Anthony S. Waters

**Anthony S. Waters** is an artist who started illustrating *Magic: The Gathering* during *Legends* and eventually became a driving force behind the style of many sets.

## History

His early artwork employed oil styles such as gouache and isn't quite as memorable as his later endeavors. Waters eventually switched to sketching in pencil and finishing with various digital media, helping to develop a distinctive and easily recognizable style that is both impressionistic and abstract. His illustrations have become synonymous with the bizarre and is often a go-to-guy for bringing the abstract to life in things such as elementals, fungi, and horrors. Outside of Magic he has worked for Hidden City Games, Microsoft, Sony Online, and Lucasfilm amongst others. He graduated with an Associate of Arts from North Seattle Community College (1988) and a Bachelor of Arts from Evergreen State College (1990). He has also received formal training in animation, pastels, figure drawing, and painting.

Waters was last active during *Alara Reborn* and in 2010 was working on the game Nihilistic as well as teaching digital painting at the Laguna College of Art and Design. Through his work as a concept artist and illustrator he has become good friends with many Magic artists including Rob Alexander, John Avon, Lars Grant-West, Jeremy Jarvis, Mark Tedin, and Todd Lockwood. He currently lives in Trabuco Canyon, California and maintains a highly active online presence via DeviantART and his blog Elephantiasis.

## Concept Artwork

For the first portion of his career, Waters merely did spot concepts for the style guide, but starting with *Kamigawa* block he began doing extensive pre-concept work. Some of his most notable work with the style guide includes the preconception of the *Ravnica* basic lands. You can also see his influence and general moodiness throughout *Time Spiral*. For *Lorwyn* he was brought in to lend his surreal and abstract vision to the elementals. By *Shadowmoor*, he had returned to merely doing spot concept work such as coloring.

## Gallery

* Circular Logic - One of his most recognized artworks.
* Dread Slag - Considered by Jeremy Jarvis to be one of the scariest art on cards in Magic.
* Forest - A forest from *Ravnica* that he brought from concept to final.
* Graven Cairns - Included in Spectrum 15, a fantasy art award series. Cinder Wall was included in Spectrum 11.
* Ooze Garden - An unprinted version of the card.
* Petals of Insight - One of his own favorite personal arts.
* Wild Mongrel - Largely his most popular artwork.
* Yavimaya Coast - Another of his most recognized artworks.

## External links

* The Artwork of Anthony Waters - Official Site
* FyreAnt - DeviantART Site
* Elephantiasis - Blog Site

## References

1. ↑ ***a*** ***b*** ***c*** ***d*** Matt Cavotta (January 04, 2006). "Milk and Cookies With Anthony S. Waters". *magicthegathering.com*. Wizards of the Coast.
2. ↑ Anthony Waters (2007-11-05). "Surf Leviathan". DeviantART. Retrieved on 2010-09-08.
3. ↑ Anthony Waters (2007-11-21). "Anthony S. Water's Resume". Retrieved on 2010-09-08.
4. ↑ Anthony S. Waters. ImageFX (Issue 8). Retrieved on 2010-09-08.
5. ↑ Anthony Waters (2010-08-27). "Fyreant's Journal". DeviantART. Retrieved on 2010-09-08.
6. ↑ Magic Arcana (September 14, 2005). "Ravnica Style Guide: Anthony S. Waters Land Concepts". *magicthegathering.com*. Wizards of the Coast.
7. ↑ Magic Arcana (October 02, 2006). "Time Spiral Style Guide: Green". *magicthegathering.com*. Wizards of the Coast.
8. ↑ Jeremy Jarvis (September 17, 2007). "Lorwyn: The Human-Shaped Hole". *magicthegathering.com*. Wizards of the Coast.
9. ↑ Jeremy Jarvis (Monday, April 07, 2008). "Shadowmoor Pays Off!". *magicthegathering.com*. Wizards of the Coast.
10. ↑ ***a*** ***b*** ***c*** Anthony Waters (2007-11-01). "Wild Mongrel". DeviantART. Retrieved on 2010-09-08.
11. ↑ Jeremy Jarvis (September 5, 2007). "Ask Wizards - September, 2007". *magicthegathering.com*. Wizards of the Coast.
12. ↑ Magic Arcana (January 13, 2009). "Magic in Spectrum 15". *magicthegathering.com*. Wizards of the Coast.
13. ↑ Anthony Waters (2007-10-12). "Petals of Insight". DeviantART. Retrieved on 2010-09-08.