The Fool
Who is The Fool?
The first card in the major arcana, and of the deck itself, is The Fool.
I love The Fool. The Fool represents those moments when we are stepping out, the literal and figurative first step on a journey. And, as any traveler knows, all journeys have their challenges, pitfalls, and foiled plans.
The Fool doesn’t know any of that - they are just totally frieking going for it and are super excited.
Traditionally, The fool is represented by a young person and their dog, bounding out on the open road with nothing but a small knapsack.
Here are some examples of The Fool cards by various artists of tarot decks I own and use myself:
The Fool cards from my collection of tarot decks, 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 Samantha Caruthers-Knight.
My Fool moment
When I was little, my mom gave me a set of watercolor paints. She put me at a tiny table and placed a long paintbrush in my little hand. I was just shy of three years old. Here I am in a photo taken by my mom:
Me, age 3, with my first watercolor paint set.
At three years old, I was not thinking about painting anything perfectly. I was just exploring what happened when I dipped the brush into water and then into the wells of paint. I was The Fool, in the best possible way.
In the English language, the word “fool” has a negative connotation to it. We use the word to refer to someone who is acting unwise or silly. In the tarot, it’s more like the Beginner’s Mind in mindfulness meditation practices. Being willing to try something new, and be curious about it.
A seed emerges
To me, this bound-and-determined energy is best represented by a germinating seed.
Growing up in Ohio, the springtime was a muddy affair. When the melting snow receded, green things appeared in the soggy ground. Daffodil bulbs poking up, grasses shaking off their dormancy, and seedlings emerging.
With that in mind, here is my sketch of The Fool card:
A sketchy fool
The roots are painted in white-out pen!
Drawing The Fool
As I described in my last post, I re-draw each card to bring it from sketch to a print-worthy illustration. Here is part of the process; drawing the linework on my iPad with the Procreate app and an Apple Pencil.
This drawing is done by hand, though the video below doesn’t show that, it’s just a screen-recording of the marks I made while drawing over the sketch image.
The final illustration
My final painted illustration for The Fool card. I will have to add in my drawing of the roots as a layer on top of the painting when I digitize the illustration for print!
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