MAMATH

I was lucky enough to be one of the 70-ish artists selected to take part in the Loaf Tarot project run by the Floral Frolic folks! Together with the many Kickstarter backers who believed in the project we made a beautiful colour tarot deck chock full of “loaf” (round and cute) animals, as well as a really spectacular hardcover companion book and additional supporting merchandise.

When asked to suggest animals I might like to draw, I gave an assortment of Aussie creatures (I may have had an agenda) and ended up being assigned the happy little quokka for the Page of Wands card! The Page of Wands is often considered a cheerful and optimistic card, so the quokka is a perfect fit!

I wanted to communicate the meaning of the Page of Wands, which suggests a journey or a bright future. I also needed to work in the colour orange, as the deck was planned out so that when stacked in order the minor cards progress through a full rainbow.

The organisers liked the most colourful card the most (which I should have seen coming, really) so that’s the one I polished up into the final card art.

Working with so many artists on such a beautiful project is definitely a point of pride in a year that was irl really tough for me. The organisers did an incredible job with all the design, print-sourcing and budgeting it all out. I can’t even imagine such an undertaking! Organising a dozen artists on an anthology can already be a headache, coordinating over 70 artists from all around the world is practically super-human.

I’m just pleased I could be a small part of it!

The holo foil details on everything really elevate the whole product and bring it all together despite being an absolute riot of colour!

The Companion Book surprised me by quickly becoming my favourite item from the project. Rather than making a tarot explainer, the Loaf Tarot Companion is an artbook showing off all the art at max size without any overlaid design elements. It even includes WIP images for each card and artist statements explaining how each animal connects to the meaning of their card and other choices that the artists have made. It’s a genuinely interesting read! I love it.

Just a really inspiring project. I hope the next book I organise will be as nice as this one. 🙂 I’m a firm believer in books as art objects! If you’re going to make a physical artefact, it might as well be beautiful!