Thought I’d do a little walkthrough of my process on this Knight of Swords for the 78Tarot Magical Deck project. (I actually saved process steps for once!) This was a super-fun gig, and I was thrilled to be a part of it with so many artists I respect and admire, including more than a few of my art heroes (Matt Stawicki! Iris Compiet! Larry Elmore! I mean…c’mon.)
The brief called for “an Angelic type warrior figure in movement (movement is a bit up to artist interpretation – play with it). A little bird-like wouldn’t be bad, to capture some that air symbolism. (A sword must be shown somewhere).”
First up were the thumbnails. The two ADs, Chris and Delphine Malidore, decided to go with bottom left, feeling that it best matched the description and vibe they were shooting for. Then we discussed a few options for setting, and I revised to a more fitting look.
From there, I put together some references, using Google photos for hairstyles and a 3D model for the basic pose.
I decided I wanted to lean into the whole “magical/fantasy” thing a little more, so I changed the outfit around a bit, going for more of an adventuring knight look. Chris then gave me some good feedback about making the pose a little more active and dynamic, so I raised the shoulder and adjusted the flow of the cloth.
This was the first color block-in. I had a lot of fun painting those woods in the background, but didn’t feel like it was hitting the “air” theme specified in the brief. So I reworked the bg to a more dramatic sky, which the ADs enthusiastically approved.
From there it was just a matter of render render render. You can see that I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with the foliage in the front, as it changed pretty often from blurry to focused :P
From my research, I noticed a lot of Knight of Swords cards have some butterfly symbolism, so I used that—along with the moon, cloud tattoos/decorations, and the eagle on the pauldron—to try and push the air theme, with a hint of an Eastern vibe. Maybe a bit heavy-handed, but it worked out.
The knight wound up looking a little more feminine than I’d originally intended, but I’m really happy with how the face—and the overall card—came out. It’s by far one of my favorite pieces of the last five years or so.
I wound up being the first one in the project to finish their art—I think about a week, maybe 10 days, after the assignments arrived?—and that led to a second card assignment when another artist had to drop out. I’ll post that one another day :D I was also thrilled to be invited back to the current 78Tarot project, a Halloween-themed deck. I’m not quite as speedy on that one thus far, but I can’t wait to get going on my 2nd card for it!
Thanks for reading, and I hope this brought some measure of insight.
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