Hello, my name is Craig Bavender I paint and customize Magic: The Gathering cards.
Check out the gallery to see my work!
If you're interested in getting any custom work done, shoot me an email.
Jan 24, 2013
I just wanted to share one of my most recent completions - this Terese Nielsen 'Fact of Fiction' for a local friend's EDH deck. Continuing in my last post, speaking of my desire to spend more time altering on single cards, this one continues to display that desire, I believe.
In all, I thought it turned out really nice. I haven't done too many old bordered cards, and I'm always unsure of where to draw the line, or where to cover or not cover with an alter. This one, though, I left the bottom almost completely untouched, which is unsual for me. I like the way it turned out, though. I definitely could have spent a little more time on the alter, but I remember being tired and a little too stressed to give it the real attention it needed to stand out to me as a real gem. That's too bad, though, I should try better to give all of them that extra attention they need. Progression in image and skill will ultimately yield more for myself than a paypal deposit 30 minutes quicker. I really want to try harder and be better, so I hope my continued work brings that out.
I think one of the greatest feelings in the world is witnessing your own progression in skill with something. In the 4-5 months that I've been painting now, I went from my first (awful) alter of a Trusted Forcemage, to now things like this Fact or Fiction, Trostani, and Rafiq. The progression in myself is visible, and that knowledge of drastic skill improvement has always been something I've loved. The same is similar with playing Magic, itself. I have only been playing now for maybe 8 months(?), and I have progressed so much. I suppose I'll keep painting on these cards and see where it takes me. - Craig
Jan 17, 2013
I suppose this will be my first entry. I've been trying to take more time on my alters recently, and these two espeically represent that desire. They both are decently challenging pieces, as there is a lot of blending work needing to be done, and ultimately that means a lot of color matching. I just haven't been able to sit down daily like I used to. With that, I suppose I'm slowing down a bit when I alter, as I get a little bit of rust buildup along my wrist bones and fingers. I love altering, I really do. It's just hard to find a balance between school, work, budgeting, and life at home with my two cats. (three, if you count Bess)
Before all of this I had never painted before, so everything is still new to me. Types of paints, terms, techniques, artists.. I'm no artist, really. I'll continue to state I don't know how to paint. I'm just a guy that wanted to trick out my magic deck and happened upon a large community that likes what I do. (thank you Reddit) I don't know how long I want to be doing this, or if I want to pursue it more heavily than I am. What opportunities wait for me? Should I be more focused on my career with programming? Or should I double up and continue the path I'm taking? Oh well, I'm blabbing. I can type and speak my mind if I want to here, I'm paying for the hosting. With money I've made doing this -- I guess that's pretty rad. - Craig
