This week's "Sketches" looks at a powerful blue morph creature from Onslaught, Quicksilver Dragon by Ron Spencer.
1. Art Description
These are the instructions given to the artist:
"Location: Breaker Bay, above the water. Action: Drake with mirrored or shiny reflective scales flying above the water."
Note that the card was described as a Drake, not as a Dragon. In fact, the card was originally called Mirrored Drake.
2. Sketch
This is the preliminary sketch submitted by Ron. Because he was told to paint a Drake, Ron didn't give the creature any front arms.
3. Final Art
Here is a large version of the final piece. R&D decided late in the process that the creature was powerful and cool enough to warrant being changed into a Dragon. That meant arms needed to be added to the artwork to synch it up with the other Dragons in Magic.
4. Card
Finally, here is the card as it appears in the set.