Almost Serious Literature

womenfighters:

The Hushblade, by Jason Chan for WotC’s Magic: The Gathering.

Something beautifully ceremonial about this design.

Naya Hushblades are great creatures, and on top of that, I love the artwork.  Actually, Wizards has been pretty good about that in Magic.  The only cheesecake-y shots I can think of are those of certain angels (Archangel of Strife) and other superhuman creatures that wouldn’t need armor (and many, like the vampires, would further want to show off to set themselves apart from humanity), as well as people in tropical climates where stripping down is a sensible choice.  There have been outliers (Terese Nielsen’s work on Elvish Ranger, Hero of Bladehold…), but I think the reason they stand out so much in my head is ‘cause the rest of the art is so reasonable.  So, that’s a bravo.

- Syd

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