053 blood moon tarot

Every now and then I receive what I call a rockstar tarot deck in the mail. Two this week, I really am a spoiled woman. Today I will be reviewing the Blood Moon Tarot by Sam Guay. I pledged for this deck in 2017, some time before I even met Chris.

The box is matte with gold foil details on all four sides. The cards are matte, slick together and crunchy. They remind me of the Bohemian Gothic Tarot 2nd Edition with that unyielding crunch. The gilding is sharp and shiny, a perfect warm contrast to the muted earthly tones. This tarot deck makes a brilliant first impression right when you pick up the box. This deck is based off Sam Guay's personal mythologies, and the cards take you to a second nature fantasy world where dreams and nightmares manifest. 💜🔮🔮

052 dinosaur studies

I have been having a lot of fun drawing with this new technique. I thought I'd post today's dinosaur studies and caricatures. All of the drawings in this entry are early sketches showcasing my process going from detailed portrayal of reality to simplified or exaggerated drawings. Occasionally you will find experimental drawings as well as range of expressions.

051 inkwell

This piece is a homage to a very unique retro video game fusing '40s animation with run-and-gun adventure story. Studio MDHR had the graphics and animations drawn entirely by hand. A nod to Fleischer Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Gunstar Heroes, and many more. 🎮✨💣

050 character & animal design class with aaron blaise

Tom Oreb study, They Drew As They Pleased Vol. 4

This fever started last week when I received They Drew As They Pleased Vol 4: The Hidden Art of Disney's Mid-Century Era. As I was going through the book I was responding to the artwork and being moved by it. I pulled my sketchbook out and I started studying the illustrations that stood out to me the most the first few times I looked through the book. I was so delighted with how my illustration turned out that I went down this rabbit hole of researching Mid-Century Modern illustration from the greats. I made a series of studies. My favorite from that night was this gentleman rabbit inspired by Tom Oreb's drawings.

Recently I enrolled in Aaron Blaise's Character Design class, which has been life-changing. The way I build characters has changed, and the fundamentals are so strong that the subjects I draw are coming to life even before they have their pupils drawn in. The minimal details and flow of character stylization have inspired me to look for different shapes in my compositions. I am very excited watching as my drawings come alive. I'm sharing some coursework or what I'd usually call class notes behind the jump. 📕🖋🎨✨

049 the paulina tarot

I first found out about the existence Paulina Cassidy's Tarot deck sometime in 2009. My college room mate had it, and she asked me to read for her with it. I was enchanted by the art, and thought it would compliment my practice. In 2010 I bought my own copy. It was the 6th tarot deck I had come to own. I was extremely drawn in by it, and used my first copy until the edges had worn and feathered out. It was looking pretty used around the time I decided to trim it of its borders. I already knew which card was which by heart so I trimmed the edges and titles off the cards. Doing this in 2015 immediately opened my eyes to the cards in a new way and made it much more easy for me to slip in and out of the cards, finding new ways to read them and new signs I had not seen before. It set the art from this tarot deck free for me. This workhorse deck has since been worn down to edges that are feathering. I have used it for endless personal and professional readings which yield great results. I love this deck. The deck pictured is a brand new copy which will no doubt suffer the same fate of being used until it is battered. That is the mark of a well-loved deck. 🔮✨✨

048 puerto rico children's hospital

In 2010 I had the privilege of picking up some work for what was then known as the Puerto Rico Children's Hospital. I felt I had a great achievement at the time as I am a huge endorser of science, medicine and mental health. Despite being very early on in my career I felt I was making my own contribution to an institution I admired. I think this is some of my best work!

047 COLÓN GROUP

Today I am sharing work I finished very recently! The goal of this project was to build a logo mark that is an abstracted representation of data science. It represents a group working with chemical and biomolecular engineering.

046 tarot diary

I started a new tarot diary. Since I am keeping it on Goodnotes I can share it here. I started it out with my number cards for 2021 and I included my signifier in the court cards. It was lots of fun, I'm looking forward to share more of these. 🔮✨

045 world of warcraft: kyrian coven

World of Warcraft was not my introduction to the realm of MMORPGs, but it certainly is my favorite one. I first checked it out sometime in 2005, the game was still brand new and was said to become the next best thing. In college I was exposed to it again as many of my friends were devout fans of the Horde faction, which was also the one I favored. I joined again as Tharja in the Ghostlands server, and now I've got a few characters scattered through other servers. My main is a Draenei Shadow Priest that I like to alternate to Holy Priest. My favorite toon is called Gloom and she is in the Skullcrusher server,  but I also have a void elf called Mortizia in Emerald Dream and she is a Death Knight.

044 LENORMAND PROJECTIONS FOR 2021

Here is another embodiment of the Year In Review reading that I usually carry out but don't share online. Virtually the same thing but through the eyes of the Lenormand. The deck used here is Alexander Daniloff's Lenormand deck. I got it at the start of 2020 but haven't yet had the chance to review it. My copy has survived the bending of a few cards without any creasing, though, so I endorse it for its sturdiness against the many perils of my work desk. I never store it in a drawer, this deck stays where I can see it.