Disney Lorcana – Interview with Javi Salas

This month we have been able to meet Javi Salas, an amazing artist that illustrated many Disney Lorcana cards including two enchanted and one card from the Illumineer's Quest “Deep Trouble”. Javi lives and works in Stockholm but you will be able to meet him in person at next Kent Card Show on the 7th of September. In the meantime, Javi was kind enough to find time to meet with us (virtually) to talk about Lorcana cards and the process of illustrating them.

Are you a big fan of Disney Movies? What's your favourite character(s)?

Like many of us, I've loved Disney since I was very young, and I grew up with their movies, which means that they've been a great reference for my art since I started drawing at a very young age.

Obviously I have a few favourites that will always, always be in my Top 5 🙂

· Sleeping Beauty is my Top 1, especially in terms of style and art. Which means that one of my favourite characters are "Maleficent" and Aurora.

· 101 Dalmatians . I LOVE THE ART Style and it brings back memories of watching it over and over again on my couch, the story and its characters seem incredible to me. Especially "Cruella de Vil" as her personality and characteristics make her unique.

What process you use to decide how to render the characters on your cards?

As for Lorcana, if you analyse all the cards, we all have a style to follow, which is what makes the art in Lorcana cohesive, so each artist must interpret their cards using this art guide.

Of course you will recognize the style of each artist but in the end we are all characterized by using the same rendering style.

But as for my personal work, I let myself go with the flow, sometimes (most of the time) I choose a more “painterly” style but at the same time sketchy and fast, something I call “doodle render style” as it is fast and efficient for me, and it also distinguishes me as an artist.

Other times, I feel like I want to spend hours and hours painting, so I go more for a very well worked render with volumes and lights like renaissance paintings.

You illustrated so many amazing cards but is there one you loved the most?

I can say that my favourite card is still Maleficent (mistress of evil). I made this card under the supervision of my Art Director, Anna Stosik, who I admire a lot, and since the moment they gave me the brief and I saw the inspiration, the technique that we had to use and above all that the card was going to be enchanted, wow I fell in love.

As I said, I love classical painting, and this card has a lot, a lot of influence from that, from Caravaggio and his chiaroscuro to Anders Zorn and his beautiful brushstrokes, and interpreting the same feeling digitally was a challenge but in the end I enjoyed it all.

Actually, you illustrated not one but two Enchanted cards. How different is illustrating a character for an Enchanted versus its original version?

I would say that painting an enchanted card has a certain level of pressure or automatic mental commitment, although as Lorcana artists we strive to give our best on each card, whether it is enchanted or not, when you get one of these cards you know it is something special and you want to give it your all.

You think of details that you can use with the beautiful finishing texture of the enchanted cards, you imagine how it would look printed and you want to play as much as possible with the colours and composition.

You also illustrated "Capsize" for The Illumineer's Quest. How was working on a card with such a dark vibe and for a completely different type of product?

This card was something special as you say, Ursula's touch in this set was something special, and it absolutely contains dark vibes but at the same time I think it is still magical, surreal and adventurous.

I love working with all the purples, blues and greys, this card offered me the opportunity to let myself go with my knowledge of colour and offer an illustration that had movement, light and colour where the viewer felt like they were inside the waves.

Always with the help of my Art Director and their feedback I managed to get a good result.

Do you also play Disney Lorcana? If so, which cards/deck you prefer to play?

I'm trying to connect with a community here in my city where I can train and learn more about the game, unfortunately I don't play Lorcana but I like to watch the events and tournaments.

Thanks Javi! It was amazing talking with you and I cannot wait to see more beautiful cards from you coming in the next sets. You can follow Javi on the social media below and you can meet him in person, as already mentioned, at next Kent Card show at The Ashford International Hotel (TN24 8UX) on the 7th of September.