The oracle came from Hada, who has long used decks like this in her workshops as a way of unblocking creativity. The idea we started from was a window into each writer's interior, and that image ended up shaping the whole system.
There are 44 cards. Twenty-two carry an illustration and a line of text; twenty-two carry only a title and a short passage. Within the illustrated half, the cards split again: some hold a window drawn inside the image itself, while the others use a torn edge, as if a piece of the illustration had been ripped away to reveal the phrase underneath. Two ways of looking through.
The illustration style leans surreal, writing elements half-hidden inside an invented nature, closer to suggestion than to statement. The aim was for each card to leave enough room for the reader to put something of her own into it.
Process & Techniques
Hada wrote the creative material for the cards and the booklet. I read through all of it, pulled the ideas out, and worked them into a visual language.
I used Envato AI as the engine for the illustrations, because with 44 pieces to make the ability to iterate quickly was the difference between a coherent deck and a compromised one. But generation was only the first pass. I built a bank of images, went back over them with a second round, and then finished every one by hand in Photoshop: liquify, blurs, graphic elements and painted areas. That last stage is what pulled the style away from the tool and into something of my own, which is also what made consistency across 44 cards possible.
The booklet and packaging followed. I asked the printer up front how the files needed to be prepared and worked to those specifications — editorial isn't my home ground, and asking early is cheaper than fixing late. Hada chose the box format and materials.
Alongside the deck I made a promotional video for Retiro de Escritoras, with animation and 3D renders of the cards.
The deck is out, it sells, and Hada uses it in her classes, retreats and residencies. Women use it to get unstuck, which was the whole point.
Credits
Art Direction, Illustration, Editorial & Packaging Design: Alberto Martín Paz @am.paz_
Concept & Texts: Hadassa Fernández — Retiro de Escritoras [@]
