Every card in Sorcery: Contested Realm is a hand-painted masterpiece, brought to life through the vision and creativity of our extraordinary artists. Among them is Liz Danforth, whose stunning works, including Mirror Realm and the Seelie and Unseelie Courts, have made a lasting impact on the game’s artistic legacy.
With a background steeped in anthropology, an eye for storytelling, and a love of myth and legend, Liz’s work weaves together rich narratives and visual splendor drawing from her research and personal experiences traveling.
We had the privilege of catching up with Liz to delve into the stories behind a few of her favorite pieces. Here's what she shared!
Mirror Realm: A Journey from Doubt to Pride
When Liz first finished Mirror Realm, she hated it. “I stuffed it in a drawer and felt like I never wanted to look at it again,” she confesses. But, months later, everything changed. “I pulled it out and thought, ‘Gee, that’s actually really nice. I think I’ll frame and hang it.”
Unlike most of her work, which Liz says she loves initially but grows critical of overtime, Mirror Realm followed an opposite path. “It wasn’t my go-to preference for subject matter,” Liz says, referencing the landscape focus. “Mirror Realm took a long time to do. It was painted in 2020, a trying time for us all, and I was also dealing with low-grade long Covid. By the time I worked my way to its conclusion, I was so done with that painting.”
Yet today, Mirror Realm has a special place in her heart. The painting draws inspiration from her travels, blending elements like a rock formation along the California coast, captured in a photo she took decades ago, to clouds and sunlight from a trip to Italy in 2019, and Cedar trees and sunlit water from morning walks around the Rillito River in Arizona.
The piece came together with a critical suggestion from Erik Olofsson, Sorcery’s founder and creative director. “I’d actually done four small and completely different paintings to be melded together, and they didn’t make a satisfactory whole for either of us,” Liz explains. Erik proposed the concept of a literal “sky mirror,” which elevated the composition to its final form.
The Seelie Court: Twilight Elegance and Hidden Power
From the start, Liz envisioned The Seelie Court as a scene that captured the Fae’s timeless beauty and mystery. “The features I wanted most included: a mournful sense of ancient nobility and magical wonder passing out of the world,” Liz shares. Twilight and autumn set the tone, with elements like fireflies and art Nouveau-inspired columns framing the scene.
At the center of the piece is Titania, the queen of the Seelie, whose unearthly power and beauty were inspired by an albino model and cosplayer, Nastya Zhidkova. “She is slightly out of focus and with a less detailed aspect, to encourage the viewer to bring their own image of what ‘beauty’ can be into the process,” Liz explains.
Next came the courtiers, presenting a new challenge: capturing the attitude of the Fae. While the composition was resolved, Liz now had to convey their personalities in a way that felt authentic to their otherworldly nature.
The result? Courtiers who are anything but passive, each radiating attitude and intensity. “Almost every one of the Fae are giving the viewers a hard stare, a haughty sneer, cool indifference, or frankly amused delight like a feral cat might have when spotting a fledgling just slipped out from the nest too early,” Liz shares. Each figure was carefully crafted, incorporating changelings, archers, and unseen forest folk to create a scene rich with detail and story.
The Unseelie Court: Fury and Vengeance
If the Seelie Court speaks of loss and grace, the Unseelie Court is its dark mirror, filled with rage and reprisal. ‘The ‘elevator speech’ for this piece was, ‘You mortals ruined our glorious realm, by driving us off, and I would rather see it burn to the ground than let you enjoy a single green blade of it,” Liz passionately explains.
At the heart of the composition is the Unseelie King, crowned with an Irish elk skull - a symbol of humanity’s destruction of nature. “The skull’s implicit statement is, “This is what they did to the deer. This is what they would do to us. Give them no mercy, give them no quarter,” Liz shares.
The painting is filled with mythological figures, each carefully chosen from their dark and menacing qualities. “The baen shidhe (banshee) was a given. The Hellhound behind her is a traditional white-coated, red-eared hellhound of Celtic myth rather than the darker variety. A common, troll, with a pig’s skull for the hammer of his bludgeon. The musician plays a harp made from the breastbone and pelvis of a murdered girl. The witch has a hollow tooth, another Gaelic myth found from Ireland to northern Spain. The murderous redcap, whose headwear is dipped in the blood of his victims,” Liz continues, “A crazed Cailleach peers from behind the Kelpie, a lovely horse associated with water. When children pet the pretty horsie, they find they cannot get their hand loose from its hide. The kelpie submerges, and drowns the child.”
Echos of the Seelie Court can also be found. The grown changeling child from Titania’s court reappears here, now corrupted and standing at the king’s side. “He is not the scared and vulnerable child anymore,” Liz reveals. “And although still mortal, he evidently has magic and an unnaturally long life to carry on the king’s campaign of revenge against humanity long after the Fae themselves have gone to the West or faded away.”
The dark, layered narrative underscores the Unseelie Court’s vengeance and its stark contrast to the ethereal grace of the Seelie. Every element is steeped in myth and menace, creating a painting that feels as haunting as it is unforgettable.
Liz adds an unnerving detail: the eyes of each character are painted with Ultrablack, capturing more than 99% of the incident light. “Reproduced on a card or print, it only gives the characters an empty dreadful gaze, but the darkness is truly unnerving in the original.”
A Lasting Legacy in Sorcery
Liz Danforth’s work for Sorcery: Contested Realm captures the heart of what makes the game so inspiring. From the reflective beauty of Mirror Realm to the layered narratives of the Seelie Court and the Unseelie Court, her art transports players not only into the contested realm but also an even wider realm of imagination!
Liz stays in close contact with her community via her Patreon. To discover more about the incredible talent behind Sorcery: Contested Realm, explore our full roster of artists on the Sorcery Portfolio Page.
