True Black Tarot: Humanity as artifacts of our beliefs

Arthurdubya

I hope you'll have some representations of older personalities in the deck. Age doesn't have to be antithetical to beauty.

That's a very eye-opening comment. It's difficult to see outside of your own circle, and these figures have all been modeled by people in my own circle of friends. What Major Arcana card(s) do you think would be best suited to older personalities? And between the King and Queen of Wands or Pentacles, which pair would best be represented by older models?
 

rylla

For me Pentacles, and from the Majors first of all Hermit, Hierophant, Emperor, Death and maybe Wheel of Fortune.
 

DDwarks

DDwarks:

Yes! I was afraid it was too subtle, since some people on facebook have picked up on it immediately and others took a while (or needed explaining). I'm glad you guys got it though!

When you say intergalactic, are you talking about my written explanation for the deck, or is that something you're picking up from just that Moon card? I was kind of thinking of having the card backs be star maps... :livelong:

It's just from the Moon card.
Have you seen the movie Interstellar? It reminded me of it a little.
To me, the inter galactic idea comes from the card showing a world inside a world. The woman on the card, seemingly in our world has access to another greater one through the water vessel.
At the same time though, is she from our world and has access to the greater universe or is she in the greater universe manipulating herself in our own?
See Inter galactic! Love it!

Now to have my say about the age thing the others are talking about, I personally think it goes COMPLETELY AGAINST your theme.
We are talking space, other dimensions here which means that time and therefore age doesn't come into it.
That's only for us non space travellers!
Do I think that the Hermit should look old? NO........
I think something on the card needs to make him look like he's been around a long time and therefore knows his $hit.
But that's all in the symbolism and artistic representation of the card. Like with your Moon card.

That's my 2 cent!

I LOVE LOVE the back design idea of the stars (please make it black rather than dark blue!) BUT BUT BUT I strongly disagree with the others on representing different age groups.
 

euripides

BUT BUT BUT I strongly disagree with the others on representing different age groups.

see. can't please all the people all the time.

I must admit, that on reflection, I wondered if rugged, weathered characters would actually fit with the aesthetic.
 

rylla

see. can't please all the people all the time.

I must admit, that on reflection, I wondered if rugged, weathered characters would actually fit with the aesthetic.

As you say. Can't please everyone.

There was the Lumina tarot where people complained that all the characters were young, beautiful people.
 

DDwarks

As you say. Can't please everyone.

There was the Lumina tarot where people complained that all the characters were young, beautiful people.

Yes that's true. I do love the Lumina as it is though.
I don't see tarot as a representation of the human body. Just the human soul. Older characters in a common tarot deck usually embody knowledge and wisdom that we, as perishable human bodies can relate too. Old is wise, from a human perspective.

In an inter galactic deck, time doesn't exist.

This mean that the Hierophant could be represented as 10 years old looking boy "plugged" into several galaxies at the same time, including our own. That's more knowledge and wisdom than any of our (old) Spiritual teachers put together!
 

Padma

Hmmm...interesting artwork, I do like the rather Spartan feel to it. Sometimes minimalism is key to seeing clearly.

I also like the way you have done the actual glasses and cups in that suite. The Moon card is very pretty, too - but doesn't evoke a lot for me. Maybe I am just too traditional in my tastes.

I am also - like Reall, back on page one of this thread - a lover of animals, rabbits in particular, and while I know there is rawness in life, and not everything is pretty, that Ace Swords just totally puts me off. (You'll find that often, among tarot readers, if there is even one card that puts them out, the deck is traded off. Or not purchased. Having said that, you cannot please all of the people, all of the time! If you tried to pander to everyone, your art voice would get lost).

Continuing on a theme of not everything is pretty, if that really holds true for you, then it would be nice to see some not perfect or not young bodies. It would be great if some of the people were not "perfect 10" models.

I also, like Euripides, noted the lack of eyes to look into, which makes the deck a bit cold and soulless for me...

These reasons, taken together, mean I would not be able to purchase the deck, myself.

Not meaning to damn you with faint praise, and I hope I am not coming across like that. The art is technically quite well done. (I trained as a graphic designer, specialised in technical drawing, and have a strong portfolio myself, so I feel I can say that with credibility). I do wish you success with your deck. It strikes me as one of those dark decks that develop a cult following, which should bring you many fans! Good luck with your Kickstarter campaign. :) I'm sure you'll do well.
 

Arthurdubya

Oh boy, I seem to have triggered quite the response!

I've gotten quite a few reactions from the 9 of Swords, and angry-face emoticons from Facebook. I suppose I have to think it's odd, considering the RWS deck has a man literally impaled by 10 swords, and I've seen more people worried about the bunny. I understand this is personal preference though, and we make no worthy statements without pushing some people away. I thought the 9 of Swords was quite tame compared to what I had in mind for the 10 of Swords.:cool4:

And I do realize I need to stay the course with whatever my vision is and not water it down too much with the ideas of others, but the comment about older models did open up new ideas for me. I shoot photo reference of the people that are available to me, which are my own circle of friends. If nobody had pointed out that they were all coincidentally young, I would never have thought to look outside of that box. The Magician and a King/Queen pair would be excellent modeled by older men and women.

With that said, i have to sort out how to actually portray them as being older. There is a lot of age and wisdom in the face, but Yes, all my models eyes are covered and faces are not entirely intelligible, but that was on purpose. In the context of this deck (and my artwork in general), people are not specific identities, but vessels for ideas. I don't want the window to the soul visible, because the cards are not about their souls. They are about what they stand for (like the movie V for Vendetta).

The Hermit was mentioned a couple of times, and I think it'd be amazing to have him portrayed by a distinctively young boy, really pushing that idea of timelessness and "all this has happened before, and will happen again" feeling.

Ans there's a fun idea for the Fool that I've had since Day 1. Stay tuned, and I thank you all again for the input! It's really got me thinking
 

Padma

Perhaps your older models could have their faces 3/4 turned away, so only eyelash line/cheekbone/chin profile is apparent. That would allow you to show some age, as some of the facial skin would show, without exposing the face much at all, and the eyes would not be visible. Hands also spring to mind as the perfect visual for showing age and character, without showing the whole person.
 

Padma

Nix this post! I got it totally wrong ;)