By: Adrian Burton
Aftermath was a set we went into with a batch of of new artists
Dieter Miller, Immar Palomera, Krzysztof Ostrowski, Nicholas Kay, Zhi
Kang Lim and all made a solid showing for their first or second
appearances. Numbers wise we commissioned 146 illustrations and had 47
artists on board. With less artists we’ve found that we get to build
stories more as each artist has 2 or 3 on average illustrations so I
have been more and more trying to give someone a personality and maybe
an action or two with that personality featured. As I look over my
Aftermath image gallery I find it hard to pick out my favorites for each
Clan, they had a pretty strong showing this set across the board. But I
must, so lets take a look at what I feel is some of the top notch work
this set.
Crab
The Crab have not seen much of their personalities this set. That said
they do know they are getting Kaiu Esumi so I’ll speak on him, this is
an unpleasant fellow, fiction in general has told us this much. I
decided to dress him up a bit in some armor for his second showing and
really his face is the key in this one just an ugly sneer showing his
contempt for an assistant next to him. We also show off some siege
weapons behind him. Jazz Siy drew Esumi, I’ve taken note his work shows
up extra dark in printing, we’ve tried to correct better for this on
future cards he has done. I feel Jazz did a great job capturing just how
sour Esumi is. I’m excited to see if others feel the same way. I’m
stoked for the Chris Burdett personality the Crab will be receiving as
well it’s a great piece.
Crane
The easy one to pick would be Mario’s Doji Tatsuki Exp it’s as always
beautiful. But I’d like to instead focus on Adam Schumpert’s Asahina
Umehiko. As many of you know cards change during the design process, and
I like to give you glimpses of that process, Umehiko is a prime
example, he didn’t start with expendable, costed differently and had an
open ability, he was a different fellow from where he ended up in design
and I’m sure he changed a handful of times as design tested him. He
started with Master Gardener and that was a trait that isn’t seen much
or maybe even at all prior so we keyed to that trait and focused on an
Asahina who just wanted to be left alone to his gardens. Yet he’s been
intruded upon by a bandit type, so his response is to grumble slightly
and request that the spirits escort the bandit away. I imagine Umehiko
as a bit of an outcast among other Asahina, perhaps he has a temper he
tries to keep under control or he has ideas not all find agreeable and
he’s been happy to find himself tending the gardens of his temple.
Dragon
My favorite was released the day I am writting this, Mirumoto Kalen by
Tony Foti. Making sure people actually age has long been a goal and
Kalen gets to be one of them. As he has the Yumi of Fire now we wanted
to show that off as well the former Topaz Champion has seen better days
but finding this artifact very well might put some spring back into his
step. We kept his awesome scale armor, color scheme. We debated if he’d
keep his helmet but to show off Tony’s skill at faces we went for
headgear-less. We modeled the Yumi after it’s original Luis Vazquez art
with some minor updates to the grip. I was asked by Kalen was so old
looking, when he is only in his 50′s, my answer to that was have you
seen someone in their 50′s that’s had an extremely hard a hard life?
This is a man who has seen things. Togashi Obote is also a fun one this
set, quirky, odd, totally Ize Zumi like to be meditating on a statues
head. The arm tattoos came our really nice, I don’t think enough people
appreciate how hard tattoos are to draw Hector did a solid job here.
Lion
So Lion got issued the double diptych this set Jason Engle’s Akodo
Uehara / Akodo Kano and Mateusz Ozminski’s Kitsu Tamao / Matsu Miura.
Both of which turned out really well. I’d like to focus on Mateusz’s as
the piece is a bit of an oddity, Lions on a boat. Otemi had a boat but
on the whole we don’t see the children of Akodo get on the high seas too
much. We imagined these two as Kitsu born twins with mirror image
birthmarks on their necks. A strong destiny tie to water, kharmic link,
maybe a great destiny advantage. I may be channeling my love of the RPG
into this a bit, but my point is this we often build the identity of a
personality as if we are building up an RPG character. For Miura and
Tamao this was really the case as we just started rattling off their
advantages and disadvantages to get an idea who they are in the image.
