1. Production Reflection
Your Name

2. Process
Production week 1
I have started o think about potential designs of
some cards. I have not yet decided on which specific
ones I will include in the final set of 11. Today I
produced rough sketches of the Tower, the Lovers,
the Star, the Sun and the Moon. I was primarily
focusing on the content of each card, and visual
placement of elements I want them to include. I
produced good ideas for compositions of the Sun,
the Star, the Moon and the Lovers, however I have
to give myself additional time on the design of the
Tower. On top of aesthetic side of my cards, I am
trying to apply messages to most of them. The Moon
design is heavily inspired with the original card from
a classical deck. At first, I understood it as a symbol of
equality between wilderness and domestication
(nature and humanisation), however when discussing
my interpretation with my French speaking friend,
she mentioned a French expression 'entre chien et
loup' which in direct translation means between 'dog
and wolf' and describes the time of the day when the
sky is still bright, but moon starts to be visible. It
made me realise, that I not only represents the clash
between two worlds, but also a certain balance
between them.
The Lovers is another card I contemplated on, I was
focusing on the nature of love and realised it often
goes in pair with cruelty.. I wanted to visualise this by
including a pair of daggers (referencing the minor
arcana) and a heart placed between them to
symbolise that perhaps love is a factor that caused
the fight (or stopped it depending on potential
interpretations).
The Sun and The Star are both visualisations of
connection between the cosmos and life (in two
different forms). Women gathered under a big star
dance around it as to showcase humanity's
amazement with the stars above them. On The Sun,
plants are growing in the direction of the sun to
represent its importance for any form of life.

3. Process
Production week 2
I have started this week by designing a potential Death card.
I was thinking about my roots and elements of my life I
could convey in the card. Almost immediately I
have remembered my dad's stories about being a punk in
his youth. He always used to mention that although he does
not look like it anymore, he still thinks of himself as a punk.
I used to jokingly mock him for that, saying that punk is
dead. But I always knew that its not true and what was
known as 'punk' simply transformed into another,
modernized version of this subculture. To me, this change
resembles the way some people view the process of dying-
as simply turning into something new.
The Strength is a second card I have been designing this
week. I was hoping to create a card that pays respect to the
battles of a modern woman. The main element I wanted to
include is a reference to protests that happened
internationally two years ago regarding a changing abortion
law in Poland. This even influenced me a lot as I was myself
part of a protest that happened in York and supported the
movement. I created a draft of The Strength featuring a
woman holding a black flag – the primary color of the
protest. She stands in flames with her chest bare and a red
lightning which became the primary symbol of the protest
(together with clothe hangers). The flames symbolizes the
tragic ending to the event, as the strict abortion laws were
not overruled despite the national protest.
The woman is also featured as having armpit hair on one of
the drafts, this is to showcase the natural feminine beauty
and disobeying social standards enforced on women.
I have also created a brief idea for The Hanged Man, I'm
hoping to feature references to ethics of meat industry in
this card, however I will need to work on this idea as the
weeks go.

4. Process
Production week 3
This week was the first one back from my Easter
break and my holiday in Poland. I was finally
able to start my production and get familiar with
using a graphics tablet as my work tool.
I have started with one of the first cards I have
designed a draft for, The Lovers. I struggled a
little with figuring out how to make my digital
art reflect my on-paper design. I wanted to be
as true as possible to the sketch I have done
during the first week of production. However, no
matter how hard I tried, the final product was
not entirely the same, and this was the moment
I have realised I will have to compromise. I am
not able to digitally re-create the look of my
artwork, but I am able to manipulate my style
and create something similar but new.
Having this in mind, I began working on The Star

