homesick?click upon a star
RJ Ruano
Hex Deck
2025
Project Overview
I created an independent parody tarot deck inspired by the Hex Maniac trainer class in Pokemon. The theme emphasizes fairy-, psychic-, ghost- and dark-type Pokemon.
Scope
Create a 78-card tarot deck featuring all Major and Minor Arcana. Draw, print, cut and assemble at least 100 decks by hand. The goal is to fully immerse myself in every aspect of card-making without the use of a print manufacturing factory.
Project Identity
I began this project as a spooky fan made reinterpretation of Pokemon’s art style. This deck’s visual identity leans into vintage Halloween with a limited color palette and stippled shading. To maintain the deck's symbolism and card interpretations, I matched each card’s meaning to Pokemon with matching game data.
My Role
I was the sole creator and enjoyed the following roles: drawing all artwork, designing packaging, formatting cards, printing and creating physical decks.
Process
The artwork was drawn over the course of several weeks using Adobe Photoshop.
To prepare for this project, I first hand-printed, hand-cut and hand assembled a previous Pokemon deck I’d made. Moving forward with the Hex Deck, I streamlined the process by using a Cricut cutting machine. After illustrations were finalized, physically assembling 100 Hex Decks took a total of 200 hours within the course of three consecutive weeks in my humble basement.
Social Engagement
Starting in October I launched a 78-part video series on TikTok and Instagram–one video for each card. Audience members are given a hint for the next card’s Pokemon and encouraged to guess in the comments. The winning comment is then replied to for the following video.