This interview aims to help everyone in the Tarot community understand a self-published artist's creative vision and mindset. Making an informed decision when purchasing beautiful tarot and oracle decks starts with knowing what certain cards mean to the creator. Moreover, other talented independent artists can learn about the overall creation process and enhance their creativity.
]]>Hi Julia,
Thank you so much for participating in this interview with Tarot Stack for self-published Tarot artists. We received the Zeke's Arcana Tarot deck and wondered how you came up with such a unique art style that is so well blended in.
I’ve been painting other worldly women and creatures as my signature for around 10 years or so now, so the transition to flesh out these characters was pretty seamless. I wanted an excuse to really see the diversity of characters and see the full potential of what this universe could look like. One challenge I faced was editing down concepts to make sure it all looked coherent. But the biggest challenge I tackled was the sheer amount of cards that needed to be made as well as merge the tradition of tarot into my style.
I had to transition my whole art identity to be about tarot for a few years just to get the project done. I documented the whole process for years on my YouTube channel, so the audience really got an intensive look into how the sausage was made, so to speak. It was quite a commitment!
Of course! The Patron is a card that’s dedicated to the YouTube community who have been with me to see the whole journey through. Since we ran a Kickstarter to fund the deck, the audience or “patrons” have been an integral part of getting this deck made. This card is to honor them with a mirror reflecting each person who made this dream come true.
The Moon was a really fun card to make, I wanted to be fairly faithful to the original Rider-Waite card so a lot of elements were taken from that card but with a remix of sorts. The wolf, dog and crustacean are all apparent, as well as the towers. I’ve really just taken those elements and popped them in a blender to get a surreal dream-like quality.
Oh definitely, I’m biased of course but the feedback has been beyond glowing as the audience has mentioned. Many people have found the deck to have a very playful energy.
I went on a very personal growth journey as both an artist and person making this deck. This deck not only pushed my technical skills but forced me to learn so much about cultures, connections throughout history and how symbolism is a powerful tool that spans across borders. I was aiming for a very globalized ethos for the deck, and I’m hoping that reads in the final result.
I feel that this deck is super unique to the tarot-sphere without being too alienating. Although there's a handful of pink decks on the market, I think Zeke’s Arcana is the only one that’s unapologetically pink and feminine. The science-fiction twist is really what pushes it out of this world all while still being rooted in honoring the traditions of tarot.
Interview with Julia Rich | Zeke's Lunchbox.
]]>This interview aims to help everyone in the Tarot community understand a self-published artist's creative vision and mindset. Making an informed decision when purchasing beautiful tarot and oracle decks starts with knowing what certain cards mean to the creator. Moreover, other talented independent artists can learn about the overall creation process and enhance their creativity.
Hi Annie,
Thank you so much for participating in this interview with Tarot Stack for self-published Tarot artists. Eve and I received the Dreamy Moons Tarot deck and wanted to know how you came up with such a masterpiece.
Black and gold have been my brand colors for quite some time now, but after 6 years of DreamyMoons it felt natural for the style and colors to evolve. I wanted to add more life and color to the cards, as color holds a lot of meaning as well as being more pleasing to the eye.
I first sketched the cards on paper, simply following my imagination after I learned about the significance and meaning of a specific card. I then worked with those sketches digitally and combined with colorful watercolors. Gold foil details were created in a separate layer to later be added by my printers.
The Self is my personal addition to the deck, for it doesn’t exist in the traditional Tarot. To make my deck 80 cards instead of 78, I created the Self card and The Flower Of Life. To me, these two cards complete the deck. They are polar opposites of each other - The Self is all about your ego, genetics, ancestry, memories, experiences, everything that makes you up as a person. The Flower of Life is, on the other hand, about detaching from all that makes you, you. It’s about the Universe as a whole.
If my imagination was a card, it would be the Page of Cups. She is a dreamer, floating somewhere between a dream and reality. I relate a lot to her personally as that is exactly how I feel when I am in the process of creation.
I can’t really say I faced any challenges in creation. Sometimes I wouldn’t draw the character’s pose quite right and would start over again. But it didn’t exactly feel challenging, more like just a natural process of creation that I am so used to these days.
