Skip to content
AG
  • About
  • Approach
  • Work
  • Writing
  • Experience
  • Contact
  • About
  • Approach
  • Work
  • Writing
  • Experience
  • Contact
← Back to all work

Personal · Illustration

Arcana

A personal series of surreal digital illustrations, each built around one dreamlike scene — a lone figure on a cliff's edge, a body mid-fall, a storm channeled through open hands. The titles borrow their names from tarot archetypes, but these aren't card designs — just vast skies, saturated color, and small human figures set against something much larger than themselves.

The series

Surreal illustration of a woman in a dark coat walking through clouds above a city street toward a glowing solar eclipse, while a figure in a white dress falls headfirst past lit windows below

High Priestess

Surreal illustration of a lone figure standing on a jagged mountain peak with arms raised toward a swirling fiery orange sky torn open by lightning

The Tower

Surreal illustration of a solitary figure holding a glowing lantern on a cliff's edge, overlooking a vast purple and teal canyon with a distant lit spire

Hermit

Surreal illustration of a small figure standing alone on a pale pink plain beneath an enormous dark blue vortex swirling in the sky, surrounded by jagged crystalline spires

The World

Surreal illustration of a figure standing on a small floating island of clouds, arms raised, channeling a massive bolt of lightning down from swirling teal storm clouds

Magician

Surreal illustration of a woman falling through an abstract teal and purple vortex filled with oversized mechanical gears and bolts

Chariot

Surreal illustration of a figure in a blue sweater and red scarf, seen from behind, looking out from a red clifftop at floating islands with golden autumn trees and misty waterfalls

Fool

Surreal illustration of a man in a suit standing at a small writing desk amid towering broken classical columns on a floating stone platform, set against a green sky

Emperor

Surreal illustration of a figure in a purple hoodie standing in a bare apartment room lit by a glowing television, with a shadowy hooded figure in a doorway and a crescent moon visible outside

Moon

Surreal illustration of a figure diving headfirst into cracked earth that glows orange and red at the fracture, set against a flat purple background

Hanged Man

Surreal illustration of two figures seated at a bar built on a small ice floe adrift in a dark blue ocean, under a full moon and surrounded by icebergs

Temperance

About the series

Arcana grew out of a simple exercise: pick a tarot archetype, then imagine the moment it's describing instead of the card that represents it. No cups, swords, or ornate borders — just a scene. The Hanged Man became a body diving headfirst into cracked earth. The Tower became someone standing at the edge of a mountain while the sky itself tears open.

Across the set, a few things repeat: a single small figure against an enormous sky, thresholds — clouds, portals, cracked ground — and a palette that leans hard into saturated teal, coral, and deep purple-black. It's less about telling a fortune than about finding a strong image for a feeling and committing to the color.

Looking for more design work, or want to talk about a project? Get in touch — or see selected UX case studies.