Jeff Miracola
Encyclopedia
Jeff Miracola is an American
fantasy
artist
, children's book artist, and illustrator
.
Miracola created illustrations for the children's book, Welcome to Monster Isle, along with children's author Oliver Chin in 2008. Miracola's illustrations have also appeared in ImagineFX
magazine, The Duelist
magazine, Advanced Photoshop magazine, and on a Target Corporation
gift card. In the gaming industry, he is best known for his work in the collectible card game
Magic: The Gathering
, the Shadowrun
role-playing game
and collectible card game
, as well as the Dungeons & Dragons
role-playing game
. Miracola also created illustrations for the Electronic Arts
video game, Mini-Golf, available on the Apple iPod.
in 1971, the second of two children.
Miracola grew up in Milwaukee
, Wisconsin
where he attended the Milwaukee High School of the Arts
. During his high school years, a friend introduced him to the work of Frank Frazetta
, Boris Vallejo
, Berni Wrightson, Michael Kaluta, Gerald Brom
and Jeff Jones
, all of whom he cites as creative influences. In 1991, he attended college at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design
, but left college after two years to begin a freelance art career.
, FASA Corporation, Steve Jackson Games
, White Wolf Game Studios, and many other companies in the role-playing game
and collectible card game
industry. He also did conceptual toy design for Warner Bros.
Batman Beyond
and Nickelodeon's Animorphs, through Hasbro, Inc. In 2008, Miracola collaborated with author Oliver Chin to create the children's book Welcome to Monster Isle, which is targeted at ages 4 to 8. His work received a favorable review in The Horn Book Guide to Children's and Young Adult Books, with the critic referring to the "slick illustrations".
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, children's book artist, and illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
.
Miracola created illustrations for the children's book, Welcome to Monster Isle, along with children's author Oliver Chin in 2008. Miracola's illustrations have also appeared in ImagineFX
ImagineFX
ImagineFX is a digital art magazine that features workshops and interviews with artists from the science fiction, fantasy, manga, anime, game and comic disciplines....
magazine, The Duelist
The Duelist
The Duelist was created in late 1994 as a quarterly magazine produced by Wizards of the Coast to accompany the increasingly popular Magic: The Gathering trading card game...
magazine, Advanced Photoshop magazine, and on a Target Corporation
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
gift card. In the gaming industry, he is best known for his work in the collectible card game
Collectible card game
thumb|Players and their decksA collectible card game , also called a trading card game or customizable card game, is a game played using specially designed sets of playing cards...
Magic: The Gathering
Magic: The Gathering
Magic: The Gathering , also known as Magic, is the first collectible trading card game created by mathematics professor Richard Garfield and introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Magic continues to thrive, with approximately twelve million players as of 2011...
, the Shadowrun
Shadowrun
Shadowrun is a role-playing game set in a near-future fictional universe in which cybernetics, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime, with occasional elements of conspiracy fiction, horror, and detective fiction.The original game has spawned...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
and collectible card game
Collectible card game
thumb|Players and their decksA collectible card game , also called a trading card game or customizable card game, is a game played using specially designed sets of playing cards...
, as well as the Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
. Miracola also created illustrations for the Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
video game, Mini-Golf, available on the Apple iPod.
Early life and education
Miracola was born in Baltimore, MarylandMaryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
in 1971, the second of two children.
Miracola grew up in Milwaukee
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
where he attended the Milwaukee High School of the Arts
Milwaukee High School of the Arts
Established in 1984, Milwaukee High School of the Arts , formerly West Division Sr. High School, is a high school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. It is a part of the Milwaukee Public Schools system. It specializes in preparation for a profession in the arts.Students receive a minimum of two hours in...
. During his high school years, a friend introduced him to the work of Frank Frazetta
Frank Frazetta
Frank Frazetta was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for work in comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers and other media...
, Boris Vallejo
Boris Vallejo
Boris Vallejo is a Peruvian-born American painter. He immigrated to the United States in 1964, and he currently resides in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He frequently works with Julie Bell, his wife, painter, and model....
, Berni Wrightson, Michael Kaluta, Gerald Brom
Gerald Brom
Gerald Brom is an American gothic fantasy artist and illustrator, known for his work in role-playing games, novels, and comics.-Early life:Brom was born March 9, 1965, in Albany, Georgia. As the son of a U.S...
and Jeff Jones
Jeff Jones (artist)
Jeffrey Catherine Jones was an American artist whose work is best known from the late 1960s through 2000s. Jones provided over 150 covers for many different types of books through 1976, as well as venturing into fine art during and after this time...
