The Colour out of Space, Brian Smith, 2011

A Conversation with Brian Smith

How a self-taught artist became one of the biggest names in the Sorcery world

Artist:

· Jan 22, 2026

A cool breeze rustles the palm fronds as I stare out the window while vacationing in San Diego. I have been sitting here dwelling on a proper way to segway into the first of what I hope are many interviews.

The challenge is that my mind constructs the images of this artist and tries to reconcile that with the delightful and happy person that I know him to be. Perhaps it is this dichotomy that most fascinates me — or us — with Brian Smith. His work in Sorcery is instantly identifiable. Erik Olofsson has done the unthinkable in modern times of combining disparate hand-painted artistic styles into a cohesive vision that is Sorcery: The Contested Realm. Brian's pieces in Alpha range from some of the most awe-inspiring landscapes in The Colour out of Space to his whimsy in the eponymous Pudge Butcher.

Over the past year I have had the privilege of forming a friendship with Brian Smith. We exchange lengthy e-mails sharing each other's past and thoughts on any number of topics. Like many, I was drawn to Sorcery due to its original art and gameplay. I have the luxury that comes with age, a good profession, and conquering my own shyness to take Sorcery as an opportunity to talk to its many artists. I also have a playgroup that hosts Sorcery events — The Beasts of the Bay — which provides a way for artists to interact directly with their fans. Brian was our guest of honor at the first Two-Headed Dragon event titled "Angel's or Devil's Egg", and hosting him for his first event was an honor and a privilege.

Brian Smith at the Beasts of the Bay event

This sets the backdrop for this interview. Brian Smith has found himself as one of the most beloved artists in Sorcery. His distinctive style comes off as moody, sinuous, dark, sometimes brooding — carving out his own space among his peers. At the same time he is learning how to be part of a trading card game, seeing the demands of his fans and exceeding all expectations. How did this self-taught artist get here? What sparks him creatively? What were those key formative experiences on his artistic journey? I had the pleasure of a lengthy conversation with Brian where we dug deeper into some of what makes him so special.

Brian Smith grew up in Los Angeles in the 1970s as the art scene of LA was blossoming, surrounded by his own unique artistic influences. He grew up with a fascination of painting and other artistic forms but he did not experiment with painting until he was 35 years old. He didn't attend art school, nor did he receive training when he decided to jump into the painting world. He was inspired by his family, his early artistic influences in various forms of media, and most importantly a drive to paint for the rest of his life if he could.

The Colour out of Space

As a self-taught artist, Brian Smith spent many years experimenting with painting. Having started only in 2007 he spent much of this time determining what worked to his eye. His experimentation led him to discover several techniques he still uses today. He also developed his palette in this time, offering a wonderful juxtaposition of colors. To Sorcery fans this palette may be most prominent in "The Colour out of Space" where Brian blends beautiful turquoises with yellow and magenta to create an other-worldly landscape.

“The Colour out of Space”, Brian Smith, 2011 — at original scale

"Yeh, that was from 2011. That one I remember trying something a little different at the time where I used paint thinner on a rag. I just created a colorful foundation. So basically what that looked like at one point was all the color you see but without the white or the black. Once that color was down and dried I looked at it the next day, I started creating those caves with white paint… it started taking shape because I was looking for areas that were darker than others and it could be seen as little openings in the scene."

— Brian Smith, on painting The Colour out of Space

The painting process of something like "Colour out of Space" — originally named "Somehow Nothing" — is still elusive to Brian. "…to this day I want to try that again; and I do try, but it doesn't seem to work. It's funny how that happens. Sometimes that happens… you get kind of lucky and you're not sure how you did it and you hope that someday you can do it again."

“Venus”, Brian Smith, 2025

The Rag

The use of a rag is one of those profound discoveries in Brian's painting career. "I use a rag to just wipe paint off that isn't working. It's the closest thing to a back button. At some point I realized, wow, this is one of the most important things that I figured out about painting." The rag allows Brian to blend, remove, and add texture as he sculpts the underlying wet oil paints. "I usually use a bed sheet, cut it up into little sections, and I use them almost as much as I use a paintbrush."

