Source: https://bsky.app/profile/magic.wizards.com/post/3mkvqoghxru24
Based on the similarities that Dan Frazier’s The One Ring has to the borderless art by Marta Nael
IMO, this seems like letting Dan off way too easy. It’s a pretty blatant copy of the art by Marta and a disappointing thing to see such a well-respected Magic artist do. Perhaps they’re just not pressing the issue because of his age. But really how did the art directors not catch this before it got to print???
From reading comments it sounds like wotc admitted they used the wrong version. There also was a back and forth between Dan’s agent and wotc over his original submission. Dan, a classically trained artist, normally submits oil paintings. The art for this set was required to be all digital.
I very well could see Dan having submitted the work he wanted, wotc saying no, they send him Marta’s work as reference, he flips it, smudges it, tosses it on a stock background, and resubmits it as a 🖕to wotc, they shrug and print it.
This is definitely an issue on WOTC’s part. It seems like it’s a misunderstanding between WOTC and Dan over what version was intended to be used.
If WOTC wanted digital art, they should have asked a digital artist to do it.