In terms of details and the characters in the cards, I took a lot of inspiration from the traditional Rider Waite Tarot, whilst adding some of my own symbolism. I carefully researched each card before creating my own version, to make sure I didn’t miss any significant details that would affect its meaning. It was a very intuitive process, it took me a split second to envision how I wanted my own version of the card to look like. Out of 80 cards, I would say only 3 or 4 differ from my first, original vision. I trusted my intuition and imagination, as it has never failed me in the past!
With Love,
Annie x
Somehow I always seemed to find the right picture. I didn't print anything out for this and was totally at the mercy of the materials I had available to me. I'm not sure how, but everything fell into place. Sometimes it just took a little while to find the image I was looking for, and often something even better appeared while I was searching.
One of the challenges I did face was that because of the chaotic way the deck came together, I didn't even have a standard size for the images until I was almost done making all of them. I know this sounds crazy, and next time I make a deck I will definitely make sure I know what size paper I'm working with from the start! Since they all came out different dimensions, near the very end of the process I had to crop some and add more to the borders of others.
Another challenge was simply being on the emotional roller coaster most artists probably go through while working on a big project that signifies an important point on their creative path. I was often oscillating between “This is amazing! I'm a genius!” and “This is garbage. WTF am I even doing?”
I didn't have a whole lot of external input while I was working on this, so I was just kind of hoping it would make sense to others when it was done.
As I looked at the images in the deck, I felt as if I was watching a Bollywood movie. If you were to make a movie out of this, what would the core message be?
Okay, I love this question. I can definitely see the Bollywood movie thing. It has that bold, colorful, dramatic, kinda campy vibe. And there is absolutely a connection in my mind between Tarot and theatre/film.
I would say this particular movie's message seems to be:
Life is a magical adventure. The World is alive and is always communicating with us. There's beauty everywhere, even in the terrible parts. Every challenge has a way to be overcome. Creativity is love, and love wins.
These were great questions and I really enjoyed answering them.
- Tara Cochrane, Telezma Studios
Hi Jea,
First of all, thank you very much for participating in this interview with us.
We hope you will find the questions engaging and provide as much detail as possible. I'm looking forward to learning more about you and the Oracle.
Hello there! Thank you so much for creating this shared space. I am looking forward to this exciting exchange!
I have always been fascinated by branches that work in both the world of science and facts as well as the mysteries of the spirit. I decided long ago to study Pythagorean numerology. A philosopher and mathematician, Pythagoras identified me in terms of the search that every philosopher has and in terms of investigating something as factual and tangible as the science of numbers. Consequently, I discovered a whole new world of numerical vibrations and how they permeate everything: they are everywhere, starting from the very beginning of time and extending to the smallest details of life on earth. If numbers rule the world and creations, why shouldn't they rule ours?
I found enormous portals to creation in the numerical keys. As such, I wanted to share that with anyone who is interested in exploring it and has access to it.
Even though holographic things are beautiful, there is a reason why all the cards have this pattern on the back. That is the frequency to connect with. Do you know what's interesting about rainbows or holographic? Let's explore that together:
The integration and the disappearance of lines that instead of limiting, merge between each other. This is a very powerful concept, since we are moving from 3D to 5D. Rather than living in duality, we are starting to integrate and realize that there is no need to fight or choose sides, instead, we can merge and expand to reveal new things still hidden and waiting for our awareness to emerge in the unknown.
So, you will find that The Cosmos Oracle combines astrophysics, philosophy, astronomy, spirituality, and poetry, showing by example what I communicate with words. Because of this, it is a luxury spiritual tool because you do not have to choose between matter or spirit, awareness or enjoying the energy of money, you can merge them all and forget about tags: The KEY is to integrate. Always. You will find that they are not saying opposite things, but are complementary to one another. This is just another language.
We all have our own masters and inner gods, and my goal with this product is to help connect you with that. Realizing this sooner will open you up to the most powerful shift: knowing that you can do what you want and being more aware of your energy, your thoughts, and the things you're creating in your life. Within your deck, you will find a cloth with a grid of the Universe. See what happens when you work with the portal activation card on the grid. The possibilities are endless.
As above so beyond, as inside so outside. Please remember these lines. Whether you're using the Oracle deck or not, they can be helpful.