Will Worthington | The Camelot Oracle

“I’m given a short brief explaining what John’s idea of the character is.

“As both of us have been very imersed in the Arthuriad for most of our lives we seemed to have the same vision as to the appearance of each character.

‘There were some characters that I hadn’t heard of so I just did my interpretation from John’s brief.”

I know that some of these faces in the Camelot Oracle are portraits – are you willing to divulge which portraits belong to whom?!

“The first one was Gawain…we had a photo of [Will’s wife] Wendy’s son Paul looking grumpy and it struck me that he would be perfect.  Once I’d done that I felt that I should do my own son Nolan as well, so he turned out to be Gareth. As they worked well I then did Wendy’s daughter Jenny as Igraine.”

What about the other faces – do you just make them up or do you have source material that you refer to?

“As with all my previous decks I just make up the faces, just drawing and drawing until I get something that I feel connects.”

Which portrait in this deck are you most pleased with?

“That’s a toughie!…discounting the three portraits of our children, I’m particularly fond of Merlin….I’ve not seen any representation of him in any medium that I feel is right to the archetype so that’s my version.

“I’m also quite happy with Elaine, but I have to say I was disapointed it wasn’t the other Elaine…the lily maid of Astolat…who died of love for Lancelot and whose body was barged down to Camelot and was painted numerous times by many victorian artists. The publishers felt it unwise to have a dead character in the deck! However I put in the barge in the background as a hint.”

Which overall image are you most pleased with?

“I guess it must be Arthur…John reckons it’s the best picture of him ever, and coming from him that’s one hell of a compliment.”

[Dear Reader, you’ll be able to see Arthur on Friday’s post with John Matthews! – Ali]

How long did it take you to complete all the paintings?

“I was given six months to the deadline by the publisher which was tight, but I managed to finish before time.”

Will there be prints available at some stage?

“Hopefully…if enough people buy Wildwood ones* then I can afford the large cost of printing them.”

What are you working on now?


“I’m just starting on a Lenormand deck for Chloe McCracken which is very exciting and a pleasure to work with such a lovely gentle person.

“Previous to that I was half-way through a painting of Edgar Alan Poe with his Raven….but that’s on hold for six months or so!’

* Will has 10 fine art prints of the 7 most popular Wildwood Tarot Majors available to purchase via his own website and the Wildwood Tarot website.

You can follow Will’s facebook page (not run by Will) here

Here’s a slideshow of all the images in the Camelot Oracle – I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I did making it.  Part 2 of this session, where John Matthews helps us understand the Camelot deck’s uses as an Oracle will be up on Friday.  Hope you enjoy!