Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1541699
WINTER 2025 13 F R A M E X F R A M E to gauge interest in a fu ec. t the CTN Animation Expo, the booklet so out. Next came a Kickstarter campaign tat as soon fuy fune. It included the complete deck and a companion book that he wrote with te e of is sister. easuae so te ec at conentions an soon ran out. Not aing te funs 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 an stye. 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 monts. It is fie it storyteing from around the world, with cards tat reference eeryting from esos faes to ersian foore. is faorite car from tis ec is Judgement, with an illustration depicting Dante bathing in the rier of forgetfuness. e says tat Dante's Divine Comedy was taught by one of his teachers in high school o insire is oe of iosoy an metaysics. DePasquale explains that his process for creating the decks was more methodical than his usual way of oring. e a to stic to eac deck's specific style or else it would ose coesion. ut e enoye te limitations and notes that it's similar to working in animation, where youre gien a sos stye aong it a ist of assets you ae to create. e fins tere is an oera between his animation work and his personal projects with the design of sos infuencing is stye an ice ersa. aing is on roects, e says, is one of the most important things in his career—it keeps his artistic comass cairate. 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 te ay. e eautifu ting aout tarot is it's a storytelling tool," he says. egaress of eter youre using it for aice, or youre trying to see an outcome, or you're just doing it for fun, the tarot is a story—it's your on story. As for the cards he pulls, they often sea to ere e is at tat moment. One card he recently pulled was no excetion te ie of ans. Its a aout caenge, constructie isagreement, eeing a ee ea, e says. is tracs it ere e is toay as e naigates fining is next o. ie e oesnt no exactly what's in the cards, he is sure of one ting. s an ance 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 im is aays yes. earn more aout easuaes animation work and tarot cards at davidadepasquale.com. —Karen Briner OPPOSITE PAGE: Cards from The Storyteller's Tarot include DePasquale's favorite: Judgement (RIGHT); THIS PAGE: The original devil drawing (BOT TOM) that led to the Arcanis Animal Tarot deck.