Drew Tucker

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Drew Tucker
"The Artist with Teacup", a self-portait.
General Information
Born St. Louis, Missouri, 1968
Status Active: Alpha to present
Style Watercolor, abstract, impressionistic
Education/ Training Southern Illinois University
Union University
Cornish College of the Arts
School of Visual Arts
Scryfall Statistics

Drew Tucker is one of the original 25 Magic: The Gathering artists. Wizards of the Coast rarely published new artwork by Tucker between Tempest in 1997 and Modern Horizons 2 in 2021. During that gap, Tucker illustrated a celebration card to commemorate Richard Garfield's second marriage, as well as a small number of cards in Time Spiral, Shadowmoor, and Eventide.

Tucker illustrated Dandân, the flagship card of the fixed-deck Forgetful Fish format.

Education and art style

Tucker completed a Graphic Design program at Southern Illinois University, then enrolled at Union University in Tennessee to further study the visual arts. After marrying, he moved to Seattle, and received a BA at Cornish College of the Arts.[1] Several years later, he attended the School of Visual Arts in New York, and completed a Masters degree program titled "Illustration as Visual Essay" under Marshall Arisman.[2]

In addition to Arisman, Tucker lists Dave McKean, Edward Gorey, and Maurice Sendak as influences. He also credits Alfred Hitchcock and the first Halloween movie as demonstrations of the power of suggestion, rather than explicitly showing.[3] Tucker himself chooses to leave details vague and avoids publishing a "complete" image, preferring to encourage his audience to engage with the artwork.[4]

My earlier stuff was all watercolor, and I would look at oil paintings, and I would love the smoothness and slickness and the colors of oil paintings so I started developing my watercolors, so they would kinda look like oils. And I used gum arabic to do these glazes and things like to deepen the contrast. Now I'm painting with oil, and I find myself trying to make it look like watercolor.[5]

Tucker's work has been described as polarizing.[4]

Work for Magic

Dandân is one of Tucker's favorite paintings,[1] and the defining card of the Forgetful Fish format.

Tucker met Sandra Everingham through a watercolor class while attending the Cornish College of the Arts. Everingham invited him to submit a portfolio to Jesper Myrfors, leading to Tucker's involvement with Magic.[2][6] He describes working at the beginning of the game as "magical because it doesn't exist and we all got to build it up from the ground floor".[7]

Tucker's art was featured in the third issue of The Duelist, in which he also gave an interview.[3] Matt Cavotta's Zombie Fanboy artwork contains miniature depictions of several of Tucker's artworks, including Decomposition, Dream Fighter, Harmattan Efreet, and Warmth.[1]

Tucker was invited to participate in creating the art book The Gathering: Reuniting Pioneering Artists of Magic. He also contributed sketches as incentives for higher-tier backers of its Kickstarter.[6][8]


The cover of the third issue of The Duelist.
  • Icatian Moneychanger was inspired by a bank teller who lived in Tucker's Seattle apartment building.[1]
    Icatian Moneychanger was inspired by a bank teller who lived in Tucker's Seattle apartment building.[1]
  • Night Soil's artwork was poorly received. He agrees that it is "a really horrible painting" and has used it to encourage dissatisfied students.[6]
    Night Soil's artwork was poorly received. He agrees that it is "a really horrible painting" and has used it to encourage dissatisfied students.[6]
  • Vertigo's "uncontrollable spin" is "exactly what [he] was shooting for".[1]
    Vertigo's "uncontrollable spin" is "exactly what [he] was shooting for".[1]
  • Tucker used mostly watercolors in his early artwork, but shows more diversity since returning to the game in 2021, as in Infernal Idol.
    Tucker used mostly watercolors in his early artwork, but shows more diversity since returning to the game in 2021, as in Infernal Idol.

