The artwork behind each card for Disney’s popular trading card game, Disney Lorcana, is uniquely designed on an individual card basis rather than simply taking images straight from the familiar animated movies. Whether the illustrations portray one of these characters in a similar vein to their roles in the films, or take on the uniquely transformed Dreamborn appearance that gives them a reimagined look and feel, these miniature works of art have a beautiful ability to capture each character’s personality just as fans would picture them.
In the card game, these Disney characters are called to the player’s side as “glimmers” of themselves, which masterfully explains away instances where there may be four of Mickey Mouse on the table. The glimmers can appear as a traditional Storyborn, a powerful Floodborn, or the more imaginative version known as Dreamborn. Each card type presents very different visual opportunities in its appearance for the artists behind the work.
ScreenRant interviewed Anna Stosik, Disney Lorcana‘s Senior Art Director – and Lead Art Director for the upcoming set, Archazia’s Island. Stosik explained much of the art process behind the cards for this TCG and how the new dual-ink game mechanic is featured in the artwork.
Stosik Discusses The Process Behind The Artwork For Disney Lorcana Cards
Each Card Is Lovingly Crafted
ScreenRant: Disney Lorcana’s art has always impressed me by having artists create new illustrations for the characters rather than taking images from the animated movies. Is there a team that designs the idea of the cards first, or that works with the artists to keep everything thematic?
Anna Stosik: Yes! It’s a highly collaborative process that involves a few teams. As Set Lead Art Director, I’m responsible for creating guides for each set – I work with concept artists and our Worldbuilding Art Director to prepare example artwork that we use to steer the look and feel for each set, as well as ensure our artists understand what’s needed before they get started.
The Card Art Directors make sure the guidelines are followed by all our artists. We also work together with Narrative and Game Design leads to figure out art ideas for all the cards for the set.
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ScreenRant: When creating a Dreamborn or even Floodborn version of a character, how much discussion is there on what the unique looks will be, or is that up to the artist’s interpretation based on card mechanics?
Anna Stosik: All elements on a character, such as costumes, need to follow guidelines, which are closely connected to the theme of the set. Card Art Directors and the Set Lead work together to prepare art briefs for each costume or element, which specify what they should be, and we ask the artists to work within those given boundaries. We really try to give our artists just enough direction, so they also have enough space to do their magic and feel empowered.
ScreenRant: What goes into the process of deciding a theme for each set of Enchanteds? I love the look of the Archazia’s Island Enchanteds by the way!
Anna Stosik: Thank you! I couldn’t be happier with this set’s Enchanted art style. I actually just spoke about this process in depth on DisneyLorcana.com, but to summarize: The Set Lead Art Director for each set is responsible for coming up with the artistic vision for the Enchanted cards. In Archazia’s Island I wanted a style that would feel like something the character Archazia would choose and was also connected to her Emerald and Sapphire nature, which we needed to balance with the need to incorporate the individual inks for each card.
It took a lot of thought and inspiration. We also chose some very special artists to help us figure out the details of the style, the card treatment and create guides for other artists. Maria Zafrilla and Beatrice Blue helped us with this for Archazia’s Island.
Anna Stosik Gives More Detail On The New Dual-Ink Mechanic
ScreenRant: I understand each of the three versions of “Hiro Hamada – Armor Designer” were done by different illustrators. How do you manage to keep all three so similar in their style and feel while each have their own special touches from the unique artists?
Anna Stosik: As I mentioned before, we have detailed guides that are created to help the artists to keep things consistent, and of course, our amazing Card Art Directors are also tasked with keeping an eye out to make sure everything works together. We’re also working with some really incredible artists who always add something special to each artwork.
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ScreenRant: Hiro Hamada’s reveal as the Set Championship card is a surprise, particularly with it being a dual-ink card. Can players expect to see more dual-ink version Championship cards in the future?
