Our latest interview is with Cari Corene and Amanda Coronado, the creators of the Loaf Tarot - a cute animal 78 card tarot deck. This project involved 76 artists from across the globe, with two artists having completed two cards each,.to present a cute animal tarot deck, and they are excited for you to have a look at the variety of adorable animals they have depicted
The tarot deck is the main feature of this Kickstarter, and it includes holographic foil on the edge of each card, on the back of each card, and on the box! The Kickstarter also showcases enamel pins to complement the deck.
Amanda is a freelance illustrator and comic artist who loves cute things! Cari answered the questions in the interview.
Kickstarter -Loaf Tarot
Where in the world do you call home?
Hello! C: We two project organizers, Amanda and Cari, live in Maryland, US! We moved here because it is definitely a state full of people who like to go to art events. Before we lived together in Maryland, Amanda lived near Austin TX, and Cari lived near Seattle WA. We met in college in Georgia and later moved in together in Maryland.
What was your first experience with tarot / oracle?
I think as a child I began liking horoscopes in particular because my mother thought they were of the devil (she is very religious.) I personally enjoy a horoscope, or a daily tarot card, as a thoughtful addition to my day. My mind enjoys having many things to chew on at a time. Maybe my first real tarot reading was by a friend who had three decks I could pick from for my reading, and each deck was different spirited. She introduced the feel of each deck, and I selected one that I hoped would give me a more positive read (as opposed to the Cthulu deck which I thought might purposefully predict disaster to any human.)
What would you say is unique about your deck?
This deck was conceived of during the 2020 covid lockdown times, which was additionally a time of personal tragedy because at the beginning of covid, Amanda fell over a fallen tree trunk and broke both of her arms. It was a complete disaster. The world was in a state of full collapse, it was difficult to even get doctor appointments for two broken arms, we couldn’t get family to travel to help us. Amanda could not really do anything, so I (Cari) was doing all the tasks which required hands (that is nearly every task, if you think about it.) Our friend Marielle, who drew the Judgement card in Loaf Tarot, was able to travel to help us for periods of time. But really, 2020 was the worst year I have ever lived, and I spent a lot of time thinking about what I would make if ever I could make anything again. What I wanted was to make something HAPPY, with my friends. Tarot is a brilliant prompt for a group art project! The complex meanings of each card are fantastic for the imagination. So, in early 2021 (shortly after Amanda had her final, third arm surgery) I began drafting the card and box art for Loaf Tarot. I’m sure there are other happy tarot decks, but this tarot deck might be born with a piece of my own soul embedded in it. “If ever I can do anything ever again, I will do it.” I hope this will be a happy deck that moves forward!
What cardstock and finish will be used?
350gsm cardstock Glossy UV coating on the cards Holographic silver foil on the card edges Holographic silver foil on the back of the cards The box shall be a thick cardboard with a magnetic flap cover (assuming we reach the stretch goal to unlock this type of box, which I am hopeful we will!)
How long has it taken you to create this deck?
I’ve personally been working on this project since January 2021! I wanted all the design work for the project to be somewhat complete before approaching my friends and other artists about doing this big collab thing. I’d never used InDesign before, so I had to learn to lay out the companion book and card front design. I’ve also never used After Effects before, and everything on the internet is a video now, so it’s kind of necessary for advertising the project.
Can you explain what a ‘loafly animal’ is?
A round cute animal! I believe the term comes from cats folding their little feets under their bodies, so that they become a no legs round bread loaf with a head.
What card are you most proud of and why?
Maybe the Ten of Swords, Death, The Hanged Man, and the Eight of Swords. We wanted to make this a happy deck of cards, and those cards get drawn pretty morbid sometimes. So, digging deeper into the meanings of the cards was necessary. Death became a migrating Canada Goose, the Ten of Swords became a cat left out in the rain, and the Eight of Swords became a zebra enjoying eating a bush that entrapped it, and The Hanged Man is a bat!
What impact would you like your deck to have on its readers?
The world has really gone through some dark times lately. I’m sure more dark times are ahead. I hope this deck might suss out a piece of happiness you have to look forward to in the midst of pending disasters. Or at the very least, the zebra will eventually eat her way out of the foliage she’s trapped in.
You have 76 artists involved in creating this deck. How hard was this to coordinate and manage?
It was kind of hard. Add to it all of us were/are covid depressed. There were originally 78 artists, but two had to drop. The difficulty with a group project like a tarot deck is that you have to have every card. You can’t drop a card like you could drop a page in an art book. So it just took extra time to fill in the cards that didn’t initially get finished, and wait on people who were running late.
What have been your challenges in creating this deck?
Definitely time! It all takes longer than you’d think … doing all the book layout work, doing all the Kickstarter layout work. We project organizers thought we were going to finish much sooner!
How will you celebrate when the deck is finally published?
The celebration I would most love is if a bunch of us artists could happen to be at a show together and we could all have the deck for sale at our tables! (Contributors to the deck shall be allowed to buy additional copies of the deck for their shops.) It’s a lot of fun to be in a group project and to have fun signing copies of the thing you helped make! A lot of us who know each other, we became friends vending at comic shows together. If I work fast enough to get the deck printed, maybe this kind of celebration could happen at Anime NYC! I consider this a celebration because for all of us artists who did shows as part of our living, covid really destroyed us. I chose not to make this a charity project because the charity is honestly just paying artists.
What is on offer for people who pledge?
We are offering three main items! They are the printed deck, the printed companion book, and a collection of enamel pins! So far on our Kickstarter, the printed companion book has been upgraded to also have a shiny foil cover! As I write this, we are nearing the nice magnetic box upgrade for the deck! We have also unlocked 14 of the 20 enamel pins. So, the Kickstarter is going pretty well! What I wish for is 1000 people to think the project is neat enough to back. It will take us a while to ship it all, but I would be really happy if that many people liked our project!
Thank you for the chance to talk to you about our deck! It’s very kind of you to run a website that’s willing to help bring attention to Kickstarter projects!
To brighten you day with the cuteness of a loaf animal, click here:
Kickstarter -Loaf Tarot