TAROT CARD DECK

Illustration

Art Direction: Sean Mccabe

Made For: Tyler School of Art and Architecture


 

A reimagined tarot card deck that uses rabbits as the main figure. Utilizes symbolism and motifs as main visual points throughout the deck

 

Card Deck

For this tarot deck, I wanted to do something cute yet dark at the same time. I decided to use rabbits as my main subject since the life of a rabbit is terrifying within itself. Even though these creatures are cute, they face death nearly every day making them a perfect subject for this tarot deck. I also wanted to add some light-hearted elements just so there’s variety within the deck. Since the theme of this deck is rather dark, I used a cool color palette and added a watercolor texture to make it more intriguing. I also excluded the text since the cards are recognizable without them.

Card Back

The back of the cards illustrates the moon since the time of day the cards take place is at night. Having another illustration of a rabbit on the back would’ve been repetitive. The iridescent border of the back contrasts against the dark frame in the font and makes the moon illustration pop out.

Initial Sketches

In the initial sketches, two cards have a different appearances. The king of wands and the death card were changed due to them being too on the head and the composition not being compelling enough. For death, having it implied rather than shown was more effective while the king of wands needed to change composition-wise so the deck didn’t feel repetitive. I also chose to change the border and not add numbers and names since they would compete with the final illustrations.

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