The blossoming of the Tarot of Innocence

shadowdancer

Okay, deep breath.

New thread, as I now feel I am on a roll, and moved on from the scream for HELP!! :)

Thanks to one and all.

So, first card I have EVER coloured. It is our Fool. It is fitting I start my journey with no prior knowledge, experience, pre-conceptions etc.

The two pics are of the b/w and the coloured. It took me 4 hours, so this is a journey that will take time. Days at work will take me away from these guys, so am guessing around 6 months of work. I won't include all cards or all text, but this is the flavour of what I am working on. :) :)

Text from the book:

CARD ‘0’ THE FOOL.

Creator’s interpretation:

On one hand, you have an individual who has no malice or ill thoughts in life towards anyone or anything. They appreciate the simple things of life, and are very accepting. However, because they have this outlook they tend not to self reflect very much, and often find themselves repeating mistakes of the past, without understanding why they are doing this, or what they need to do to break the cycle. Thus they find themselves in various situations which they could have prevented, if only they had looked with a wiser head on the shoulders.
On the other hand, they do love the simple things of life, and will often go on journeys of fantasy, wonder and discovery. They will not shy away from trying something new, and look at every new experience with awe. However, they can do things that sometimes get them in a pickle, and have never really grown up. You gotta love their devil-may-care attitude. It means they live life with no sense of fear or preconception.


Image visualised by the creator:

The scene is in the sky with clear blue and fluffy white clouds.
There is a small play area which some winged wee folk are using in the background. (Some swings, see saw etc) All the objects are using a cloud as their base. Basically the whole scene is set in the sky.
In the foreground, and being the main image is a slide. However, the wee children are standing around looking at the slide. Some look puzzled, some are laughing and pointing, some are looking a little annoyed. The reason is this. An adult/mature winged being, has decided to relive his youth, and is going down the slide. Naturally, he is a little too large & portly for the slide, and is danger of coming off before he arrives at the bottom. His arms and legs are all over the show, but he is loving every minute of it! He has a smile as broad as his face, and doesn’t care that he is being laughed at, or is taking over a child’s play item. He loves to live life to the fullest, no matter what is thought of him. However, he should have known he was too big, and was likely to get stuck but doesn’t care. Will he learn from this, or will he have another go I wonder? Knowing the ‘fool’ he will try again, with the same result. He doesn’t care though. He is enjoying himself. He is not harming anyone, but has the potential to end up with a few bruises should he fall. A risk he wants to take though.

“What is a Fool I hear you say?
A person who lives life to the fullest, come what may.
A free spirit, extrovert or adventurer, I let you decide,
But heed these words, your zest of life is not something to hide.”


1) What are your thoughts regarding his actions? Is he having fun or just being foolhardy? What makes you think this?
2) Have you ever (or ever wanted to) do something just for the fun of it? If so, how did you feel afterwards?
3) What do you think the nearest wee one is thinking? Is it judgemental or are they sharing in the Fool's sense of adventure?
4) How do you think this portrays how others see your actions?
5) When the Fool gets off the slide, how will the experience have changed him, or affect what he does next?
6) What do you make of the expressions of the others in the scene? Are there any you feel are relevant to your circumstances?
 

Attachments

  • fool.jpg
    fool.jpg
    64.8 KB · Views: 322
  • fool2.jpg
    fool2.jpg
    71.7 KB · Views: 278

shadowdancer

Card 2. 3 hours of work this time.

Magician. Look carefully, he does have something up his sleeve.

This is hard work, but a great learning curve.
 

Attachments

  • magician.jpg
    magician.jpg
    66.4 KB · Views: 244

rwcarter

I somehow missed this new thread. You KNOW how I feel about this deck. And hopefully you KNOW that I'll buy at least one copy in whatever incarnation it becomes available. So read through the following comments to the end.

Seeing the Fool colored, I'd much rather see the deck in B&W. :bugeyed: But seeing the Magician, I see leaps and bounds of progress from the Fool. The Magician still isn't there yet, but I think by the time you get into the second half of the Majors, you will have hit your groove and be knocking cards out of the park (baseball reference). And when you compare these first cards to where I believe you'll end up, you will revisit the earlier cards with your improved skills.

