I cannot stress this enough.

Grand Prix Las Vegas is not a normal Grand Prix.

Grand Prix Las Vegas is not a normal Grand Prix.

You have to plan ahead, especially for art-related matters. The over thirty artists aren’t in a side room, and they aren’t out of view. They aren’t even situated in one corner of the convention hall. You will not be able to miss them at any point of your playing week. This matters a lot in that you have to plan out an itinerary on things you want done—and do it early because people are not going to forget to have their cards signed (meaning lines) or play mats bought (with only fifty in many cases and thousands of people there), so artists will run out of product.

I can write on this for days, but frankly, I’m just this guy, a curator of sorts who also writes. Let’s ask Steve Argyle to lend us some advice from an artist’s perspective and get the real scoop:

This is doubly true if you plan on visiting any “house” gathering that someone is throwing for Cube or odd Drafts.

Sometimes, their assistants like being appreciated with coffee. Write that down.

Then again, if you plop down $1,000, things do happen. It is Las Vegas, after all, but for the vast majority of us, be civil and realistic.

To avoid feel-bad situations and being made fun of on reddit, don’t be that guy at the airport begging for work while an artist is in the bathroom. (I’ve sadly heard that this happens.) Struggle.

I’ll summarize more quick information for you to read faster as you’re on your phone at the event.

Artist Hours

Artists need breaks, lunches, and working hours. Please respect their hours, and notice the ones that last longer! When arriving on site, always check posted artist hours, but even those can be wrong or change with so many artists. On-site listings will be the most correct. As for now, notice that a few artists will only be there on the weekend, as stated in the reddit AMA.

Here’s a note from Steve Argyle explaining them:

Steve—and many others—often stay late only to be kicked out by security. Don’t plan on that. It’s not likely to happen. Likewise, asking an artist to sign at a restaurant or bar is not kosher. Selfies or buying an artist a drink, depending on the situation, could be more than appreciated though!

Signing Cards

What you should bring to have signed is a personal choice, and I wrote a bunch of articles on lesser-known cards by Grand Prix artists you shouldn’t miss here on Gathering Magic: post 1, post 2, post 3, post 4. Additionally, a few artists all forwarded me to mention, again, Steve Argyle posting on signing by his draconian, but honest, 10 Commandments:

Additionally, asking an artist to sign someone else’s alteration is a big no-no. Don’t ever ask them to do that because it implies that they did the alteration.

How much should you tip? For one to four cards being signed, $1 is about as low as I’d go. If you drop a full twelve cards, bring some singles. If you’re really smart and selling to vendors, gaining a leftover $.75 in value could become $1 if you’re honest about giving it to an artist as a tip. We’re a community, and vendors absolutely like happy artists!

Original Art

Go early to buy any original art. This is step one over even play mats and Las Vegas exclusives. Sketches are also in the original-art camp except they’re cheaper and collectors buy them in piles.

Additionally for you to plan for, Friday has a weird tournament you might be interested in, and it’s free. It’s a tournament that is the Vintage format ban list and rules, with one major addition: All cards must be from one artist, including the lands! Kev Walker has done nearly a Cube by himself, but his lands are all promotional ones and not cheap. For people like the Foglios, you have to choose one artist. This means that if you chose Kaja Foglio, you can use all the ones by her and the ones by her and her husband, but not the ones by Phil Foglio only. The event is a deck brewer’s dream, and frankly, the best decks will even have bad mana bases. I encourage you to check it out here.

Getting Exclusives at Vegas

Many artists are having exclusives at Grand Prix Las Vegas, and I’ve tried to find as many of them below. More will emerge in the next week from late printers/play mats coming in hot, and other myriad process snags. Keep your eyes open for them. In short, they’re a second option after original art, with alterations and finally signatures coming in last. If you wait until Saturday afternoon, you’ll probably have a bad time.

Without further ado, here are things to plan for and stuff by artists you shouldn’t miss:

Steve Argyle

If you can afford a traditional black-and-white image from Steve, consider getting a Planeswalker sketch on paper. His alterations are always on point, but if you want some art for your house, think about going a bit more minimal, and since he’s drawn so many Lilianas, Avacyns, and Chandras, he can pound out an awesome minimalist artwork if you have the coin for it!

He also did the art for LSV’s token that many of us will be receiving, which is nice.

Eric Deschamps

Eric is a digital artist, and as such, when he makes awesome Planeswalkers, he makes high-quality giclee prints of them in a denomination of fifty. Elspeth, Sun's Champion below will be there, but he has only a hair over twenty left. If you want one of the 16” × 24” pieces of awesome below, I’d definitely get to him before Saturday.

