there's less focus on trying to paint a scene and more on "a monster is a monster, it doesn't need to exist in a place" in early yugioh. mtg had this sometimes too but in general early mtg's style was washed out paintings with a background
honestly something i love about early yugioh is...
early mtg, right, has some """amateurish""" art - but it still all feels like traditional lineage art to me i guess. ive seen people make fun of stuff like this but i love it cuz its just like paintings by normal ppl to me