Just Add Milk
An all encompassing look at my favorite project.
I’ve posted about this project plenty already, but I love it so much I decided to kick off my substack by giving it a home here, with some added details.
1. Intro
In July of 2021 I was emailed by Magic: the Gathering Art Director Tom Jenkot. At the time, Tom worked on the Booster Fun and Secret Lair products. He had a new idea he was looking to pitch and he recruited me for help. He had me design a series of cereal-box inspired Magic: the Gathering cards that would later end up as the "Just Add Milk" December 2022 Secret Lair Drop.
2. Card Creation
A few elements were decided from the start:
Mimic the front of a cereal box as closely as possible.
Depict each Legendary creature in a style reminiscent of classic cereal mascots.
Design the name of the creature to imitate the name of a cereal.
Include a bowl of cereal with milk.
Solve how to incorporate the rules text onto the card.
During the initial concepting phase they were originally intended to be single sided, however, after submitting my first sketches, Tom pushed to make them double sided. He pitched me a few more fun ideas including cereal pieces as power/toughness and a puzzle/mini-game for the “back of the box”.
The 3 legendary creatures were chosen for me, and it was a fun challenge redesigning them into these more whimsical versions. Etali and Ghalta took inspiration from Dino (the Flintstones) and Barney (Barney & Friends) respectively. Ulamog being faceless was a difficult problem to solve. I focused on taking shape cues from various cartoon characters in an effort to simplify Ulamog’s “features” while giving him a more accented brow to allow some of that cartoony expression.
I designed all of the typography with a minor edit pass by the Wizards of the Coast team. I also designed all of the puzzles and wrote the instructions/stories that go with them.
Some other design solutions were depicting the rules text as Nutritional Facts, and the mana costs as nutritional highlights commonly found on boxed food packaging. One fun Easter egg I got to include was Ulamog's bowl referencing a very unique Zendikar Island by Vincent Proce.
As part of the process I created these layered, cut-out ink drawings for each card. They were sold at auction upon the debut of the Secret Lair.
3. Outside the Box
That’s the story of how these cards were made, but wait there’s more!...
This ad was made by the team at Gazelle Automations in the style of those classic Saturday morning cereal commercials, complete with hand-made puppet versions of each of my character redesigns. I encourage you to click on the link above to visit their page with more details on the video, including a very adorable bloopers reel.
Soon after the cards went on sale, I exhibited as an artist at MagicCon Philadelphia (February 17-19, 2023). It was only my 2nd time doing a MTG event (my first being several years prior) so I wasn’t sure what to expect.
My Just Add Milk cards ended up being a huge part of the weekend. I met a lot of fans who shared their enthusiasm for Just Add Milk and I signed a lot of cards.
I even met a cosplayer dressed as Ulamog complete with a very large bowl of very real cereal and milk. I was in awe of the beautiful craftsmanship as well as the pungent scent of soggy cereal. That’s dedication!
4. The Crumbs
And that’s the story of my Just Add Milk adventures.
This project let me play in a lot of creative spaces that I don’t normally get to explore. Combining them all in one project while cozying up with my breakfast cereal nostalgia has been a very fulfilling experience. I’d love a chance to work on another project with this level of creative input and in this more cartoony line-art style. Just Add Milk has me seriously reconsidering the direction I would like my career to go. It’s encouraged me to explore new ideas and revisit some old ones that I’ve missed.
5. Who’s Hungry?
Due to the nature of Secret Lairs, the cards are no longer for sale from Wizards of the Coast. However, if you’d like to support my work and take home a piece of Just Add Milk, you can purchase exclusive white-backed Artist Proof versions of the cards on my web store.
You can also purchase Limited Edition Prints of the cards through my rep Mark Aronowitz. Click here for details on those.
Lastly, as a special promotion for my customers I’ve been including these printed Activity Booklets that allow you to solve the puzzles while keeping your cards in mint condition.
As a thank you for reading this post, you can download the PDF to print it at home below.
Thanks so much for reading :)
-Mike