Size of Tarot card?

Margo9023

Hi Everyone! I'm just wondering, when I draw on paper or order pre-ready cards to draw/paint Tarot card designs on, what size should they be. If you happen to want to replicate them don't they have to be a certain size? I get myself so confused with wanting to do everything perfect I wind-up not doing much of anything. Can someone give me some insight?

Luv & Peace,
Margo
 

HudsonGray

I've seen cards done as 1 1/2 x 2' size oil paintings, then shrunk down, and cards done the same size as they're going to be printed.

Usually you want to make things a bit larger than they'll end up being printed as, to tighten up the artwork. It's totally up to the artist.
 

Margo9023

HudsonGray

HudsonGray said:
I've seen cards done as 1 1/2 x 2' size oil paintings, then shrunk down, and cards done the same size as they're going to be printed.

Usually you want to make things a bit larger than they'll end up being printed as, to tighten up the artwork. It's totally up to the artist.
Click to expand...

Hi HudsonGray! Thank you so much! I thought they had to be a certain size - like a little larger - which you said if fine and good. I just didn't want to do anything too small and then find out later they can't be printed. Thanks again. : )
 

greatdane

For me, the perfect size is

small enough to shuffle fairly easily, but big enough to see the images without much squinting :)
 

shadowdancer

Having had stuff printed lately, I would just say this:

Get the aspect ratio right for the printing process.
In other words, if you are having cards printed out at 5 x 3 this is an aspect ratio of 1.66
You would be advised to create your art in the same aspect ratio. That way, when it is scanned and sized to the eventual card you don't have stretched characters or shrunken squat characters - they are all kept in proportion :D :D :D

Now, the best thing I can suggest is think about where you will likely get any cards printed.
And know what size you will opt for, so you know what aspect ratio to go with.
They can vary between bridge size (which is ratio of 1.555) poker size (ratio of 1.4) and tarot card size (aspect ratio of 1.727) if you used the websites I used.

Quite a difference between them. So if you created something which has an approx ratio of 1.4 but then decided to with the tarot size, the image would be stretched. And may not as good as you would have hoped.

I would also say you need to know up front if you are going to have borders or not. If you are going borderless, don't have the main image or any important detail going right to the edge of the artwork. When you have it loaded for printing, you are warned that you need to account for a bleed area, so if there is inaccuracy in bringing the blade down in the cutting out part of the process you do not end up with a) something important being lopped of and b) a stray white border appearing on the opposite side.

If you are having borders fine - but again you need to be aware, facturing in a border which would be equal on all 4 sides does change the aspect ratio very slightly. Small border would hardly make a difference. Large border could.

I am not able to create my own deck sadly, but these are things I would sort out before I put pencil to paper. It is easier to know how the end product will look size wise and work to that, rather than spend those precious weeks and months creating a master piece - only to realise you cannot get it to fit the dimensions being asked of you at the printing stage.
 

HudsonGray

An easy way to find a ratio is to take a piece of paper, draw a horizontal line and a vertical line in an L shape. Set a standard tarot card so it sits snug up against the lines and draw a diagonal line from the bottom corner of the card up to the opposite corner and continue the line out past it.

Now make a mark on the vertical line, draw a horizontal line from that mark over to your diagonal line, and where it intersects on the diagonal line you then make a vertical line down from there. The rectangle you drew (larger or smaller than the original tarot card) is in the SAME ratio as the standard tarot card. Use that as your dimension and no matter how you enlarge or shrink it to fit the standard card, your borders will always be in the right place for printing.
 

Margo9023

shadowdancer

shadowdancer said:
Having had stuff printed lately, I would just say this:

Get the aspect ratio right for the printing process.
In other words, if you are having cards printed out at 5 x 3 this is an aspect ratio of 1.66
You would be advised to create your art in the same aspect ratio. That way, when it is scanned and sized to the eventual card you don't have stretched characters or shrunken squat characters - they are all kept in proportion :D :D :D

Now, the best thing I can suggest is think about where you will likely get any cards printed.
And know what size you will opt for, so you know what aspect ratio to go with.
They can vary between bridge size (which is ratio of 1.555) poker size (ratio of 1.4) and tarot card size (aspect ratio of 1.727) if you used the websites I used.

Quite a difference between them. So if you created something which has an approx ratio of 1.4 but then decided to with the tarot size, the image would be stretched. And may not as good as you would have hoped.

I would also say you need to know up front if you are going to have borders or not. If you are going borderless, don't have the main image or any important detail going right to the edge of the artwork. When you have it loaded for printing, you are warned that you need to account for a bleed area, so if there is inaccuracy in bringing the blade down in the cutting out part of the process you do not end up with a) something important being lopped of and b) a stray white border appearing on the opposite side.

If you are having borders fine - but again you need to be aware, facturing in a border which would be equal on all 4 sides does change the aspect ratio very slightly. Small border would hardly make a difference. Large border could.

I am not able to create my own deck sadly, but these are things I would sort out before I put pencil to paper. It is easier to know how the end product will look size wise and work to that, rather than spend those precious weeks and months creating a master piece - only to realise you cannot get it to fit the dimensions being asked of you at the printing stage.
Click to expand...

Hi shadowdancer, thank you. This is something I didn't know. I will have to keep this in mind. Yes, I had drawn some on small paper - I would probably draw on a little larger paper. I'm not good with numbers so I'll have to take a little time to figure it out. : )
 

Margo9023

HudsonGray

HudsonGray said:
An easy way to find a ratio is to take a piece of paper, draw a horizontal line and a vertical line in an L shape. Set a standard tarot card so it sits snug up against the lines and draw a diagonal line from the bottom corner of the card up to the opposite corner and continue the line out past it.

Now make a mark on the vertical line, draw a horizontal line from that mark over to your diagonal line, and where it intersects on the diagonal line you then make a vertical line down from there. The rectangle you drew (larger or smaller than the original tarot card) is in the SAME ratio as the standard tarot card. Use that as your dimension and no matter how you enlarge or shrink it to fit the standard card, your borders will always be in the right place for printing.
Click to expand...

Hi HudsonGray, Thank you! I will try this. Does it matter where on the paper you start the L? Will it be bigger or smaller depending where you put the L? I know it might sound like a stupid question but I'm trying to visualize your instructions. : )
 

shadowdancer

Well, if you know who will be doing the printing, and the eventual card size, you can figure the aspect ratio. Divide the length by the width. That is it :)

Then, you can decide what size you want to actually draw to.

So, if you have an aspect ratio of 1.5 (dividing length by width)
and you have an idea of the width you want to work on (using 4 inches as an example) you need to multiply 4 by 1.5 and that gives you the length. So you would be working on a board or card 6 x 4 inches.

If I were doing my own deck (in my dreams....lol)

I would want to work to an eventual tarot card size as printed by printers studio. I think that was 1.72

So, I would want reasonable sized board, let's say 5 inches wide. Multiply that by 1.72 and I know I would have to mark the length of working area as being 8.6 inches.

That is how I would work it out anyways. Hope it helps :)

With regards size you have to remember each time you scan an image, tweak it and save it, you lose quality. It is perhaps better to start slightly larger and size smaller, rather than start small and try to size it up. You will not gain quality by making an image larger. Think of how a photo starts to look when you zoom in on detail. You are making it larger, but it isn't long before it becomes fuzzy. Just a thought.
 
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