I'd chosen to illustrate tarot cards, specifically the Major Arcana deck as I have always had a fascination with the meaning behind each of them; there is a sort of mystery and allure surrounding the cards and the artwork has an ancient, majestic feel to them, as well as being wrought with symbolism.
In the beginning I wanted fashion to be my main influence on the cards as that is another area that I am interested in, something along the lines of "Fashion forecast tarots". I changed my mind after a while into the project, however, as I preferred simply interpreting the cards in my own way. So I ended up researching more into the meanings of the cards, gathering inspiration from artists such as Frida Kahlo and Aubrey Beardsley.
I decided to focus on only certain cards that were more exciting to work with and had more potential for symbolism as there are quite a lot of cards in one deck. The cards I worked most with were Death, The Moon, The World, The Devil and the four below which are my final images.
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| The Hierophant represented conformity to social standards and religion therefore I wanted him to be quite rigid and cold which was depicted through his straight gaze; I also drew a cross for obvious reasons and the chains represented him being bound by his religion. |
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| The Hermit I symbolized by drawing a face with eyes closed and a veil covering most of her face to create a sense of mystery. The card can be interpreted in that she is waiting patiently or keeping to herself as a recluse, both of which is what the Hermit represents. |
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| The Lovers card was produced with aesthetics in mind more than the others because love is a beautiful and intricate thing and so I tried to replicate that in my card. The man and woman are joined by the different symbols in the middle all representing love. |
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| The Sun card was actually a by product of the World but I thought it worked well cropped as it was quite simple in contrast to the other cards and more reminiscent of the older existing tarot cards which I quite liked. The modern style text helped create a more up to date feel. |
Overall, I think the outcome of this project was quite successful, although next time during FMP I will allow myself more time to resolve the project at the end. Instead of focusing so much on producing a variety of different illustrations using several different materials, this time I want to stick to a few specific materials that I enjoy using and feel more confident in such as acrylics, gouache, water colour and ink and concentrate on finding a style that suits me. I will set myself more to learning how to use Photoshop as well in order to neaten and tidy my illustrations and achieve a more professional look.
