The Destiny Tarot(and other terrible decks)

It is utterly totally mindblowingly beyond me how Shadowfox's decks get published. There is simply no explanation. Come, come ye fans and defend them. Nobody ever comes forward and nobody ever lists them as favorite decks. Or even remotely likeable. Although I did see a positive blog review of one the other day that screamed *free gift from publishers* from between the lines. I can sense the stench of complimentary review copies a mile off. Really, does anybody really want them? While dozens of talented decks sink unpublished without trace...

This is the first time I have ever seen any of the Shadowfox decks.
They are certainly....odd.

In that weird uncanny valley aspect.

Aesthetically, the Shadowfox at least looks uniform. With everything drawn in grayscale and mostly centered with large wide space around it, the look is sleek and simple, like a deck of playing cards. The interpretations are also mostly identifiable by body language since there are no backgrounds. I think it works well as a simplified basics deck.

The Heroes deck in contrast is much more cluttered, and the well-sketched backgrounds contrast highly with the figures. When they were in grayscale and slightly washed out, their texture-less, smooth, plastic doll-like features weren't as noticeable. The Heroes all show the lack of detail very prominently.

I'll be honest, I've seen worse. I would mention by name but some are by people respected and members here.

I frankly find many of the RWS clones ghastly to look at, twee, poorly drawn, or ill conceived in some way. I support creativity and alternate visions, but I am pretty much into historical decks because the look of many modern ones puts me off.

Metafizzypop said:

The Destiny doesn't seem bad to me. Amateurish, yes, but I wouldn't call it ugly. What I would call ugly is a deck called the Eroteme Tarot.

This is a tarot deck based on fashion. That's a shock to me considering that fashion is the business of trying to make people look good. But this tarot deck....jeez.

This wins the award for the THE MOST HIDEOUS tarot deck I've ever seen in my life (and I've seen a lot of decks in my life).

http://olegmitrofanov.com/cards.html

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That's a joke. I can't believe it's a tarot deck . My sincere condolences to those who own it!

rylla said:

That's a joke. I can't believe it's a tarot deck . My sincere condolences to those who own it!

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Don' condole with me. I'm quite fond of it

GlitterNova said:

'Folksy' or 'simple' art is definitely a thing. It's not a thing I'm in to, granted, but I can still understand why people might like it. The only type of decks that I find truly ugly are the ones with awkward CG-rendered people in them. For example: http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/tarot-of-the-night/ Sorry Richard Shadowfox! There's no way I could take that deck seriously with those graphics.

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Haha seriously! Those look like badly rendered poser scenes(a computer program where you can pose and animate premade 3d characters.

There are certainly ways to make cd art presentable though, just nobody wants to see something that looks like a screenshot from playstation one on their tarot cards.

This is some of my cg art, would you guys use a deck with characters like this:

http://s12.postimg.org/b8dbwp9z1/nice_shading.png

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Thank you, I needed that today.
The Page of Swords is really funny.

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gregory said:

I'm rather fond of the Destiny - and it CERTAINLY isn't the ugliest deck I have ever seen. Not even close. I am not naming the one I think IS, as I THINK its creator may be a member here

Yes Glitternova - but Shadowfox's Deck of Heroes is EVEN WORSE. Note particularly the Page of Swords.

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/heroes/

That said, I read with it once - at my sitter's request - and holy crap it did a good job.

His first deck is one of my LEAST favourite in my collection.

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/shadowfox/

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Yeah, that Page of Swords is painful, ifyaknowwatimean.