True Black Tarot: Humanity as artifacts of our beliefs

theFeeLion

I have only just had my eyes opened to this deck and holy hat on a caterpillar I am so in love with this deck!!! [emoji813] I think I want to make this gorgeous deck my first ever tarot! :love: it really appeals to my sense of balance/light in the dark/artistic eye :D

I have only just started to scratch the surface of tarot but I am really enjoying being able to understand straight away some of the details you are putting into these pictures and then reading what you have to say about how any why you designed them the way you did and finding out I am actually right :D (wah that was a long sentence lol!) For example the Queen of Swords with one of her Swords going through her hand, I am not familiar with the standard meaning at all but from just the one detail in your card I got the impression that this was a sacrifice she had made, one that said "I cannot expect you to go through something painful if I am not willing to experience it for myself"

These are a few of my favourite things:
- The sense of movement you are able to capture within each image
- the dreamlike/surreal way you approach interpreting the cards. I have always loved dreaming and the fantastical impossibility of dreams so I really enjoy seeing how clearly you create your images and use that dream formula without making it feel cheesy
- I actually really like how you obscure the faces of all the people in the cards. I think I'm of the same mind as you here, I find the gaze of people in other decks can be distracting. I think that's why I get put off so many other decks; too much staring in my opinion. Don't they know staring is rude? ;)
- the bull horns on your Knight of Swords bring to mind various bull related sayings (bull in a China shop, red rag to a bull)
- 9 of Swords I found very powerful. My first thought was about the rabbit but then I saw how the blood wasn't really blood at all but rose petals
- Destiny/Wheel of Fate makes me think of Grecian/Roman lore regarding the weavers of the loom of Fate, a little of the Minotaur in his labyrinth, and also of a spider (one of my current guides) weaving a web
- I love the surreal feel of the Moon, how she reaches towards something she sees in her scrying dish, which is then reflected in the crescent moon above her which overflows with inky water. It also brings to mind the origins of the words lunacy and lunatic; people used to believe that someone who was mentally ill had spent too much time staring at/spending time under the moon and as such had become moon-touched. - I love the headstrong feel Knight of Wands. She's had to battle to get where she is, so gets fed up with people that get in the way of her doing what she feels needs to be done

Oh wow lol I did NOT intend to ramble on for so long! Oh well, these cards are worth it! :love:

[emoji813] Fee
 

Arthurdubya

theFeeLion:

That was one of the most amazing pieces I've ever seen written about my work. I need to get you to help promote this deck when it's out! :laugh:

You are spot-on with your interpretations. I had seen the Queen of Swords as someone who valued equality and precise judgment, someone who must pass judgment on herself before she could see fit to judge others (which I think is a quality that is oftentimes lacking in us all). Destiny was very much inspired by the "strings of fate" and also the many-worlds theory, and I'm glad you appreciate the obscuring of the subjects' eyes as I wanted these people to be not singular identifiable people, but symbols for people.

I'm so glad you picked up on all of this, and I very much look forward to seeing your thoughts on the upcoming cards! I'm also very very flattered that you'd like this to be your first deck, but I have to caution that while I'll be launching the main Kickstarter for funding in September, I don't anticipate the deck to finish production until Fall 2018. Is this your first foray into tarot? I'd love to hear more!
 

theFeeLion

theFeeLion:

That was one of the most amazing pieces I've ever seen written about my work. I need to get you to help promote this deck when it's out! [emoji23]

Aww *blush* it's easy to write something like that when the subject matter is as amazing/brilliant/gorgeous as your beautiful cards :D

You are spot-on with your interpretations.

I'm so happy about this! It definitely shows me I'll be able to work well with your cards when I finally get them :D I feel like we're speaking the same visual language

I had seen the Queen of Swords as someone who valued equality and precise judgment, someone who must pass judgment on herself before she could see fit to judge others (which I think is a quality that is oftentimes lacking in us all).

I can see this :) it's also like she quietly encouraging the viewer to give it a go for themselves, as if she is saying 'it's not as bad as you think it will be'. She's definitely the type to lead by example.

Destiny was very much inspired by the "strings of fate" and also the many-worlds theory, and I'm glad you appreciate the obscuring of the subjects' eyes as I wanted these people to be not singular identifiable people, but symbols for people.

I'm not familiar with the many world's theory. I'll have to look into that.

Ooo I like that you have the image/feeling in your head about each cards personality. For me it makes the images feel like they have more depth and are more defined rather than having an amorphous quality that I find some decks seem to have.

I'm so glad you picked up on all of this, and I very much look forward to seeing your thoughts on the upcoming cards!

Lol I'm glad I picked up on all of that too! Currently I'm using a tarot app that breaks down all the symbols used but I still have trouble interpreting the cards. With yours I think I've read some of the descriptions once but I can still go back to the image and tease out the meaning! I'm so excited to see what brilliance you let us see next :D

I'm also very very flattered that you'd like this to be your first deck, but I have to caution that while I'll be launching the main Kickstarter for funding in September, I don't anticipate the deck to finish production until Fall 2018.

