I began engaged on my reconstructed Etteilla Tarot in early 2022 and was making fairly first rate progress. Then in all of 2023 I solely accomplished the primary drafts of seven playing cards. That’s proper. Seven. It took me a whole calendar yr to finish seven playing cards.
Additionally, I stalled on the Judgement card as a result of I simply couldn’t get the composition fairly proper.
At first I used to be searching for inspiration from, like, Michelangelo and van den Broeck, with a whole lot of teeny tiny folks, angels, and demons within the background, lined up and down these mountain tops. However having nowhere close to an iota of their expertise, my drafts stored wanting like a scorching mess.
What bought me by was only a entire lot of copying…
- My trumpeting angel is predicated on one of many angelic figures within the sixteenth c. van den Broeck illustration;
- The nude “Adam and Eve” figures are from the Judgement card within the Lo Scarabeo Tarot (I really like that the deck is likely one of the first to convey collectively all three main tarot traditions, Marseille, RWS, and Thoth), which was first launched in 2007; and
- The cloaked man rising from his tomb is from the 1843 Lorambert’s Jeu de la Princesse iteration of the Etteilla.
The trendy deck inspiration from the Lo Scarabeo Tarot (LST)‘s Judgement card is borrowing from that deck’s premise to touch upon this reconstructed Etteilla– Mark McElroy and Anna Lazzarini, the artist of the LST, synthesized the important thing symbols of the three most influential decks of tarot historical past, which I’m then showcasing as Adam and Eve (primordial figures) within the Final Judgement of what, in an alternate actuality, might have been probably the most influential deck of tarot historical past, Etteilla’s system, however receded into obscurity largely due to the rise in recognition of those three decks synthesized by the LST. There are different little nods on this alternative. The LST was launched in celebration of Lo Scarabeo’s twentieth anniversary as an Italian publishing home. twentieth? Judgement card? =)
The background is one thing I had already completed for Card 8 and the skeleton items are from Card 17. Plus, the copying and recycling of preexisting visible parts is a really Etteilla-esque factor to do.
After which lastly I noticed I simply needed to observe the cues of previous Etteilla Judgement playing cards. You must decide perhaps three key important symbolic parts and that’s it. At tarot card dimension dimensions, for those who attempt to attract 1000’s of itty bitty resurrected folks figures, angels, and demons, nothing interprets. It finally ends up wanting blotchy.
The angel sounding the trumpet is form of a should, proper? So getting that a part of the composition proper was my first order of enterprise.
Then to attach this card to The Satan and The Excessive Priest, I wished to depict the lovers once more, now being resurrected from the lifeless. Additionally add within the outdated white-cloaked dude and skeleton elements, copying the Princess Tarot model of Judgement, and I’ve maxed out the restrict on what can match comfortably in a single composition.
By way of course of, I’m persevering with to strategy the medium as a hybrid. Each card begins with a pen and ink line drawing. I discover that it’s nonetheless sooner and extra environment friendly for me to get the thumbnail sketch down by hand analog than it’s to aim digital illustration, however for certain I take advantage of digital illustration strategies as soon as I scan the sketch in. As an example, there are sometimes line errors within the hand sketch that I’ll repair digitally.
After I scan the sketch in at excessive decision, I clear it up and in addition disassemble the foreground, center floor, and background parts so every turns into its personal digital layer.
Coloration is added through digital portray in Jasc Paint Store Professional v. 9.0. This system is now referred to as Corel PaintShop Professional after Corel acquired Jasc in 2004. That tells you ways outdated my software program is. I’m utilizing digital portray software program from the early 2000s.
Additionally, you’ll be able to see from these work-in-progress images that I do fairly a little bit of tweaking to spruce up the road drawings. In my thumbnail I used to be going to have a mountainous panorama for the background, however I couldn’t make it work. The composition was getting too busy, so I opted for wispy bands of coloration as an alternative.
Enjoyable thriller: The crown is on the man’s head in Playing cards 13 and 14, however then… within the Final Judgment card, that crown wasn’t on his head when he was laid to relaxation, and as an alternative, you see it on a 3rd determine– the cranium. Gasp. What occurred? =)
The Judgement card within the Etteilla is an indication of progress. Conditions which were ongoing and unresolved for awhile now lastly come to their conclusion. The cardboard, in line with Orsini and Lemarchand, additionally signifies a serious shift. That “signal of progress” goes to be subjective — a superb omen to some, and a foul omen to others. Not everyone is gonna be on the successful facet.
Above you’ll see which Majors I’ve accomplished the primary drafts of as of this writing. I haven’t completed Playing cards 18, 19, or 21 but, so I’ve used the 1850 Lismon engravings as placeholders. These aren’t remaining drafts but, as a result of already I see tweaks that have to be made. As an example, since each Playing cards 1 and eight are significator playing cards within the Etteilla system, the female picture in Card 8 needs to be the identical proportionate dimension because the masculine (Thoth-Hermes) picture in Card 1, in order that must be revised.
Of the Minors, I’ve accomplished the Coin pips, however barely made a dent in progress on the opposite three fits, and I’ve not began on any of the courtroom playing cards but. For my Etteilla courts, I wish to set up strict thematic and symbolic consistency, so I determine I have to work on the courts altogether in a single fell swoop. I’m holding off on the courts till I’ve a definitive, dedicated plan for them.
Total I’m happy with how my Etteilla artwork venture is coming alongside, even when my progress has been abysmally gradual. I imagine it’s additional establishing my type and standpoint as an illustrator. Family and friends guarantee me that “you’ll be able to completely inform it’s drawn by whoever did the Spirit Keeper’s Tarot.” It’s a superb signal of technical enchancment when an artist is lastly delivering constant, outlined type.
My first card to work on in 2024 goes to be The Hermit card, or because it’s oft titled within the Etteilla, The Capuchin (a reformed Franciscan denomination of friars circa the sixteenth century). I’m tickled by how the Etteilla Hermit card goes to interrupt the brains of RWS-seasoned tarot readers.
The Etteilla Hermit card doesn’t simply imply one who has achieved a primary diploma of esoteric information, however one who has gone a step past to pervert or misread that information. By way of tarot pairings, virtually any time the Etteilla Hermit card seems subsequent to a different card, the Hermit will negate all positivity and good auspices from that different card. Key phrases related to Card No. 18, The Hermit embody: hypocrisy, concealment, the seducer, the corrupter, crafty, treason. Reversed, its which means consists of non secular hypocrite, false devotee, somebody who’s performative and insincere with their spirituality. Oh that is going to be enjoyable!
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