Illustrating The Lovers
The Lovers card is one we love to get in a reading, and for good reason. Maybe we are in a loving relationship and we need to nurture it. Maybe we need to keep our hearts open for a new love to come into our lives. Either way, The Lovers card is usually very popular.
The meaning of The Lovers card is:
True love
Romance
Connection
Commitment
Speaking of commitment, I was committed to creating a card that depicted the feeling of true love and connection with another, without using traditional male/female gender binary or human bodies at all. I wanted my Lovers card to be more about love than lovers.
Examples from other tarot artists
First, here are some examples of The Lovers cards by various artists of tarot decks I own and use myself.
The Lovers 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 Emilia Ciurtin.
The Rainbow Connection
By now you may be wondering why there are so many rainbows in a tarot deck illustrated by a straight, cisgender female-identified artist. There are many reasons for this, but the primary one is this: I believe that love is love, and that everyone has the fundamental right to love, partner with, and marry whomever they want. Full stop. The rainbow Pride flag is a symbol of this, and I wanted that symbology to be present in my deck.
I also love rainbows. Growing up in the 1980’s, I had a Rainbow Brite doll and a Lite Brite (a pixel-like light-art box that I adored), My Little Ponies with rainbows on them and rainbows on all my Trapper Keepers and painted into my shoes with puff paint.
I guess I never really grew out of it. 🌈
One sketch, Two sketch
All of my tarot card sketches started with a meditation. Sometimes I would pull the card at night before bed, then allow my subconscious to work on it while I was sleeping. Often, a dream or image would come to me during the night, which I would sketch upon waking.
My first sketch for The Lovers card was one of these images. I dreamt of the simplest elements of love, two hearts coming together. Genderless, and encompassing all kinds of love, I liked this concept but it made for a dull illustration.
My second try was inspired by the concept that some birds mate for life. My partner is a birder and has seen a lot more tropical birds than I have, including brightly-colored parrots. I remembered seeing a photo of a rainbow-colored parrot in one of our bird guides. After a little searching, I found the Scarlet Macaw.
Sketch process from left to right: Reference photo of Scarlet Macaws, Adobe Stock; pencil sketch; final sketch in ink pen, colored pencil, and acrylic paint pens.
Here is my line drawing of the illustration based on my sketch:
Linework drawing
Aren’t they cute??
Made by hand with an Apple Pencil, iPad Pro, and Procreate.
One of my favorite ways to paint dark backgrounds is by dropping black ink into wet watercolor paper. Here is a time-lapse video of me using this technique on The Lovers card.
The final illustration
Below is my final illustration for The Lovers card.
The Lovers card illustration from my forthcoming Tarot of These Times deck, anticipated 2026.
© Registered copyright Molly Chidsey, all rights reserved.
Process notes
To protect the white eye areas, I used Winsor & Newton masking fluid. Then I painted the sky with Dr. Ph Martin Black Star Matte India Ink using a wet-in-wet technique.
The rest of the birds’ feathers detail I did with EcoLine paint brush pens, blending with a water brush as I went.
The stars are spattered on after the rest of the painting was dry (Dr. Ph Martin Bleedproof White paint).
Next up: The Chariot 🚘
The next card in the Major Arcana I am illustrating is The Chariot. OMG I love it so much.
What do you think of this card?
Leave me a comment below
I read every comment, and I love to hear from you!
Footnotes
Materials notes from this post
Blick Hot Press 100% cotton watercolor paper, EcoLine liquid watercolor paint and brush pens, Winsor & Newton masking fluid. Ph Martin ‘Black Star’ Matte Waterproof India ink for black night sky; Ph Martin Bleedproof White paint for the stars. I use an Epson Workforce Pro printer to print my drawings onto watercolor paper, using their water-resistant Durabrite ink.
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.
