AR-201 Fall 2023: Paul Piorkowski - Week 15 Research Assignment

The artist I chose to share this week is Alayna Danner. Danner was born in Madison, Wisconsin, is based in Seattle, Washington, and has been making art professionally since 2009. She has worked with many entities, such as Valve, Alderac Entertainment Group, Cryptozoic Entertainment, Troll Lord Games, Catalyst Games Lab, Rio Grande Games, PerBlue, and most importantly, Wizards of the Coast. She graduated from Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in May 2008, with a BFA in illustration and a 3.7 GPA. She uses Photoshop, Corel Painter, and Adobe suite.

I again chose two artworks to share this week. The first artwork I chose is yet another artwork for a Magic card, this one titled Snow-Covered Forest. The artwork depicts a white wolf running through a clearing in a pine forest while the rays of the sun shine through the pines. This piece evokes the majesty of nature, similarly to the Snow-Covered Mountain art I shared last week, though with more focus on the forest itself and the way the rays of sunlight affect the landscape.

The next artwork is, again, Magic card artwork, this one being another version of the Snow-Covered Plains. The artwork depicts an open field covered in snow with patches of yellow wheat or grass poke through. Bare, snowy trees line the background under a bright yet cloudy grey sky while a jackalope hops through the field. This piece, similarly to the last Snow-Covered Plains, it gives a nostalgic feeling to me. The field reminds me of the fields I would drive by on the way to see my dad when he lived in Shelton in 2016, and the snow reminds me of the only Christmas I spend with him in that house, as he met his current girlfriend the month before, and they moved in together a few months after.