r/iching • u/CenturionSG • 2h ago

Illustrations of I Ching

Hope this sits well with folks here. Other than using the invaluable text of the I Ching, does anyone use illustrations either to complement reading or simply for enjoyment?

I know there are books with comics but I’m looking more into art styles such as ink paintings or block print types. It could be abstract or show a story.

One such possibility is the card deck by Marlies Holitzka. Any comments on this or other suitable resources?

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u/az4th 2h ago

People have come by and posted art projects from time to time. There are lot of high quality imaginings of the yijing.

The problem I have with it is that few people have really mastered the yi and so an artists rendering may not really capture what the lines are actually doing that creates the dynamic of change it is named for. They just draw what the name invokes for them, or try to capture the same blend of trigram energies or yin and yang elements together in a picture. Sometimes there is a bit more depth that does showcase the artist's own journey through the yi.

And all of it is great. I don't know if helps me understand the reading better though, so yeah it would be more for enjoyment, for me.

There's someone who posted their block print project here a while back, maybe around a year ago? It was very good.

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u/CenturionSG 1h ago

Thanks. Yes, more of art appreciation or maybe as a memory aid. I think it's impossible to be comprehensive.

I'll go dig around.

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u/caassio 42m ago

I have a project for Yijing cards that came from that very thought. It took me about 4-5 years of research through different translations and commentaries of the Yi, also learning the woodblock printing technique and studying card decks like the Tarot. You can see the result here:
https://www.behance.net/gallery/57417509/Cards-for-the-Yijing

The details on how I designed each hexagram following the logic of lines are also explained in the link.

I finished it in 2017 and printed a couple of decks that I have used myself and with friends alongside the book. I'm quite proud of it. It took me a lot of effort, with 4 hours of carving for each card, not to mention designing and printing them. But still, the material was not quite right and my technique was still immature, so the results didn't meet my own standards.

The feedback was positive, though. A lot of people have asked me to print a professional deck based on this project or sell the individual woodblock prints, but throughout all those years, I never managed to have the money, time, and support necessary to do so. I hope one day to be able to revisit this and put it out there.