What are /r/mtgaltered's favorite Products & Services?

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Any up and coming car mechanics out there who would fix my car for free / for the exposure?

Haha.

I'm thinking about building a new house, any carpenters out there want to come frame it for free? For the exposure?

Haha.

If you want someone to make you something nice, you should be prepared to compensate them accordingly.

Haha.

Another from my girlfriend. She wasn't a fan of the usual Doom Blade alters (black gash across the whole card) so we came up with this.

She's currently accepting commissions an can do pretty much anything you come up with. https://www.etsy.com/shop/starvingnomore

Thanks for looking!

https://www.amazon.com/Spin-Down-Loyalty-Counter-Dice-Hedral/dp/B0774QZ8MQ/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=planeswalker+dice&qid=1559260773&s=gateway&sr=8-1

A bit expensive for just 5 dice :/ I had to paint the numbers more. They were silver before. The white one particularly was bad. This one I painted white. You can buy them individually off amazon as well.

I whited out the whole card with an opaque white acrylic paint. Once it was dry I used watered down acrylics to get the basic colors where they needed to be for the background. Make sure it's not too wet or it could start to remove the white base. If it happens just put the white back down and let it dry. Then I used black fine tip markers to draw the mountains, tower, and smoke squiggles. I finished with a fine tipped brush with some watered down acrylic to do touch-ups and highlights on the tower

If you look in my posts, the arcane signet is one I did by removing the artwork and just using markers on blank card to draw. It's a lot of work to remove it, sometimes the card gets damaged, and sometimes the ink bleeds to the back of the card so I only recommend using nail polish to white out cards if you need to.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006TZN3Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_XJN0DVTTNNGCS5CCVG1C?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

This white is real thick like cream cheese. I use this white a little water to smooth it out, and mix a little black into it to make a grey base cuz it takes let's paint to blank out the card. Its best if the card is gunna be primarily a darker card. But for this card I went pure white to keep it bright and colorful

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00251I66C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_SN4X099ADX214Q6F2XYW?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

These are the acrylics I use. Some of the colors work better than others. The reds and the yellows suck in this cuz the don't go on bright and opaque. I usually put a little of that thick white with those colors to help them show better

Good luck!

hey! This is a cool concept! A piece of advice I have would be to really drive home the constellation idea. The white outline is really stark and I like how it cuts into the background, but if you think about constellations ,it's more about the connections of stars rather than the shape it makes.

Here are some good reference points

link1

link2

as you can see, the lines that connect the stars are straight lines, but what it resembles is a different layer. To bring it back to these snappys, what you could do is create a basic constellation and then have the snappy sillhouette around it. Or make his outline more straight (no curves) and accentuate a point/star

Good work, Keep it up!

I use a ‘slow dry’ additive that makes acrylic behave more like oil paint. A drop of it can go a long way.. too many drops means it takes a week for the paint to dry.

I use a brand no longer sold but it should be similar to this product - https://www.amazon.com/Liquitex-Professional-Slow-Dri-Blending-Medium/dp/B001UNYH3W/

/u/klug_alters makes really awesome alters in this style and is what got me into wanting to make my own. I read some comments he's written on posts about his process and tried to follow the same. The basic steps, at least how I understood them, are to (1) strip the original card of it's ink using 100% acetone (nail polish remover may not work); (2) paint over the card with a black acrylic paint (klug at one point recommended Apple Barrel); and (3) use scratch art tools like these to scrape away lines, areas, etc that you want the foiling exposed.

I don't think they're noticeably thicker in a sleeve, at least to my eye.

Alright, there has been a ton of helpful information. Thank you guys for your expedient, honest, and cheerful responses! Assuming I got the link to work, here's an incomplete list of what I have, roughly 40% total of my cards. Also, assuming it works, a grateful shout-out to the individual who suggested Google Docs. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwazUM6WKEAnaFhjUG9OcV91aEk/edit?usp=sharing This is my secondary reddit account, and the one that I check less often. I'm also going to be taking awhile redoing my spreadsheet, so don't expect op to deliver in the immediate future. That said, you guys (in the general reddit community, I posted my questions and response verbatim in multiple mtg subreds) get priority over amazon, ebay, and any local store. So final note, I've sleeved most of my rares, a few of my uncommons, and no commons. That's not included in the spreadsheet, but I'll include them in any cards I mail.

You can buy the starting set on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Fluid-Acrylic-Assorted-Colors/dp/B0027A3GOI/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1539718354&sr=8-4&keywords=golden+fluid+acrylic+paint

You can usually find it at ACMoore or Michaels. If you are going to a physical store, download the ACMoore app, you'll get a 55% off coupon that doesn't go away! After you get these main color set, I like to buy random colors when I go in with the coupon just to have them. But you can make all the colors you need with the linked set. I would pick up Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow, Yellow Ochre, and Titan Buff as well.