, all of whom he cites as creative influences. In 1991, he attended college at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design
Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design
The Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design is a four-year, professional college of art and design, founded in 1974. It offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in 11 majors and is considered the successor to the Layton School of Art....
, but left college after two years to begin a freelance art career.
Career
Miracola began his illustration career in 1993, working as a freelance artist for Wizards of the CoastWizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
, FASA Corporation, Steve Jackson Games
Steve Jackson Games
Steve Jackson Games is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and the gaming magazine Pyramid.-History:...
, White Wolf Game Studios, and many other companies in the role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
and collectible card game
Collectible card game
thumb|Players and their decksA collectible card game , also called a trading card game or customizable card game, is a game played using specially designed sets of playing cards...
industry. He also did conceptual toy design for Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
Batman Beyond
Batman Beyond
Batman Beyond is an American animated television series created by Warner Bros. Animation in collaboration with DC Comics as a continuation of the Batman legacy...
and Nickelodeon's Animorphs, through Hasbro, Inc. In 2008, Miracola collaborated with author Oliver Chin to create the children's book Welcome to Monster Isle, which is targeted at ages 4 to 8. His work received a favorable review in The Horn Book Guide to Children's and Young Adult Books, with the critic referring to the "slick illustrations".
Books
- Welcome to Monster Isle, 2008
- Mail Me Art: Going Postal with the World's Best Illustrators and Designers
- World of WarcraftWorld of WarcraftWorld of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
: The Art of the Trading Card Game - Expose Vol. 4, Ballistic Publishing
- Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, Volumes 2, 3,4,5, and 15
- The Art of Magic: the GatheringMagic: The GatheringMagic: The Gathering , also known as Magic, is the first collectible trading card game created by mathematics professor Richard Garfield and introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Magic continues to thrive, with approximately twelve million players as of 2011...
- High Tech & Low Life: The Art of ShadowrunShadowrunShadowrun is a role-playing game set in a near-future fictional universe in which cybernetics, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime, with occasional elements of conspiracy fiction, horror, and detective fiction.The original game has spawned...
- 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons is a 2004 publisher's retrospective written by Harold Johnson, Steve Winter, Peter Adkison, Ed Stark, and Peter Archer...
Magazines
- ImagineFX magazine (Future PublishingFuture PublishingFuture plc is a media company; in 2006, it was the sixth-largest in the United Kingdom. It publishes more than 150 magazines in fields such as video games, technology, automotive, cycling, films and photography. Future is the official magazine company of all three major games console manufacturers...
) - Advanced Photoshop Magazine (Imagine PublishingImagine PublishingImagine Publishing is a UK-based magazine publisher, which publishes a number of video games, computing, creative and lifestyle magazines. It was founded on 14 May 2005, and launched with a core set of six gaming and creative computing titles. In November 2005 it acquired the only retro games...
) - Dragon Magazine (Wizards of the CoastWizards of the CoastWizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
) - The Duelist magazine (Wizards of the CoastWizards of the CoastWizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
)
Card games
- Magic: the Gathering (Wizards of the CoastWizards of the CoastWizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
) - World of Warcraft (Upper DeckUpper deckUpper deck may refer to :* The Upper Deck Company, an American trading card business* The upper deck is the highest level internal deck on a ship, i.e. just below the superstructure and open deck....
) - Rage (White WolfWhite WolfWhite Wolf is a publisher of role-playing games, notably the World of Darkness.White Wolf may also refer to:*White Wolf , a location in Yosemite National Park*White Wolf , a Canadian heavy metal band...
) - Battletech (FASAFASAFASA Corporation was an American publisher of role-playing games, wargames and board games between 1980 and 2001. Originally the name FASA was an acronym for "Freedonian Aeronautics and Space Administration", a joking allusion to the Marx Brothers film Duck Soup. This tongue-in-cheek attitude was...
) - Shadowrun (FASAFASAFASA Corporation was an American publisher of role-playing games, wargames and board games between 1980 and 2001. Originally the name FASA was an acronym for "Freedonian Aeronautics and Space Administration", a joking allusion to the Marx Brothers film Duck Soup. This tongue-in-cheek attitude was...
) - Deadlands (Five Rings Publishing GroupFive Rings Publishing GroupThe Five Rings Publishing Group was formed as a spin-out of Alderac Entertainment Group and ISOMEDIA.-History:In 1996, Alderac Entertainment Group and ISOMEDIA divested themselves of their joint operating venture, and created Five Rings Publishing Group...
) - Judge Dredd (Target Games)
- Vampire: The Eternal Struggle (Wizards of the CoastWizards of the CoastWizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
)