the phantomwise tarot - deck in progress

Congrats on the Queens!
You have a lovely gift and thank you for sharing it with the world through your Phantomwise Tarot.

It will be a happy day when you publish your complete deck!
Thanks for keeping us posted!

Thanks everyone! I'm still working on sketches for the kings but they shouldn't take too terribly long. (And then I might have to paint a Happy Squirrel.)

And thank you for your suggestion, Pamela, but I have to say I believe black & white & shades of gray can be just as magical as color. One of the reasons I started working on this deck was that I was looking for a b&w deck and couldn't find one that was exactly what I wanted, though I am awfully fond of my Victoria Regina.

I may do a color deck in the future, but the Phantomwise was always meant to be black & white & gray and I wouldn't dream of adding color to it.

Chronata said:

It really is the black and white (and all those beautiful gray tones) that sets this deck apart and makes it unique and special.

Like looking through Victorian photos...

There are millions of color decks, and quite a few black and white decks too...but hardly any that use the gray scale to such brilliant effect!

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YES~ Chronata said it beautifully. This deck is one of my favorites, and I would not want it changed in any way.

alizarin said:

I may do a color deck in the future, but the Phantomwise was always meant to be black & white & gray and I wouldn't dream of adding color to it.

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Exactly....and thank you Erin for creating this incredibly beautiful deck.

The Phantomwise remains at the top of my wishlist~ right where it belongs.

Luna

I did not expect to find this here! I stumbled across a print of The Lovers card on Etsy one day several months ago and totally fell in love. The two people on it remind me of Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione, who are members of a band called The Dresden Dolls. I saw a couple of the other Majors and I liked them too. (Lots of love for that Death card.) Now that I got to see all of them, I must say you did a great job!

I love how the Minors shaped up, especially the whole Pentacles suit. I adore what you did with the Pages. I love all the Queens too. I really want this deck when it's published. <3 I'm so glad I found this thread!

Chronata said:

It really is the black and white (and all those beautiful gray tones) that sets this deck apart and makes it unique and special.

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I agree. Your images are just wonderful. I especially like The Hermit. You've done some amazing work.

I am kind of ashamed of myself that the kings took this long. In my defense, in the time since the queens were completed I re-designed the kings twice and wrote one novel and revised another. So I've been busy.

But the kings are finished. They're up in the gallery, here.

I have some minor re-detailing (and a Happy Squirrel!) to do, but that will be done before the end of the year, and figuring out publishing options is on the top of my to-do list for 2010.

I'd just like to take a moment and thank all of you Aeclectic lovelies for your wonderful comments and support throughout the three years the Phantomwise has been in progress. It's really meant a lot to me.

You are welcome! ...

But really I need to say THANK YOU

Thank you for such a lovely, off-beat ,whimsical, dark fanciful, dreamy wonder of a deck.
Your vision has inspired me many many times.

Isn't it awesome to feel...complete?

I adore your black and white deck. Love the sun card with all of the sunflowers looking up at the sun. What a great idea. It would be so easy to apply color to these images if you decided to do so, you could do it via a computer program.
I am partial to color myself.

Don't be ashamed, good things are worth waiting for! Especially if you have been so busy. I like the Kings, they really fit with the rest of the deck. Now, I really hope you will publish this deck in 2010. It surely is on the top of my list .

Again, great work! And like Chronata said, THANK YOU, for making this wonderful deck.

take all the time you need... these are fabulous