WotC fires Rebecca Guay

[Lotus Mox]

Read the whole story at mtgnews.com

First the 8th edition layout change, which I wasn't happy about, but could live with.
But now they're changing the style of Magic in a way that can't incorporate the feminine illustrations of Rebecca Guay at all. This is IMO a very stupid move, and I hope there is some more sensible reason for not using her arts anymore than this.

 

[train]

idiot... plain and simple...

retard... no doubt in my mind...

#@$^^*$$%%!@#%@#R&%^**(@#^$...

Wow - Did I just say that?!!!!

 

[Jigglypuff]

It's a darn shame. I liked her work on Vitalizing Cascade and Gaea's Blessing and especially on the alternate art Serra Angel.

(- Steve -)

 

[train]

Hopefully they won't get some masculine painter to paint drag women in these paintings...

 

[Apollo]

Rebecca was at a prerelease I went to a couple years ago. She was very cool, answered all our questions, and obviously had played the game. She also signed some of my cards, of course. I can't believe they're letting her go like that--she was one of the few distinctive artists left in Magic. Grrrr.

 

[train]

Why would WOTC hire someone that would fire someone that paints hot chicks...

 

[whiteknight11]

Train is right...what Guay must think of WoTC right now would be along the lines of:

!(*&#$Y!()@#*$Y!)(@Y$)!@#$)!(@#$)!(*@$_!(_@*#$_!@#*)$_@)*!_@()*$__!@)_!@)*$_!@)*$_!@)_!@)$*!_@$).

That is a mouthful...but im sure it can be done. They wont even let anyone draw any pictures of hot chicks anymore...they suck, besides the fact that they make MTG...

 

[Jigglypuff]

Here's some new news on this:

According to this, Rebecca Guay isn't an employee of Wizards and can't be "fired" in that sense of the word. Her style didn't fit in with their idea of what the art for this block should be like, but her work will be in future expansions.

(- Steve -)

 

[Nightstalkers]

(Pulls down Finkle's head from wall mounting and posts Guay's head up)

*Sniff* we wanted her to be our artist!!! (Starts crying)

Guess its time to pull out the toilet roll launcher and attack WotC HQ...

 

[train]

Here is Rebecca's e-mail sent out a day before Cranford's statement... I rather hear it from her anyway!...

Dear Friends,

Please excuse the "bulk" nature of this e-mail. I find that this is the best way at the moment to respond to the hundreds of messages you have recently sent me regarding my being dropped from Magic. Thank you all for your kind wishes and your passionate support of my work.

I thought you all might like to know what is currently going on at Wizards.

As many of you you know I was informed last fall that my work was no longer right for Magic. After doing some asking around it seemed to boil down to the fact that my work-often thought of as atmospheric/feminine-was not "bad-ass" enough.

When word of this spread, in conjunction with my absence from the recent Magic release, a great wave of discontented e-mails flooded into Wizards (and apparently Hasbro, Wizards parent company, as well).

Jeremy Cranford, the art director for Magic called me today. We had a very good and productive conversation. We had a chance to get to know each other better and he seems like a good person, in a difficult position. He is new in his position, trying to do his job and please everyone at the same time. As with any large company there are sometimes larger forces at work as I think may have been the case with the initial decisions regarding my work. A great deal of mis-conception and confusion was cleared up and in the end we both look forward to working together in the future.

Jeremy is releasing a statement along with the PR dept. tomorrow on the Wizards web site giving further explanation and assurance of my future presence in MTG.

I am overwhelmed and amazed at the support and devotion of my fans. In total,I may have told ten people about the decision at Wizards. Within a few weeks - hundreds and hundreds responded! You are incredible, and with your efforts you have changed the course of things!

Jeremy said to me on the phone tonight - "look out for Rebecca's fans!"

My work may not be Bad-Ass but my wonderful fans certainly have enough Bad-Ass to go around! You Rock!

You have all my love admiration and devotion.
I paint for all of you!
Rebecca

*Emotionally so very excited that she'll be back!...*

 

[Apollo]

And there was much rejoicing.

 

[Nightstalkers]

why us!!!! you evil people!!! wait...

we love this!!! we will get all of the other artists to paint pics for a set with nothing but Nightstalkers!!!!

MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

[Shiro, Time Devourer]

Too bad WOTC can't take fansubs. Rebecca Guay would be right at home doing artwork for the Upheaval set, especially the Blue and green cards. *Pretty*

 

[Nightstalkers]

And the lighting would be terrific...

The great flights of fantasy that she could bring to us when they finally give us the reprints that we so desire...

JOYGASM!!!

 

[Shiro, Time Devourer]

To Nightstalkers: Tentacled Snareweaver and Company don't look very Guay to me, what with their long tentacles and nasty looking faces. They're more of a Tucker thing. Now, the Davinas are the very essence of Guay. The Starlets are the essence of Kaja and Phil Foglio. ^^

 

[Notepad]

Now, if only we can get Dre Tucker back. I like seeing vomit in my deck.

Awesome that Guay got her butt saved by the fans. Honestly, this "kewl action packed adventure" shizer they have going now is bogus. I wish they'd return to the art styles of the earlier sets, where they are independent works of art for their own sake, and not some choreographed pile of shizer meant to look like a bad Arnold Scharzwenelkjhfskfjhsfggkljfdhger movie.

 

[train]

I like the art on cards like kobolds, and dwarven thaumaturgist... it was living art on how this is still just a game... and an extension of the imagination...

 

[Notepad]

In all honesty, Drew Tucker's stuff wasn't quite so bad. For some reason, I liked his work on Murk Dwellers and other The Dark and Fallen Empires-era stuff (just that the Murkies are the only card name that comes to mind). This style would have been great for dementia-type cards.

 

[Spiderman]

Must be personal opinion. It looks awful to me... of course, I dislike "abstract" art and that's what it looks like to me.

 

[Ferret]

While digging threw my old backlog of Duelist magazines (for those that weren't around back then it was a quarterly magazine that predated TopDeck and Pokemon) I found the issue that predated Fallen Empires (#3?) and Drew Tucker did the artwork for the whole issue and there was a great interview with him. The man is an artisitic genius. Don't believe me? Go back and look at his work from The Dark (easiest way, play the old computer MTG video game). I love his work. It was dark, depressing, and really suited my mood at that time of my Magic Playing Life.

-Ferret

"...Hasbro/WotC wouldn't know good art if someone came up and painted it on the inside of their eyelids..."