Anna Stosik: Set Championship cards are decided by our game design and organized play teams, so I can’t really speak to what they may or may not be in the future. However, dual-ink cards are brand new for Archazia’s Island, and the art team had a lot of fun incorporating that into our card designs.
ScreenRant: Speaking of dual-inks, Archazia’s Island is the first set to have this dual-ink mechanic. Does the dual-ink factor into the art design for a card in any way?
Anna Stosik: It absolutely does! The main theme of Archazia’s Island– learning new tricks – was very much inspired by the new mechanic. The dual-ink mechanic was also a big theme to consider when designing the visuals of the set. You can see this play out through opposing elements in the scenery – for example, we have these pristine marble towers, but around them the foliage and details are a bit wild and sometimes disorganized.
You’ll also notice the costumes for dual-ink characters combine on unexpected contrasting materials, textures and colors – these are both meant to serve as visual representations of dual ink’s unexpected synergies.
ScreenRant: I know that, with your position, you are focused on the artwork, but is there any information you can share with us regarding the game mechanics of the dual-ink cards? Or even how the idea of combined dual-ink cards came to be?
Anna Stosik: I can say that we know different colored inks represent gameplay styles – so dual inks can connect those sometimes-opposing game styles in one card – this is the idea that we tried to carry in the art for this. If you want to dive a little deeper on the creation and mechanic, the game design team recently spoke about this in depth in the official Discord.
ScreenRant: The card “Mushu – Majestic Dragon” was illustrated by Tom Bancroft, who created Mushu and worked on Mulan, did the Lorcana team reach out to him? Will we see other original animators doing artwork for cards?
Anna Stosik: We have worked with a number of Disney artist alumni before on Disney Lorcana TCG, including Tom and Tony Bancroft, so this was the perfect opportunity for us to ask both to draw the characters they worked on. (Similar to Tom and Mushu, Tony, who worked on Kronk for The Emperor’s New Groove, illustrated a Kronk card in this set).
We can’t say what the future will bring, but we’re always really happy to work with Disney legends – are you familiar with the D100 Collectors Set from 2023? For that, we were able to work with six different artists from Walt Disney Animation Studios to create six cards featuring alternative, full-card artwork.
Card Puzzles In Disney Lorcana And Some Of Stosik’s Favorite Things In Lorcana
Lore Cards And Two Art Puzzles Coming In Archazia’s Island
ScreenRant: Will there continue to be card “puzzles” in Archazia’s Island and other sets? (like the “Brave Little Tailor” four-card art puzzle, for example)
Anna Stosik: We’ve seen card puzzles with most releases since Brave Little Tailor was featured in The First Chapter. In Archazia’s Island, we wanted to do something even more exciting, so we’ve introduced new “Lore Cards,” which essentially help tell the story of the set. In addition to the narrative, the 20 Lore Cards also combine to create a Lore Book, as well as two different 9 card art puzzles for players and collectors to piece together.
ScreenRant: What is your favorite card design, or your favorite that you personally got to work on?
Anna Stosik: It’s really hard to pick favorites, because we work with so many incredible artists. I worked with Tom Bancroft on Mushu, and it was such a privilege for me to work directly with an animation rockstar. It really brought home that we’re working on something really special.
ScreenRant: From an artistic perspective, do you prefer decks that are themed (such as a Puppy deck, or Winnie the Pooh Pirate deck), or do you prefer to look at the card mechanics?
Anna Stosik: I personally love themed decks – we often try to subtly connect cards within a theme, so seeing them together in a deck makes me happy.
ScreenRant: Finally, is there anything you’d like to share that I’ve not touched on?
Anna Stosik: I couldn’t be happier with all the work that was done for Archazia’s Island, the Artists and Art Directors did spectacular work, and I hope players enjoy playing with all the new mechanics!
Sources: Disney Lorcana, Discord
Disney Lorcana
- Original Release Date
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August 18, 2023
- Publisher
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Ravensburger
- Designer
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Ryan Miller, Steve Warner
- Player Count
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2-6
- Length per Game
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20-30 Minutes
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