STRIVE: Lotus Swamp
Featured from “SYNDICATE XVI” 2025 Illustration MFA Visual Thesis Exhibition, FIT
A fun nod to one of my favorite land archetypes from Magic: the Gathering: Swamps. As a Magic player it’s hard to see a lotus and not think about the coveted Black Lotus. The combination of these themes gave me the opportunity to explore a landscape with a different perspective: a close up, top down view of a body of water with no horizon line in sight.
This was featured in the “SYNDICATE XVI” 2025 Illustration MFA Visual Thesis Exhibition.
Medium: Digital, Photoshop.
Process: The final digital piece came together from a digital sketch into a loose render in grayscale which gets multiple layers of gradient maps and overlays to get a sense of mood and color. Everything gets merged into one layer before focusing on the final render pass.
Sketch
Card