Behind The Art: Goat for Azazel

On May 23, 2025, I had the great honor of being the first to interview Sorcery: Contested Realm artist Pedro Ferreira and introduce him to the art-loving Sorcery community.

Since that time, Pedro has made his debut with Sorcery's Gothic expansion set.

One of his more striking and storied pieces is Goat for Azazel.

​I caught up with Pedro recently and asked him about the art direction he received from Sorcery TCG creator and Art Director, Erik Olofsson, and Pedro's art process and final concept!

Here is that story in Pedro's words:

"It was a pretty straight foreword piece, as I recall it. Erik gave me some loose pointers, wishing this illustration to be rather abstract but depiticing a "biblical scapegoat". I read up a little bit on the lore of Azazel, and then did a few sketches.

...The one Erik picked from the bunch, was inspired from the mouth door frames that exist a bit around Europe, perhaps more so around southern Europe. For example the Palazzo Zuccari in Rome or the Cabaret de L'Enfer in Paris.

So for this piece, Erik's input and art direction was very minimal. I still wanted to portray the desert scenery where Azazel resides, and where people would place goats as an offering to this demon."

The story of Azazel is steeped in real life lore.

Originally appearing in the Hebrew Bible as a desolate place or entity, Azazel was the destination for a "scapegoat" tasked with carrying away a community's sins.

This is where you start to see the art concept, Type Line Text ("A Unique Beast chosen to suffer"), and game mechanic manifest in the Sorcery: Contested Realm Gothic card.

The Goat of Azazel takes damage for other allies. There is a sense of sacrifice in 'carrying away a community's sins'.

The flavor text takes it home to underscore the point:

Upon its back lay all the words its master dared not speak.

In later traditions, particularly the Book of Enoch, Azazel transformed into a fallen angel and leader of the "Watchers" who descended to Earth to cohabit with humans. He is infamously credited with corrupting humanity by teaching forbidden knowledge, such as the forging of weapons for war and the art of cosmetics and witchcraft.

Here we find a tie to Archangel Raphael - As punishment for these transgressions, the Archangel Raphael was commanded to bind Azazel and cast him into the darkness of the desert. There, he remained imprisoned beneath sharp rocks, awaiting final judgment in a furnace of fire until the end of time!

"A Unique Angel giveth and taketh away"...

I noted to Pedro how interesting it is that Erik can provide such simple, and little, artistic direction - in this case only two words ("biblical scapegoat") and yet the artistic concept manifests itself so clearly and fittingly for its title and real life lore.

This is part of the give and take of the artistic process between game creator / art director and artist; a collaborative effort to hone the art concept and the game mechanic until they are united in perfect harmony.

Pedro responded: "Some cards are meant to be more abstract, that is I don't think the artworks relation to the mechanics of the card is so intertwined . While on others Erik is quite specific and knows what needs to be there, while there still giving us a lot of freedom!"