Raffaela Lerch — better known online as Aronja-Art — is an Austrian painter who has worked full-time as an artist since 2020. She trained as a lawyer and holds a law degree, then left that track to paint, and her practice now sits squarely in traditional fantasy: landscapes, wildlife, dragons, and space scenes worked in acrylics and oils on canvas. Before Sorcery she had already done client work at scale, including artwork for Bethesda Game Studios' community events for The Elder Scrolls Online and fan illustration for properties like Lord of the Rings. She runs everything as a one-person business out of St. Johann im Pongau, builds a following through Patreon and YouTube process videos, and is one of the founding-era illustrators on Sorcery: Contested Realm.
Her involvement goes back further than most. By her own account, Erik Olofsson — Sorcery's creator — reached out in 2019 asking her to paint a few pieces for the game, well before the March 2022 Kickstarter that launched it. She has described not knowing, at the time, how large the project would eventually become.
Style
Lerch is a landscape-and-environment painter first, and that shows in where her cards land in the game. Her Sorcery pieces lean toward Sites and atmospheric scenes rather than tight character portraits — wide, painterly views with a strong sense of place. The medium is traditional: hand-painted acrylic and oil on canvas, which is the whole premise of Sorcery's art program, and her surfaces carry the soft, blended light handling you get from working wet paint rather than rendering pixels.
The standout example is Atlantean Fate, which she calls her own favorite and her first underwater painting. The thing she points to is the light: beams cutting down through the water's surface, and small fish hidden through the scene that reward a second look. That instinct — readable atmosphere up close, small discoveries on inspection — carries through the rest of her work. On Remote Desert, the detail she singles out is the trio of pyramids set back on the horizon, doing the work of scale and distance.
Cards on Sorcery
Collector Arthouse credits Lerch with 15 cards across Alpha, Beta, and Gothic. The full index:
Arid Desert, Atlantean Fate, Blood Mana, Call of the Sea, Day of Judgment, Gargantula, Gift of the Raven, Harvest Festival, Hellfire, Invigorate, Penitent Knight, Raise Militia, Raze, Red Desert, and Remote Desert.
A few are worth calling out:
Atlantean Fate (Beta). A Unique Aura, and the piece she names as her personal favorite — the underwater scene with the light beams and hidden fish. It is the card most associated with her in the secondary market, and it exists as an official print and artist proof through her shop.
The desert cluster — Arid Desert, Red Desert, Remote Desert. Three takes on the same biome, which fits a landscape painter's strengths. Remote Desert is the one she's spoken about, for the distant pyramids.
A run of Gothic pieces. Her Beta-and-Gothic spread includes effect cards like Hellfire, Day of Judgment, Raze, and Blood Mana — broader subject matter than the pure landscapes, which tracks with her appearing across multiple sets rather than a single drop.
Card-by-card set assignment beyond the named examples isn't fully documented in one public place; the Collector Arthouse artist page is the authoritative card list, and it tags her overall appearance as Alpha, Beta, and Gothic.
Where to see more Raffaela
- aronjaart.com — her own site and shop, with a dedicated Sorcery gallery, artist proofs, and prints (including Atlantean Fate and Remote Desert). The source of record for her practice.
- Her Sorcery story — her first-person account of how Erik reached out in 2019 and what the favorite pieces mean to her.
- Her Sorcery cards — start with Atlantean Fate and the desert trio; the official sorcerytcg.com artist page collects her work.
- Collector Arthouse — Raffaela Lerch-Cech — the full 15-card Sorcery index this piece draws on.
Sources
- Aronja-Art (Raffaela Lerch) — official Sorcery artist page — confirms her as an official Sorcery illustrator; names Atlantean Fate and Remote Desert; biography (Austrian, law degree, full-time artist since 2020, Bethesda / Elder Scrolls Online work, acrylics and oils on canvas).
- Collector Arthouse — Raffaela Lerch-Cech artist page — "Appears In: Alpha, Beta, Gothic"; the full 15-card index (Arid Desert, Atlantean Fate, Blood Mana, Call of the Sea, Day of Judgment, Gargantula, Gift of the Raven, Harvest Festival, Hellfire, Invigorate, Penitent Knight, Raise Militia, Raze, Red Desert, Remote Desert); bio noting Bethesda/ESO and Lord of the Rings fan work.
- aronjaart.com — official site — St. Johann im Pongau base; acrylic/oil/gouache, all hand-painted; "Offizielle Illustratorin" for Sorcery; one-person business; YouTube process videos.
- My Story with "Sorcery: The Contested Realm" — Aronja-Art blog — Erik Olofsson reached out in 2019; Atlantean Fate as her favorite and first underwater painting (light beams, hidden fish); Remote Desert and the distant pyramids.
- Atlantean Fate — Curiosa.io card data — card type "A Unique Aura."