Just in case it's not evident, these are words of encouragement, not criticism. (BIG HUGS Davina!)

You have ALL my :heart: and support for even thinking about moving forward with this project after all the ups and down's you've been through!

Rodney
 

shadowdancer

Thanks for this Rodney.

I know you have always been in my corner, and that is more than appreciated.

I had a sense when I did the first card that it may be destined to only be in b/w.

I am not an artist, and this has been stretching me beyond what I feel I am capable of. I have uploaded the first 3 cards to see how they would look poker sized, and they may be okay. But only okay. Nothing brilliant, and certainly not good enough for many folks. But I am okay with that. They may well be destined to just be a personal deck in the coloured version.


I will keep going though :) And will try and get better as cards go by. It may be as a whole, it does work. But if not..... I am so glad I have the b/w version :)

Davina

ETA: Have tweaked the Fool, firmed up some of the lines on him and Strength & the Dragon. I think it looks better - sharper. Also a little touch up on Magician.

This may not be easy with some of the cards. There are a handful that are rough sketches, but will use the Magian's wand and do my best...lol.
 

blue_fusion

Yes do continue! Rodneys is right in saying that you've already progressed much just in the span of two cards, what more with more cards to work on! :D
 

shadowdancer

latest cards...

Will not be able to work all day every day so made the most of the last couple of days.

Ace wands rainbow is a bit rustic, so may be able to improve it later down the line.

Now working on two tricky ones.... sketches are not as clearly defined as in these so far, so wish me luck.

I have realised that they are better when viewed small / card sized. So these (if they come into being as a coloured deck) will be the same poker size as the b/w versions, with the same black borders. The quality of the original jpgs I am working from were not great.

Now off for bath and bed, maybe a rum and coke also has my name on :)
 

Attachments

  • cups aceat.jpg
    cups aceat.jpg
    58.4 KB · Views: 208
  • hpat.jpg
    hpat.jpg
    55.2 KB · Views: 193
  • ace wandat.jpg
    ace wandat.jpg
    52.4 KB · Views: 178

rwcarter

Applause on your continued progression of skill! That Ace Cups is very well done!

Don'cha hate it when real life intrudes when you have something else you want to focus on? ;)
 

shadowdancer

Hierophant

This was quite tricky.. and took 2 days.

The dude in in the front has astral travelled to be part of the group listening to the Hierophant. I had to find a way of portraying that. You would not believe how many attempts it took to find the right texture etc.

Original and finished to show I had to do some tidying up to make it workable for me.
 

Attachments

  • hierophant coloured.jpg
    hierophant coloured.jpg
    58.5 KB · Views: 198
  • hierophant.jpg
    hierophant.jpg
    67.4 KB · Views: 168

Alta

Your skill set is clearly climbing. You have managed to get atmosphere into the Hierophant card. good!
 

shadowdancer

The first 12 - how they look at the moment uploaded.

I am conscious of the fact that when viewed large on the PC they look less appealing than when card sized. When I view them on the site where they are uploaded, they look more cohesive and much more pleasant on the eye.

And I am also aware I am no artist, still have lots to master/learn on gimp but am getting there slowly. If I had the magic wand, I would turn myself into a reasonably competent artist in minutes as opposed to years (which I feel it would take...lol). Serious admiration has been building for those who have created their own decks. I am now starting to appreciate the efforts involved.

Couple more to show as full pics. Ace of Swords, Chariot.

(Also shown is Chariot original drawing).

The ace of swords was one of those that had been coloured by Steve. I used it and tweaked it so it fitted with the style of the deck overall. He did a great job so didn't see the need to re-invent the wheel as it were.

Davina
 

Attachments

  • the first 12.jpg
    the first 12.jpg
    107.9 KB · Views: 177
  • chariot at.jpg
    chariot at.jpg
    67.6 KB · Views: 157
  • chariot.jpg
    chariot.jpg
    66.1 KB · Views: 165
  • 1 swords.jpg
    1 swords.jpg
    56.6 KB · Views: 171