Hmm Fall 2018... is that northern or southern hemisphere? Either way I have plenty of time to save up for the kickstarter :D

Is this your first foray into tarot? I'd love to hear more!

I started off with oracles, Froud's Faeries Oracle to be exact. I've always been a fan of fairy tales, fantasy and mythology so these cards just clicked for me. I think that's partly why I find yours so talkative too.

I now have the Russian Gypsy Fortunetelling Cards and the Messenger Cards. The gypsy cards I've enjoyed getting to know, it's a completely different system to anything else and very in depth. The Messenger Cards I've had a bit of trouble with and haven't been able to connect with them well. I think there's too many of the same animal for my liking, it seems to confuse the message for me. The other thing with these cards is they seem too light and fluffy. I like marshmallows but I'm not going to sit there and eat a whole packet of them!

As far as tarot goes, I've been slowly getting to know different aspects through the forum and a little on pinterest. I decided to get an app to start learning the cards properly with, so got the Golden Thread tarot and Galaxy tarot apps. I think I'm liking the galaxy one better though because that one breaks the cards down to symbols as well as giving an overall meaning so it makes things a little easier to understand.

I've been having a look through all the tarot artwork I can find but haven't yet (until now ;) ) found a deck that's given me both light with the darkness and darkness with the light (I'm all about balance). When I stumbled across this thread each imaged pulled me in more and more, now I'm happily ensconced in your sticky web and don't want to escape! Lol there I go again, it's far too easy for me to wax lyrical about your cards!

I better go before I start writing sonnets lol

:love: Fee
 

Metafizzypop

This is one great looking deck of cards. One of the things I like about it is the way the cards are semi-illustrated. The artwork hints at the meaning of the card, but doesn't make it blatant. And against that black background, it's all so deliciously mysterious.
 

Arthurdubya

Fee:

You can always wax lyrical to me! :D Again, I'm so very grateful to hear all your positive vibes about my work so far. I can only hope that the cards will look even better than the images on screen! (I'll be printing my first 30 paintings as a sample deck in mid-July, to test out color balance/contrast and experiment with different printing methods).

Metafizzypop:

Awesome screen name, and thanks so much for your kind words! I definitely feel like mystery and the fear/hope of the unknown is a huge part of humanity's continuous love for all things metaphysical, so I'm so glad to hear that connected with you. :love:
 

Arthurdubya

More cards for you!

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I think this is one of my favorite paintings so far, not to toot my own horn :D

The Chariot is the embodiment of success, the taste of victory after years of struggle and uphill battles. It is the finish line. Our figure is frozen in time as he takes his place upon a throne of wings, half ascending and half reclining after an arduous trek, his arms raised in triumph.

In one hand he holds a sceptre, a symbol of power and rule, and in the other a chain, an instrument of control and authority. He has learned to master himself as well as harness the powers of the entities that surround him, using every power at his disposal to achieve his goals. For this, he is rewarded with a golden wreath. At his feet we see a pool of stars, some connected in an interstellar path. How far has the victor come? Is this his final triumph, or just another stop among farther and more unknown worlds?
 

theFeeLion

Fee:

You can always wax lyrical to me! :D Again, I'm so very grateful to hear all your positive vibes about my work so far. I can only hope that the cards will look even better than the images on screen! (I'll be printing my first 30 paintings as a sample deck in mid-July, to test out color balance/contrast and experiment with different printing methods).
Ooo exciting! It's always so satisfying see something you've created finally come to life in physical form :D

I'm not sure how you will be printing the final deck (I'm guessing three colour offset?) But I thought I'd give you a little tip for printing deep blacks with a digital press - I worked for a printer years ago ;) - add 5-10% cyan, yellow, and magenta to the 100% koal. This should deepen the black nicely, it works if you're doing 4 colour offset printing too :)

The new card looks great too! :D Although, honestly, I'm not at all surprised ;) do you have the doves acting as messengers here? Possibly showing him next step on his path...?

Now for something that has been scratching away in the back of my brain since seeing your strength card. The wreath she is holding looks much like the Roman laurel wreaths given/worn as a symbol of victory... here's the scratchy bit... you mentioned that she is in fact holding an olive wreath as a symbol of peace. Would it not avoid confusion giving her an olive branch instead to hold? Or did you mean for there to be dual peace/victory meanings? If so would adding olives to the wreath help with that?
 

Arthurdubya

Fee:

I think you're right! While I intended for the olive wreath to signal peace, an olive branch would probably be a lot more easily understood for that purpose. I'll have to make a note of editing that before sending these to print prototypes! I'm glad you called it out!

And yes, I've spoken with my printer and we'll be using rich blacks, along with a couple of other never-before-seen features on tarot decks. :D
 

theFeeLion

@Arthurdubya
I'm glad I was able to help :D
 

Yarnzipan

I just stumbled on this thread, and this deck-in-progress, and I have to admit that I just keep looking through the images because they are just.. stunning. I'm sad that I missed the other two kickstarters but I'm fully on board for the next two, looking forward to it in fact. JUST the right amount of starkness while still giving so much to read through. Well done, sir.