David DePasquale recently hit a major career milestone. Not only did he design the primary main cast on Golden Axe, but he helmed the entire art development team. This is of note since his first love was character design, and Art Director wasn’t part of his plan. Also unplanned? Becoming a tarot card designer. “I kind of fell into it,” he says. Now he has two tarot decks to his name: Arcanis Animal Tarot and The Storyteller’s Tarot.
DePasquale’s tarot journey began on vacation in 2016 when he realized he needed to draw something for Inktober, the annual challenge where artists use prompts to share one ink drawing a day during October on social media. Using only the pen, marker, and pencils he had on hand, he created a design for a devil that he describes as super geometric with mid-century-esque influences. When he posted it on Facebook, his best friend asked if this was how he was going to design a tarot deck.
DePasquale had collected tarot decks since he was in high school. But creating a full deck is a huge undertaking, he says, because there are 78 cards, each needing a unique image. It became clear to him, though, that his Inktober design could be a deck’s Devil card. It had an easily replicable style, so he created a set of rules for what would become Arcanis Animal Tarot.
Each card had to be black, white, and one color. While the color could change from card to card, he wasn’t allowed to outline in the color. He completed the Major Arcana—the first 22 cards in a tarot deck—and then created a preliminary booklet showcasing them to gauge interest in a full deck. At the CTN Animation Expo, the booklet sold out.
Next came a Kickstarter campaign that was soon fully funded. It included the complete deck and a companion book that he wrote with the help of his sister. DePasquale sold the deck at conventions and soon ran out. Not having the funds to republish, the project fell on the back burner until 2021 when his literary rep sold it to Hay House, along with his pitch for The Storyteller’s Tarot, which was completely different in tone and style.
The animation-inspired, animal-themed Arcanis deck took just four months to create, while the Storyteller’s deck was more robust in terms of illustration and took nine months. It is filled with storytelling from around the world, with cards that reference everything from Aesop’s fables to Persian folklore. His favorite card from this deck is Judgement, with an illustration depicting Dante bathing in the river of forgetfulness. He says that Dante’s Divine Comedy was taught by one of his teachers in high school who inspired his love of philosophy and metaphysics.
DePasquale explains that his process for creating the decks was more methodical than his usual way of working. He had to stick to each deck’s specific style or else it would lose cohesion. But he enjoyed the limitations and notes that it’s similar to working in animation, where you’re given a show’s style along with a list of assets you have to create. He finds there is an overlap between his animation work and his personal projects with the design of shows influencing his style and vice versa. Having his own projects, he says, is one of the most important things in his career—it keeps his artistic compass calibrated.
When it comes to tarot readings, DePasquale prefers that other people read for him, but he has a daily ritual where he likes to pull a single card that will set the tone for the day. “The beautiful thing about tarot is it’s a storytelling tool,” he says. “Regardless of whether you’re using it for advice, or you’re trying to see an outcome, or you’re just doing it for fun, the tarot is a story—it’s your own story.”
As for the cards he pulls, they often speak to where he is at that moment. One card he recently pulled was no exception: the Five of Wands. “It’s all about challenge, constructive disagreement, keeping a level head,” he says. This tracks with where he is today as he navigates finding his next job. While he doesn’t know exactly what’s in the cards, he is sure of one thing. As an Advanced Character Design teacher at CalArts, DePasquale asks his students: If the industry collapsed and you couldn’t make money doing art anymore, would you still draw? The answer for him is always yes.
Learn more about DePasquale’s animation work and tarot cards at www.davidadepasquale.com.
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