Few artists capture the haunting undercurrent of Sorcery: Contested Realm quite like Drew Tucker. With Gothic, our next highly anticipated set releasing December 5, Drew’s work once again merges myth and madness through his unmistakably expressive brushwork.
Drew’s latest piece, Flayer, embodies that eerie blend: something half-remembered, half-feared, rising from the darkest corners of the realm.
With the community voting in the Sorcery Discord and Facebook Group to explore the tribal subgroup of Demons as the next Gothic focus, we take a peek at the art behind Drew Tucker’s Flayer, a piece whose card will be revealed later this week.
Giving the Demon Purpose
“When I get a commission,” Drew shares, “sometimes there’s a bit of direction - in this case, something about a demon with a whip, or the idea of a lasher. But I wanted to figure out what this demon does. Why do demons even torment people? Is it for entertainment? What’s he having them do?”
Rather than depict mindless cruelty, Drew built a scene around intent and purpose. “I started to goof around with compositions and landed on this idea that they’re building a scaffolding. So there’s a reason for the whipping - they’re working. You can see below the text box, people hauling timbers and beams. The first step was giving the demon purpose, not just making him another monster.”
From Sketch to Canvas
Drew’s process balances structure and spontaneity. “Sometimes I do a color study first… sometimes not. I’m not sure I’m supposed to say that. The danger is, once I lock it in, the painting can sometimes want to go somewhere else. In Flayer, the demon changed a little along the way.”
“I fleshed the sketch out first in whatever weird language I sketch in,” Drew shares, “But sometimes I go straight to paint - probably not what you’re supposed to say, too, but sometimes I do. Sometimes with sketch, I’ll project the image, rough it in, and then just go. I want to stay loose so the painting doesn’t lose its feeling. It’s still what the sketch was, but I avoid retracing it too tightly. I want it to feel alive.”
Finding the Fear Between the Lines
For Drew, the real challenge lies in preserving the energy of his early marks.
“Looking back at progression shots, it’s like ‘wow, that was just a blob of yellow and black.’ The hard part is keeping the same energy the sketch had. I like free lines and keeping it loose, but also true.”
That looseness serves a deeper purpose. “A lot of the horror is filled in by the viewer,” he explains. “The way I paint, the brushstrokes, the open spaces, I try to hit the subconscious. It’s like those old horror movies that don’t show everything. Your mind fills in the blanks, and that can be way scarier.”
Into the Realm
Originally titled Lasher, the piece was later retitled Flayer. “I’m really proud of the motion in Flayer,” Drew shares. “That’s what I’m most drawn to - that sense of movement and power.”
Flayer exemplifies what makes Drew’s art so distinct: that boundary between chaos and composition, where meaning seems to flicker in and out of focus. It’s a piece that invites the imagination to step in and perhaps to flinch, just a little, at what it finds there.
You can find Drew’s artwork, Flayer, in the upcoming Gothic set for Sorcery: Contested Realm, releasing December 5.
The painting is only half the story. Check back tomorrow to see how Flayer manifests within the Realm itself.
Find more at Drew Tucker's artist page
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