🎴XVIII - the Moon: Nona's Swim (TLT Tarot) // WIP (Patreon)

General Note: All cards will be cleaned & finished up once the concept for all of the major arcana is established and I've found a comfy routine in CSP . The font and banner/decoration are also placeholders for now.

Any feedback on the cards is very welcome!

On one hand, the Moon card can symbolize your imagination is taking the best of you. In the dark of the night, you are taking a path that you are unsure of, for there could be danger lurking in its depths. You are the crawfish embarking on the path in the card. The moon's light can bring you clarity and understanding and you should allow your intuition to guide you through this darkness. (Labyrinthos.co)

This was the most difficult card for me to figure out and I'm STILL not sure if I'll stick with this final concept. The moon is not directly visible but hopefully it's clear enough that Nona is gazing at it!

Especially with this cards I'd very much appreciate feedback and opinons! Some ideas and references:

Nona's swim with the jelly fish was something I very quickly liked for this card. There were different ideas I had. Some depicted her in the water with a crawfish (one of the symbols on the Rider Smith Card), others showed parts of city buildings, similarly to the Rider Waite card again. The idea was that the moon could also possibly be Varun, depending on the color theme.

I really like the thumbnails and am still hesitant if I should go with her literal swim with the jelly fish. Maybe the moonlight reflection needs some revision... Anyway, I liked the idea of the jelly fish the most because it's a very prominent scene in the books. I feel like it sticks to everyone reading the book.

The coloration of this went quite chaotic tbh. I started off without planning or thinking too much about it (left image) and ended up not liking it much. A quick value check (middle image) confirmed that my values aren't very nice to look at. While in black/white I put a multiply layer on top and just quickly added some darker parts (right image).

It definitely looks nicer, but even more so after I got rid of the very unclear moonlight reflection and playing around more with light and shadow:

I had a LOT LOT LOT of trouble with getting a moonlight reflection I liked. I think I still need to get over it once more though..

There was a lot of trial and error in this card and, again, I'm just not sure I'm doing it justice. Maybe I also just need to let it grow on me haha.

Any feedback from tarot enthusiasts is welcome!

Enjoy ! 💛