Look at the back of a tarot card and design your own pattern

Start with the side we tend to overlook

Before you turn a card over, look at its back. Is there a border, a central design, or a line that repeats? That surface can become the subject of a small drawing project. Set the figures and card names aside for a moment and look at how the pattern fills a rectangle.

The Penn Museum offers a documented example. The record for tarot deck number 9005 describes a set of 78 cardboard cards with a burgundy-and-white pattern on the back that resembles weaving. The description applies to the deck in the museum’s collection. Other decks with similar figures or names may have very different backs.

Find a repeated element and follow its direction

Here is a Voyancea exercise you can try with your deck or a photo. Pick one element, such as a dot, a curve, or a small leaf. Follow its repetitions. Is each one aligned with the next, offset, or larger? Describe the arrangement in ordinary words. You are observing how the pattern was made.

Turn the card 180 degrees. Does the pattern still look the same, or does it have a clear top and bottom? Record what you see on this card. Compare the center and edges. A pattern may repeat evenly across the middle and then stop abruptly at the border.

Draw two versions on paper

Draw two rectangles on a separate sheet without altering your cards. In the first rectangle, repeat one simple shape across three rows. In the second, keep the shape and change one rule, such as its spacing, orientation, or size. Two colors are plenty. The exercise is about creating a visible difference.

In a fictional example, someone draws nine evenly spaced diamonds. In their second drawing, they bring the central diamonds closer together and leave more white space around them. The same shape produces two visual rhythms. One might feel right for a notebook, the other for a card to give away.

Name your composition

Choose a descriptive title, such as “Close diamonds” or “Diagonal curves.” Write down the rule you changed between the two versions. You now have a simple drawing recipe you can reuse with another shape, inspired by the side of the card that carries no figure.