He’ll have other open-ended prints as well for your other favorite Planeswalkers.

Bryon Wackwitz

Yes, this is a real play mat. He’ll have fifty of them. And no, they aren’t as expensive as you think they should be. I’d check them out!

Richard Kane Ferguson

Richard has a full three play mats, with fifty of each of them. His collage play mat is incredibly detailed, and I wish I could hand you a higher-resolution version instead of this .jpg! He’ll have a giant line, so if you want a sketch from him or one of his exclusive play mats, stop by early!

Jeff Menges

Jeff will have the normal booth, but he will also be bringing a few of The Gathering books from his very successful Kickstarter. If you get there early, you can snag one of the last two numbered collector’s edition books. He also has a play mat from the series and a ton of artist proofs, too!

If you’re a serious art collector, he has a few of his original transfer sketches for sale. They’re impressive to say the least! Above is the one for Firestorm Phoenix from Legends.

Chuck Lukacs

Chuck will have forty each of his exclusive play mats, shown below, at Grand Prix Las Vegas. The Doubling Season remix with the Hydra has caught my eye.

He’ll also have sketches, live drawing, and his amazing Theros marble original arts, which, if you have a few hundred bucks, are beautiful and pass the sofa test.

Zach Stella

Zach will have a few of his original sketches still available in Daghatar the Adamant, Orator of Ojutai, and Sibsig Muckdraggers. If Daghatar lasts more than a day, I’ll be utterly shocked. It’s cool, and OMA did a story on making it.

Lucas Graciano

Beyond prints, proofs, and fun play mats, Lucas will have his final five traditionally painted originals there: Grave Titan (promo), Sunbringer's Touch, Soul of Ravnica, Ainok Guide, and Atarka Pummeler. They are all incredible-looking, and some have won art awards—really. Save some money for them if you’re a baller and/or shot-caller.

He also will have his final couple hand-painted mini paintings on the back of artist proofs, shown below.

Izzy

Izzy will have a pretty unique and new thing at Grand Prix Las Vegas: You can buy a sketch, and he’ll videotape it. He’ll then speed it up and give you a personal, private link to the video to share online or however you’d like! I’ve never seen this before, and it sounds pretty awesome actually.

Ken Meyer, Jr.

Ken has a pretty fun group of play mats, more than I have space for, but two really stand out as awesome. Check out his Force of Will/Will Smith and a Boondock Saints one. There will be twenty-five of each of them, and I’d definitely stop by early to pick one up—that Boondock Saints one won’t be around on Saturday.

Howard Lyon

In case you didn’t know, Howard actually does sketches traditionally. This convention, he’ll bring a bunch of them for the first time. I’d check that out plenty before the weekend. Also, if you have a child’s room to decorate, his giclees on canvas are beautiful. This Life's Legacy one is 13” × 18”, in a tiny edition of thirty for $100.

Drew Baker

Drew has a few surprises, so I’d ask him about Planeswalker commissions and traditional paintings. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention his edition of fifty canvas prints of Library of Alexandria and Karakas above. At 16” × 12”, they’re utterly beautiful!

Aaron Miller

Aaron doesn’t have an exclusive, per se, but he’s testing some quite different play-mat choices. His two “test play mats” below are in incredibly small quantity—in the single digits—and you can see his brushstrokes pretty close on them! His tokens, likewise, are all tests. They’re very painterly and beautiful, and they bring tokens to a level of art that hasn’t been seen in the marketplace yet. I also know he bundles like a champ if you want a couple of things from him. I’d drop $5 on one of his custom tokens of a woman warrior were I you—his ability to show fashionable armor with draping is not to be missed or underestimated.

rk post

Randy will have a ton of stuff there, and this go-around, he has exclusive tokens—as always—but also two play mats:

Ryan Alexander Lee

Jason Engle

Jason is a digital artist who makes an original. He hand-touches a piece with mixed media to be a finalized idea of what the piece is, and they come out beautiful. I’ve seen a few in person. He’ll have this Satyr Grovedancer, at 16” × 20” for $200 as a convention exclusive.

Additionally, he normally only brings four different tokens, but he will be bringing packs of thirty different tokens. He won't be selling them all separately, but rather, they will be thirty-card collector’s packs, so whatever token people need, they will probably find it in there. Those will be $40, and considering that his tokens are $2 individually, that is a pretty absurd savings. I’ve never seen large packs being offered, and I’ll be sure to check them out personally and post them on Twitter!

Christopher Rush

In addition to alterations, prints, and other play mats, Christopher Rush will have two exclusive play mats below—two hundred of each. He will also have a new Goblin Soldier and a Monk token available for purchase.

Start planning now—right now!

-Mike