The pursuit for creating paintings that are "right" is a constant thread in Brian's work. "Oh yeh, I still do that, I probably do it more now than I used to. During the process from one day to the next… I might think I'm on to something and then the next day I look at it and just think there's nothing there and it needs to be fixed. Sometimes that happens weeks later, sometimes months, in some cases it's years later. I'm looking around now and I see pieces that I did several years ago that I know I can make them look better if I just dive back in and sand off parts of the painting. It seems kind of never ending."

“Sunrise”, Brian Smith, 2008

“Second Star”, Brian Smith, 2019

One piece that illustrates Brian's pursuit of "right" is "Second Star", which went through many changes over the years. As one gazes at it there is a unique use of space allowing for the eye to wander around the painting discovering new things. Yet it feels impossible not to pull your eye to the star in the top left corner.

"That was a cosmic figure that I painted and I remember thinking there needs to be something else going on in that painting… I think I added that red… It's kind of like a star exploded and there's a little bit left almost like a Death Star. Then that didn't seem like it was enough either. So I added that bright star in the top left corner because it looked like she was gazing at something off in space and that was it. It wasn't until I added that little star that the painting looked complete."

— Brian Smith, on Second Star

Dark, Moody, Sinuous

Many might describe Brian's art as dark or moody. Even fellow Sorcery artist Sam McKinnon noted "(Brian's) artwork is instantly recognizable by his unique style that has obscure undertones." However, Brian doesn't necessarily see his pieces as dark — dark depictions maybe.

"I know some are darker than others, and for Sorcery I've been asked to do some that were kind of dark, but I guess I see it goes back to psychology. In a way where I see it more as that it represents something dark. It's not really meant to be like a monster or creature, but it represents something that is scary to us… maybe guilt or doubt or regret. I grew up watching Twilight Zone when I was a kid and I just love those because there are some monsters… but it's more about people that feel like they are losing their minds. That is scarier than anything to me."

— Brian Smith

The textures that Brian is able to capture are some of the most striking in Sorcery. Fellow artist Lindsey Crummett also wondered about their source: "…he injects some very cool textures into his pieces that are reminiscent to me of textures in nature."

Influences:

Zdzisław Beksiński

Roots and Inspirations

Brian draws inspiration for his textures from various places. H.R. Giger and Beksiński's work played a role in developing the sinuous forms present in works like "Magnetic Muzzle". However, some of the textures we see in Brian's work today go back to deep-rooted memories of his father's furniture work. In the 1970s and 1980s Brian's father worked with creating acrylic furniture. The color striations found in that furniture can also be seen in colorful glass ashtrays that Brian keeps in his workspace for inspiration — though he admits he comes nowhere close to capturing their beauty on canvas.

Brian Smith's father's acrylic furniture creations from the 1970s

Hundertwasser book, 1973

Brian's earliest artistic influences can be traced back to his home as a young child. "My dad and my brother were both really good artists. My dad was a sign maker, he used to draw airplanes and cars. And my brother, who's six years older than me, he learned from our dad. I used to just kind of watch what they would do. I was really impressed. I never tried to do it myself, but they used to kind of compete with each other and I just watched that and I think I learned a lot from them."

"My mom had this little book… on our coffee table. Some of my oldest memories are being… I don't know three, four, five years old and seeing this little book. Looking through it and just thinking it was such a neat little artifact. This book has foiling on the art. So, you know, as a little kid this was like a magical thing to me. I think this is where I might have even had some early thoughts about making art."

— Brian Smith, on the Hundertwasser book

Untitled, Brian Smith — pencil drawing

In the late 1970s and 80s more iconic work entered Brian's sphere. "Growing up… I was a kid in the 70s, the album covers were a big thing. But there was also video game art. I used to play standup video games at arcades and they had really neat illustrations on the walls on the side." Movies like Alien (1979), strongly shaped by H.R. Giger's work. Giger's Necronomicon in the mid-80s was also a hallmark of any worthwhile bookstore at the time.

