Disney isn’t known for being the best creative collaborator. It is incredibly protective over its own properties, even dictating exactly how the famous three circles of the Mickey shape can be displayed. That projects like Who Killed Roger Rabbit, Kingdom Hearts, and now Disney Lorcana can even happen is a miracle.
But perhaps the biggest miracle of all is Merlin, Self-Appointed Mentor. A common card that doesn’t do anything too outlandish might not seem like a big deal, but it represents something we’ve rarely seen from Disney: the freedom for artists to imprint their own style on their illustrations.
When Lorcana was first announced, I was expecting all the art to be either the highly polished, board-approved depictions we see elsewhere in the House of Mouse, or maybe even just screengrabs from the movies. Those concerns were quickly put to bed with the reveal of the D23 promos, which included not only a variety of painterly art styles, but interesting and fresh new takes on the character designs themselves Some of the promos feature familiar characters exactly as you remember them, but then there’s cards like Captain Hook, Forceful Duellist - a sword-weilding, fairy-capturing reimagining of the classic Disney villain.
Merlin goes even further. In a way, this Dreamborn card doesn’t push the character terribly far from his original design. A bit more ornate, with maybe even a hint of Yen Sid about him, but otherwise the same as we’ve always seen him. The interest comes not from what is drawn, but how it’s drawn.
Lorcana has been going for a storybook aesthetic since the very start, but there’s a roughness to Dave Bauchene’s illustration here. A sketchy quality, with construction lines and pencil marks and colours bleeding outside the lines. It looks gorgeous, like most other Lorcana cards, but with a new approach to the art we’ve not seen before.
Compare this to Bauchene’s other card, Mickey Mouse, True Friend. Mickey Mouse is a character Disney is the most protective of, right down to how the ears face at every angle. That perfectly on-model Mickey, free of any imperfections in a nice, friendly pose doesn’t have anywhere near as much character to it as Merlin. It’s a pretty picture, sure, but Merlin feels like a work of love and passion for the craft of illustration.
For every ‘safe’ card like Mickey Mouse, Detective or Sergeant Tibbs, Courageous Cat that could just as easily be found on a lunchbox or Blu-ray cover, we’ve had something like Merlin, Self-Appointed Mentor; Iago, Loud-Mouthed Parrot; or Beast, Wolfsbane that pushes the rigid boundaries of Disney. Iago’s art goes in the complete opposite direction to Merlin, doing away with outlines entirely, and looks like a paper collage. Beast, on the other hand, has a carved, wooden texture to it that feels more feral and aggressive than you’d expect, and conveys the fury of Beast all the better for it.
The fact all three of these cards can exist in the first release of Disney’s big push into TCGs is an excellent sign for the future of the game’s art. The first release has a lot to prove, and one of those things is maintaining the sense of ‘Disney Magic’ that has kept the company afloat for a century. Instead of tightly regulating that magic, it allowed Ravensburger and the artists working on the game to flex their muscles and give us a hint of the experimental and inventive style Lorcana could head down in years to come.
We’re not quite at the totally off-the-wall styles of Magic’s Secret Lair or Pokemon’s secret rare full-art cards, but I don’t think we’re as far off as you might expect. And it all started here with a few construction lines on a dinky little common card.