A New Mexican Tarot For The Modern Age: John Picacio’s Loteria

I have it on good authority that I don’t need to tell you who John Picacio is. Oh, hello, sci-fi and fantasy artist with a metric fuckload of awards and nominations? He’s put together a helluva Kickstarter that’s got a week left, and I’m honored to have him here talking about his take on the Mexican card game, Loteria. Here he is to talk about it a little and, OOOH PRETTY, demonstrate some of the magnum-sized art-tacular bad-assery he’s bringing to the table this time around:

How many of you out there have heard of the Mexican game of chance called Loteria? Even better — how many of you have played it?

If you know how Bingo is played, then you know how to play Loteria. If you’ve eaten in a Mexican restaurant, then chances are you may have glimpsed Loteria images.

The original game looks like this:

I played it as a kid with my mother and grandma. I loved the icons on those cards. They’re a constellation of the everyday mixed with the otherworldly — a quintessentially Mexican combination.

What would happen if these cards weren’t just cartoonish icons? What would happen if I re-engineered those fifty-four cards with new artwork by me and fashioned them as a deck of Mexican Tarot? Here’s a peek:

Here’s the ‘La Sirena’ card from the traditional Loteria game:

Here’s my ‘La Sirena’ card from my new Loteria:

Here’s the ‘El Pescado’ card from the traditional Loteria game:

Here’s my ‘El Pescado’ card from my new Loteria:

Here’s the ‘El Arpa’ card from the traditional Loteria game:

Here’s my ‘El Arpa’ card from my new Loteria:

Here’s the ‘La Rosa’ card from the traditional Loteria game:

Here’s my ‘La Rosa’ card from my new Loteria:

Getting the idea?

I’ll finish the first dozen artworks before the end of 2013, in time to be featured as my 2014 John Picacio Calendar. I want to finish the entire set of fifty-four artworks by the end of 2014. It will be like climbing Mount Everest, but I’m committed to making this new modern Mexican Tarot into a reality.

It’s going to be an amazing art ride, and I invite you to be a part of it.