An Interview With ‘Arcana Royale’ Artist A.C. Zamudio

If the goat card dealer on A.C. Zamudio‘s cover for the first issue of Arcana Royale wasn’t a giveaway, Arcana Mysterinos isn’t your average game of chance. In the new series from Zamudio and writer Cullen Bunn, Hudson has managed to score an invite to the most exclusive tournament there is, but with more than money on the line, Hudson may learn to regret saying “yes.” With colors by Bill Crabtree and letters by Josh Reed, here’s what Zamudio had to say about the series:

Rachel Bellwoar: After working with Cullen Bunn on The Sixth Gun and Death Follows, who first posed the idea of doing a magical poker series, and did you know a lot about poker going into this project? 

A. C. Zamudio: Cullen passed me a few concepts for stories, and among them that of a magical poker tournament struck me. I have a relationship with mysticism, which offered a personal connection there, and I also loved the idea of wielding fate in the context of a game. It sounds so reckless! However, no, I knew nothing about poker going into it. With my poker face, I’d go broke. So, I did some outside research.

Bellwoar: The stakes may be higher, but there’s still something recognizable about the gambling scene Hudson is a part of in this series. How was it trying to find that right balance between the familiar and the strange?

Zamudio: Certain events called for more extraordinary visuals than others; however, what makes the two worlds feel like they coexist is in utilizing places where they meet. For example, I leaned heavily into the use of hatching, which is an aesthetic technique commonly used in old alchemical woodcuts as well as modern paper money and playing cards. Otherwise, key visuals as simple as people gathering around a table for a game and the use of cards seem vaguely ritualistic, don’t you think? This crossover is so immediately appealing to me because those kinds of connections have always been there hiding in plain sight; we’ve only forgotten how they were once related, which is what makes them feel esoteric despite their familiarity.

Bellwoar: One way Arcanos Mysterinos differs from regular poker is the cards that are used. Why did you decide on a more tarot look for the cards?

Zamudio: Well, divining fate is largely what tarot is about, so, since the game is about playing with fate, we’re playing with essentially the same power. Also, since Cullen’s inspiration leans dark, I had to take some inspiration from the eerie illustrations in the film The Ninth Gate. Both have stylistic origins in Renaissance alchemical art, which is a feast for the imagination.

Bellwoar: Hudson is essentially representing the human race at the tables. Did you have a lot of freedom to play around with the designs for the other players?

Zamudio: Oh, absolutely! Cullen named a few characters he’d like to see, and I also asked for more ideas of characters to flesh out the scenes, but otherwise that’s my job. He always encourages me to flex my creative muscles when envisioning his ideas, which I appreciate.

Bellwoar: Hudson has a very strong sense of fashion. Is there anything superstitious about her wardrobe, like a good luck charm she always wears? 

Zamudio: Thanks for noticing! Her fashion was important to me to convey who she is and where she is in her life at every moment. She has certain staples like her spade visor and her rings that have seen her through her many wins, and she wears other recurring articles of clothing with contextual significance. I imagine she spends all her money on clothes, on fast fashion, on the temporal. Because the antithesis of mysticism is materialism, at least by my understanding, I wanted to show that Hudson is diametrically opposed to the mystic world. Furthermore, the tournament exists at a crossroads between those two concepts, tempting the abuse of the spiritual for worldly gain.

Bellwoar: In the press release you specifically bring up getting to work with colorist, Bill Crabtree. Can you talk a little bit more about what that collaboration was like?

Zamudio: Yeah, Bill brought a lot of inspiration to the project right from the start. He and I immediately put our heads together to make a plan, and he ran with it. He’s been really friendly and easy to talk to as well, which I think shows in how our styles developed to complement each other. His bold aesthetic never ceased to surprise me. It punches up the personality to another level. I feel so flattered.

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Bellwoar: Thanks for agreeing to this interview, A.C.!

Arcana Royale #1 goes on sale April 23rd from Dark Horse Comics.