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Description
Tarot card: The Star
Anime: Naruto
Character: Naruto

"I'm gonna be Hokage someday!"

At first glance Naruto doesn't look like much. He's a screw-up kid with no parents, no prospects, and nobody pays him much attention. But he has a big dream, a lot of heart, and just about limitless amounts of energy that he is willing to put into achieving his goals. It won't be easy, and he knows that. There are many spots where it may seem like he is standing all alone. But it doesn't matter, because he has a will of fire to push him through the tough spots, and in the end he isn't alone at all. Through the connections he makes to his fellow villagers in Konoha, and even to other people in other ninja villages, Naruto receives the support he needs to someday achieve his dream of being acknowledged by everyone as a valuable part of their community.

Here he stands on the roof of a shrine, with the village of Konoha at his feet, meditating (well...as meditative as Naruto really gets) on his dream in the form of the monument to the Hokages. Right now that dream seems as distant as the stars in the sky...and yet, those same stars are echoed in the village below, which is quite near. In the distance, dimly, can be seen still another mountain beyond the monument of the Hokages, showing that even after one goal is achieved there is always another on the horizon, should we choose to accept it.

******************

Meanings at a glance: Hope, faith, willingness to work towards a goal. Hidden support. Meditation on a problem may bring answers.

***********

Artist's notes: Ok, you're probably going to laugh at me. This card's been a long time in coming, for one very simple reason. Trying to draw the village of Konoha and its environment intimidated me. Even with reference, I was having a lot of trouble gathering the wherewithal to tackle this card. I wasn't sure how to handle the colours. I wasn't sure how to handle the perspective and the details of a village full of buildings. I wasn't sure how to integrate the lines, how to do the rocky cliff face. Lots of 'I don't know how to do this's'. In the end, being able to do the card sort of reflected the card itself. It was a long, slow process of testing this, that and the other. Figuring out what I wanted a Photoshop brush to do, and then how to make a brush that did that. Figuring out the best ways to apply that brush. How to apply textures in the way I wanted, how to do lines, how to make cutouts and do all the little process things that you don't see in the final picture, but which make a great deal of difference in the end result and how quickly you can get there. It was a great, long learning process.

But there was indeed support from various places. Books such as "The DC Comics Guide to Digitally Drawing Comics" told me about cutouts, and some examples provided by Vigilance Press for work I did for them showed me exactly how cutouts work in conjunction with dpi, scanned physical art, that sort of thing. Looking at examples of art by J.C. Leyendecker and Phobs helped me refine my technique. Various Youtube instruction videos, and tutorials by other artists on DeviantArt helped me understand different things that I needed to sort out. By no means did this happen quickly...but one day things just finally clicked, all the various little things I'd learned, and it all came together. I think "The Star" is a lot like that. You have a goal, you just aren't sure how to get from Here to There. So you work really hard, keeping your goal in mind, and you tell yourself it's ok to fail sometimes. (I failed a lot before I figured some of this stuff out.)But the important thing is to just keep going, building bridges when you need to. And then one day you look up, and bam! You've made it from Here to There, and There is your new Here. But of course, there's always another There to go to when you're ready. The road leads ever on...

This card, if you haven't already figured it out, is based on early Naruto. I think every person who loves anime has one show that really speaks to them on some level. I've seen it happen with Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, and others. For me that show was (early) Naruto. I feel a lot like Naruto sometimes - big goals, lots of motivation to get there...not so much know-how and skill as I probably need. Some people may find it odd to take inspiration from a cartoon character, but you know what? If someone like Kishimoto-sensei is able to write a character like that, it tells me I'm not the only real person who feels that way. It gives me hope...which, in the end, is really the essence of this card.

Description
Tarot card: The Star
Anime: Naruto
Character: Naruto

"I'm gonna be Hokage someday!"

At first glance Naruto doesn't look like much. He's a screw-up kid with no parents, no prospects, and nobody pays him much attention. But he has a big dream, a lot of heart, and just about limitless amounts of energy that he is willing to put into achieving his goals. It won't be easy, and he knows that. There are many spots where it may seem like he is standing all alone. But it doesn't matter, because he has a will of fire to push him through the tough spots, and in the end he isn't alone at all. Through the connections he makes to his fellow villagers in Konoha, and even to other people in other ninja villages, Naruto receives the support he needs to someday achieve his dream of being acknowledged by everyone as a valuable part of their community.

Here he stands on the roof of a shrine, with the village of Konoha at his feet, meditating (well...as meditative as Naruto really gets) on his dream in the form of the monument to the Hokages. Right now that dream seems as distant as the stars in the sky...and yet, those same stars are echoed in the village below, which is quite near. In the distance, dimly, can be seen still another mountain beyond the monument of the Hokages, showing that even after one goal is achieved there is always another on the horizon, should we choose to accept it.

******************

Meanings at a glance: Hope, faith, willingness to work towards a goal. Hidden support. Meditation on a problem may bring answers.

***********

Artist's notes: Ok, you're probably going to laugh at me. This card's been a long time in coming, for one very simple reason. Trying to draw the village of Konoha and its environment intimidated me. Even with reference, I was having a lot of trouble gathering the wherewithal to tackle this card. I wasn't sure how to handle the colours. I wasn't sure how to handle the perspective and the details of a village full of buildings. I wasn't sure how to integrate the lines, how to do the rocky cliff face. Lots of 'I don't know how to do this's'. In the end, being able to do the card sort of reflected the card itself. It was a long, slow process of testing this, that and the other. Figuring out what I wanted a Photoshop brush to do, and then how to make a brush that did that. Figuring out the best ways to apply that brush. How to apply textures in the way I wanted, how to do lines, how to make cutouts and do all the little process things that you don't see in the final picture, but which make a great deal of difference in the end result and how quickly you can get there. It was a great, long learning process.

But there was indeed support from various places. Books such as "The DC Comics Guide to Digitally Drawing Comics" told me about cutouts, and some examples provided by Vigilance Press for work I did for them showed me exactly how cutouts work in conjunction with dpi, scanned physical art, that sort of thing. Looking at examples of art by J.C. Leyendecker and Phobs helped me refine my technique. Various Youtube instruction videos, and tutorials by other artists on DeviantArt helped me understand different things that I needed to sort out. By no means did this happen quickly...but one day things just finally clicked, all the various little things I'd learned, and it all came together. I think "The Star" is a lot like that. You have a goal, you just aren't sure how to get from Here to There. So you work really hard, keeping your goal in mind, and you tell yourself it's ok to fail sometimes. (I failed a lot before I figured some of this stuff out.)But the important thing is to just keep going, building bridges when you need to. And then one day you look up, and bam! You've made it from Here to There, and There is your new Here. But of course, there's always another There to go to when you're ready. The road leads ever on...

This card, if you haven't already figured it out, is based on early Naruto. I think every person who loves anime has one show that really speaks to them on some level. I've seen it happen with Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, and others. For me that show was (early) Naruto. I feel a lot like Naruto sometimes - big goals, lots of motivation to get there...not so much know-how and skill as I probably need. Some people may find it odd to take inspiration from a cartoon character, but you know what? If someone like Kishimoto-sensei is able to write a character like that, it tells me I'm not the only real person who feels that way. It gives me hope...which, in the end, is really the essence of this card.