Modern Russian Tarot Artists: 5 Creators and Their Decks

Modern Russian tarot artists bring a wide range of ideas to familiar cards. Their work includes Slavic fairy tales, dark graphic art, botanical imagery, and theatrical scenes. The differences are worth exploring, whether you collect decks or want to find artwork that suits your reading style.

Names to know include Mila Losenko, Victoria Iva, Alexander Daniloff, Vera Petruk, and Kristina Sindalovskaya. This guide includes artists working in Russia and creators with strong links to its art scene. Their backgrounds differ, and some careers cross national borders.

Modern Russian Tarot Artists at a Glance

Mila Losenko: Watercolor and Slavic Folklore

Mila Losenko’s best starting point is Tarot of the Golden Wheel. U.S. Games Systems describes the deck as inspired by Russian fairy tales and Slavic folk culture. It contains 78 cards and comes with an 84-page guidebook.

The publisher identifies watercolor as Losenko’s preferred medium. Her work also draws on Art Nouveau, including its interest in plant forms and decorative patterns. These influences give the deck a clear visual identity.

Her guidebook biography names Ivan Bilibin and Lev Bakst among her artistic influences. For an art study, compare the decorative details with the main action in each scene. Consider what the setting adds to your understanding of the card.

The accompanying guide explains that the deck follows the Rider-Waite system through a Slavic cultural lens. That makes it an interesting study for readers who want to compare familiar tarot ideas with a different setting.

Look closely at how clothing, plants, and surrounding details shape each scene. You can compare those observations with Tarotline’s tarot card meanings guide, then consult Losenko’s own guidebook for her specific interpretation.

Victoria Iva: Dark Images and Graphic Contrast

Victoria Iva is the illustrator behind The Black Tarot. Da Brigh also credits her with The African Tarot and The Guiding Light Tarot on its artist information page.

The Black Tarot offers a clear example of her darker work. Its publisher describes a palette of black, gray, and white, with eerie imagery intended for reflective readings. The deck contains 78 cards.

Da Brigh describes Iva’s approach as “Magical Realism.” Here, the emphasis is on the viewer’s emotional response to the image.

Void Project’s description of the artwork explains that the sketches were drawn by hand, scanned, and finished in a graphics editor. This is a useful reminder that hand drawing and digital production can belong to the same creative process.

When exploring Iva’s cards, pay attention to shape, light, and empty space. Notice the response an image creates before checking its assigned meaning. A strong emotional response can be part of studying the artwork, without treating that response as a prediction.

Alexander Daniloff: Tarot as a Theatrical World

Link:https://www.daniloff-art.it/Tarocchi%20gallery/Tarot%20by%20Alexander%20Daniloff%202012.htm

Alexander Daniloff brings an international background to tarot art. His artist biography records that he was born in Soviet Ukraine in 1963, trained at the Theatre School of Nizhny Novgorod in Russia, and has lived and worked in Italy since 2000.

His painting and illustration bring together theatrical staging, symbolism, and imagined worlds. Figures and objects become parts of a carefully arranged scene, giving readers plenty to examine beyond a single keyword.

His official tarot catalogue lists Tarot by Alexander Daniloff 2012, Orient Tarot, and Tarot by Alexander Daniloff 2010, among other works. The 2010 deck is identified as a Major Arcana edition. His catalogue also separates tarot from Lenormand and other oracle projects.

The catalogue dates the first edition of Orient Tarot to 2022 and lists Mysteries Tarot, another Major Arcana project, in 2025.

That distinction matters when choosing a deck. An artist may offer several systems with similar visual features. Check the exact title and contents so the edition matches the kind of reading or collecting you have in mind.

Vera Petruk: Occult Motifs and Botanical Worlds

link:https://vieuxmonde.org/the-magic-gate-tarot-by-vera-petruk-oversized-cards-3x5-inches-gilded-edges-properly-licensed-to-support-the-artist-with-guidebook/

Vera Petruk also publishes work under the name Samiramay. Her artist-run shop on MakePlayingCards lists Samiramay Tarot and describes her interest in vintage, esoteric, and occult imagery.

Other works include Magic Gate Tarot and In the Valley of Flowers Tarot. These projects show different sides of her work, from mystical symbols to a more botanical setting.

Magic-Kniga’s introduction to Magic Gate Tarot identifies it as a hand-painted watercolor deck. Its imagery brings together astrological, alchemical, and other esoteric themes. The publisher’s Valley of Flowers listing presents a 78-card deck built around flowers and includes separate Russian and English booklets.

With Petruk’s work, it helps to identify the exact deck before interpreting a card. A floral image and an occult scene may suggest different questions, even when both connect to familiar tarot themes. Read the creator’s explanation alongside your own visual observations.

Kristina Sindalovskaya: From Paintings to Tarot Cards

Link:http://krissindalovesky.com/gallery_taro.html

Kristina Sindalovskaya is a Saint Petersburg artist and designer associated with Tarot of the Magic Portals. Her work approaches tarot through painting and a personal system of symbols.

The Maryino estate’s exhibition notice describes her tarot painting project as beginning in 2012. The Tarot Museum Belgium collection catalogue records an artist’s edition of Tarot of the Magic Portals from 2021.

The published Major Arcana project offers a different experience from studying a complete 78-card deck. It places the focus on the larger archetypal figures and themes, rather than the numbered cards and courts of the Minor Arcana.

For readers interested in tarot as visual art, her work invites close attention to the original paintings. Look at the image’s scale, composition, and repeated symbols. Those features can become less obvious when a large painting is reproduced as a small card.

Explore the Artwork Through a Simple Card Study

Before choosing an artist’s deck, compare several cards from the same edition. Include at least one Major Arcana card, a numbered Minor Arcana card, and a court card when the deck contains them. This gives you a broader view than judging the entire project by its box or cover image.

Check the guidebook language and the deck’s structure. Some editions contain only the Major Arcana, while others provide a complete reading system. Also distinguish the illustrator’s contribution from the author’s text and the publisher’s production choices.

You can practice visual observation with Tarotline’s online card-drawing tool, then apply the same method to an artist’s deck. For a regular exercise, use a daily tarot card practice and record three things: the detail you noticed first, the mood it created, and the meaning you considered.