the urnash tarot

Satori

I would say that if this is going to be for commercial publication an additional Lovers card would be in order. Don't ya' think?
 

Egypt Urnash

12. The Hanged Man

An additional Lovers? I dunno, I'm already intending on taking a page from some releases of the Harris/Crowley deck that include all three of the Magi generated during the process, and quite intentionally having three Fools. It popped into my mind as a joke but the more I played with it the more right it sounded.

There's certainly going to be a second pass over all the imagery before publication. Tighten up the metaphors, fix places I took shortcuts that I still notice a few months later, layer in some more symbols here and there.
 

mysticmonkey

Ooo, small world. I recognise your style from galleries of distance past.

I do love the look of the Lovers card but it did make me initially think of the three of cups, I don't know if anyone else did?

This all looks very exciting. I think possibly the Sun card is my favourite although they all have elements that I like.
 

Egypt Urnash

15. The Devil

I get around. *grin*

Hmm, I could see a little of the 3C in there. The Lovers is one where my initial imagery came more from impulse than analysis; some of these are very deliberately constructed, some are not. It depends on what comes up when I contemplate each card.

I'm having fun with these but I'll probably be taking a break soon - gotta earn some money, gotta work on pre-existing big projects!
 

Egypt Urnash

16. The Tower

Ambiguously influenced by the images seared into every American mind one September morning a few years ago. Tragedy strikes out of clear skies, in my experience.

Oh, and if anyone's wondering what flavor of Muse is behind this deck, this LJ post might shed some light on that issue. Or it might not.
 

Satori

Wow, strong Tower there. Not sure if it is too raw and personal or just right. Searing is what I would say...and because of the style it is haunting but still palatable....but still, wondering what someone who was there would think handling that one in a read.
 

Callistabell

I love it love it love it! Great job. I look forward to holding them in hand.
 

Egypt Urnash

13. Death

Really, the traditional Tower imagery only says 'tragedy/divine wrath' at several removes, to me; I'm surprised my cursory searching hasn't turned up anyone else making it more visceral by borrowing the WTC attack. As it developed, I was thinking as much about Dubaya's mishandling of another bolt out of the blue as I was of 9/11 - I moved back home to New Orleans three days before Katrina hit it, and the last day I was there before fleeing the oncoming storm was just gorgeous.

There's this one line in Tim Powers' book "Last Call" about how a set of very very potent Tarot cards just kinda sear images into your soul when you look at them. If I can draw a few cards that do that, I think I'll have succeeded in this task.
 

Gooneybird

Egypt Urnash said:
Oooh, black and white, I approve! Making the scythe stand out a wee bit more couldn't hurt though to make it more clear it's the Death card- It's kind of receding into the ground and harder to pick out.

Really, the traditional Tower imagery only says 'tragedy/divine wrath' at several removes, to me; I'm surprised my cursory searching hasn't turned up anyone else making it more visceral by borrowing the WTC attack.

There's this one line in Tim Powers' book "Last Call" about how a set of very very potent Tarot cards just kinda sear images into your soul when you look at them. If I can draw a few cards that do that, I think I'll have succeeded in this task.

It's not exactly the Tower, but as I was looking over B/W decks, I saw that the artist of the Brave New World deck used the twin towers in the Judgement card. I think it works for your Tower too, and certainly it will be a "searing image" in your deck.
 

Egypt Urnash

3. The Empress
4. The Emperor

Ooh, thanks for the pointer to that one, Gooneybird! So many 'updates for the modern world' I see are tongue-in-cheek jokey ones that I've kinda given up looking at 'em.

And yeah, Death's scythe is a little pale. I stuck a little too rigidly to a tonal scheme there and kept on thinking 'this needs more contrast' but couldn't make myself just pick some darker values.

I have four of the Majors left to do. I think it's going to be time to start canvassing publishers soon.