I wish I could tell you how I got the idea, but I can’t. This project didn’t start out as a project, just as a few sketches that then took on a life of their own. There was something really unique to me about combining the ageless archetypes of the tarot with the incredibly specific style of chibi (or super-deformed or kawaii, if you prefer). I was sure as I put together the few original sketches that the concept had already been taken. I was determined not to get too excited over it because certainly something like this had already been done, and even more certainly been done better than I could do it. But upon consultation with the oracle (aka Google) the only hits for chibi tarot were a few rudimentary sketches on DeviantArt. I had, it seemed, stumbled across an unexplored niche, one that I was all too grateful to exploit.
I also didn’t expect that this process would take me so far down the rabbit hole. When I started the project I only had one tarot book and very few on the Western Esoteric tradition, but my collection is already growing. I’m hungry to know more. I’ve taken numerous tarot classes, in fact I lived only three blocks from Ancient Ways in Oakland, but none of what I’d learned seemed to be enough. So now I find myself plowing through Eliphas Levi and Aleister Crowley, leaning heavily on my well-thumbed copy of DuQuette’s ‘Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot’ and gobbling up the Qabbalistic roots of the tarot, wondering ‘What happened to my cute little project?’
I’ll be honest with you from the start: I don’t know where this is going. My only intent right now is to finish the Major Arcana by early next year, hopefully in time to publish and sell a deck and small booklet, but given the ground I’m treading planning seems fairly well pointless. I’m doing my best merely to be led and see where things take me. I hope you’ll come along with me, and enjoy the journey as much as I do.
I wish I could tell you how I got the idea, but I can’t. This project didn’t start out as a project, just as a few sketches that then took on a life of their own. There was something really unique to me about combining the ageless archetypes of the tarot with the incredibly specific style of chibi (or super-deformed or kawaii, if you prefer). I was sure as I put together the few original sketches that the concept had already been taken. I was determined not to get too excited over it because certainly something like this had already been done, and even more certainly been done better than I could do it. But upon consultation with the oracle (aka Google) the only hits for chibi tarot were a few rudimentary sketches on DeviantArt. I had, it seemed, stumbled across an unexplored niche, one that I was all too grateful to exploit.
I also didn’t expect that this process would take me so far down the rabbit hole. When I started the project I only had one tarot book and very few on the Western Esoteric tradition, but my collection is already growing. I’m hungry to know more. I’ve taken numerous tarot classes, in fact I lived only three blocks from Ancient Ways in Oakland, but none of what I’d learned seemed to be enough. So now I find myself plowing through Eliphas Levi and Aleister Crowley, leaning heavily on my well-thumbed copy of DuQuette’s ‘Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot’ and gobbling up the Qabbalistic roots of the tarot, wondering ‘What happened to my cute little project?’
I’ll be honest with you from the start: I don’t know where this is going. My only intent right now is to finish the Major Arcana by early next year, hopefully in time to publish and sell a deck and small booklet, but given the ground I’m treading planning seems fairly well pointless. I’m doing my best merely to be led and see where things take me. I hope you’ll come along with me, and enjoy the journey as much as I do.