This eight layer digitally hand drawn screen print was inspired by classic tarot cards.

Originally playing cards in 15th-century Europe, tarot evolved into a divination tool by the late 18th century, and are now strongly tied to mysticism. I own a few decks myself and enjoy reading my friends’ fortunes—while I don’t take it too seriously, I’ve occasionally drawn eerily accurate readings.

For imagery, I wanted to incorporate the chimera, a mythological beast and the California College of the Art’s (CCA)  mascot. According to the CCA website: “The Notre Dame chimeras are metaphysical guardian-demons, beautiful and grotesque. CCA students were inspired by the dual-nature of these creatures and for decades created various interpretations of the chimera as totem, as informal mascot, as character study, and so on.”

The chimera derives from Greek mythology and was a monstrous fire-breathing hybrid creature, composed of different animal parts from Lycia, Asia Minor. It is usually depicted as a lion, with the head of a goat protruding from its back, and a tail that might end with a snake's head. It was an offspring of Typhon and Echidna and a sibling of monsters like Cerberus the hound of the underworld and the many-headed Hydra.

Today, the term "chimera" has come to describe any mythical or fictional creature with parts taken from various animals and/or to describe anything composed of disparate parts or perceived as wildly imaginative, implausible, or dazzling. I thought this description well represents the diversity of the student body at CCA and our attitudes toward creating the imaginative.

I drew my film positives digitally on Procreate before refining them in Photoshop. While this streamlined the process compared to hand-drawing, it introduced minor errors—I later had to burn an emergency screen to fix blank spots. The intricate design also made registration tricky, but despite the challenges, I’m thrilled with the final piece. The bright colors and colored paper enhance its visual impact, making it both a striking print and a symbolic gift to my CCA peers.