Rebecca Guay

Rebecca Guay is an artist specializing in watercolor painting and illustration. She is mostly known for her work commissioned by Magic: The Gathering, White Wolf Publishing, and DC Vertigo comics, World of Warcraft TCG, Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons and Bella Sara TCG.

Early life
Guay received a degree in Illustration from the Pratt Institute in New York City in 1992.

Career
Rebecca Guay was involved with paintings for Magic: The Gathering since its maturity in the mid to late 1990s, and was commissioned for anywhere from 3 to 12 cards per release beginning with Alliances (1996). Her final set was the 2008 set "Eventide", after which she stopped painting for the game. After the release of Onslaught (2002), it was reported on Magic the Gathering news sites that Guay had been informed that the seven works she created for the set would be her last. In what the sites reported to be her own words: "the new art director, Jeremy Cranford, thinks my work is too feminine for the vision he has for the game.

Amid fan outrage, Wizards of the Coast released a statement clarifying their position—That Guay was never 'fired' but simply not contracted as a freelance artist for Legions (2003), and that her work would be used in future sets:

To clear up some of the confusion, Rebecca Guay was not fired by Wizards of the Coast; she is a freelance artist who works with us from time to time. In fact, Rebecca is currently working with WotC on other projects in our Dungeons and Dragons line.

In the Legions set, the creative team had to think of a way to show what happened to Otaria after Kamahl destroyed the Mirari. We decided we would show the effect of this magic by making really intense exaggerated versions of all of the creatures. We would have 'super versions' and 'hyper versions' of Soldiers, Clerics, Wizards, Zombies, Goblins, Elves, etc. Even the land would evolve over the course of Onslaught block. When selecting artists, the creative team selected artists that we felt would fit precisely within this vision of what Otaria was becoming.

Even though Rebecca was not selected for work in the Legions set, Rebecca continues to be a highly valued part of our art team. Rebecca and I have discussed this and I have assured her that her art will appear in future Magic expansions.

Wizards of the coast has used Guay's work for at least seven Magic sets and a number of other products since then. One of the commissioned works, a tribute to the controversy, appeared in the 2004 joke set Unhinged: "Persecute Artist" (1BB Sorcery - Choose an artist other than Rebecca Guay. Target player reveals his or her hand and discards all nonland cards by the chosen artist. The torches and pitchforks were no match for Rebecca's fans.) A card satirizing Jeremy Cranford (artwork by Edward P. Beard, Jr) also appears in Unhinged : "Fascist Art Director" (1WW Creature — Human Horror - 2/2 WW: Fascist Art Director gains protection from the artist of your choice until end of turn. Dear Mr. and Mrs. Cranford, After careful analysis of Jeremy's vocational testing, I feel that he is best suited for a career in either torture or art direction.)

Personal life
Guay resides in Amherst, Massachusetts with her husband (artist Matthew Mitchell).