Illustrating The Hanged One
I have to admit I get a little bit, hung up on this card, pun intended. I just really dislike the name. It has connotations of torture and hatred, so I considered renaming this card entirely.
However, once I looked into the meaning of the card, I came up with another way to illustrate it that is more intuitive and loving.
Examples from other tarot artists
The Hanged Man card is traditionally depicted by a person hanging from their boots in a chill yoga-like pose. Here are some examples from decks I own and use myself:
The Hanged Man/One cards from my collection of tarot decks; see footnotes for artist credits.
Wait. Wait some more.
I have a small 7-pound Maltese dog named Milo. He is two years old. Since he was a teeny-tiny puppy, I have been saying “wait, please” to him roughly 947 times a day. As a puppy and now as a teenager dog, he is fast, impatient and impulsive. “Good boy, wait please” has accidentally become a command I have taught him.
When I meditated on this card, I realized it’s all about good things we have to wait for. This card points to times when we need to be patient and resist the urge to take action.
While we wait, we let go of control. Instead we allow metamorphosis to happen in it’s own time.
Ultimately, I settled on concept of a ripening apple. All there is to do is hang on the tree, facing the sun, and wait to turn from green to red.
My sketch of The Hanged One card
Other ideas I had for this card included: A clothes line (waiting for socks to dry); waiting for winter to melt into spring; or a cocoon with a metamorphosing caterpillar inside.
Colored pencils on paper.
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The final illustration
This card is for those times when there is no immediate course of action. Instead, we wait, allowing ourselves to ripen.
Below is my final illustration for The Hanged One. Hand-drawn linework in Procreate, printed on hot press watercolor paper, painted with EcoLine liquid watercolor, then scanned.
The Hanged One card illustration from my forthcoming Tarot of These Times deck, anticipated 2026.
Next up: Death 🐈⬛
The next card in the Major Arcana I am illustrating is Death. Gird your loins!
What do you think of this card?
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Footnotes
Materials notes from this post
Blick Hot Press 100% cotton watercolor paper; EcoLine liquid watercolor paint and brush pens; Winsor & Newton masking fluid. White spots on apple are Ph Martin Bleedproof White ink. I use an Epson Workforce Pro printer to print my drawings onto watercolor paper, using their water-resistant Durabrite ink.
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 Anna Krenk.
Learn about tarot
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 any of the content for this blog, my other blog Behind the Scenes, or this website.