His older brother was key: "…when I was eight years old The Wall came out and he was listening to Pink Floyd. So that became a part of something that was happening for me at that time. To this day, all these years later that's still some of my favorite music."

Quitting His Job to Paint

At some point in his early years Brian had reached the limits of what a typical bookstore like Crown Books could offer. So he went to the library, spending hours absorbing visuals beyond just Salvador Dali. Yet still he didn't paint. It wasn't until his mid-30s that Brian took the plunge. Until then he had been scratching his art itch with pencil drawings. Eventually in 2007, at age 35, Brian mustered up a simple game plan: he was going to quit his job and paint. He had known for a lot of his life that all he wanted to do was be a painter. Combining this drive with positive encouragement from his family and a relatively low cost of living, Brian embarked on his painting journey.

From 2007 to 2018 Brian was almost entirely reliant on self-produced paintings and posting them on Facebook and Instagram. It's as if Brian needed the next decade of expression and discovery to release the pent-up artistic ideas from his 30-plus years of holding back on his passion. "You know when I was a kid, I was just absorbing all of that information and it's all kind of coming out now, I guess, in a way."

Entering the Sorcery World

In 2018 Erik Olofsson reached out to Brian about creating art for a new game he was designing — Sorcery: the Contested Realm. Brian had never been involved with trading card games personally or professionally up to this point. "I did indeed see metal band covers that he made," Erik said when I asked how Brian came to be in the Sorcery world. "I thought his simpler graphical and abstract style would suit small cards very well." Brian was commissioned for several art pieces in the Alpha set.

The art direction from Erik was typically minimal, providing guidance where needed but mostly letting artists express their own style. For Brian — new to the world of card game design — he was open to ideas and guidance in the creation of this new media.

“Pudge Butcher”, Brian Smith, 2019

For example, how often is one going to be commissioned to paint a largely overweight character with a giant scythe? This of course happened to Brian when it came to Pudge Butcher. Pudge is one piece where Erik was able to help guide Brian in the visual "pop" necessary for a small playing card.

"That was entirely Erik's idea. I think the original Pudge had either a black hook or it might have even been a rusty orange. And Erik, it was his idea to make it blue so that it would stand out. I think he also wanted to add the chains on the bottom. Yeh, he was right, the blue is what made it pop because everything else is pretty muted. So it needed something like that… his ideas are usually along those lines. Something that really adds some pop to the image and it always makes it better. I've learned to trust his judgement there."

— Brian Smith, on Pudge Butcher

"For the past few years Brian has been immersed in Sorcery work. "I can't believe that I stumbled into something as great as Sorcery and not just another card game that isn't having this kind of effect on people… I'm just enjoying the ride and I'm just curious to see where things go from here because it's still so early in the history of the game."

"It does seem like it's a whole universe being created right in front of us. And as the cards come out all these new figures and places just add to that and it can just grow and grow."

— Brian Smith, on Sorcery's universe

For Brian, he put himself in a position to succeed and was able to capture that when the opportunity came. "At the time I felt like as long as I'm making paintings that I think are good and every now and again, I do one that I think is really good, maybe, then I felt that was enough. I thought that I could live the rest of my life, this would be great… I was not making much money but I was doing exactly what I wanted to do with my time and I felt like that's as much as you could ever hope for in life."

Marvin by Morfbeats

Ever the Student

Brian is still continually adapting and adjusting to the world around him. Recently, Brian purchased a "Marvin" from Morfbeats, thanks to his newfound Sorcery success. This eccentric medieval-looking instrument produces sounds that Brian feels might exist in some of the visual spaces he creates — otherworldly sounds that transport and unnerve the audience, making them question what it is they are experiencing.

This continual searching for betterment in his art is perhaps the most profound thing I've learned about Brian in my time talking with him. He is ever the student of the world on a path of self-discovery in his artistic forms. How lucky that we as the audience get to experience the outcome of his ponderings with every new piece he creates and shares with us.

Thanks to Brian for sitting down and sharing his thoughts on his process and history with me. He is a joy to talk to. This article was written based upon e-mail communications up to a recorded interview that took place on August 14th, 2025. — Neil