Everything About John Avon: Works, History and Career

Within the vast universe of Magic: The Gathering, several expansions are released every year. These, over time, had some renowned artists who ended up growing their success with their illustrations.

Rebecca Guay, Jeremy Jarvis, among other artists, built what is now a solid foundation for the scenarios presented by the stories told within the cards. John Avon is one of the most famous for telling these stories through basic lands, cards found in all Magic sets.

History of John Avon

Avon was born on November 21, 1961, in Cardiff, Wales, and, over the years, he realized that he had a certain ability for art, different from the other areas he saw in college. Luckily, Avon's parents supported their son's choice, always hiring private tutors and putting his works on display in their home. A bit later, at the age of 12, John was already painting with oil paint and always tried to reproduce landscapes in his works, using models taken from photographs and based on some of his favorite artists, such as Salvador Dali.

When he entered high school, he didn't want to reproduce the repetitive and routine arts that were asked of him in class, after all, he desired to draw fantastic, surreal scenarios with that touch of magic, and not something like still life in different angles of a table, like an apple in a basket. In 1979, he attended Cardiff Art College and graduated with a degree in Graphic Design, but it wasn't until 1983 that he really started working with illustrations for advertisements in small local newspapers. With his persistence and ability, John Avon, almost half a year later, was already making his first book cover, and, from then on, the amount requested by him was absurd.

His first big job was to illustrate the cover of the books The Dark Tower , volume 2 and volume 3, by Stephen King . From this work, he received several other jobs, as was also the case when he started making art for Magic. Accidentally, he ended up being observed by a scout responsible for the illustrations of the game, who was evaluating the work of several nominated artists, when he ended up finding Avon's work. Without much delay, the scout ended up getting in touch with him and, from there, starting his participation illustrating the Mirage Mountains, launched in 1996, little by little, he ended up creating more and more cards over the years for Magic: The Gathering.

To date, Wizards have the longest contract with John Avon, being the ones who send him the most work. Over time, the illustration made by manual covers were replaced by images made by computer software or photos; but Avon also does the same, as he also does digital art today. In his biography, it is mentioned that “working for Magic is literally like magic” , after all, his essence is what he always wanted to produce in terms of works, in unique and fantastic engravings.

Works by John Avon

Within Magic: The Gathering, it's kind of suspicious that you've never seen a John Avon land if you're a veteran player. His illustrations are present from Mirage, in its mountains, as well as found in the base lands of Unhinged and Unstable. Among his works are some of the hundreds of illustrations he has produced over the years with Wizards of the Coast.

Unhinged's full art lands are a very interesting case. Although the set is a big joke, the art of each basic land is legal to use in official games such as tournaments. The set of lands in this set is exclusively made by John Avon, all of them being extremely well valued, giving a touch to those who use them.

The plains are very clear, demonstrating the tranquility that this place goes through. Its vegetation is low and well spaced, giving a serene touch, recalling a beautiful calm dawn in the middle of a great immensity, almost like being in solitude.

The island card artwork depicts a beautiful island, in the middle of a great blue sea, reminiscent of a large archipelago, with a dense untouched forest in the middle of the ocean, creating a beautiful look of complete art in this basic land.

The swamp is very reminiscent of a decrepit look, not because of creatures or rot per se, but because of the environment of the vegetation depicted to in this art. The dark tones are well distributed, with the dry trees and scrub typical of the region demonstrating a beautiful pattern of the environment.

The mountain well distributed, is placed in a chain, between several mountains in the middle of a twilight, with details of snow, little vegetation and a lake lightly reflecting part of it, in the middle of a slightly dark art.

The forest is mysterious, placing a large forest of spaced pines in the middle of a great green tone, with a single tree in the center, growing, slowly, with a focus of light to it.

Curse of the Cabal is one of the illustrations that depicts the Cabal, an organization that worshiped money, profit. Its curse, while not directly represented in the flavor, demonstrates the tremendous strength it had.

Gaze of Justice is one of John Avon's most beloved artworks, aside from the lands themselves, because it's so dramatic. The art itself depicts light passing through a creature, putting that agony into being hit and banishing it from existence.

Heap Doll, once again, is something that depicts the author's will to draw fantasy in its magic touch. A scarecrow that moves, in the middle of a dark environment, while looking for its target. The flavor of this card is reflected very well in this art, which represents it in a clear and concise way, without needing much analysis.

Lorwyn's Plains, as it is known, is a representation of John Avon from this beautiful set, practically all focused around fantasy, where different types of gameplay were inserted, such as planeswalkers. This land has very vivid features, with a lot of brightness in its art.

Azorius Chancery, one of the most influential places on Ravnica. The colors used are predominantly the colors of that guild; blue and white. With these tones, John depicts this environment in a way that is very similar to a great palace, where the referees apply their powers.

John Avon's works outside Magic: The Gathering

In addition to artwork for Magic: The Gathering, John Avon has done a lot of different work. He also worked on making the artwork for Legend of the Five Rings and also for Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, which are other collectible card games.

His art is also present in science fiction and fantasy books on covers of different genres. While there is no comprehensive list of all the specific books he illustrated, his unique style can be recognized, as in his book, The Art of John Avon – Journeys to Somewhere Else.

Avon also accepts commissioned works, where the artist is asked for works that have already been done, with some alteration, or even entirely new art, based on the interests requested by the commission.

To check out more work or get in touch with the artist, you can check out:

- John Avon's website;

- John Avon's Facebook;

- John Avon's Twitter.

After this short journey, we got to know a little bit about this incredible illustrator, who still makes art for several platforms, whether for book covers, individual or even for collectible cards, such as Magic: The Gathering. John Avon is a true icon in his category.

Until the next time!