Major arcana + Court cards deck?

Hello all! I've been working on a steampunk-style tarot deck for the last few years (in fact I posted to this forum awhile back asking questions about artist contracts etc), and I'm making decent, if slow, progress! However, for time and money reasons (I'm commissioning each card as a separate piece of art) I'm thinking of stopping at the major arcana & the court cards, for a 38 card deck. Are there other decks that have gone this route, or is it generally either " major arcana" or "the whole enchilada" only?

Link to my deck's FB page for the curious: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brass-Steam-Productions/133302353389626

Thanks in advance for your time!

Figure I'd bump this thread back up and see if there's any response this time.

I've seen majors-only decks, and I've seen "oracle decks" that are some variation of a partial tarot. Are there any examples anyone can think of of what I'm calling a "half tarot," which is 22 majors + 16 court cards? Should I use that label, or would "Oracle deck" be more precise, do you think?

There are some traditions that use only the trumps + courts + Aces to read decks with non-illustrated pips, such as Tarot de Marseilles decks, so it's definitely not unheard of.

I suggest including Aces in addition to court cards so there are cards in the deck that represent the suits as a whole.

Hmm--a good idea! And 42 cards work better for some purposes than 38...I'm trying to avoid non-illustrated minors, both because I'm not a fan personally, and US Games apparently doesn't want to publish tarot decks that employ them (in case I want to try and sell the deck to them down the road). I'll think about it--thanks!

You may post the link to your Kickstarter site if you wish.

I like Garmonbozia's idea, yes include the Aces too.

Alta: don't worry, when it goes live later this spring, I'll be creating a thread for it.

Ematuskey- the deck looks spectacular!

Congratulations on getting so far with it.

I am a bit worried you will limit the appeal of the deck by offering no pips. As self -publisher I know how hard it is to bring people to your deck, though obviously the kick-starter will prove these points either way. When I made my deck Aussie artists could not have campaigns, though thankfully this situation has been rectified.

I am sure you have thought of all this constantly, but might there be a non-illustrated pip which was simple to create, but absolutely maintained the artistic sensibilities of the pictorial cards.? beautiful, steamy, punky but still pips......I would for sure back that deck.
You could replace them later.

If you have a mo, could you say a bit about working with two artists. What is the dynamic?
How do you all work together to create such a consistent deck? Can you tell who created which card? Is it hard to keep them both motivated on such a big project?

Good luck! I am looking forward to your kick-starter in the spring, (Autumn here). I might be launching around the same time!

Wooden-eye: thanks, glad you like it! As for your questions:

"Pip minors" vs "no minors": ooh boy, have I gone back and forth on this one. I have had a couple ideas for different vehicles etc for the 1-10 minors (and I may borrow that idea for the Aces), but right now I'm leaning against doing it for a couple reasons:
1) I just don't like decks that do abstract minors as much as ones that do full (or even simplified) illustrations. I don't find them useful for reading, and I find them kind of boring aesthetically, so my instinct is to drop them from my deck entirely (unless the Kickstarter does awesomely and I get enough money to do scenes for the minors ).
2) while looking at the US Games website, I saw that they don't actually accept decks that have "pip minors"--but they do accept oracle decks. So, that's another strike against doing something I'm not enthusiastic for.

Of course, some people aren't interested in major-only decks--even if the minors are mostly abstract or glorified pips, they still want all 78 cards. And a non-standard deck size will mean a non-standard box size, which might be a problem when it's time to print them. So we'll see if I change my mind again before I launch the KS.

As for your other question: the first artist who did really awesome work for me sometimes drops out of contact--one time when he did it I needed cards for a show, so I went back to DeviantArt, showed what I had, and said essentially, "If you can do similar work for x amount of money, let me know!" I got several responses, tried a couple, and chose one. My original artist got back in touch later, but I'm still working with the second artist as well--there's plenty of work to go around, and their styles are similar enough that people that look at them blown up on the wall can't always tell which pieces are done by a different artist.

If the KS is successful I may go back to DeviantArt for a third or fourth artist as everyone's schedule permits, but I'll continue to be very choosey. The two artists don't communicate with each other (as far as I know)--I just work with each one individually on different cards. It's worked out find so far, though that's with only doing a few cards a year--we'll see how things go if production speeds up after the KS is funded!

Good luck with your own Kickstarter, btw--make sure to post here!