Here are my redesigned Major Arcana cards for my Infinite Fool Tarot Deck. I started living in Oregon on a cherry orchard almost four years ago. I had initially hand-drawn them on regular old copy paper and then wrote a book about the cards. My wife Nicole paid an editor to edit the book for my birthday one year. What turned out to be a very satisfying and fulfilling experience, the newly edited book made the hand-drawn cards look crappy. I went to work redrawing them.
I used Procreate on an iPad. I didn’t grow up learning digital art. Even when I flirted with art school, it was still mostly analog, so I had little to no experience with digital tools when making art. To be honest, most of what I see made with digital tools doesn’t really speak to me, so I was really scared that the look was going to look like an energy drink-weed store-vape store. I didn’t want my cards to look like the Bored Ape NFTs.
Digital tools have come a long way. Some of the pens and pencils on Procreate have a natural look, so the finished product doesn’t look techy. The problem was that I was overwhelmed with all the possibilities at my disposal. I grew up drawing black-and-white ink drawings and comics, so suddenly, having all the products and feeling more like a rich art kid was exciting.
The issue is that I tried to use a little of everything on every card. I also got lazy with drawing and started tracing my inspirations so it looked exactly like what inspired the original card. The cards became busy and too colorful, and they lacked consistency. I have this great book with still disappointing card art.
I also had a huge issue finding the font I wanted to use. I tried all kinds of handwriting, but it all looked so crappy. My handwriting is fine for some comic lettering, but I need something clean and crisp for a tarot card but still nodding toward the esotericism I’m trying to communicate in these cards. Times New Roman wasn’t going to convey that.
Life happens. I moved across the country to Rhode Island. I was in a city and not in a pastoral haunted cherry orchard. I was also somewhere that I have no history or attachments to. There was no moss growing up huge old-growth trees. My creativity took a huge nose dive moving to Rhode Island. I didn’t feel inspired by the cards or anything. I wasn’t writing or drawing or anything.
It started weighing on me. There were a lot of external issues that were making my creative spirit deaf to inspiration, but at the end of the day, I wanted the perfect scenario to work out, or if this and that are in place, I can finally put my attention back to my art.
Be careful what you ask for because you sometimes get it. I am now living on my own. It’s actually the first time in my life I have ever lived alone. I have no family, roommates, significant other, or spouse—just Rufus the Dog.
After getting used to being alone, I found that spark again. Something drew me back to the cards. I felt inspired, and I knew that I could finally finish this project.
I know that one of my weak spots is color theory. I’m not sure why I don’t get it, but I needed to restrict myself to a limited palette—just using a certain amount of colors and no more. I also needed to keep the tools I used to a minimum, so I chose one inking pen and a paintbrush that gave me a texture I liked.
Some cards just needed some editing, while others needed to be redrawn. I redrew the Magician, the High Priestess, the Empress, the Emperor, the Hierophant, the Hermit, the Hanged Man, the Judgement, and the World. Most of them are not that different from the original; they must be redrawn from scratch. For the other cards, I just took the original look and edited it.
I also found a font that gave me that clean feel with a little mystery. I chose a border that helps pop the name of the card more. I knew that I needed a little serif.
Without further ado, here is the Major Arcana of the Infinite Fool Tarot Deck. I will start working on the minor arcana, beginning with the cups. I am open to any criticism or advice if you have any. This is still a work in progress, but at some point, I need to pull the trigger and go to the next stage: publishing.
These look incredible. Great job!