I’m making my own Tarot deck.
I always wanted to do that, but it was challenging to find the time to pursue such a long endeavor. Almost a year ago, my friend Christina Engelhardt suggested that I make my own Tarot deck. She is a phenomenal Astrologer, an amazing and expert Tarot reader too. We decided to become partners to come up with a new Tarot deck. Her vast knowledge of Tarot and my art skills make a great team. She truly understands the mind of an artist and allows my creativity to flow freely. Not constraining the mind of an artist is the key to great art. By doing so, I even feel like I started developing my own style, which is one of the hardest things to come up with personally as an artist.
I’m basing it on one of the oldest and most popular Tarot decks ever made, the Rider-Waite deck. Notice this new deck has Astrology symbols, Zodiac symbols, and the Element. Most cards don’t have that. I thought it would be original to come up with a “Ballerina-themed” Tarot deck. The Ballet’s graceful aesthetics, storytelling, and artistic beauty create ethereal, elegant, flowing visuals. Incidentally, both originated in Italy. The first tarot decks were created in 15th-century Italy to play the card game Tarocchi. The ballet dance originated in the Italian Renaissance.
Doing this during my free time has been challenging while having a full-time job on The Simpsons. But after a year, I did it. I finished designing and partly coloring all 78 cards. Still have to move on to face two and fully color all the cards, mostly characters and backgrounds. That will probably take a long time as well. Rest assured, I’ll keep you in the loop. I thought about maybe calling this deck Tarot Dance, but that’s not a final name.
I also think it is perfect to share this in advance to promote this unique deck in the works, on the autumnal equinox.
I pulled six random cards to give you an idea of what they look like. And of course, Christina gave me a reading from them, the first reading from these cards ever.
See the reading for these cards in the comments below.
Happy Autumn Season.
