In Arcana, Sam Prentice-Jones builds a world that blends fantasy, romance, and coming-of-age storytelling through themes of chosen family, healing, and breaking cycles. In this interview, the British author-illustrator reflects on the visual and symbolic origins of the series, the importance of placing queer characters at the center of adventure, and the way his creative process is shaped by emotional sensitivity, striking aesthetics, and community-driven inspiration.
Arcana blends fantasy, romance, and coming-of-age storytelling in a very compelling way. How did the initial idea for this story and world first come to you?
I think I’d always been looking to write a story like this but the right idea had just never landed in my lap until 2021. I’d been designing a Tarot deck for fun and as I was working on it I began to notice a sort of narrative throughline in the themes of the cards and decided to try and use the Tarot cards as a sort of writing prompt which ended up snowballing into Arcana!
The series has been described as combining the visual flair of Lore Olympus with the emotional heart of Heartstopper. How did you find your own creative identity within those kinds of comparisons?
Very flattering to be compared to such well loved IPs and while I’ve always been a huge fan of comic books and graphic novels, I find myself drawing a lot of inspiration from film and music. I’m a huge fan of Wes Anderson’s films and feel like you can see that bleed into my artwork in some places. I’d like to think that the main thing that sets my work apart is the combination of more traditionally formatted comic book pages and big sprawling pages of stillness.
The story explores chosen family, love, and the courage to break cycles. Why were those themes so important to you in Arcana?
I know that as a queer person I’m very lucky to have a wonderful, supportive and open family but many people in my life have deeply complicated relationships with their families, not even to touch on their queerness. I think we’re entering an era of cycle breaking, so many cycles of abuse and trauma were passed from generation to generation simply because they didn’t know better and it was all that these families had known. But now people are able to connect with people from all walks of life and are able to learn that maybe the way things are aren’t how they have to be and that they deserve better.
In the second volume, the characters must confront secrets from the past as well as who they used to be. What interested you most about exploring that in the continuation?
I think that, like in therapy, a true understanding of your past and then being open about it is the only way to heal. Sitting on secrets that eat you alive will only ever continue these cycles of mistrust and trauma.
Your work celebrates diversity and queer culture in a very natural way. What does it mean to you to create stories where queer characters stand at the center of fantasy and adventure?
It was so important for this story to truly feel like a diverse ensemble piece. I really didn’t want it to be a hero and his diverse sidekicks. I also feel that if this was real life, then the queerness WOULD be secondary to the fact that there’s magic and curses and all that don’t you think?
As both writer and illustrator, what does your creative process look like when balancing visual storytelling, emotional depth, and character development?
I’m a very visual person and I draw pretty fast but sometimes I do get frustrated that I can’t get an idea out of my head and into a drawing fast enough ahah. My usual process is to do character sketches and figure out the visual world with a rough idea of the story and then move over to writing out the plot in more detail but allowing and trusting myself to expand on it when I take it back into the visual space. A lot of the plot will come from me figuring out my characters and then simply seeing what I think they would do in the situations I put them in.
Arcana has this cozy dark magic aesthetic while also carrying strong emotional sensitivity. How did you approach building that visual and narrative contrast?
I think that it’s just a natural development of the two sides of my tastes. I love spooky mysteries and dark academia aesthetics but I also love cuteness and fluff and romance so I think it all just blended together naturally.
Looking at your journey from POOF Magazine to Arcana, what is inspiring you most right now as an artist and storyteller?
I think the throughline has always been that I’ve been inspired by community and the amazing queer people I see online and around me. Times are so tough right now for queer people, especially trans people and I think that, while they shouldn’t have to, they continue to show incredible strength in the face of abject horror and the least I can do as a creative is try and create a story that they can both see themselves and lose themselves in.
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