Between the mask and the pelting rain, I could barely make out Rena’s words.

We had spent 10 minutes searching for an empty table amidst the downpour, and we finally found some sheltered seating in a corner of a HDB estate. The shy 18-year-old was reluctant to attract any attention but she clearly was passionate about her art.

Back in 2018, Rena embarked on altering paper Magic cards as a way to earn some extra cash while honing her skills as a wannabe artist. “Wannabe” is wholly inaccurate now, as she showed me some of her latest commissions.

This full-art alteration got the DMs (direct messages) streaming in as the client recommended to his friends in the MTG EDH Commander – Singapore group. When we spoke, Rena was in the midst of concept and price discussions, and those were keeping Rena busy despite being the school holidays. The altering work was taking up so much time that she left her part-time job at KOI to fully commit to her art.

The Great Game

Rena’s adventure into Magic started the same way many others do – an introduction. Her boyfriend shared his interest in MTG a few months after meeting. Not long after, as they were visiting Agorahobby, a prominent game store in Singapore, he swiftly (and smartly) bought the Feline Ferocity Preconstructed Commander deck for her.

“We started making our own new decks together. It was quite complex at first, with so many things to keep track of,” said Rena. “There’s also a lot of critical thinking, and it’s still a bit challenging for me.” She eventually joined her boyfriend’s playgroup, and over time grew more comfortable with the gameplay.

When I prodded her to introduce the game to her female friends, she admitted she tried but “most of them were confused with the gameplay.” Women naturally just associate more with shopping than with card games, according to Rena. “It’s very troublesome to pack cards and go to the shop to play. The prices are also not cheap. In the community, most players are men, and women are not too comfortable with being surrounded by all men.”

Being the committed gamer, Rena also gave MTG Arena a whirl. “It’s more convenient to play online than to travel to the shop. And I also don’t really have to spend money,” said Rena.

But she admitted there were some downsides that came with that convenience. “When you play online, you don’t interact or meet new people, and you’re just stuck at home playing by yourself. There’s no hype to it. In a playgroup, you can talk to other people.”

A Blank Canvas

Soon after learning the game, Rena’s boyfriend commissioned an alter by established artist Bentistic Tan, and later on suggested for her to give it a shot. “At first, I was scared because my skills weren’t that good,” said Rena. “But since then I’ve practiced a lot till it’s good enough for other people.”

It had been a trying path of practising and watching YouTube videos in order to raise her skill level. She blurted that “everything” about her first alters were bad, as she swiped through some of her early works on Instagram. Rena had taken Art in secondary school, and ever sine she was 6 has been fully absorbed into animation from the Cartoon Network and Nicklodeon channels.

After completing her N-Levels exam, Rena decided to commit to the path of a professional artist, enrolling in an animation track at the renown Nanyang Academy of Fine Art (NAFA). She also proudly owns four art books on MTG, and swears she reads the text and not just ogle at the artwork.

It’s probably no surprise then that two of her favourite MTG artists are household names to players: Volkan Baga and Seb McKinnon.

Volkan Baga “doesn’t do dynamic art like fighting scenes but his still life is amazing,” said Rena. “I like his rendition of Mox Diamond – his style is very realistic and the colour schemes are vintage. The way he put faces in the background complements the shape of the hand.”

“McKinnon’s card are very eerie and evokes a lot of emotions onto the viewer. It is very detailed and the colours he used [for Growth Spiral ] matches the theme.”

[Check out Tap & Sac’s personal Top 11 Magic Art of all time]

Altering Magic Cards: How Is It Done?

It was a humbling experience holding an altered-art Magic card in my hand. With a canvas being approximately 6 by 9cm, you really need a deft touch to paint.

The difficulty also depends on the original art itself. “I’ll look at parts near the border, and if it’s one solid colour, it’s easy,” said Rena, “But a card like Selvala’s Stampede will be more complex because it has a lot more detail.”

The first step involves priming the card in grey paint, followed by background colours. “When you extend the art, you have to be consistent with the background. I usually don’t touch the text box unless the customer want something done.”

If there’s a character pose involved that is not a direct copy of existing artwork, Rena turns to reference photos or even taking selfies to use as a starting point.

Rena then adds details, using soft acrylic paint that requires multiple layers but keeps the overall surface smoother. The whole process takes a painstaking 5-6 hours of concentrated work to alter a full-art card. In the case of adding the Boggle and extending the border art to Sawtusk Demolisher, her charge was S$35 (expect her rates to go up after this).

Altering Foil cards is a definite no for now. “It can be done but it’ll be harder, as I haven’t experimented much with it.” Giving me another quick tutorial, Rena explained that the foil layer is the card’s base, and printing then goes on top of it. To do any alterations on Foils, she would have to scrape off the printed layer, leave the foil layer intact, and then re-paint over it. “If I were to paint over the card, there won’t be anymore foiling. It’s a bit challenging.”

The Bright And Colourful Future

Although she’s just coming off the back of freshman year at NAFA, Rena has a clear image of her ideal future. Two more years at school and then it’s time to work.

“I really want to join a game company like [Wizards of the Coast that makes] MTG, or Riot Games to design splash art,” said Rena, referring to the showcase art that accompanies every major game character. “I’m determined to improve my altering skills to make it a profession.”

She also hope to try Pokemon alters one day, as a close friend (naturally a Pokemon fan too) has asked her to dip her brush into that palette. But altering Foils is a definite miss for now.

Unfortunately her busy schedule means even Commander game sessions have gone back into storage boxes. “I’ve also stopped playing in game shops, but I still play with my boyfriend, just the two of us together.”

It’s all for a good reason, as she strives to be more creative in the artwork, offering more than just extending the backgrounds and copying reference photos. “I prefer to focus on one thing at a time.”

We caught up again shortly before the article’s publication, and she proudly announced the completion of her eighth commissioned alter, with five more on the way.

It certainly looks like a great view going into the future.

Rena’s work and contact info can be found here.