Sharing your process

Insomnia Turtle

Thanks for replying! I think I'll shuffle through my decks till a card pops out at me.
I started a journal three days ago and the thing is almost full already (350 pages of overanalization)... At this rate I might have to start taking things out rather than put them in :). (Note a hint of laughter as that last sentance is a complete inside joke on an art teacher I once had who said I would never get anywhere in art if I kept overanalyzing things)
 

Ravenswing

methods...

hi guys--

i'm finally popping in on this line. i've got a deck in process that you can find at Tarot > Tarot decks > in progress: tarot of the four worlds.

it's a collaborative deck. laurel gives me a run down on the card and i do the image. there's a few innovations-- most notable the hex shape. the cards can tile together in a reading; a three card spread can be positioned in 9 different ways. lots of visual stimulus.

our other biggie is that we're not going to label or number the cards, and we intend them to be boarderless.

so on to process--

laurel will give me a short description/feeling about the card. taking this i'll check into my books (my basic resource is 'the magician's companion') for symbolic/color relations. i'll also check into the golden dawn's title for the card. this may or may not influence the image.

i'll do sketching for a bit til i get an image i like. then i do a good sketch without fine details on a piece of bristol board. the hex is inscribed in a 9 in diameter circle. the finished cards should wind up about four inches in diameter, so i'm doing about 230%. when the card shrinks, i won't lose any fine detail.

then i tape a piece of tracing paper on the sketch, and color with colored pencil. this way, if i don't like the way it's coming out, i trash the tracing paper. i never lose the good sketch.

afterwards, i scan the image into my computer. that's my 'good' copy.

i can usually produce a card in a day or two this way.

i got this method of board and tracing paper from robin wood's book on her deck.

as to order: we're not going in any order that i can make much sense of. laurel calls the shot, i do the image. but so far it's worked exceedingly well. if you check the thread i mentioned above, the cards are in the order i did them.

one thing to consider when doing a deck: be able to explain your images. a book might be in order

and the results? here's the fool

happy creating
ravenswing
 

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Insomnia Turtle

Ravenswing - Thanks for adding to this topic!

You are quite detailed in the description of your process! May I take a wild stab that you've had at least a few art classes before? I ask because you have described a very good and traditional "system" of doing art and I recommend that anyone unfamiliar with it to read the post again.

Thanks again for sharing!

By the way, your cards are beautiful :)!
 

Ravenswing

stuff

hi guys--

hudson-- last night, while perusing our library, i found a new book by richard bach (the jonathan livingston seagull guy). it's the third in a series called 'the ferret chronicals'. you might want to check it out-- he's usually quite good.

wakeful one--

thanks. i'm glad you like 'em. other than grade and middle school art, i've only had informal art classes (ie-- grab a book by an artist and study. or some good books on method and theory. and learning to look, see and watch...). lots and lots of practice and art running through my family.

i'm anxiously awaiting the results of your 'experiment'. please keep us in touch.

moving along to the devil
ravenswing
 

HudsonGray

I heard about the ferret books, I think he's got two different ones out, about ferrets flying airplanes (?) but haven't run across them at all. They may be brand new, I'll have to check around online for those. There are so FEW ferrety things around.

I got the rest of the xeroxing done, tweeking a few things. The ladies at the shop were looking it all over & I asked their opinion on the fonts & sizes I was considering. They said the woodcut style font was too hard to read, and they liked the larger size cards (I figured such, but wanted feedback). They really were interested in the drawings so I like the reaction I've been getting on these so far. (My best complement on one of the historical animal paper dolls I'd done was two guys at Office Depot who were having restaurant menues done up & they saw my sample on the counter - I was looking over receipt books about 5' behind them - both leaned over & were so engrossed in reading the text that was on the sheet! Two big guys about age 50 looking at a paper doll! For 4 solid minutes it had their complete attention! Damn!). That's better than verbal feedback. I saw the same look on the two ladies as they looked over the cut & paste I'd done on a couple pages of cards.

Picturetrail wants to limit viewing of the free albums to members only, and will delete all pictures in another 2 weeks if I don't update to a $20 account...........so much for their 'free' sites! Guess it's only free for 2 months, after that you get phased out if you don't pay. I'll still try posting the images up there once I get them scanned, but may have to get off my duff & actually get a web page up. I do get a free one with execpc that I haven't taken advantage of yet, though the storage space is limited.
 

HudsonGray

Has anyone (who's making their own deck) noticed that you see cards in relation to how you've designed yours, once you do the art to it? I'm not sure if I'm saying this right...say you do the 3 of pentacles, every time you use a different deck to do a reading, are you also seeing YOUR 3 of pentacles when that card comes up?

It's weird, but I'm starting to see this with what I've drawn so far on my deck. The upside is that I can get more out of the meanings, since I've been researching some of the cards so much. The downside...I'm not sure there is a downside.

Just curious I guess.
 

Ravenswing

visions...

Hudson--

Yes, I see my imagery. I think that when one designs a deck, it is a reflection of their psyche and a model of their perception of 'reality'.

If one's deck is a true working of the moment, I don't really see how one **wouldn't** see it. My only question is that if one has designed a deck, why use any other??

off to my own drawing board
Ravenswing
 

HudsonGray

*BIG smile!* Yes! I was thinking THAT too.

But a little voice inside still says 'I like the art in this one & that one & ohh....THAT one!'.

When a friend designed hers back in 1985 she'd been using Rider Waite & the Thoth deck. Once she got hers done, the other decks got pushed into the drawer & never saw the light of day for years. She said she got much better readings with 'hers'.
 

blue_fusion

well, i love to draw. so i like to draw the images in my cards and color them in my computer. however, i did experiment in mixing collage and drawing in my Sailor Tarot deck.

it was easier with the Sailor Tarot since i just had to "clean" the images and relate the symbols of the cards to their corresponding characters in the series. however, in the second deck (the Masque Tarot), i had to experiment with symbolism, and had struggles as to whether to retain rider-waite imagery or create my own. i played in between, mixing my own understanding and imagery with the traditional imagery. one can actually see my progress there, from the first few cards i made with little symbolism and ssemingly quite basic, to the more ornate ones.

Lastly, i want each of the dekcs i create to look unique and different, so i kinda decide on a visual theme before i create the deck. i do hope that its apparent in the sailor tarot, that i wanted it to be a play of colors. with the masque deck, i kinda created a specific style for it (drawing from various inspirations - from stained glass, to art nouveau to van gogh) and achieved a somewhat weird effect.

:)
 

HudsonGray

Ravenswing, make sure you put down thoughts on each card as they're done, so you don't loose any of the ideas that caused you to make them that way. If a book seems too complicated right now, there's nothing that says you can't do a 'diary' online of the deck as it's being made. A small section on each card would be nice, and if it's up online then anyone who gets the deck can go look at what you've written.

There are whole sites just regulated to diary making or journaling--free of charge. I found out about those when reading an article about teens around the world making their 'diaries' accessable to other teens. Adults can use them too. That way you don't have to get a web host & pay fees (but back up all you put on it to floppy, so you have a copy 'just in case').