Shane Hartley Talks All About Disney Lorcana: Azurite Sea

Hello, Illumineers! Disney Lorcana Trading Card Game: Azurite Sea is now available on DisneyStore.com and at select retailers nationwide just in time for the holidays. The popular card game allows players to take on the role of Illumineers and summon Disney characters (known as glimmers) with magic ink, and makes a great gift for collectors and Disney fans alike.

Disney Lorcana TCG Gateway is the perfect introductory gift for someone new to the realm, with two Starting Decks, four Reward Packs, a Game Board, a rulebook, and more!

Disney Lorcana TCG: Azurite Sea continues the story of Illumineers who were last seen celebrating the defeat of Ursula in Disney Lorcana TCG: Shimmering Skies until they were interrupted by chunks of the Great Illuminary, the repository of all stories ever told, falling off and plummeting to the ground.

Repairs to the damaged Great Illuminary remain incomplete following Shimmering Skies, so the Illumineers set sail on the dangerous Azurite Sea alongside glimmers of pirates and inventors. To learn more about their seafaring adventures, read up on Azurite Sea at DisneyLorcana.com.

In celebration of Disney Lorcana TCG: Azurite Sea launching this week, I chatted with Shane Hartley, Global Creative Director at Ravensburger.

Disney Parks Blog: Hello, Shane! Thank you for taking the time to chat with us for the Disney Parks Blog. Can we start with a brief introduction, your love for art, and how you ended up in your role today?

Shane: As Global Creative Director, I oversee the visuals and storytelling for Disney Lorcana TCG, as well as the other incredible tabletop games Ravensburger produces worldwide.

Art has been a part of my life since I was a child, as I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember. My mom enrolled me in a community art class when I was a kid—it was filled with older women drawing still lifes, but I absolutely loved it. When I got to junior high, I filled my schedule with art classes and never looked back. I went on to art school, majoring in illustration and graphic design, always knowing I wanted to work in the entertainment industry.

I landed my first role at a small game company and met my mentor Sandra Everingham who I still work with today. Over the years, I’ve worked across a wide range of licensed consumer products, including tabletop games, collectibles, children’s books, apparel, video games, and even dog toys. And, of course, a lot of Disney!

I recently shared on my Instagram how my love for Disney started at a young age, fueled by endless viewings of old Disney VHS tapes—we didn’t have cable, so those tapes got a lot of love. (Proof of my Disney fandom: my high school photo, which you can see here.)

I joined Ravensburger in 2018, where I built a team of talented creatives and later took on the role of managing our global games creative team. In the spring of 2020, just as the pandemic hit, we pitched Disney Lorcana TCG. It was the perfect culmination of my career, creative experience, and lifelong fandom all rolled into one.

Disney Parks Blog: It’s so wonderful to hear your family supported your love for the arts. What has the collaboration process been like with the Disney team when designing a new glimmer? Azurite Sea in particular, some iconic characters have been reimagined as pirates and inventors.

Shane: Disney has been, and continues to be, an incredible collaborator on this project. They are involved in every step of the process, from story development to card art to packaging design.

Glimmers come in three forms: Storyborn, which are faithful to the canonical Disney stories; Dreamborn, reimagined by the Illumineer; and Floodborn, glimmers that have come into contact with the volatile flood and been unpredictably transformed. The creation of a new Glimmer begins with the theme of the set. Dreamborn and Floodborn Glimmers are where we get to have the most fun, imagining how these characters would change and adapt to fit the theme.

For example, in our newest set Azurite Sea, the theme was seafaring adventure. With that in mind, we start by considering the characters selected for the set—chosen by both Narrative and Game Design teams—to either help tell the theme’s story or bring some fun surprises. Of course, we’d include characters from Disney’s “Treasure Planet,” but how cool would it be to see Tigger, Jasmine, or Stitch in this environment?

Take Stitch, for instance. We asked ourselves: How would Stitch react to this setting? What would he naturally wear or carry? Are there elements from his original story we can incorporate into his design? Staying true to each character’s personality and moral compass is always a priority. For Stitch, we imagined he’d craft his swords from wood and twine, tie a floral shirt around his waist, and, of course, bring Scrump along—treating her like a pirate would his parrot.

To bring these concepts to life, we work with costume concept artists, brainstorming and refining designs before presenting them to Disney for review. Once Disney approves the costume direction, we move on to developing the final card art. It’s a deeply collaborative and creative process, ensuring every Glimmer feels authentic and exciting.

