An Interview with Jochem Van Gool: Lorcana Artist

I think I want to start obviously with asking if you are a big fan of Disney and if so, which are your favourite characters or movies and why?

Of course I'm a big fan of Disney! It was the only thing I wanted to see as a kid. There are so many great stories and characters, so what's not to like? I have always been amazed by the drawings in the movies and by the skill of the artist that made them but I actually never though it could be a job. I found out much later that there were actually people behind them and I was like “OH... I need to do it as a profession”.

I'm also a 2D animator. Therefore I always look to the technical aspects of Disney movie, in particular at the drawings. You know, in the past they had to draw every single frame and to me that is much more interesting than modelling a character on the computer. You can clearly see the evolution of the art behind the movie. On this aspect one of my favourites is Pinocchio. Disney had a huge budget after Snow White and the animators did all these awesome new things in that movie. In terms of the story, Aladdin has always been one of my favourites. Not only because Aladdin was so cool while doing all that parkour stuff all over the city, but there was also the Genie and the flying carpet and Jafar who is such an amazing villain character. The animation in Tarzan was also great as they were able to step up their possibilities with more 3D generated scenes so you have all these cool action scenes where he is surfing through the jungle. I used to be a skateboarder, so these amazing action scenes really spoke to me. I guess you can count these three to be my most loved movies although it is really difficult to pick just a few as they are all great.

It was great to hear you mentioning the technical aspects of the movies and how they changed over time. I was wondering, what is your thought process when you start drawing a new card for Lorcana?

It all starts from a briefing. which tell us what needs to be on the card, what movie or scene from the movie the character should reflect, and other aspects like the environment etc. The brief still leaves a lot of space to personal creativity. So as a start, I just begin to sketch and explore the character and his surroundings. I likely go through billion different options to find the best way to depict the character. For example, I always try to get into the characters mind the same way I do when I do animation to understand how the character moves and how they would do certain things.

To me, the character has to look as believable as they are in the movies, so that they don't clash with the picture Disney Lorcana players have of them in their minds. The art directors really helped us doing that as well. They would look at the sketches and say, “Oh no, Mickey wouldn't stand like that. Maybe put his feet closer together...” or stuff like that.

Once the design is approved, I look to the colouring, the lighting and shadows. I always try to make the cards as interesting as possible. In an animated movie, the movement can be very dynamic and the succession of shots can be very explosive. However, the image on a card is just a single frame that you have to make as interesting and dynamic as possible.

Overall, I try to focus in creating an image that is as evocative as possible so when players look at a card it reminds them of the movie and the scenes from it. They may also discover new and interesting details or aspect of the character. If you think of it, Ravensburger could have decided to just use snapshots directly taken from the movies to make Lorcana Cards. Instead, they are going through all this work to make something that is very relatable to the movies but that is also completely new and made just for this game.

I actually never considered this aspect but you make a very good point. I wonder, is there a card you are particular fond of among all the amazing once you illustrated?

Oh, I love the enchanted Mufasa I did for Set 5. It was my first enchanted and it was very cool to have such a great card to illustrate but I think that my absolute favourite has to be “Mickey Mouse, Musketeer captain”. I love the life and colour in that cards. It is such a happy picture and I just feel I would like to be in that square cheering Mickey on with the rest of the crowd.

Mickey Mouse is also the most iconic character from Disney and likely the first character that comes to mind when you think of Disney. I also used to have a stuffed animal, that actually didn't look that much as Mickey Mouse, but I always called it Mickey when I was very young. So for me it was really my personal Mickey Mouse. Growing-up this gave me a sort of deeper connection with the character as it always feels like Mickey is my buddy. So that’s another reason why I love Mickey Mouse, Musketeer Captain.

I absolutely agree and the artwork of both Mickey and the enchanted Mufasa are amazing. After discussing your favourites ones, is there any Disney character that you really would like to reinvent?

I love the idea of the Floodborn characters, because you can completely reinvent your character. In my case, I would love to illustrate a new version of Dr. Delbert Doppler from the movie “Treasure Planet”. He is the science guy and his personality is so on point. I really like the design of this character. Because he's so smart, I would focus his Floodborn version on his insane knowledge and I’d draw him like he's floating around surrounded by celestial creatures. A sort of all powerful Dr. Delbert Doppler.

I do also like the idea of drawing one of the early Princesses in a more heroic way. In Lorcana you already have “Cinderella, Stouthearted” and the new “Snow White, Fair-Hearted” that are both wearing armor. I think it would be nice to also add Aurora. One that is less sleeping beauty and definitely not sitting there waiting for Prince Charming to come and rescue her. Aurora is so stylish and the graphic design of that movie is so particular that it will be great to have the opportunity to re-invent her.

Last question: do you also play the game?

Yes I do and I love it! You know, when I started collaborating with Ravensburger, I was getting more and more cards to draw and I really wanted to know what the abilities of the cards were and what they would do in the game. Ravensburgers idea was to try to incorporate some of these gameplay elements in the designs to make the illustrations more suiting for the game.

For example, when the art director told me me that the ability of “Rapunzel, Gifted with Healing” is allowing a player to heal another character, I tried to capture the her in the process of using the power of her magical hair.

To actually learn the game, I was lucky that a local store where I used to live, was hosting a Lorcana league and one of the players took the time to explain the game to me. Interestingly, most of the learning was actually done during a draft tournament where I felt very sorry for my opponents as they were all very experienced players and I was extremely slow. The positive side was that I was able to learn the game very fast. Then I taught my wife so we could play together.

We both really like playing Disney Lorcana and we have a lot of fun together. I mostly play Amber and Steel and my wife plays Ruby and Sapphire but we would like to start looking into other Ink colours and experiment with other decks although we don't have a lot of time to play.

Thanks a lot Jochem for taking the time to chat with us and for sharing your experience working on Disney Lorcana. It was a real pleasure talking to you and I hope we will see you soon in UK again. In the meantime, you can follow Jochem and his work on Instagram or on his site!