The details he included are just great, thicker ship like rope in
Miura’s armor, wave like patterns in Tamao’s kimono. The coloring is
also splendid being able to use the darker lion pallet on a boat and not
make it all into a mush of browns, but more like a multi-layered
chocolate bar in gold wrapping.
Mantis
My favorite personality for the Mantis this set is Tsuruchi Shusaku by
Hector Herrera. we had this concept of a savant Go Master a bit of a
damaged human being but brilliant in his own ways. His scar we added to
raise a question, is he brilliant because he is damaged or did being
brilliant get him damaged? If I recall right I even had him use a go
layout from a high profile game of Go we found online. Shusaku we really
saw as a character who’d be strange to interact with, someone who’s not
always there always off in his mind playing a game of Go or remembering
a past game, planing the next several moves to counter his opponent. As
a scout I really imagine him just wandering about in the woods knowing
he wont be seen because he knows where the enemy will be and finding
them is more a formality.
Phoenix
You guys have not had your previews and only one spoiled card much like
the Crab this time round, I run into this issue every preview cycle. So I
will say this about my favorite piece of your’s it’s a critter by Chris
Burdett and it has a flow to it that is really fun and Chris really had
a great time drawing it. You also have a personality who has a cameo
from the Crazy Old Man from The Mystical Merchant and he should really
reconsider his purchase, I have it on good authority that The Mystical
Merchant once sold a Mogwai to some teens and it ended badly. Pheonix
received a keyword personality for everything but void this set so it
was fun getting to play with nearly all the elements. I think you will
really dig your air personality.
Scorpion
Hard to pick on this one, but I will say this. You have seen one of your
personalities in a card already, she was so awesome I had to find a
slot for her somewhere and it finally happened. You last saw her looming
large over a battered and beaten Phoenix and her artist is still Adam
Schumpert. You also are getting a very strong showing from Nathan Arches
in the form of a wolf masked samurai who really likes catapults. The
bulk of your characters are women this time around and they are a deadly
bunch if I do say so myself. Bayushi Wateru was a fun one, I couldn’t
think of a card showcasing a female yojimbo protecting a female charge
so Wateru was born from that idea.
Spider
This one is actually easy for me I really fell in love with Carlos NCT’s
Daigotsu Endo. The tatters of his cloths, seeing through his forearm
bones as he gazes at his undead body it has a haunted “what happened to
me?” feeling which I just went crazy for when I first got the sketches.
Daigotsu Chiboshi is a fun one as well she and her raised minions
crashing down the hill. You don’t get to see it as much in the card but
her eyes are very intense in the piece, she has a kill t hem all feeling
to her that I really dig.
Unicorn
Like your sibling clans who have not had their previews yet I really
only have Utaku Sakikoto comment on, fortunately she is one of my
favorites for the set. I liked the combo of Destined and Reserve on her
it adds to the feeling in the art, a feeling on anticipation, she’s
ready to go make her mark to find her destiny and we see her in her
quiet moments with her faithful friend before the storm. I was aiming to
make all destined characters look rather young still and Sakiko really
hit that mark solidly, she feels mid to late teens, she looks like she
is still learning to steel herself. All of it adds up to a really solid
piece from Nathan Arches who will be getting plenty more personality
cards as he really proved himself to me this set.
Aftermath is one of those odd sets were everything really went well
and it came out in the same year the art was commissioned in so the set
still feels very new and fresh to me and I have a lot of fond memories
from it. I hope you’re enjoying the previews, I find myself always
stalking the forums looking at peoples comments about the art, and
Aftermath has been very well received so far so it just solidifies my
feelings that this was a great set and I’m quiet proud of it. Enjoy the
remaining previews!
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