Science Tarot Deck - coming soon!

For the last year or so I've been participating in a really exciting project dreamed up by some friends of mine - a tarot deck, re-interpreted through the lens of SCIENCE. The creators re-envisioned the traditional tarot according to various scientific themes, which they mapped to the different suits - wands, pentacles, swords, and cups. Each tarot card within a suit is matched with a scientific concept that best reflects the card's traditional meaning, as well as expressing additional elements from the world of science. One of my favorite examples is the six of cups, a card that in the science tarot represents the evolution of marine mammals (like whales and seals) from prehistoric terrestrial mammals. The fact that these mammals apparently "returned" to the sea, the original source of all animal life, nicely references the traditional tarot meaning for this card - the six of cups can refer to revisiting and reminiscing about the past, reuniting with old loved ones, and thus being better able to embrace new experiences.
If that isn't cool enough, each suits' "face cards" (page, knight, queen, and king) represent different scientists whose ideas or research apply to the concept of the suit in some way. The face cards include some names you may recognize (Darwin, Carl Sagan, John Muir) as well as introducing some lesser-known contributors in the field of science like Otto Loewi, Robert Hooke, and Maria Sybella Marian. I was offered the opportunity to illustrate the "cups" suit, which ends up representing a lot of biology-related concepts (and includes a lot of wildlife illustration) so of course I was delighted to take this project on! Here are some examples of my completed card illustrations:

4 of cups - Dormancy (featuring a lungfish!)	5 of cups - Wildfire
9 of cups - Emergence	Queen of cups - John Muir

After more than a year of hard work by all of the artists involved, (and much longer for the project's original creators/masterminds) this completed tarot deck will be hot off the presses and ready to sell in just a few weeks! The deck will be for sale on the Science Tarot website as well as at our upcoming launch party and art show, a one night event on Thursday, September 23rd at the California Academy of Sciences. I will post more information about this event soon - I'll be back in California just in time to appear there, and show some of my original Science Tarot card illustrations.

I have loved watching this huge project come together, a seemingly overwhelming amount of work that came together so nicely as all of these talented people collaborated. The whole really is greater than the sum of its parts!

For more information, images, and news, please visit the Science Tarot website.

Finally! Back to posting webcomics on the dreaming sea

I am so sorry about the lapse, but sometimes life gets in the way. However, I've got LOTS of new comics in the works, because a bunch of these experiences are great comics fodder, so many more to come! Enjoy!

Loving Nature Can Cause Conflicts in the Heart

Back from Comic Con and back to work!

I have finally resurfaced after a more than 6 week hiatus from my regular routine, and I'm glad to be back! Between finishing a new comic, preparing merchandise for the San Diego Comic Con, and traveling to California for two weeks, I've been crazy busy and unable to update my blog or my webcomics. I hate that! But I'm jumping back in, and to start, I've put a bunch of new stuff up for sale at my Etsy store.

I've just finished a new comic/travel memoir/sketchbook based on my recent trip to Vietnam, called Vietnam, 2010. It features text and drawings from my Vietnam travel journal, a 6-page comic based on some of our experiences, and lots of other illustrations and stories. It is in a similar format to last year's travel memoir, A Visit to Laos.

Here's the cover:

An excerpt from the book: Motorbike Bingo!

You can see more images of the contents and buy it at my Etsy store.

A visit to Laos is also available, as well as most of my other comics: check 'em out!

I have also recently added a number of prints for sale online that I usually sell at comic conventions, a collection of 5"x7" hand-colored drawings, most featuring birds :)

That's it for now, but I plan to post more frequently about what I'm working on now that I'm back in the studio. Aloha!

sketches from the Hilo Zoo

Hilo has a beautiful little zoo (free admission!) just uphill from downtown, and last week I made the short trek up there to sketch some of the residents. I mainly focused on birds, it seems! They are just so interactive and compelling they draw me in every time.

some new comics at the dreaming sea

For your amusement and delight!

The deep thoughts of turtles

some recent animal encounters

en plein air

I've known for a while that there is a local plein air painter's group, but it seems like something always comes up that prevents me from participating. I finally made it to one of their weekly meet-ups last Thursday, and spent a few hours at a lovely Hilo beach park painting the environs from life.

4 Mile Beach View, Keaukaha, Hilo, Hawai'i

It's been a long time since I've made a lengthy, focused effort to do a watercolor landscape from life. I find it very challenging (and maybe not as enjoyable as drawing animals and people) but it is GREAT practice. I was reminded that this kind of work requires great patience, something I could definitely work on ;)
The East Hawai'i plein air painters group meets weekly at various interesting places on 'our side' of the island, and now that I've finally made it to one, I definitely planning on going more often.

Freaky Deep Sea Things!

To delight and terrify you... at the dreaming sea.

Here are the earlier posts in this series:

Number One

Number Two

Finally, Tammy Stellanova comics and books available to buy online!

Yes, at long last, I have made purchasing my comics and other publications easy to do thanks to the wonder of the INTERNET! You can now go to my etsy store and procure your own copy of such fabulous titles as Birds in the City, Breeding Season, and A Visit to Laos. I will sign them for you at your request!

Hawaiian monk seals at the dreaming sea

Back from my travels means back to web comics; this one features a favorite endangered species of mine, the Hawaiian monk seal. Their population is dwindling and there's only about 1100 animals left - they desperately need all the help they can get!

Postcard from Vietnam

I am back in Hawai'i after an amazing trip to Vietnam. Here's an excerpt from my travel journal. The boats in Hoi An all have eyes!