Plateau credit error

Between the printing of Unlimited and Revised, the computer file containing the only digital copy of Tucker's art for Plateau was corrupted by an electrical storm. Tucker had traded the original painting to a local gallery in Bellevue, Washington, making re-digitizing it impossible.[9]

New art had already been commissioned for each of the original dual lands, including a painting for Plateau by Cornelius Brudi. This artwork was intended for use in the then-upcoming Ice Age, but the cycle was deemed too powerful and pulled from the set. Wizards of the Coast substituted Brudi's painting for Tucker's on the Revised Edition printing of the card, but incorrectly attributed that painting to Tucker.[10] The error was corrected in the digital Masters Edition III and Masters Edition IV.

Other work

Before working with Wizards of the Coast, Tucker did logo work and brochure design.[1] That experience informed his Magic artwork, which is usually printed at a very small size, leading him to simplify forms and textures.[4] In 2006, Tucker lived in Olney, Illinois, and taught at Olney Central College.[1] He is no longer listed in their staff directory as of 2025.[11] He has also taught at John A. Logan College.[12]

Tucker has worked with several other game publishers and related companies, including Erik’s Curiosa, Upper Deck, Onyx Path Publishing, White Wolf Publishing, Renegade Games, Fantasy Flight Games, Five Rings Publishing, and Paradox Interactive.[13]

Personal life

Tucker was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and is adopted. His adopted family is Baptist, and he once offered a portfolio to an art director for the Southern Baptist Convention. After reviewing it, the art director told him, "I never want to see you here again. We don't want you. We don't want your type", which gave Tucker a sense of freedom or release. He describes his parents as encouraging his career, but not necessarily pleased with the artwork he has created.[7]

As a child, Tucker made Christmas cards and tags and sold them around his neighborhood. He also made money by drawing nude artwork for other boys at his school, using photos taken from their fathers' adult magazines. It was on the reverse sides of those pages that Tucker discovered artwork by Marshall Arisman, which led him to choose to study under Arisman several years later.[7]

His family moved between Missouri and Illinois repeatedly during his childhood, finally settling in Tennessee when he was in high school. He lived in Carbondale, Illinois, at several points during his life, and married his wife there.[1]

Tucker often describes himself as a hermit.[1][9][7]

Gallery

External links

References

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Matt Cavotta (November 09, 2006). "Milk and Cookies with Drew Tucker". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2021-04-29.
  2. ↑ a b BigAr (October 10, 2018). "Drew Tucker Interview". BigAr.com. Archived from the original on 2018-10-10.
  3. ↑ a b Duelist Magazine Issue #3 - Fall 1994 (en). Internet Archive.
  4. ↑ a b c James Arnold. "Art Heroes: Drew Tucker (en)". www.coolstuffinc.com. Archived from the original on 2025-11-08.
  5. ↑ Drew Tucker Interview - Dragon Shield (en-US). Dragon Shield (2022-11-11). Archived from the original on Nov 8, 2025.
  6. ↑ a b c An Interview With Drew Tucker – Vintage Magic. www.vintagemagic.com. Archived from the original on March 24, 2023.
  7. ↑ a b c d The Painted Realm (en). www.thepaintedrealm.com. Archived from the original on 2025-11-08.
  8. ↑ The Gathering: Reuniting Pioneering Artists of Magic (en). Kickstarter (2014-09-05). Archived from the original on May 21, 2024.
  9. ↑ a b Drew Tucker: WHAT HAPPENED to the ORIGINAL PLATEAU Art (en). YouTube.
  10. ↑ Wizards of the Coast (February 20, 2002). "Plateau(s)". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2020-09-22.
  11. ↑ Staff Directory (en). iecc.edu. Archived from the original on November 7, 2025.
  12. ↑ Drew Tucker Gallery (en). www.vintagemagic.com. Archived from the original on 2025-11-07.
  13. ↑ About — Drew Tucker Illustration (en). Drew Tucker Illustration. Archived from the original on 2025-11-07.
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