Disney Blacklists Artist James C Mulligan After Confirming He Used AI For ‘Disney Lorcana’ Card Art
After public outcry prompted a behind-the-scenes investigation into the matter, Disney reportedly confirmed that Disney Lorcana artist James C Mulligan has been using their name to sell AI generated artworks – and subsequently blacklisted him for doing so.
An oil painter whose Disney-related work includes officially commissioned lithographs, which are regularly sold through Disney’s in-theme park art galleries, and three cards – Flounder – Collector’s Companion and Transformer Chef – Castle Stove from the Ursula’s Return set, as well as White Rabbit – Royal Herald from Shimmering Skies – for the aforementioned TCG, Mulligan’s work first came under widespread scrutiny by way of his recent exhibitor appearance at Anime NYC 2025.
Having just seen their mother make a sizable purchase from Mulligan’s booth, Twitter user @Toon_Emu took to their account to detail an on-the-floor interaction he had with the artist regarding his potential AI usage:
“Hey so…this guy at #AnimeNYC just blatantly lied to me about not using gen[erative] AI in his work, then scammed my Mom off of several hundred dollars in prints.
“I asked him what his process was like and if he used gen AI or not and he said he didn’t, but I was just looking for AI because it’s like an ‘industry witch hunt to ruin people’s careers.’
“He told me used Procreate (the same software as me) and showed me his tablet. He pulled up the layers, which obviously showed that he drew the character, but the background was just a copy and pasted in image on the bottom layer.
“I then asked him if I could see the Timelapse replay, but he told me he didn’t record one. I have made over 700 illustrations using Procreate, so I KNOW for a fact that it AUTOMATICALLY saves a timelapse replay.
“I told him this, and offered to show him how to access them. He then got mad at me and told me to leave. I got into a bad fight with my mom about it after, since he tricked her into thinking his process was all his own and that he did not use gen AI.
“Apparently, I’m the second person to bring this up (even though the con just started!) since gen AI is strictly against their rules for vendors. Shoutout to Stacy at the help desk for being absolutely lovely!
“I am so incredibly disappointed that someone working for such a large and artistically talented company would stoop so low as to blatantly lie to their customers. I was almost gaslit by him into thinking that he WASN’T using AI.
“If he would have told me that ‘I use some generative ai in designing my backgrounds, but the character art is mine’ then I would have been fine. Because that’s the truth. But he didn’t say that at all, and instead blatantly lied to me and my mom.
“If by some insane MIRACLE, he is not lying and is ACTUALLY NOT LYING ABOUT THIS, then I would love to see a timelapse, sketch, or literally any proof that he is not incorporating gen AI into his work like he says.”
Roughly a week later, said attendee would share an Instagram DM exchange between Mulligan and one of their friends, who had themselves reached out to the artist seeking further information regarding his process.
But rather than providing any further clarification or any of his purported “process videos”, Mulligan instead threatened the friend with legal action:
“Thank you for your message. I have dispelled any reason to make the accusation with both close up photos of the originals, and process videos, so I’d suggest with any further concerns, (as this can be easily considered tortious interference) inquiries to be sent along to our attorneys.
Met with the subsequent observation “In your statement you mentioned photos and process videos proving your work” and a request for him to “please share those for clarity”, Mulligan instead ended the conversation and once again raised the possibility of legal action:
“No. At this point we think the best course of action is to have our legal reach out to you. What’s a good email for them to contact you?”
The next day, the initial thread would catch the attention of Phie Green, themselves an employee of Lorcana developer Ravensburger.
As relayed to the public from her personal and currently-locked Twitter account by Reddit user /u/LunarianAngel to the /r/Lorcana Reddit community, Green assured the public that they would be escalating the issue to the relevant members of their team, but also asked them to refrain from immediately jumping to AI conclusions without definitive proof:
“I actually work for the company that makes Disney Lorcana, so I will be bringing this up with my Creative Directors. We have a hard policy of no AI art in our games, and they will be able to asses further. However, it’s been very common [for] people [to] jump to these conclusions a lot.”
But after hearing back from their Director, Green confirmed that not only had Mulligan at least partially used AI to produce his Lorcana card art, but he had also received a blacklisting from Disney for doing so:
“So I did check in with my Director and it looks his work is indeed AI. Thankfully, he hasn’t worked with us on many sets after Disney notified us of his issue. Disney also won’t work with him anymore either and I’m sure will possibly get their legal involved.”
As of publication, neither Disney nor Ravensburger have offered an official statement on the matter, nor have any details regarding the exact mechanics of his AI usage been publicly detailed.
Further, not only has Mulligan’s personal webpage since been cleared out of all its content, but the opening post of the aforementioned /r/Lorcana thread has also been deleted.
However, rather than this being done because its information was incorrect, /u/LunarianAngel clarified that it was actually done in service of community safety:
“It was mutually agreed to take it down as we believe the accused parties are using the posts to further cause harm to fans, and it is being investigated. I’ve been in close communication with not only the mod team but other artists for Lorcana who all have agreed the accused parties are guilty and dangerous.”
