The Hanged Man Tarot card

The Hanged Man appears upside-down to represent turning his life around. Seeing things differently than those around him. He comes after the Justice card and has applied the truth of that card. He is attached to the tree of his spiritual values.

Just a reminder that my art show opens this coming Tuesday October 4th at 7pm at The Wallflower (Broadway and Main).

Psychology of Color

Each colour evokes a certain meaning or emotion. It is important to pick the right colours for your brand, depending on what you want your brand to communicate.

Green - fresh, environmentally-friendly, positivity. Green is a calming colour.

Blue - dependability, loyalty, peaceful. Also associated with calmness.

Purple - creativity, royalty, spirituality. Purple is associated with luxury and royalty.

Yellow - energetic, positivity, warmth, joyful, sunny. Yellow is associated with happiness.

Orange - energy, friendly, positive, playful. Orange represents high energy.

Red - love, passion, strength, powerful, dynamic. Red is also known to stimulate appetite.

Pink - feminine, soft, delicate, compassion

Gray - sleek, neutral, modern, calm, conservative

Black - power, elegance, authority, bold, sophisticated, classic

White - peace, purity

Brown - nature, woodiness, neutral

References: sprucerd.com, c4bmedia.com

Justice Tarot card

The Justice card is about truth, self-honesty and self-examination. I chose to represent these concepts by going into Egyptian mythology and showing the feather of Ma'at. When a person passed on, their heart would be placed onto a golden scale and balanced against the feather of Ma'at (the feather of truth). If the heart was found to be equal or lighter than the feather, the person had lived a truthful life, and would pass on to paradise. If the person failed, their heart would be devoured by the demon Ammitt.

Personal Projects

Having personal projects on the go, in addition to your client work is very important for your development as an artist. If all you do is client work (work for someone other than yourself), you will probably get burnt out, and maybe even discouraged with your work. With personal projects you are your own client, and you can create work that you want to create, without having to change it for someone else.

The majority of what I have in my portfolio right now is personal projects, as I haven't gotten too many clients yet (working on it!). And that is okay. It shows self-discipline, and pursuing what you are interested in, it shows part of your personality. One ongoing project I have going on right now is my Tarot card project. This is a project that I started while in school, and have decided to keep working on it. I am interested in exploring the deeper meanings and symbolism behind the cards. They are also handy as self-promo pieces, and I have sent them out to art directors as well.

Another form of personal projects is to create work for the field you want to work in. For example, if you want to work in the book publishing industry, create book covers to put in your portfolio. If you want to work in editorial, pick out some magazine articles and illustrate them, create spot illustrations. When I graduated from school, I didn't have many spot illustrations in my portfolio, so one thing I did was create spot illustrations to flesh out my portfolio.

It's always good to have both client and personal projects on the go, so you can feed your wallet as well as your soul.

Erin is having an art show!

Just a quick update to let you all know I will be having an art show at The Wallflower in Vancouver during the month of October. The opening is Tuesday October 4th at 7pm. The Wallflower is located at 2420 Main Street (Broadway and Main). If you are in the Vancouver area, it would be great to see you there!

The World Tarot card

The World is the last card in the Major Arcana. It finishes the Fool's journey throughout the different stages of life. I have used the Fool imagery to connect The Fool and The World cards together. The brain and the heart symbolize knowledge and wisdom, which the Fool has achieved. The wreath bordering the card symbolizes victory. The Fool is clothed in orange, representing success.