Vincent Pompetti: the hand behind 43 Sorcery cards comes to Zaventem

If you have opened a few Sorcery boosters, you have almost certainly held his work. Vincent Pompetti has been illustrating the game since Alpha, and with 43 cards to his name he is one of the most present hands across the sets. He will be joining us at Quartier Papier for Siege at the Core on Saturday and Sunday.

Before the cards, the comics

Pompetti trained at the Saint-Luc fine arts school in Belgium and built his career in comics, mostly in France. With the French scriptwriter Tarek he made The Corsair and Conquest: Julius Caesar’s Gallic War. On his own he made Ancient Astronauts and an Arthurian-themed book we will return to later.

The comics were never the only work. He has taught at fine arts schools in France since 2010, and since 2016 he has worked on roleplaying games, mainly for the publisher Mnemos on Nephilim and Tregor. Erik’s Curiosa, the publisher of Sorcery, lists him with Sorcery since 2022, where he also worked as a concept artist.

No undo button

He paints his cards by hand, and he is specific about how:

I prefer to work with watercolored inks (the classical “Ecoline” is my favorite) because they combine the watercolor technique with effects similar to oil painting. This versatile medium responds well to special effects like water spraying, bleach, and other techniques. It is also ideal for printing, with no color loss.

I take great pleasure in using these inks because they create unique effects and provide significant stimulation. You have to make quick decisions while the painting is still wet, before starting the technical work. The organic effects are always surprising, and the medium supports many layers.

That is why his cards look the way they do. The colour sits in the paper instead of on top of it, and edges bleed where two washes meet. Nothing has the smooth, even finish of a digital painting. Put one of his cards next to almost anything else in the set and you can pick it out from across the table.

In a short note to us, he traced that look back to where it comes from and picked a card to show it:

My style is inspired by many things, but for Sorcery it is mainly linked to fantasy art of the 20th century from Arthur Rackham to Frazetta of course, and I use a mixed technique, with inks which allow some special effects and some acrylic or gouache additions to find a balance between watercolor sensitivity and the strength of painting. “Shield Maidens” is a good example, with a dynamic aspect and helped by some effects.

Shield Maidens as he painted it, before the card frame and the text box went on top.

An old friend called Arthur

The Arthurian book is Avalon, which he wrote and painted himself. It came out in France in 2021, more than three years before Curiosa released a set built on the same legend, and its English edition is King Arthur and the Ladies of the Lake. When Arthurian Legends came along he was not reading up on the material. He was returning to it.

It shows in the set. Fifteen of his cards are in the Arthurian Legends boosters, among them Sir Bedivere, Sir Yvain, Sir Priamus, Lady Iseult, Vivien the Enchantress, Rhongomyniad, Caerleon-Upon-Usk, Wedding Hall, and Joust!

Forty-three and counting

Twenty-five of his illustrations were in Alpha, and all twenty-five came back in Beta. Beta added one more, Ruler of Thul, a card that carried a Frank Frazetta painting in Alpha. Then came the fifteen in Arthurian Legends, plus the box topper Lance. That is the long way of saying he has been here since the first print run.

He has not stopped since. In July, Curiosa announced the Courts, four new Dust reward promos, and Mobbed Court is his. That brings the total to 43.

Some of his best-known cards: Dome of Osiros, Shield Maidens, Sea Serpent, Sand Worm, Pirate Ship, Dalcean Phalanx, and Captain Baldassare. Together they are not even a fifth of his cards.

Keep an eye on the Captain, though. With an expansion called Baldassare’s Travels on the horizon, we suspect he is not done sailing.

Five of his cards, from Beta and Arthurian Legends.

Three sieges, one sorcerer

The campaign artwork for all three editions of Siege at the Core is his as well. Put the three side by side and they read as one story.

2024: the sorcerer sits down and prepares himself for what is coming.

2025: the enemy is closing in. The battle is about to start.

2026: he draws his power up and meets them.

Same man, same hand, three editions.

The sorcerer, stage by stage

We still have the stages of the 2024 painting, and they are worth putting side by side. This is what “quick decisions while the painting is still wet” looks like in practice.

One: the whole scene in pencil. Everything is already in its place.

Two: the figure goes in first, in ink, and the sky gets its first washes. The rest waits.

Three: the background is finished around a figure that is already done, with the edges still open.

The finished painting is the 2024 one above.

Meet Vincent at Siege

Vincent is at Quartier Papier on Saturday and Sunday, signing, sketching, and selling prints of his own work. Sketch slots are limited and go first come, first served, so come early. Bring the cards you want signed.

Find more of Vincent on his Sorcery artist page at sorcerytcg.com/art/vincent-pompetti, and he is on Instagram as @vincentpompetti.

If you have not registered for Siege at the Core yet, registration is open.