Getting into the Tarot Drawing Thing
Alright, so I decided I wanted to actually draw some tarot cards. Saw a bunch online, some looked amazing, some looked kinda… well, let’s just say I thought maybe I could do something myself. Didn’t really know where to start, honestly. It’s not like drawing a cat or a house, these cards have meaning, you know? Pressure felt kinda high right off the bat.
First thing I did was just grab my usual stuff. Sketchbook, pencils – the HB and a softer 2B – and a decent eraser. That eraser turned out to be pretty important, let me tell you. I figured I’d start with something iconic, maybe The Magician. Seemed straightforward enough: dude at a table, symbols, the four suits. Easy peasy, right? Wrong.
The First Attempt – Uh Oh
So I started sketching. Got the basic figure down, the table… but then the symbols. The cup, the wand, the sword, the pentacle. Getting them to look right, and not just like random objects plopped down, was a real headache. My wand looked more like a lopsided baseball bat. The cup seemed like it was about to tip over. Spent ages just trying to get the perspective on the table vaguely correct. Erase, redraw, erase, redraw. Paper started looking thin in spots. Frustrating stuff.
It made me think, maybe I should’ve just traced something first? But no, the whole point was to make it my drawing, my interpretation. Felt like cheating otherwise. But man, my interpretation was looking pretty rough.
Trying a Different Approach
Okay, so The Magician wasn’t working out great. I decided to switch tactics. Maybe go simpler? I looked at The Fool. Just a person stepping off a cliff, seems simple enough in concept. Less stuff on a table to worry about.
I tried sketching it out. Focused on the feeling – that carefree, maybe slightly naive, energy. The pose was tricky. Getting that sense of movement, of stepping into the unknown without looking like they’re just falling awkwardly. Tried a few different leg positions. One looked like he was doing a weird dance, another like he tripped. More erasing.
Finding Some Flow (Sort Of)
Eventually, I got a sketch for The Fool that didn’t make me immediately want to crumple up the paper. It wasn’t perfect, far from it, but it had something. The little dog barking at his heels was easier, thankfully. Added the sun, the cliff edge. It started to look a bit like, well, The Fool.
Then came the question of detail. How much? Keep it simple lines? Add shading? Ink it? I just stuck with pencil for now. Added a bit of rough shading to give it some depth. Didn’t want to mess it up by trying fancy techniques I hadn’t practiced.
What I Used (Basically)
- Plain sketchbook paper, nothing fancy.
- HB pencil for the initial light sketch.
- 2B pencil for darker lines and some basic shading.
- A kneaded eraser (lifesaver!) and a regular block eraser.
- Looked at a few different traditional tarot decks just for reference on basic composition, but tried not to copy directly.
So yeah, that was my first real go at drawing tarot cards. Ended up with one kinda okay-ish sketch of The Fool and a messy page where The Magician used to be. It’s way harder than it looks. Takes a lot of patience, and you gotta be willing to mess up and try again. Maybe I’ll try inking next, or even adding color, but one step at a time. It’s a process, for sure.
