![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Here are two of the tarot cards i've tinkered with so far. They're a bit rough, and i go back and forth between "THIS IS PERFECT" and "uh... huh?" Eloquent, i know. :D
For the minor Arcana, i'm going to have them represented by elements, not symbols. So instead of Cups, it'll be Water; Wands becomes Fire, Swords becomes Air, Pentacles becomes Earth (alternately: Stars - i'm still undecided on a few of these things).
Temperance was the first card i actually put together; looking back, i'm wondering if i need to tweak it a bit. It's similar enough to the Rider-Waite deck (you have an angelic figure with cups/water symbolism present) that i might want to go back and change it. Not because of any concerns about appearing derivative, but because one of the things i'm trying to go for is having a card speak for itself - the meaning should be relatively clear.
I think i did a much better job with the Empress card: a beautiful woman, desire, fertility, nature... all that good stuff.
(For context: these are not 100% finished cards; these are flattened images that have been resized for show. The actual cards that i'll be printing are poker-sized cards at 300dpi, which means they're roughly 2000 pixels high and average between 9-15 MB per card. Some things don't resize well; the Empress is a bit sharper/grainier than intended, which i'll be fixing in the final version. The black bits in the corners are cutting guides; those are the bits that will be removed.)
As far as the back of the cards goes, i'm considering using marbleized paper. It's random, makes each card/deck unique, and doesn't waste any of my precious, precious printer ink. :D
For the minor Arcana, i'm going to have them represented by elements, not symbols. So instead of Cups, it'll be Water; Wands becomes Fire, Swords becomes Air, Pentacles becomes Earth (alternately: Stars - i'm still undecided on a few of these things).
Temperance was the first card i actually put together; looking back, i'm wondering if i need to tweak it a bit. It's similar enough to the Rider-Waite deck (you have an angelic figure with cups/water symbolism present) that i might want to go back and change it. Not because of any concerns about appearing derivative, but because one of the things i'm trying to go for is having a card speak for itself - the meaning should be relatively clear.
I think i did a much better job with the Empress card: a beautiful woman, desire, fertility, nature... all that good stuff.
(For context: these are not 100% finished cards; these are flattened images that have been resized for show. The actual cards that i'll be printing are poker-sized cards at 300dpi, which means they're roughly 2000 pixels high and average between 9-15 MB per card. Some things don't resize well; the Empress is a bit sharper/grainier than intended, which i'll be fixing in the final version. The black bits in the corners are cutting guides; those are the bits that will be removed.)
As far as the back of the cards goes, i'm considering using marbleized paper. It's random, makes each card/deck unique, and doesn't waste any of my precious, precious printer ink. :D
From:
no subject
Take care! <33
From:
no subject
There is a peacock tail in The Empress card, right? I can understand how someone would see it as a symbol of plenty. Peacock feathers are also aesthetical, and peacocks use their tails to attract peahen, so the symbol is related to planet Venus, which The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn connected with The Empress card.
It was and is more difficult to understand the Temperance. First I saw the bubbles in water. Later I started to think that the white things must be clouds although I am not completely sure of that. Both clouds and bubbles in water speak to me about mixing water and air. Mixing fits well with the traditional imagery of the Temperance card. Seeing both above (clouds) and below (water) at the same time is truly visionary, and is a nod towards The Golden Dawn association of the card, the sign of Sagittarius.
I am not sure what the woman or statue holds in her hand in Temperance card. If it is a knife, I don't understand how it is related to the card.
To my mind, The Empress card looks good and relatively easy to interpret. Temperance isn't as good because I am not sure if the white things are clouds or ice or something else.
From:
no subject
There isn't actually a peacock feather in the Empress card, but i'm pleased that you saw that there. Most of my artwork aims for interpretive, with hints of what general direction i'd like folks to be heading.
I'm also a bit sketchy on the Temperance card. She's not holding a knife, she's holding a ... thingy. I'm not exactly sure what it is; it's round at the bottom, flattened at the top, with a circle just before the very top. Vaguely reminiscent of an ankh, but it isn't an ankh. I think the background imagery works with the card, but i'll probably want to emphasize more of the air/water and change out the subject.
Again, thank you! :D
From:
no subject