Genevieve Barbee-Turner
A professional occult illustrator living in Pittsburgh specializing in tarot and playing card design and dark erotic portraiture.
Illustrations are hand drawn, beginning in a sketchbook and finished on an iPad Pro in Procreate. AI is never used. Inspired by figure drawing, tarot, literature, and goth music.
Tied | Digital illustration, 2025
Queen of Wands (INFERNAL)
Haunted Tarot Deck
Inspired by Appalachian folklore and urban legends from Southwestern PA, West Virginia, and Eastern Ohio, HAUNTED is a blend of history and horror in one 78-card tarot deck with accompanying 94 page guide that includes both meanings & legends.
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Here one must abandon every suspicion, every cowardice must die here.
We have come to the place where I told you you will see the grieving peoples who have lost the good of the intellect.,
And, putting his hand on mine with a cheerful glance from which I drew strength, he introduced me into the secret things.
"
/ Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy: Vol. 1 INFERNO Canto 3, 13–21 /
Genevieve Barbee-Turner
What is a Killerpancake?
Killerpancake Illustration is Genevieve Barbee-Turner, a tarot card illustrator and two-dimensional artist based in Pittsburgh, PA. She is creating cursed occult wares including tarot decks, stickers and stationary, fine art prints, and other decor inspired by horror stories, folklore, and ghost stories from across history and pop culture. Killerpancake blends contemporary Appalachia and queer/femme identity with a splash of gothic aesthetic.
Genevieve’s pen name, Killerpancake, is an ode to hours of listening to audiobooks while drawing as a young girl. A reference to a cozy mystery book title, listening to a story has always painted pictures inside her head in a way that nothing else does. In 2012, she started recording a podcast called The AP Collection, where she interviewed approximately 200 people about Pittsburgh and creativity. These conversations inspired a fully illustrated 78-card tarot deck detailing the realities of “New Pittsburgh” called Bridge Witches: A Tarot Deck.
Tarot & The Occult
A tarot deck is a collection of individual stories that come together to form creative narratives. In the cards she illustrates, Genevieve combines a love of portraiture and storytelling—exploring how we talk about ourselves and the symbols we use to communicate our values. A tarot deck is both a communication tool and an illustrated universe that fits into a pocket. Since creating Bridge Witches in 2016, she has built several other decks exploring mental health, queer identity, imposter syndrome, and income inequality.
Genevieve also has a niche portrait business transforming people into any monster they desire.
About Genevieve
As a product of the Bible Belt in the 90s, Genevieve lived in the wake of the Satanic Panic. As a result, she learned early that fear and anxiety are tools used by people to control other people, especially women and queer people. Later, she luckily, found “misfits” in the goth club scene, where she met people of a wide variety of genders and sexual identities. In the era of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, there were spaces that sheltered folks living on the fringe, and in that space, Genevieve discovered her people.
Genevieve earned a BFA in Art from Carnegie Mellon University in 2007, and studied at Universität der Künste Berlin in 2006 focusing on printing, drawing, and printmaking. However, her practice was built long before entering an art studio.
Since childhood, she has had a drawing instrument in her hand. Copying of fashion photography in Vogue magazine, her obsession with the human figure and its dynamic use to tell stories remains relevant today. She moved on to drawing classes on VHS tapes, then at the local community center, and ultimately attended The Governor’s School for the Arts in Norfolk, Virginia, during high school before moving on to her studies at CMU in Pittsburgh.