Interview: Disney Lorcana Artist Matthew Robert Davies

Interview by Matthew Vernall, updates by Charlie Pettit

With 204 cards in the first set alone, Disney Lorcana will be remembered as the most unique illustrations commissioned for any single Disney project. It took a talented pool of illustrators working their magic to bring these cards to life. We were lucky enough to speak with one such illustrator, Matthew Robert Davies, who has been working on Disney Lorcana since its early development, asking about his creative background and the hard work that goes into making the magic.

Who is Matthew Robert Davies?

“I’ve been working in animation for a few years, working on TV shows for Disney.” says Davies. “I’ve basically been training for this job since I was three, when I used to make fan images of my favourite Disney characters. One of the first drawings I did that anyone said was good was my recreation of the VHS cover for The Little Mermaid. That led to me wanting to work into animation, with the goal to work with Disney, which I’m happy to say I’ve gotten to do in so many ways!

“Someone from Ravensburger reached out to me saying that they had a ‘Project’ (it was all very hush-hush!) and asked if I would do some Disney art. I did a piece without knowing what it was for and they loved it. I got brought on from July 2021 and have been working on the game since.”

How did Disney Lorcana's Design Come to Life?

“Because of the inks, you would have the same characters requiring different interpretations. You had to make sure the art was following the ‘shape language’ of the ink, whilst still keeping that character ‘on model’ with how people expect them to look. Ruby cards have a lot more angular features to be more active, whilst Emerald cards have a sort of ‘ribbon’ design to be quite flowy and flexible. 

“I would be giving a brief of who the character is, what point in their story is this image inspired by and what ink the card would be. I’d send back a series of thumbnail sketches, with one of the designs being selected. Once I have that, it was a very responsive process of creating the artwork, sending it for review and feedback, to then redraw or tweak, until it was exactly what they wanted.”

Matthew Robert Davies has seven artist credits in from villains like Gaston and The Evil Queen to some of the most iconic characters of Disney’s history, like Ariel and Elsa, with 20 credits confirmed by the release of Shimmering Skies. 

“Whilst I love being able to illustrate so many classic Disney villains,” says Davies. “My one request when I started on the project (which you might have guessed from my early love of The Little Mermaid) was to illustrate an Ariel card. When they let me work on her brief, it was the fastest I’d ever worked on any illustration! Because it was a Storyborn card, I was drawing Ariel as she appeared as a human in the film. I knew exactly how she needed to look and was very excited to see the final design accepted, finally getting to check off a career goal I’d had since childhood.” 

‘Storyborn’ is the name for characters appearing as we know them, with Dreamborn being them imagined if their tale had gone differently. Davies also got the opportunity to illustrate another Ariel in set 4, with another Storyborn Ariel, this time in mermaid form.

Illustrating Disney Lorcana: Rise of the Floodborn

“All of us working on Disney Lorcana approach Floodborn cards in different ways.” says Davies. “What I do is give options, by first creating a version of the character that I know is ‘out there,’ then create incremental changes which become closer and closer to their original look. Disney and Ravensburger would then advise where they see this design sitting in that spectrum. No matter what the character visually looks like, they must always be true to their personality: characters like Captain Hook will always be a captain, always be a pirate and always be a villain, no matter how outlandish his look.”

A momentous project like this required the work of hundreds of artists, each of which were working independently to some degree.

 “A lot of this work has been done in secret.” says Davies. “Many of us started this project when we still had to work from home in isolation. Whilst a project is in-progress, our work is kept under NDA. We’d slowly see artwork being shared, which was wonderful to see, as it was such an inspiration seeing how others interpreted the design guides for certain inks. It helped us all work together to create a unified vision. It’s been lovely to see familiar names of close friends who are also working on this project, some I didn’t learn about until I saw their names on the actual cards!”

Envisioning such beloved characters and becoming part of the Disney story is one of the highlights many artists (Davies included) appreciated as part of their hard work illustrating Disney Lorcana.

The Look of Disney Lorcana

“We know that people coming to this card game will be used to seeing these characters looking their best, so we have a high standard to meet, which was a great challenge. Everyone working on this is like me; we’ve been drawing these characters our entire lives. It’s been a real privilege to work on what was such an impactful inspiration to so many of us. To see so many artists who, like me, have been creating so much beautiful art and improving their craft, it’s great to be appreciated and trusted with bringing these characters to life.

“The response has been completely, overwhelmingly positive. I’ve had the chance to meet a lot of players and collectors; it’s been amazing to have everyone be so positive and pumped about the game and my contributions.”

“The second set was a lot of fun and difficult at the same time. I had been told that my cards would be potentially used for the packaging (which turned out to be all of the packaging except for the Disney100 gift box set) so there’s a couple more parameters to make the artwork work in that context.

“I also got to do more design work too, which I enjoy. This time, I got to design alternate costuming for characters. My favourite preliminary design I did was ‘Cinderella: Stouthearted.’ The idea was if the Fairy Godmother gave her armour and a sword, instead of a ball gown and carriage. It was so fun to design that and keep the pumpkin motifs; the final card illustration was by Grace Tran and it’s just so cool.”