Pestmeester | The Magician

If there's something I always wanted to do but never got to is my own version of the Tarot. This isn't it, but it's close!
GAEREA, a great band from Portugal reached out to me to develop a poster for a show they would perform. The idea was to make something that would be possible to have a continuation with future posters for their future presentations.

Then we came to the idea of working a dark version of the Major Arcanas, starting with The Magician.

The Magician was a good card to start with because of its connection with manifestation and duality. On the original card this is represented by the elements on his table and the white cloak and red mantle. But since we're doing a dark version I decided to translate in another way and remove the purity aspect.

The red mantle and the rose thorns are a depiction of worldly experience and knowledge, while the decision to work with animal skulls instead of human faces was to remove the humanity aspects of the beings and make it feel ancient, showing that the power comes from nature, but it was killed by humanity and religion.
The staff upright channels the power from the cosmos and transfers it back to the physical plane, while the snake on his waist represents eternity.

This was a fun piece to work, and I already have the second piece on the series ready to be revealed when I'm given the green light.

Inks

Final Piece

Thanks for looking!