"If I Had Only Known When I Started This Deck That ......"

Zafero Berro

I would like to thank everyone who contributed very valuable information to this thread and saved me, and probably many others, a lot of heartache.

You generosity with your knowledge is really heartening!
 

Zafero Berro

I have a small criricism of some cards that may be useful to some card-makers.

Some cards, such as the Liber T Tarot of the Stars Eternal, put the name of the Trump card in four languages. http://psychicslondon.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Tarot-of-the-Stars-Eternal.png
I think that if you have a picture of the Sun, and the French words "Le Soleil" underneath it, do you really need to translate that into three other languages? After 600 years of Tarot cards, haven't people got the idea yet?

And if you think that your 2 of batons is so incomprehensible as a 2 of batons that you have to write "2 of batons" on it, then you need a redraw, dude, not a label.
 

markdc10

Hopefully your deck is a labor of love first - a commercial success later down the road!

Since I have mentioned Gamecrafter and Printer's Studio ....

"Even if you haven't started designing yet - what do you foresee for the finished end product?"

Will you make a deck for your personal use with only 5-6 copies, or are you hoping to sell it down the road (with or without a profit)?

For sheer ease of user-friendly - Printer's Studio has it hands down - but there are limitations. PS will print an image on anything - so if you want to create a deck, have it's images splashed on mouse pads, coffee mugs - or even puzzles - they will do it for you - for a price. They are literally: pick your image, drop and click, review the files, click & pay - and VOILA! there it is. However - NO BOXES. They are strictly shrink-wrapped. They are also ONLY THE PRINTER - they do not market your item. Their cards stock is decent and their lamination is decent; color repro very good. Bulk rates are available if you want to market the item yourself. Their rates are decent and they offer specials to regular buyers. They do not pay royalties or commissions - they just print. Order turn-around time decent.

The GameCrafter - as much as I like GC - remember that they are an indie game manufacturer and they do cards as a sideline to their business. They have rigid guidelines and templates - if a logo needs to be 300 x 300 pixels and yours is 300 x 299 pixels it will get rejected. They do have videos to watch about how to use their system. They also want Tarot cards to be BOXED {other card sizes are shrink-wrapped or bagged} - and you have to design a box using their template. NOTE: they DO NOT put the cards into the box in any kind of order (PS does) so if you want the Fool card first, etc, etc - it doesn't happen that way. The box will be shrink wrapped.

GC is there to market your deck. You will get a 'shop page' (which also has specific size requirements) with photos, banners, logos, etc. They also issue accolades for numbers of decks sold. Their card stock is excellent, lamination very good. My deck is B/W so I can't comment on color repro. Their retail prices can be a little steep. They pay royalty with shop credits, so don't expect any checks from them. The more decks you sell the better your royalty % becomes; conversely, if your deck drops off your royalty increase drops off, too. The order turn-around time can vary depending on printing demands or when the latest GameCon orders are done. They will keep you updated, though.

There are also many other card printer companies out there. Anything worth doing is worth doing well, so don't sell your deck short by having it done by the corner copy store your brother-in-law works for just because he can get you a deal.

This information is very helpful because I do have a project in mind. Thank you
 

ShinyAeon

Save the Trumps for Last

I hope it's okay if I contribute, though I haven't done a deck yet; I have a suggestion based on observation. I recommend, at least to less experienced or first-time deck creators (like me):

Save the Major Arcana for last.

I don't mean you should design the trumps last; I mean you should complete them last.

The reason is, I've noticed on some decks that the art on the Minor Arcana is really great; but when I get to the trumps, they seem...a little less great. Not bad, exactly, just...somewhat...um, lackluster? compared to the other cards.

After much pondering, I made a guess that it's because the process of doing an entire deck makes you grow as an artist. The trumps, being the big, important archetypal cards we're all really excited about when we conceive of a deck, get done in the first burst of enthusiasm; then the courts and/or aces, and then, finally, the number cards. By the time we've finished all those pip-card scenes, we're much better artists than when we began. But our Major Arcana remain as they were, the product of our less-experienced skills.

The Trumps should be the culmination of a deck, the cards that truly represent the ideas behind it. How much better would they turn out if we saved them until we'd practiced our skills on those forty, sixteen, and four others cards? We may even have gotten a few new ideas as we worked on the deck as a whole; doing the trumps last would guarantee that they would truly reflect the essence of the deck as a whole.

The way I'm planning my deck is I'm designing it as it's coming to me, doing Majors First for the most part—but only for the concept sketches. When I actually start the "final" stage, I'm going to do the numbers first, then the Courts, the Aces, and the Trumps last of all. If I just can't stand it, and have to get some of the Majors out of my system, I'll make sure I leave them in a somewhat "unpolished" state, so that (hopefully) I won't hesitate to start one over if I feel I could do a better job later.

Well, that's the sum of my idea. As I said, it's based on observation rather than experience...but I hope it might prove useful to others nonetheless.

ShinyAeon
 

logansandres

I had the ideas in my head to make my own deck. Not planning to go commercial or anything, just figured that maybe it is a must at a certain point of getting to know tarot. It takes a lot of time, most of that I spent learning various decks, comparing and reading into the histroy of tarot. I belive one needs to understand the idea of an image and what it hides deepely before trying to do anything. I even have a painter I know, she agreed to help paint the images when I'll be ready. Hope the forum will live until I get the fisrt resutls, haha