As you all already know, the release of the new Disney Lorcana set, Reign of Jafar, coincided with the day first of UK Game Expo, creating a perfect opportunity to enjoy both my passions: Board games and Disney Lorcana. Of course, as soon as the doors of Hall 2 opened, there was a huge crowd of people rushing to the Ravensburger stand to have a chance to get the first cards of the new set, play some demos, and win promo cards. I know it very well as I was among them.
Everyone that visited the Ravensburger stand at UKGE this year also had the opportunity to meet Kenneth Anderson, the artist behind some amazing Disney Lorcana cards including “Captain Hook, The Pirate King” and “Light the Fuse” from the new set, Reign of Jafar. Kenneth is a professional illustrator and character designer based in the United Kingdom that illustrated almost every set released so far for a total of 18 cards. He is also a great and very approachable person with an incredible passion for his work and for Disney Lorcana. I am sure I am not the only one who had the pleasure to meet him last year during the DLC Challenge event in Birmingham, thus I was really excited to not only meet him again but also to ask him some questions about the cards he illustrated for our beloved game.
Hi Kenneth, thanks a lot for meeting me, it is great to meet you again (and in the same city as last year). I know a lot of people will be soon queuing up to have their cards signed and I wanted to ask how you find interacting with all the Disney Lorcana fans during these events?
Great to see you again Stefano! Yes, that’s right and it is true there might be a long queue, but it is nice, really nice. I spend a lot of time at home working alone, researching and doing illustrations and once a card gets signed off, it can take a year for it to come out on an actual physical card. And then, you may be at an event signing cards and people bring you that card and you see the result of all the hard work you poured into it and how much the players appreciate the art. So it’s quite fulfilling to meet the players and all the fans of Disney Lorcana, as at that point is not just a job, but it becomes something else. You know what I mean? It is nice to know that your work is appreciated obviously, but it also great to see so many people are really invested in the game. People collect Lorcana cards for different reasons, but some people collect just for the art and it is great to meet all of them and get the chance to chat with fans of the game and the art. It is a great perk of the job!
Thanks, and I fully understand what you mean. May I ask which of the cards you illustrated so far you enjoyed the most doing?
I think one of my favourite ones was Madam Mim, Elephant as I really like her as a character and I really enjoyed the process of working on this card. I remember it went fairly smoothly and I was very happy with the final result. I also loved doing “Captain Hook, Pirate King” as I am big pirate fan so for me it was also a quite exciting card to illustrate but I guess the one I loved the most doing would have to be Scrooge Mcduck. Scrooge and I are both Scottish and I had to ask if I could draw him in his proper kilt to be true to his heritage! Once I got approval from the team I was so excited that I jumped right into it and I had a great time working on it. Drawing Scrooge felt very personal to me with him being him a Scottish character so I feel quite lucky to have had the opportunity to draw him. I’ve also met a lot of excited players as they were playing with either Madame Mim or Scrooge in their deck which was very cool to see!
Thanks and fully agreed those are amazing cards. I am actually among those players you mentioned and I used both of them in my decks so far. Speaking of cards, is there any character you would really like to draw on a card having the opportunity (no spoilers of course).
Oh, that’s a good question. I have to admit I have been very lucky as I’ve managed to draw a lot of the characters I really wanted to draw so far. Among those I can think of, I wouldn’t mind having a go at Stitch as he’s quite a fun character or maybe even another Captain Hook card – of course I’d be happy to draw more pirates in general as I’m passionate about pirates as a theme. I would also like to do a Mushu card as I just did “Light the Fuse” with both Mushu and Mulan, and I think it would be great to do one card with just Mushu on it. Obviously, I would be very excited to do any Scottish themed characters such as Scrooge again or to do more cards featuring some of the characters I did in the early sets such as Donald Duck or Tigger – I had a lot of fun with those two! At the end of the day though, really any Disney character would be great and it would be fun to get involved in any card Ravensburger would like me to illustrate.
It seems you really like illustrating Disney Lorcana cards. Is it different from doing art for other games or franchises?
Yes, you are right, it is a bit different because obviously Lorcana has a style of its own and all the artwork has to fit that style and the world. I’ve done a couple of board games before but Disney Lorcana is the only trading card game I have contributed to – most of my work is in animation design, children’s books and magazine illustration. Illustrating for these different projects is quite similar in a way but they are all also kind of different as each project has its own specific needs. And yes, I do really like illustrating Disney Lorcana cards! I mean who wouldn’t want to? I think everyone has been exposed to Disney as a child and they likely grew up watching the movies and enjoying their stories. I remember watching Aladdin and The little Mermaid at the cinema as a child and watching on TV all the classics like The Jungle Book and Robin Hood. So yeah, working on a Disney project like this is something any animation artist would like to do in their career and I feel quite honoured to be one of them.
As a player I have to ask, do you also enjoy Disney Lorcana as a game?
I do actually! I don’t really play competitively but I am playing casually and enjoying it a lot. I was playing last night actually with some of the streamers I met who are here for the event. I know a couple of them by now as we have met at other events and I had a lot of fun playing with them and learning more about the gameplay. I lost every game, but I enjoy learning the mechanics and thinking of new ways to use my cards and strategize. I think it’s important for me as an artist to understand the game from a mechanic point of view but I also found that is very fun game and is really engaging.
So, yes, I enjoy playing it with friends when I can and getting the chance to enjoy it as more than just a job that I love.
Thanks a lot Kenneth for taking some time to share your thoughts with us (and for signing all my cards!). If you missed the opportunity to meet Kenneth at the UK Games Expo this year, you can surely follow him on his socials (@charactercube on Instagram) to stay in contact, check out his amazing artwork and find out where he will be next!
