Okay, here’s my take on sharing my “cat tarot cards” experience, blog-style:
Okay, so, I got this crazy idea, right? Cat Tarot Cards! I mean, I love cats, and I’ve always been a bit into tarot, so I thought, why not combine the two? Seemed purr-fect, lol.
First thing I did was to start sketching. I grabbed a sketchbook and just started doodling cats. Cats in different poses, cats doing cat things, you know? I was thinking, okay, how can I make these cats represent the different cards? Like, a snooty Persian could totally be The Emperor, and a playful kitten chasing a string could be The Fool.
Next up, I needed to figure out which cat went with which card. This was the tricky part. I spent hours researching the traditional meanings of the tarot cards. I needed to find a way to translate those meanings into cat behavior. Like, The Lovers card? Two cats grooming each other. The Tower? A cat knocking over a vase! Get it?
Then I started painting. I decided to go with watercolors because I wanted a soft, dreamy feel. I used some thicker paper card stock that I had lying around. I scanned the watercolors to make them digital, I used Procreate on my iPad to clean up the lines and add some extra details. I wanted them to look kinda vintage and mystical.
- Researched tarot card meanings
- Sketched cat poses
- Matched cats to cards
- Painted with watercolors
- Digitized and cleaned up the artwork
After that, it was time to print. I ordered a test deck from a print-on-demand site to see how they looked. The colors were a little off, so I had to adjust them and order another test deck. It was a lot of back and forth, but eventually, I got the colors just right. I spent a lot of time making sure the printing company didn’t ruin my cards.
Final touches
To round out the process, I started writing a little guidebook to go with the deck. I wanted to explain my cat-themed interpretations of the cards. I made sure the text was accessible and easy to understand, you know, not too stuffy or serious. I’m planning on finding a local print shop that I can collaborate with to release an actual, real cat tarot card set!
And that’s pretty much it! It was a lot of work, but super fun. I’m really happy with how they turned out. So yeah, that’s how I made my cat tarot cards from scratch!
