Gearing up for the release of Magic: The Gathering Duskmourn release, Wizard of The Coast interviewed this legendary Japanese artist to understand the creation of the game’s newest big bad evil: Valgavoth.
Born in 1972, Masahiro Ito was responsible for background and creature design in the 1999 release of Silent Hill and participated in the production of Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3, handling all creature designs and art direction. In 2006, he became an independent illustrator and designer. He was responsible for creature and Other World designs in the PS5 release SILENT HILL: The Short Message, which came out in early 2024. He is currently a freelance illustrator and designer.
Q: How did you approach creating the artwork for this project?
The character design for “Valgavoth” differed significantly from what I’m accustomed to. For this project, I aimed to create a style that, while grounded in a Western setting, also reflects a “Japanese artist’s” touch. I consciously used colour schemes not commonly employed by other artists. Given the overall dark tone of the piece, I interpreted the orange patterns on the surface as “luminescent.” I particularly enjoyed how these patterns reflected in the complex space around the multitude of arms. The piece was conceptualised with these multiple arms in mind. Considering the small size of the card illustrations, I designed it to ensure the space and character silhouettes were easily recognisable at a glance.
The work was completed over about four days, dedicating four hours a day. Although I was asked not to make many changes to the original design, I made slight adjustments to the surface patterns. It was challenging not to freely modify the design. Initially, I was drawing distorted, blurred facial expressions for the human characters, but I eventually abandoned that approach.
Q: What is your impression of Magic: The Gathering?
I believe the charm of Magic: The Gathering lies in its history as a card game. I have never played card games in general, but I have seen illustrations by overseas Magic artists online and often seen the game being played in media. Given its long history, I admire the sheer number of fans and the scale of the game.
As my work has primarily been in consumer games, it was refreshing to work on card game illustrations after a long period. I felt that the world of “Duskmourn: House of Horror” was quite different from the Magic illustrations I had seen before.
Q: What are your thoughts on the world of ” Duskmourn: House of Horror” and “Horror”?
Modern horror has diversified significantly, with some works heavily influenced by retro horror. I understand that “Duskmourn: House of Horror” is set in a haunted house and draws inspiration from 1980s horror films, games, and media. Retro horror from the 80s often focused on giving villains and enemies unique personalities, which became a defining feature of major works. In contrast, contemporary horror tends to focus more on the protagonist’s actions, inner thoughts, and background. When creating horror art, I aim to produce unique designs that differ from those created by Western artists, as I did with the early Silent Hill series. This approach was something I kept in mind for this project as well.
Q: What is your greatest fear, and have you ever experienced anything truly scary?
My greatest fear is running out of money to live (haha..!). I’m sorry if this is not the answer you were expecting, but I have never had any truly scary experiences while working on horror works, nor have I ever experienced anything terrifying in the past. Despite my line of work, I don’t believe in supernatural phenomena.
Q: Finally, do you have a message for your fans?
If you’d like to see a card featuring a completely original character designed by me, please request it from the Magic: The Gathering team. If there are enough requests, I hope to create my own original Magic: The Gathering character(s) and share them with all of you!
ABOUT DUSKMOURN: HOUSE OF HORROR
Experience the thrill of overcoming impossible odds and uncover chilling secrets in Magic’s first contemporary horror set, available for pre-order June 28th and launching September 27th, 2024.
“Who will survive, and what will be left of them?” That’s a question both Magic fans and our story protagonists will be asking themselves. Duskmourn: House of Horror takes place on a new plane, Duskmourn, inspired by the genre of modern horror from the 1980s through the modern day. But there’s a twist! Duskmourn isn’t just any plane, it’s an infinite haunted house populated by horrors, nightmares, and other terrifying entities.
