Explore MtG art: Michael Komarck
Michael Komarck’s debut set was 2007’s Future Sight. With just over 50 cards illustrated in total, and the most recent new card illustration being from 2015, many magic players may not be familiar with this name.
The cards he has illustrated have featured some popular characters and places in the game.
Michael Komarck art: six of the best
This image of the planeswalker Elspeth Tirel stands in contrast to her usual depictions. Usually depicted as the humble or haunted hero, in this piece she is looking down on the viewer, standing tall and confident.
Here we see the army of Bant on the plane of Alara gathered for battle.
The knights of Bant ride giant lions called leotau and are covered in gold coins. Rafiq is one of the preeminent knights of that plane.
The vampire planeswalker Sorin Markov is a popular recurring character in the multiverse of Magic. Most recently he appeared in the 2019 War of the Spark set. This art by Michael Komarck was the character’s debut, and this stunning illustration ensured he would be both popular and memorable.
Towering over the plane of Zendikar is Kozilek, the Eldrazi titan. Kozilek was eventually brought low by the gatewatch.
We end of the plane of Innistrad with this art of a follower of Odric, one of the leaders of human efforts to survive against monsters, terrors, and more.
Further exploration: Michael Komarck around the web
The cards
Click the image above to see all cards illustrated by Michael Komarck on Scryfall.
More art:
Visit Michael Komarck’s website to see more of his art in magic: the Gathering and beyond. He has chosen not to update his site for several years though.
Prints
Unfortunately these are not currently available – as I write this orders are not being fulfilled on his website. Hopefully this changes soon!.
Further exploration: Magic artists beyond Michael Komarck
Click the images below to see other articles in this series.
Scent of a Gamer 
Rafiq of the Many is a fantastic looking card…
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Agreed!
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Michael’s art is awesome and while I wasn’t playing magic during this era, it is always cool seeing Magic cards and the game will always have a soft spot in my heart as I played a lot of it growing up!
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His artworks have always been good, and it’s a shame he seems to have moved away from Magic in recent years. He’s done a lot of Game of Thrones art (calendars etc.) recently.
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I wonder if Wizards of the Coast pays artists well enough for them to stick around if they’re successful. That is a problem with Marvel and Star Wars (trading cards and not for gaming cards). They pay artists pretty low rates to do sketch cards where they draw art on the card and the best artists tend to only stick around until they can get a higher paycheck elsewhere unfortunately. Either way, it is definitely a shame!
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As I understand things Wizards haven’t changed their base rates for art in over a decade, and this is (partly) why we are seeing a lot of eastern European artists names on cards. For an artist in US or similar it doesn’t make sense by itself. Former Magic artist Peter Mohrbacher has talked about this a lot, and I’m going to cover it in more detail as part of his profile (currently planned for 2021, so don’t hold your breath!)
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I noticed back when I played the LOTR LCG a few years ago that Fantasy Flight Games used a lot of eastern European artists as well so it probably isn’t just Wizards, looking for an artistic bargain. I do feel for the artist as I suspect many of them are really underpaid. Either way, its an interesting topic and I will look forward to that artist profile!
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This is a nice series, thank you. If you’re looking for more avenues to explore, I’d be interested in reading whether or not these artists are open to signing cards via mail. Some are, some aren’t.
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That’s a good idea. I will check for future artists. Michael Komarck’s website says to just send him the cards, but it hasn’t been updated in 5 years, so I would not recommend that one!
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