Cartoonist Jesse Lonergan will release a new tarot deck, The Unveiled Tarot, from Union Square & Company in January.
The deck, which comes with a booklet with information from comics legend Mike Mignola, reveals Lonergan’s use of the picture-within-a-picture concept for the 78 archetypes of the Tarot. I’ve seen copies of this deck and it’s just a great physical piece of art, with just a beautiful set of provocative images. It’s no surprise that Lonergan is one of the most exciting artists in comics today, with award-winning projects behind such singular and gorgeous books as Man’s Best, Miss Truesdale, and The Fall of Hyperborea. This is not surprising given the increasing number of reopenings. His breakthrough work “Hedorah”.
Sure, the artwork on the deck is great, but what I really found fascinating about this project was the way Lonergan’s concepts juxtapose often contemporary imagery with tarot archetypes. I asked Lonergan if he could share some insight into the process of creating The Unveiled Tarot, and he was kind enough to write a behind-the-scenes look at the development of the three cards.
These notes can be found below along with associated images. And you can pre-order this deck now through Union Square & Co.…Enjoy!
Jesse Lonergan gives insight into his new tarot card deck
On XIII Death: The Death card was the first card I drew during the 2020 lockdown. I don’t think I fully understand it yet, and in some ways it feels like a pipe dream now, but it’s no wonder this card came to mind. In my manga, I think about how to express relationships that are not just chronological, using panels and compositions, and that way of thinking led to this card, which shows the inner and outer reality, which is the theme of this time. I think so. of the entire deck.
On the Fool: This was the card that sealed the deal for me to build an entire deck. I was drawing tarot cards at a slow pace, without much intention, because I might or might not draw all of the major arcana. However, when I posted this card online, it garnered a lot of comments, retweets, and more. Some people praise me for mocking Trump, others praise me for mocking Biden, and some shame me for being a mean liberal. In relation to tarot, some people said this was the best interpretation of the cards, while others said it was the worst, and it was completely off the mark. Inadvertently, everything that feeds the algorithm is included and gets in front of the right people. In a way, it defined some of the rules for how the deck worked. This is a departure from the more standard card structure and symbolism that has become one of the hallmarks of this deck. Ironically, I don’t think I would have drawn this card this way after signing the contract. Once that happened, everything became kind of official, and I think that took away some of the looseness that this card had when it was born.
About Five of Pentacles: And of course, once I signed the contract, it wasn’t about drawing on a whim anymore, but I definitely had all 78 cards made and they had a deadline. I think all the cards in the Major Arcana are hard hitters. This is something you often see in James Bond movies. They are the ones that people get tattoos on their arms. And in a way, that makes it easier for them. It feels easier to come up with ideas for The Lovers, The Devil, and Judgment than something like Five of Pentacles. Basically, I sat down with my sketchbook and started scribbling ideas about what kind of images could capture the theme of the card, which in the case of the Five of Pentacles is hardship, or overcoming it. (There’s a lot to be said for the explanations about the individual cards, so this is the simplest of the simple explanations), but also images that capture those ideas, but also images that can be reversed in some way. I try to think about it. I used this card to think about the idea of a dust bowl, full and empty, or a shopping cart used by homeless people, but the idea that really clicked in terms of the relationship between inside and outside was Not found. But then I came up with the idea of how troops depart from war and return from war, and this arrangement felt right.
The Unveiled Tarot by Jesse Lonergan is available for pre-order now!
Something like this:
Like loading…
