The Normal Tarot

Making your day a little more magical whether you like it or not.

101 black ink illustrations (plus formatting, card back design, and box) for an original deck of tarot-sized cards envisioned by The Caretaker; illustrations were based on their written descriptions. Published by The Publishing Goblin, Seven Asmund.

This is has been printed twice, (including a second, darker edition with luminous silver foil) and is currently available via print-on-demand.

buy the print-on-demand deck

illustration, card layout, package design

The Observatory: a night sky full of stars, an observatory at the top of a mountain, a pair of eyes.

Many black and white ink drawings on a grid, featuring spiky weeds and icicles in various contexts.

The Mourning Queen: a veiled figure in a black dress holding a lit candle.

The Spring Knight II: armored figure standing in a manicured garden.

Deck box with brushed sigil. Card back with geometric lines, stars, planets, and a pair of skulls.

The Burning Garden with many other cards from the deck in the background.

In addition to the card illustrations, layout, box, and back designs, I also created two enamel pins. The skull is based on the card back, inspired by The Caretaker’s signature skeleton character.

I hand-painted the sigil in black ink for an expressive version of the author’s personal symbol (à la The Artist Formerly Known as Prince).

Two silver and black enamel pins, one of the skull from the card back and one of the sigil.

Silver Edition

The second edition of the deck presented the opportunity to add silver foil to the illustrations, and we decided to make the illustrations darker to best show off the metallic effect.

buy the darker print-on-demand deck

illustration, card layout

Cards: The 4th of Spring, The 3rd of Spring, The Winter Knight, The 1st Quarter, The 2nd of Summer.

Box and deck. The silver-foiled edge of the deck is visible.

Card backs and The Caretaker (a skeleton wearing a hoodie robe, with glowing baby stars).

Many of the cards spread out; The Book of Songs is on top.

The Guide

I also designed and illustrated the cover for the book that accompanies the gold edition of the deck. The cover was inspired by an Alphonse Mucha painting, and the funky typeface with different widths is Typofonderie’s Anisette, which gives the feel of the words an interesting combo of outer spacey sci-fi, art deco, and weird while staying legible.

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illustration, cover layout

test

additional images

Detailed book cover sketch showing cloaked skeleton, lettering, and rough Art Nouveau elements.

Full book cover design featuring black swirls and Art Nouveau-style lettering.

Book sitting on a concrete surface, showing the back cover.

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