Illustrating Illusion: the Seven of Cups
The meaning of the Seven of Cups
This card represents an emotional space where we dwell in magical thinking, dreaming, or anticipation… but without taking action to make those dreams a reality.
As someone who has loads of experience dealing with anxiety, I can relate to the negative interpretation of this card. That said, I wanted to create a Seven of Cups illustration that shows the positive aspects of our shared dreams, rather than the ones we dread.
My concept is a chemistry lab, where the common dreams of success, love, and wealth are being created through colorful chemical reactions.
👇 Scroll to the end of this post to see my full card design!
Seven of Cups tarot card examples
This card traditionally includes imagery of cups floating in the clouds, as if in a dream state. Usually the cups contain icons representing what we imagine for our lives, both good and bad.
See footnotes for artist credits.
How I made this card
To illustrate my original concept for the seven of cups tarot card, I was intentional about creating layers that would allow me to include fine details. Since my sketch shows a chemistry lab with multiple glass beakers, flasks, and test tubes, I wanted my final illustration to be crisp and clear. This is not an easy task when using watercolor, a fluid and finicky medium.
To create this illustration, I painted two separate layers: one for the background and the lab table (image 2 below), and another painting for the colors of everything in the lab foreground (image 3 below). Lastly, I created my linework drawing by hand using Procreate and Apple Pencil, keeping the background transparent (image 4 below).
I scanned my watercolor paintings, then layered them under the digital drawing using Photoshop. I also cleaned up the edges of the watercolor layer using Photoshop. This step is tedious, but I find it meditative.
Note: I like how the texture of the watercolor paper I used really shows in the background. I left this detail in the final illustration because I like to show “tool marks” from art I made by hand.
The final illustration
What do you think? Leave me a comment below! I love to hear from you.
The Seven of Cups card illustration from my forthcoming Tarot of These Times deck, anticipated 2026.
© Registered copyright Molly Chidsey, all rights reserved.
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Footnotes
Materials and technique notes from this post
Blick Hot Press 100% cotton watercolor paper; EcoLine liquid watercolor paint and brush pens; Dr. Ph Martins black ink; Winsor & Newton masking fluid. I use an Epson Workforce Pro printer to print my drawings onto watercolor paper, using their water-resistant Durabrite ink.
Linework is drawn by hand with Apple Pencil on iPad Pro using Procreate app, and added as image layers on top of scanned painting using Photoshop.
Roman numerals, hand-drawn linework, and all calligraphy were drawn by hand using Procreate, Apple Pencil and iPad Pro.
Artists of other tarot cards featured in this post
Clockwise from top left: Rider-Waite Tarot, illustrated by Pamela Coleman Smith; Modern Witch Tarot Deck by Lisa Sterle; The Wild Unknown Tarot by Kim Krans; The Gentle Tarot by Mari in the Sky; Rainbow Heart Tarot by Rachel Rosenkoetter; and The Reclaimed Tarot, ReClaim it! PDX, collage by various local artists.
Learn about tarot
(1) Want to learn more about tarot? I highly recommend the book Modern Tarot: Connecting with Your Higher Self through the Wisdom of the Cards by Michelle Tea.
A note about Ai and this project
I do not use Ai (artificial intelligence) to write the content of this blog or to create illustrations. I also do not allow Ai training. See here for my copyright notice.
