaper that you can get for your computer. It's just beautiful. Okay. See, that was pretty lighthearted. That was good. Yeah. Next we want to kind of simply know,
00:34:50
Speaker
What is your favorite tribe and magic? You don't have to say the obvious answer because we already know it. So second favorite tribe and magic. And if you had to pick a guild, which of the 10 would it be? And this comes from at ACM underscore goodnight. Favorite guild, probably, I don't know, Simic.
00:35:15
Speaker
I don't know why. Maybe because I'm a Pisces. There's a bit of a like fishy vibe in me somewhere. They have that natural connection. I mean, different than Selesnya's approach. I like Selesnya. I was going to say Selesnya. So I'm definitely like, yeah, I'm showing my hippie nature boy colors here.
00:35:35
Speaker
We've already discovered the pull to nature, even though Simic is experimenting with nature and making new creations out of it. Simic actually makes a lot of sense from my view of what we've talked to you about. I mean, it's the natural world and what can become of it. Yeah. I would say probably goblins. Right, guys? Yeah.
00:36:04
Speaker
I dig elves. I like elves and goblins. Yeah, I guess I'm pretty classic and Tolkienian in that way. Yeah. You know, there is a dual deck of elves versus goblins out there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, cool. Awesome. And then I think... But yeah, it's another tricky one to answer as a non-player, I think. Yeah. It's whichever one I'm painting at the moment. No, you picked the right answer. It is goblins.
00:36:29
Speaker
We're going to end with probably my favorite question that we got.
The Beard as Identity
00:36:34
Speaker
From at Kyle C. Carson, what brought you to Team Beard? Little known fact, I have never shaved my beard.
00:36:46
Speaker
Wow. In my entire life. Since the age of when you could grow facial hair. Since the age of zero. Technically, if I had some microscopic fuzz on me then, it is still with me in spirit now. You guys should be amazed. He's saying, when he says not shaped as beard, he's being literal. This thing is two, three feet down to the ground, tied in a knot.
00:37:10
Speaker
Yeah, it's actually how I travel between countries. I just kind of like whip it around and throw it out and then travel across the beard bridge. You've remained bearded since the age where you could. I mean, you trimming, obviously, but you've never shaved it off.
00:37:25
Speaker
No, I've never shaved it back closer than like, I don't know, half an inch or something like that. Okay. So I think like maybe one time I got close, I don't remember if it was like I shaved my beard or I shaved my hair and I'd like been out in the sun and I got down close enough that I realized that I had a tan line and like,
00:37:51
Speaker
that I had this white skin under my beard and this brown face. And I was like, no, no, no, no, we go no further than this. This is as far as we come. And since that day, I've never seen what lies under the canopy of this face forest. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm waiting for someone to challenge me to the charity shave your beard auction thing. That's the only way it's going to happen. OK. So anybody out there? Yeah, you're noted.
00:38:22
Speaker
Yeah. I'm glad to be a part of Team Beard. Yeah. Mine is simply because I look like 16 if I shave it. Yeah. I'm terrified. No, I'm terrified of that. I'm more excited now that I have some gray in it actually. Yeah. You veterans can trust me. I've seen some things. I've been around. I really had people even with a beard when I was doing my doctorate, I'm like 35 and they were like, well, you don't know anything. You're like 26. I'm like, that's like 10 years younger.
00:38:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:53
Speaker
I have a really weird lack of awareness about myself. Beard is the kind of thing, it comes back to that, I assume everyone's got an imagination, right? Everybody has a beard. Yeah, I don't even notice that I'm a bearded man until someone points it out to me. I'm like, oh, this little thing? I don't know that I'm tall until I'm at a music festival and someone's like, man, are you really tall? I'm like, really? I turn around, they're like four foot dude behind me. He's like, yeah, you're pretty tall. I can get out of the way so I can see the stage.
00:39:22
Speaker
Yeah, so I guess how tall are you? Oh, I'm like six and a bit. Okay, what not like not like ridiculously tall, but especially not now that I'm in Germany, but so I'm I'm five for I am a short man and
00:39:38
Speaker
I think there was a time when I was at a Pro Tour event in San Diego and was standing next to like Trick, Matt Tabak and like Marshall or somebody. And I was just like, this is the shortest I have ever felt in my entire life. But you were the unique one in that situation, right? Like you were the, you became the special one by default. I mean, yeah, I mean, I'm always the special one, but
00:40:05
Speaker
I mean, yes, but it is this very weird thing. Guys that are literally a foot taller than me and I'm just standing there, I'm like, can we get a photo? How do I get in this? Me and three guys nipples. Yeah.
00:40:20
Speaker
Well, Adam, once again, thank you for taking this this massive amount of time. We just cannot thank you enough for taking your day starting. Well, midday for you. This is the best way I could have started a day off that I still got up early. Yeah, that's a compliment. Yes. Yeah.
00:40:41
Speaker
Once again, we want to plug that Adam has his Instagram. He has both a personal one and an MTG one. And I think you were saying when we did the last recording, that personal one is actually something that you would love to see more people from magic get to discover and see. Definitely. Yeah. No, I link both ways.
00:40:59
Speaker
You know, it's important that my friends and followers that like my fine art also know that I have this day job for magic and I'm proud of what I do there. And likewise, you know, the people that know my magic work, I would love them to see a bit of what I do in my personal time. It's really important that both of those audiences cross over for me. So, appreciate a follow on the personal stuff too.
00:41:23
Speaker
Any last words, anything offensive that you want to say that'll get us not listened to again? I mean, anything that you want to end with? Controversial opinion. I feel like I've made it this far. I would be a fool to give up now. No, thanks for doing it and glad to be a part of it and support this new and delightfully engaging podcast content.
00:41:49
Speaker
Wow, Joe, when you get home, just you're cutting all of these and just one file that we can use in the future. If you just want me to do like one line as we can arrange a follow up time. That's our show. You can find the podcast at Goblin Lore Pod on Twitter or email any questions, comments, or concerns to goblinlorepodcast at gmail.com.
00:42:18
Speaker
If you would like to support your friendly neighborhood gobslugs, you can do so at patreon.com slash goblinlorepod. This episode of Goblin Lore was hosted by HobbsQ, where you can find on Twitter at HobbsQ. This episode was written and co-hosted by Alex Newman, where you can find on Twitter at Alexander New M. Engineering, editing, and production for this episode by Joe Redemann, where you can find on Twitter at Findhorn. That's F-Y-N-D, Horn.
00:42:46
Speaker
Our music is by Vintergarten, where you can find at vintergarten.com. That's winter g-a-t-a-n dot com. Logo by Stephen Raphael on Twitter, at Stephen Ravel. Goblin lore is a presentation of Hipsters of the Coast, which you can find at hipstersofthecoast.com or at hipsters MTG on Twitter. Thank you all for listening. And remember, goblins, like snowflakes, are only dangerous in numbers.