also by the MotA team
  • Golden Dames Project
  • Red Nebula Studios
  • Lovefeast
Commission Keith W!
Mysteries of the Arcana updates on Monday and Thursday.

A Little Bit About J (Writer)
J Gray has been a camp instructor, a factory worker, a janitor, a bookseller, a waiter, a graphic designer, a printing press operator, a data entry specialist, and a community college instructor. He's also a lucky husband and the father of two beautiful children. Tarot has been a passion of his for years and he had a brief but memorable side career as a professional tarot reader. In addition to all that, he's also an avid reader and gamer. His favorite author is Tamora Pierce. His favorite video game series is the Mega-Ten line-up and when it comes to tabletop RPGs,he's a much better GM than he is a player. Mysteries of the Arcana is his second web-published comic.
A Little Bit About Keith (Artist: chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3 pgs 1-29, chapter 4)
Keith W. has done a little bit of everything, from dumpster cleaning to door-to-door sales. He spends a majority of his time now as a night manager at his local Pizza Hut. This is balanced by his time drawing and being in a rock band. A romanticist, he takes art where he can get it, in various forms, be it singing, playing a guitar, or sitting down with a pad and paper. At 29, he's been drawing seriously for about 14 years. No stranger to RPGs, both pen and paper as well as online, he has a particular pull that keeps him hovering around the sci-fi/fantasy genres. Mysteries of the Arcana will be his first published comic work. He was brought on board for the comic at the wrap up of summer 2008 and has been worked closely with J until chapter 3.

A Little Bit About Gennifer (Artist: chapter 3, pg 72 - end, chapter 4, pg 1 - pg 21)
Artist for comics and roleplaying games.

A Little Bit About Jessica (Artist: chapter 3, pg 58 - pg 71)
A design graduate, Jessica Cantlope deals in all things creative, with a somewhat masochistic desire to become good at everything she likes. (To be the best, like no one ever was...)

A Little Bit About Sarrah (Artist: chapter 3, pg 30 - pg 57)
Hi all - I'm Sarrah. I'm from Santa Fe, New Mexico, and currently live in Arizona with Robbie, and our large, boisterous cat, Gizmo.

While I love to draw, read, and listen to music, I also get far too much enjoyment out of databases and coding.

Hobbies: Drawing, reading, costuming, digital painting, coding, biology, chasing my tail

Favorite Critters: Coyotes, bats, jumping spiders, snakes, werewolves, dragons - and our cat.

Favorite Music: Lots - Hard rock, soft rock, folk, soundtracks, and anything Disney theme park related.

Favorite Astrophysicist: Neil deGrasse Tyson!

A Little Bit About Mysteries of the Arcana
Mysteries of the Arcana's genesis began back in the days of 2400 baud modems and dial-up bulletin board services as a roleplaying exercise. From that humble beginning it grew and meshed with J's interest in the tarot. At first, Arcana told the story of Chrystalline's father but, in time, the story became about Chrys and, finally, Chrys and Theresa.The making of a MotA page begins with a script, written by J and beta-read by a few dedicated volunteers. The script is then turned over to the artist. The artist and J hash out any changes that need to be made from an artistic standpoint. The artist takes those notes and draws, penciling and inking by hand. Color and lettering all gets done in Adobe Photoshop. The artist shows J the page in progress at various points in the process and, often, small changes are made. Finally, when all is finished, J posts so that eventually fans of Mysteries of the Arcana can enjoy. Curious about the artistic process? Check out the videos below to get an idea of how it works.