I currently use Golden and have heard great things about Citadel. Of course they come with a higher price tag. Michaels consistently has 40-50% of coupons for a singular item. I went in and bought a box of 10 acrylic paints for under $40. The link below is for the same box that Amazon is selling:

https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Fluid-Acrylic-Assorted-Colors/dp/B0027A3GOI/ref=sr_1_4?crid=3DTHNODVFQWHG&keywords=golden+acrylic+paint+set&qid=1569989249&s=gateway&sprefix=golden+acrylli%2Caps%2C173&sr=8-4

Used "artist acryl" colors from marabu. 12 euro for 6x 22ml basic colors. Bought the cheapest lol.

https://www.amazon.de/Marabu-122000092-Artist-Acryl-sortierung/dp/B01F1YCZGG/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?adgrpid=70673958866&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyO_0nLqS5gIVgeF3Ch3xjw1gEAAYASAAEgIzfvD_BwE&hvadid=352857238052&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=1004927&hvnetw=g...

Even cheaper on amazon. 12 for 17€

Hey thanks, I appreciate it.

The extension of the artwork in the art box was just done with acrylic paints. Almost everything else was done with a black fineliner pen. One of these to be exact. I use a 0.05 or a 0.1 for most stuff.

For doing the frame around the art, you'll need paints for the colour of the frame, plus pens and a ruler to do the edging after you've coloured it in. To get the curved bit I just used one of the curves on the end of a ruler that I have. You can use anything that has a reasonably close enough curve that you want as a template.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend this type of alter to a beginner, because it requires a steady and patient hand. Even I struggle with the patience and perfectionist attitude required to really nail something like this, which shows in the imperfections in the frame etc.

https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Fluid-Acrylic-Assorted-Colors/dp/B0027A3GOI

This is pretty much all the paint you need, especially if you are learning it will help your color matching skills to mix with primaries for a while. You will pretty much only every run out of titanium white. You barely need any paint so the nice stuff like this isn't a big investment to pick up.

I do it to de-stress and I really recommend trying it out, I ruined a lot of basic lands at first while I learned but even that was fun. The end product is really just a nice bonus on top of the hobby, don't worry about your results, no one else will.

Yooo it is one of the best investments I've made. It's a wet palette. https://www.amazon.com/Sta-Wet-Palette-Keeps-Paints-Airtight/dp/B000C18GTE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1542739540&sr=8-3&keywords=wet+pallet

You can buy one at the craft store, or you can DIY it. https://makezine.com/2018/04/03/how-to-make-a-cheap-wet-palette-for-acrylic-painting/

What about buying thicker handled brushes? Or putting pencil grippies on them.

Edit: Like these

Thanks much for the info. I've heard others recommend Vallejo, too. Would you recommend the "basic colors" set? There's also a "medieval colors" one:

https://www.amazon.com/Vallejo-Basic-Colors-Paint-17ml/dp/B009162PWU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528593272&sr=8-1&keywords=vallejo+paints

https://www.amazon.com/Vallejo-Medieval-Colors-Paint-17ml/dp/B004EKCOE2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1528593272&sr=8-2&keywords=vallejo+paints

I have a decent set of Golden fluids I use at present, as well.

I'm actually grabbing a bunch of materials off amazon cause giftcards. I'm sure GW has stuff on there, but honestly, I'd rather go through a more "legit" brand. I'm sure GW stuff is decent, but I'd rather get something more tried and true, instead of "I had these brushes laying around from 40k"

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J2IZXSU/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3D1DNG02TMOV8

That is top rated on amazon for a 20/0 spotter, but I'm sure I can do better. Should I drop more than 10usd for one brush?

The colours that come in the 10 pack of 30mL bottles are pretty much perfect. You don't need to worry about the whole primary colour thing. The ten pack comes with a Pthalo Blue (green shade) and an Ultramarine Blue (red shade), which works very well for mixing.

In fact, if you're familiar with Eric Klug (who is considered by many to be the top alter artist in the world), he uses Golden Fluid Acrylics. He uses just these colours: Titanium White, Carbon Black, Yellow Hansa Medium, Pyrrole Red Light, Phthalo Blue Green Shade, and Quinacridone Magenta.

All of those colours come in the 10 pack. https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Fluid-Acrylic-1Oz-Set/dp/B0027A3GOI

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0027AEEVW?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=ACD4013XBS5C9

Will this starter pack contain all the colors I will ever need to colormix every color I ever need?

My personal recommendation is golden fluid acrylics. They make a perfect little set of ten that will be all you need to start making quality alters: http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Fluid-Acrylic-1Oz-Set/dp/B0027A3GOI