Cloud City
Elwira Pawlikowska
Cloud City is a Unique Rarity Atlas Site and one of the more popular cards and artworks from artist Elwira Pawlikowska in Sorcery: Contested Realm's Alpha debut.
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The piece showcases Elwira's strength in architectural artwork from her training at the Warsaw Faculty of Architecture. She has since honed her skills as an illustrator and concept designer, contributing artwork to books, game illustrations, environment concepts and product graphic designs. Elwira has expertise in both digital techniques (Adobe PS, After Effect, Premiere) and traditional media (pencils, ink and watercolors), contributing a vast portfolio of beautiful watercolor work to Sorcery: Contested Realm TCG.
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Here is her original version of Cloud City for the core Alpha set in Sorcery TCG:
When the Sorcery: Contested Realm "Dust Store" opened in May 2024, one of the premiere prizes that delighted fans is the Cloud City promo card with an alternate artwork from Elwira. Elwira shares the background of how this was conceived and the art direction from game creator and art director Erik Olofsson:
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Erik asked me to paint it in January 2023, just before illustrations for Arthurian Legends (I started working on AL at the end of January). Here are Erik's directions: "an alternate starry night sky version of Cloud City. A starry sky similar to what you had on the River Styx card would be great, and it would also be good if clouds still could be seen even if it is a night scene. The angle/composition of the city could change also, to make it more different from the original Cloud City." So, what we see here is the other side of the same city.
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When we compare Elwira's new Cloud City concept to that of her River Styx illustration, we really get an appreciation for the artistic connection between these pieces. In my article about Curio Cards you can learn all about the fascinating development history and design changes for River Styx!
