Sam McKinnon is an artist and graphic designer based in Montreal, Canada. He grew up in a creative family — his mother taught him and his four brothers to draw early, and he played Magic: The Gathering with them as a kid. He moved into freelance graphic design and illustration in his early twenties, working across branding, logo design, product illustration, game promotional art, and children's books before painting his first trading cards. One of those brothers is Seb McKinnon, the Magic illustrator behind cards like Rankle, Master of Pranks and a Secret Lair artist series; Sam names Seb as his art mentor, and it was Seb who told him Erik's Curiosa was looking for artists for the Arthurian Legends set. That introduction is how he landed on Sorcery.
Style
McKinnon paints in acrylic on canvas, and nature is the spine of the work. He talks about going for walks in the forest to visualize a piece before he starts, and the cards bear that out: seasonal forest light, natural color palettes, an unfussy emotional register aimed at "the magic and mystery of the natural world." He thinks in shapes and colors rather than line work, building up values to get depth and lighting rather than drawing tight outlines and filling them.
His process is hybrid. He sketches and tests compositions and palettes digitally in Photoshop first — quick to iterate — then commits the final to acrylic on canvas, working from a digital sketch via transfer paper. He's also candid about a card-art constraint most painters learn the hard way: the bottom of the painting can't carry too much detail, because a chunk of it gets hidden under the card's text and frame. On the table, his cards read as integrated scenes — a figure folded into its landscape through coordinated color rather than spotlit against it.
Cards on Sorcery
McKinnon's footprint is four cards, all in Arthurian Legends, his debut set and so far his only one. Collector Arthouse credits him on:
- Sherwood Huntress — his featured piece, and the one he's spoken about most. The brief was "a poacher in an open forest clearing," and he knew the card was wind-aligned, so he built movement into it: flowing cloak, drifting leaves, hair caught in the air. The archer is color-matched to the forest around her, blending into the environment rather than standing apart from it.
- Pond — a quieter, water-and-light study that the publisher singled out for its "tranquil power."
- Vanishment
- Yellow Knight
That's the documented list in full. He's described as having painted four cards for the set, and four are credited by name across Collector Arthouse and his own site, so this is the complete Sorcery body of work as it stands — no later sets, no Curios that have surfaced.
Where to see more Sam
- sammckinnon.com — his portfolio, with a dedicated Sorcery: Contested Realm page. Prints are sold through his shop; artist proofs by direct contact.
- His Sorcery cards — the four Arthurian Legends pieces above. Card data and scans live on Collector Arthouse.
- Instagram @sammckinnonart — works in progress and finished pieces.
- Collector Arthouse — Sam McKinnon — the Sorcery card index this profile draws on.
Sources
- Sam McKinnon — Collector Arthouse artist page — freelance illustrator and graphic designer from Canada; appears in Arthurian Legends; credited on Pond, Sherwood Huntress, Vanishment, and Yellow Knight; links to his site and socials
- Sorcery Artist Interview: Sam McKinnon — Collector Arthouse — Montreal base; creative family, mother taught the five brothers to draw; freelance design and illustration career; acrylic medium, "shapes and colours rather than line work," Photoshop sketching; the Sherwood Huntress "poacher in an open forest clearing" brief; Seb McKinnon as brother/mentor and the route onto Sorcery
- Sam McKinnon Joins Sorcery: Contested Realm — sorcerytcg.com — hand-painted on canvas; digital sketch, transfer paper, acrylic value-building; nature as central inspiration; Sherwood Huntress as Arthurian Legends contribution
- Sorcery: Contested Realm — sammckinnon.com — his own Sorcery page; four cards painted in acrylic on canvas for Arthurian Legends; prints and artist proofs
- Seb McKinnon — Wikipedia — born Montreal, grew up with four younger brothers, MTG illustrator; corroborates the family and the Sam/Seb relationship