5. Process
Production week 4
I'm finally satisfied with my art style I have developed for this
project. Although the first card of the week, The Moon, does
not look entirely as I imagined to, the process of creating it
made me realise I can start working with the shape tool in
Photoshop to create a clean base to draw on. I have used lines
and rectangles to create two towers with the bridge and a
circle to create the outline of the moon.
I have started to apply this technique to the rest of the cards I
produced this week; those being The Fool and The Tower.
The Fool ended up replacing The Strength I have been
designing during week 2.
I decided on changing this idea due to the symbolism behind
the fool, it represents futile attempts at freedom. This fits the
tragic events of the protest I have referenced. Although
protests were a symbol of freedom and autonomy of the
female bodies, in the end it did not lead to a victory.
As upsetting as it is, I'm very happy with the way The Fool
turned out.
The final card of the week is The Tower, perhaps my favourite
out of all three of produced cards. The Tower took me the
longest time to finish, I have started its production on Tuesday
afternoon and had to spend the entirety of Wednesday to
finish it off. This is a result of the number of details I have
included in this product, from visible texture of the brick on the
tower, to the outline of the trees and the cross that symbolises
false gods. This card is almost identical to its original, featuring
a tower hit by a lightning. To me, this is a references to
the biblical Tower of Babel, built by a man in attempt to reach
heavens. The story of Babel Tower symbolises greediness,
which I have learned to associate with unnecessarily
rich churches in Poland, using religion as a way of gaining
money. Therefore, my Tower has a golden eye on top of it- it
symbolises unreal devotion to their faith.

6. Process
Production week 5
Having already developed a clear idea of
my style and being comfortable with the
pattern of my work, I started week
5 productively, spending the first day on
creating the magician. This card, above
everything else represents being at
peace with how the things are going,
which I certainly was when starting week
5. It features a woman, meditating in her
house while floating
seemingly effortlessly.
Being finished with The magician, I
started The sun the same day.
The next day I have spent almost entirely
on creating the sun, for some reason I
was no longer happy with my idea and
decided to delay finishing it. Instead, I
have started the High Priestess. The
following day I was able to finish both
products. I was pleased with the final
look of each, the sun matched my initial
draft, but the colour pallet made it look
more peaceful. The High Priestess was
meant to reference the increasing
numbers of countries legalising
marihuana consumption and how using
this drug is said to bring you to an extra
level of consciousness.

7. Process
Production week 6
The final week of my production was certainly the most productive. I have
created three final cards, completing my goal of producing 11 Tarot cards in
6 weeks.
I started on Monday with The Hanged Man. I was completing producing
cards I had created drafts for, this was the last one.
However, the draft I have done for this card was not very detailed, therefore,
I had to expand on my idea as I produced it. This happened to be a beneficial
way of working as I ended up effectively producing ideas as the image was
closer to being finished. I have decided to feature a child with their mom
standing in front of the bodies of animals, showcasing the normalisation of
displaying meat products in the shops' widow frames (no matter the
graphicness of the product). It comments on how children are often forced to
eat meat (especially in Slavic countries) and are not presented with
alternatives.
The next day I found myself no longer working with the previously created
drawings. I decided to inspire myself with a recent topic of BLM. I wanted to
create a card that pays respect to the social revolution people no longer talk
about often enough. I decided that although justice cannot be served by me,
I will do the most I can to keep George Floyd's name alive in my Tarot, as t
remind my audience of the ever-relevant topic of racial inequality our society
struggles to this day (even after the tragic deaths of many Black
citizens). Above their graves I featured a burning American with an Anarchy
symbol sprayed on it. To me, this image represents the theme of opposing
murderous, corrupted governments.
Finally, when beginning to work on my last card of the project, I reached to
my designs for the last time. I decided that I no longer find the draft of The
Death card to be suitable with the rest of my products. I decided to create a
card that visualises the struggle of being a young woman in Poland where
church and tradition imposes a gender role of a nurturing female figure on
girls from a young age. A lot of teenage women try and rebel against the
harmful gender stereotypes and are viewed by outcasts of the society. This
card was the most personal to me and I see creating it as a satisfying end of
my production.