This set of oracle cards was created for a class that was essentially just an intro to digital art, but since I was already pretty familiar with it I used it as an opportunity to create a more cohesive, larger scale concept of what this deck could look like.
The first assignment was to create 6 mood boards, some of which are shown below next to the cards they inspired. Then we had to create the design for the back of the cards and week by week we created the card faces. Keep scrolling to see the rest of the project and learn more about my process throughout.
Above you can see the card back (left) as well as the Bonfire, which represents spending time with loved ones, taking time to step away and reflect on life, and transformation.
When I made the first version of the Bonfire, I illustrated it in procreate, but I didn't like the juxtaposition between the painterly illustration and the very graphic border design, so I ended up redoing the card the next week to create the vector version which I think sells the idea of the smoke turning into the aurora borealis a bit better. Moving forward in the project I decided to stick with the hard edged vector style to keep it feeling cohesive as a whole.
Above you can see Burden, which represents strength, endurance, and self sacrifice. Getting the anatomy of atlas in the card right was critical to communicating the themes of the card and required lots of reference to get everything looking just right. Though admittedly I failed to realize that the cloth around his waist appears to be pinned into his skin. Should I ever revisit this project, that would definitely need to be remedied.
For the final card, we were instructed to combine one of the cards designed by a classmate with a card or mood board that we had created previously in the course. I started with another round of mood boarding to get the base concept in order and then went through some rounds of sketches to base the final card on. One of the main critiques I received was that the whale looked too much like a winged banana without the tail showing, so I added it for the final version of the card.
