Tabula Mundi Tarot: formerly Tarot "M"

starlightexp

I love posts like this. It is fascinating to see your process.
 

Zephyros

Fascinating process! I remember when discussing the majors deck I commented on its dark, bold colors. I had no idea that boldness was achieved through so many layers, it truly is a labor of love! The many layers give the art a more "finished" look that is quite pleasing.

And you're right, the actual card is far superior to the scan. Do you do color corrections after scanning? In cards like the Four of Cups is the wave a duplicate of the one in the Chariot or is it redrawn? It looks very similar but more greenish in the Major. Plus, your "exploration" of the color blue, as you mention as a luxury, is beautiful. I probably wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't mentioned it but looking at all the different hues is amazing.
 

thorhammer

I am floored by not only your dedication and talent, but the immensity of your scholarship as applied to every card. I can't wait to get this deck. Wonderful work. Huzzah!
 

Alta

Thank you for that blog post on your process, to see your decision-making process and the technique. Makes the deck even more amazing in my eyes.
 

Babalon Jones

Fascinating process! I remember when discussing the majors deck I commented on its dark, bold colors. I had no idea that boldness was achieved through so many layers, it truly is a labor of love! The many layers give the art a more "finished" look that is quite pleasing.

And you're right, the actual card is far superior to the scan. Do you do color corrections after scanning? In cards like the Four of Cups is the wave a duplicate of the one in the Chariot or is it redrawn? It looks very similar but more greenish in the Major. Plus, your "exploration" of the color blue, as you mention as a luxury, is beautiful. I probably wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't mentioned it but looking at all the different hues is amazing.

Some great questions! No, I don't do color corrections after I scan. That is to say, I do not do them on the computer. If the scan looks bad, I repaint the problem area and rescan it. The scanner's superior electronic eye reveals issues the human eye might miss at first. If it does not look good scanned, then I have made a bad choice of adjacent colors, or not used enough opacity. For example, in the 3, the first time I scanned it, I realized the Moons had no light to them. Their surface was pitted and grey (grey being one of the colors of the scale) and they looked like the Moon but radiated no glow. So I took it off the scanner and added highlights of white and lighter grey, which was a huge improvement that I thought was just fine initially.

The only thing I do with the computer is clean up dust particles, or dog hairs or paintbrush hairs that show up under magnification, clean up rough edges if the cropping is pixels off (as I left very little "bleed" in the original images). Plus add the borders and titles.

The wave in the 4 was redrawn. I lightly traced the exact curve of the shape so the eye is fooled into thinking it is the same, but all the details were freehanded in. If you put them side by side, at first you think they are exactly the same but if you examine closer the colors are all placed differently in each mosiac piece of the water, and the "pieces" are similar but unique. The 4 also has more blues and less greens than the Chariot, as blues are such an important part of the color scale for the four, as the Queen Scale for Chesed is Blue, and the colors of the Moon are all various blues so I got to emphasize that rather than using it as artistic license in the Chariot.

The 4 was the most fun to paint. None of the difficult transition areas like the rippled water or large expanses of flat sky or shaded sky. Just the pure joy of using every blue I had, plus the greenish brown of the scale for depth.
I just realized I forgot to put in what the color scales are for the last two cards. I will probably go back and add that info to the post, and clean up my typos. I was tired when I put this up. I am trying to complete one sign (3 cards or decans) a week, both complete the art and the scanning and posting. Which means, being tired a lot, as it takes all weekend day and evening, and lots of weeknights.
I couldn't do it if I didn't Love it!

I appreciate everyones comments and questions!
 

devilkitty

I do so love the B&W version, but having looked over the colored pips you've shown us -- and the colored trumps I already have -- I think I speak for us all when I say...

"Shut up and take my money!" :p

Seriously, this pack is truly extraordinary; I certainly thank you for it and expect it will be spoken of in awed voices fifty years hence.
 

Babalon Jones

Thanks devilkitty!

Today I rescanned all of the color minors with a different scanner. I was unhappy with many of the scans as shading and details were being lost. I ended up replacing most of them, as in the majority of cases, the new scan was better and captured more of the details. So I've updated some of the pictures on the site. So strange how two separate scanners will see the image so differently.

And you will be happy to hear that I finished the decans of Scorpio this week. I took a few days off around the holiday, so in spite of losing a day to the stupor of a Thanksgiving dinner, I got them done! Disappointment, Pleasure, Debauch...pretty much sums up my Thanksgiving :)
 

feynrir

Thanks devilkitty!

Today I rescanned all of the color minors with a different scanner. I was unhappy with many of the scans as shading and details were being lost. I ended up replacing most of them, as in the majority of cases, the new scan was better and captured more of the details. So I've updated some of the pictures on the site. So strange how two separate scanners will see the image so differently.

And you will be happy to hear that I finished the decans of Scorpio this week. I took a few days off around the holiday, so in spite of losing a day to the stupor of a Thanksgiving dinner, I got them done! Disappointment, Pleasure, Debauch...pretty much sums up my Thanksgiving :)

Very, very, very beautiful. These decans of Scorpio evoke particularly strong emotion in me. The colored deck is going to be a true treasure!
 

Babalon Jones

I just posted more about the process of painting a tarot card, choosing colors, and some interesting stuff about the Golden Dawn color scales, using the most recently completed card as one example: The Eight of Cups, Indolence, which is the first decan of Pisces, ruled by Saturn.

(Which means the next card I get to paint is the Nine, and I am very much looking forward to that one!)

Lots of "in progress" pics here, plus of course the finished card. And some speculation of a minor change to the color scale to mark the New Aeon and the Age of Aquarius.


http://www.tabulamundi.com/how-to-paint-a-tarot-card-its-all-about-the-color-scales/