The Wizards Tarot is his first venture into tarot cards. He spoke about the
experience from his home in the Brentwood borough of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:
I was always interested in a long-term project, but when I was first asked
to do a tarot deck, I thought, "Boy, is that a lot of work." Seventy-eight
cards? It was intimidating. I wasn’t really sure if it was something I could
commit to. But it was an intriguing project.
I have a friend that reads tarot cards, but I really knew nothing about
them — which is part of being in this business. You learn a lot about things.
I found it really interesting. It opens up your eyes.
I grew up here in Pittsburgh. From the age of 16, I knew I would go into
art. It was the thing I showed promise in, and I did a lot of it. When the
time came for me to choose a school, I decided to go to Ivy School of Art,
mainly for commercial art.
When I finished school, I went to work for an advertising agency. I started
in production design, and then I became an agency art director. After that, I
decided to go freelance. Now I've been freelancing for 28 years.
Eleven or twelve years ago, the advertising community switched over to
digital. Every aspect — design, art, and photography -- all started going
digital. You had to learn how to work in a digital format, or you had to find
a new career.
It was actually a fairly easy transition for me. Basically, the digital
format fit the way I work real well. Even before we went digital, I used to
airbrush a lot. Of course, I worked in acrylic, pen and ink, and colored
pencil … and drawing is really the foundation for all art. But my work on the
computer is almost a direct application of everything I knew.
I do most of my work in Photoshop. A lot of people feel that if you’re
using Photoshop everything is the way the photos are, but I really use photos
as a reference — a starting point. Just like regular painting, you can put
whatever you want into the image as subject.
I approach any assignment as a form of communication. Usually my client
describes a project, and then I start envisioning what it should look like in
my mind. I draw a lot from movies and films. I'm a big movie buff, and I have
a good memory for visuals and universal images. I tap into those a lot, so
that people have an understanding of what I'm trying to say. I use standard
imagery. Illustration is a form of communication, so I try to be as clear as I
can. People understand those universal images.
For each image, I start by making a thumbnail for myself. With Photoshop,
you start with a photo reference, so I shoot that for myself. I usually I try
to get family and friends to serve as my models. My kids have actually stood
in since they were little. Now my oldest son is 29, the second is 26, and my
daughter is 20. In the Wizards Tarot, my son was the model for the Death card.
I used myself for the centaur, the King of Swords, and the Hermit. Plus I used
myself as the model for King and Knight of Pentacles.
The reference photos are just the starting point. A lot of times, the final
image doesn't look anything like the person who modeled.
I build all of the images up in layers. I always start with the central
figure, and everything else is brought in to support the theme. I always want
to direct the viewer's eye. That's the difference between fine art and
illustrators. Fine artists decide what they want to unveil first, but as an
illustrator, I point the viewer where I want them to look.
As I'm working, being that I don't have real hard and firm roughs, I sort
of create the image as I go along. Most book covers take me five full working
days. For the tarot card project, that would be prohibitive. If I were
spending that much time on each card, I'd be financially ruined. I still have
to maintain my full workload while I work on this deck.
When I started working on the Wizards Tarot, the first card was hard. It
did take me a while. I was trying to come up with a bit of a compromise as to
speed and degree of finish. I try to set those parameters with every new
project. I spent three or four days working out that balance, trying to
determine how I could get a good final product in an amount of time that's
practical. Now I can turn a simpler card out in a day.
I spend most of my time trying to make each composition work. One of the
things I didn't want to do with this deck was just throw some symbols or
images into every card. I never wanted to make it look like anything was just
thrown in. I wanted to make sure every part of the image worked in a logical
composition. It’s like a puzzle. You have to solve all the composition
problems.
The World card was one of those compositional challenges. It was supposed
to show a woman sitting with a book, but just having the figure sit with a
book in her lap made it too small. At first, I put in a lot of excess imagery
-- the legs, the lap, the chair. It was far too much unimportant imagery. It
took a lot to come up with the solution, which was to focus just on her upper
torso and having the book float.
I don't have any real favorites in this deck. They're all my favorites. You
could say I have some that are less favorite than others, but I like them all
for different reasons. I like how the Chariot card came out, for example,
because I really like the lighting I was able to put on that one. A lot of
times, I put a lot of effort into an illustration just for my own sake. You
know, there are little things that you throw into a work of art for yourself
that no one else would notice.
I have to admit, I think the Pentacle court cards are my favorite. The
elementals add a real twist to it. They're so rustic, so earthy. They're so
much more primitive than the others, like the Swords, which seems like a more
advanced type of culture. The gnome king and queen were a lot of fun to do. I
like them, simply because they're so grumpy. Maybe I relate more to those
people than the pretty people.
All of the cards are hanging in my studio now. I look at them every day.