Disney Parks Blog: It really takes a whole village to design each set, I love what the teams came up with for Stitch as an “Alien Buccaneer.” The art is amazing and we can see the team has already tapped so many talented artists to illustrate the cards. What is that process like for choosing the artists and how do you balance the different art styles when pulling a set together like Azurite Sea?

Shane: When we started developing Disney Lorcana TCG, we set out to create a cohesive art style that would serve as our “house style” for card art. The goal was to balance nostalgia with a fresh, modern look—a vision we coined Modern Storybook. This style incorporates visible line work reminiscent of animation, paired with vibrant color washes that intentionally break those lines, giving each image a sense of energy and life. It blends the traditional, hand-drawn and painted qualities of classic fairy tale storybooks with contemporary digital techniques.

To bring this vision to life, Matt Eng and I carefully selected artists we’d worked with in the past or discovered through portfolio sites and social networks. These early collaborators helped us establish a style guide that would shape the work of future artists.

Today, we continue to find talent through social media, recommendations from our current artists, and recruiting events. We’ve also implemented a formal portfolio submission process, overseen by a Recruiting Manager and an Artist Resource Manager, who help us select the right artists and foster a growing Lorcana artist community. When evaluating artists, we look for strong anatomy, mastery of lighting and rendering, and most importantly, the ability to stay true to the original “model” of a character.

Beyond card artists, we collaborate with specialists like environment artists, visual development artists, and character designers. While much of their work isn’t seen publicly, it’s critical to building the realm of Lorcana.

Over time, we’ve broadened the range of personal styles within the Modern Storybook framework. We want each artist’s individuality to shine through while maintaining key attributes—such as visible linework—that unify the card art. This approach strikes a balance between consistency and creative diversity, keeping the art vibrant and engaging.

Disney Parks Blog: This is all so fascinating to me; I wouldn’t have thought about other specialists focusing on environment art. Speaking of art styles, the Enchanted cards have a different look and feel this time around, can you share more insight into this creative direction, and can we expect more like this in future sets?

Shane: Enchanted cards are where the Art Directors on the team get to explore new art styles, sometimes drastically different than the rest of the set. These cards allow us to convey a set’s theme through carefully crafted composition and artistic expression.

For Azurite Sea, we envisioned a magical field guide aesthetic, as if the cards were pages pulled directly from the lorebooks of the Illumineers on their travels. Once we establish the art style, we seek out artists who have experience in that style or are excited to experiment with it.

Often, some of our existing artists embrace the opportunity to take on a new challenge and dive into uncharted creative territory.  I wish I could tell you what’s coming, but I’ll tell you that we will continue to push the boundaries and try new things!

Disney Parks Blog: Well, you and the Art Directors nailed it for this set of Enchanted cards! OK, now for some trickier questions. What’s your favorite card(s) or item(s) you’ve designed so far?

Shane: My favorite cards are always in the next set! Honestly, it’s so hard to choose—each new piece that comes in or the early visual development gets me so excited. I sometimes love the process and creation even more than the finished product. But if I had to pick a favorite from Azurite Sea (one of many), I’d choose Simba – Pride Protector. It’s bursting with energy and emotion, as if it’s about to leap right off the card. Amazing work by Kendall Hale!

Disney Parks Blog: What do you love most about working on Disney Lorcana TCG?

Shane: Ah, that’s a tough question, but I think it’s the process of crafting a new world and story through visuals and narrative. Then, it’s seeing the fans’ reactions to all the blood, sweat, and tears we pour into the set.

Disney Parks Blog: Do you have any advice for aspiring artists?

Shane: Draw—draw a lot. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Study the work of artists in the field you want to pursue and learn from their experiences. Reach out to them for advice and guidance. Be open to feedback, challenges, and trying new things. Throughout my career, I’ve often found myself in situations where I knew nothing about what I was tasked to work on or manage. I had to jump in, learn as I went (often terrified I’d fail), but those experiences shaped who I am today. They helped me discover what truly drives me and gives me purpose.

Disney Parks Blog: Is there anything else you’d like fans to know about Disney Lorcana or can share about the future?

Shane: I wish I could tell you about the future! And I’m terrible with secrets. I always give gifts to my kids or wife early because I can never wait! But what I can say is that Disney Lorcana TCG is just getting started, and we will continue to bring surprise and delight to every single card.

Disney Parks Blog: Well, I for one, cannot wait to see what’s next! Shane, thank you for your time today and for sharing your knowledge on the creative process. Sounds like you have an amazingly talented team at Ravensburger.

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