Major Tom's Tarot of Marseilles

Le_Corsair

Imagemaker said:
IThe Empress, however, looks to me like Arnold Schwartzenegger in drag :D I mean, that jaw! those knees! I don't need a really beautiful Empress, but I want a more female one!



Imagemaker echoes my own sentiments, but I wasn't going to use the "D" word myself. :D I do think that the two cards featuring women are not very feminine, and could maybe use a little work, unless you are happy with them at this point, in which case de gustibus non est disputandum.

Bob :THERM
 

Lady Eclipse

Hi Major Tom,

Please remember that the forthcoming critique is just my opinion. It is intended to be helpful so please do not take it the wrong way.

I can see how this deck is inspired by the Marseilles deck. Your use of color and the drawing style definitely reflects this. I've never opened mine since it is a deck in my collection so I don't know what all of the cards look like originally.

The Conjuror really gives a much more modern feel to the card as compared with the original. I really like his hat and the way you put him in a power suit. He looks strong and like he can really do something powerful. This is my favorite out of your examples.

The High Priestess: I must agree with those who feel she looks too masculine. She doesn't have to be gorgeous nor skinny but I do think she should at least look feminine. Maybe a little make-up would help accomplish this? I am curious about the choice of outfit too. It's almost like she should be swinging off a pole in a strip club or standing on a street corner?

The Empress also looks far too masculine. Again, I feel she needs some feminine touches and I think her arms should be more in proportion to each other. Why does she have wings?

The Emperor does look more modern in the way he's dressed. I love the backwards baseball cap. He does give the appearance of a rapper but IMO, the gray hair/beard doesn't work well with this look. He simply looks much too old to be a rapper and to be wearing such a modern style. If his hair/beard were darker, even to a yellow blonde shade, I think it would look better.

The Pope has nice color and design but to me, he looks like an evil politician in the face. He reminds me of someone but at the moment I cannot think of who it is. Is he supposed to be sitting or is he floating? To me, it looks like he's one of those floating balloons used in a parade and the 2 boys below are getting him ready for display.

Anyway, that's my observations. I hope you will find them helpful.

Joy to you,
Maralee
 

HudsonGray

I almost expected hairy legs on the Empress! Nobody messes with this woman! I had a German/Austrian aunt who looked similar to this.... (and I know those aren't wings, that's her throne).
 

Major Tom

:laugh:

I must stress that these can be adjusted - I'd have to do a bit of work to get them ready for publication. :laugh:

I must admit I was suprised people felt the High Priestess was too masculine. :| It must be the jaw line and thick forearm. :laugh: I'll see what I can do.

I knew the Empress looked a bit masculine but reckoned it worked for a woman who was always pregnant. :laugh: Her arms could be in better proportion.

I'm happy with the Conjuror, Emperor and Pope. :)

Here's a card I've titled VI Love:

What do you think?
 

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Le_Corsair

I'm glad you took the input on the female cards kindly, Tom. You disappeared for a day or so and I worried that your feelings had been hurt. I actually like this deck so far, and wouldn't mind buying a copy when you finish it. I'd like to see what you could do with RWS-style minors instead of Marseilles pips. Illustrated minors in the Marseilles style, if you take my meaning, would improve sales more than pips would, I think, at least in the US.

p.s. I want to see the Hermit and Death!

Bob :THERM
 

baba-prague

This one made me laugh - in a nice way. It certainly makes the contrast between the two women well. Though I felt a little sorry for everyone in this card! (but then perhaps we are supposed to?)
 

Cerulean

Hello Major Tom

Your use of color for Marseilles is actually quite fun and I like it's clarity.

The masculine figures show your strength and I believe are close to what you want to show. When you use classic costume with modern touches, it shows both a traditional nod and modernized taste.

But I would choose one or the other for the majors: old fashioned costumes with updated touches or accents or newer figures with a touch of the old emblems or standards. Do you want your feminine figures to be slinky and long or staid and humerous? Just a thought about questions people think about for their cards.

Feminine and childish figures can be challenging. Because it can be hard to do perspective and to do an idealized proportion on what we envision as feminine form, perhaps the costuming you might choose would be a little more flowing and classic. That might help with the full feminine figures with microscopic shoes and shortened legs, because the perspective distortion is sometimes distracting for us old-style collectors.

May I suggest that it's the omission that give delicacy to read as childish or feminine: The eyes will have detail, not much detail in the brows or nose, a small line or two for the chin and suggestion of color for the mouth read as feminine. The bold line for masculine figures with equal emphasis on all features isn't the same.

To be honest, yes, old style decks have distortions and not all the fine engravings look very good...I have hopes that you do not mind to look at some of what I consider these crude examples and perhaps maybe the iconography and look of the feminine forms might be of interest to you


http://translate.google.com/transla...ot+de+gumppenberg&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Please click on the links to his discussion of the different cards or 'Triumphs' note on the bottom of the page-- I tried to link to the exact card pages and came up only with the first page. I was trying to come up with a Marseilles page where some of the cards were halfway between fine engraving and somewhat crude...but this is my preference and my way of doing tarot drawings and such can be too closely involved with looking at traditional examples. If you are breaking free and just using a similar color palette...my commentary might not be what you are looking for now.

You have a fun, friendly style and sometimes that is all that counts for carrying your project forward.

Take care and best wishes on your evolving project!

Mari H.
 

Cerulean

Here's another page...

I just wanted to give you another link to browse particular decks as you work on your TdM design...some of the faces of the courts and designs and close ups are interesting to check out. At some point, you can pick and choose the color scheme and perhaps use these for inspiration:

http://www.gambler.ru/sukhty/WWPCM/italy/unknown.htm

One probably doesn't see it in my Aeclectic card designs, but I went through my decks for different versions of cards, especially the faces of Temperance and Pages and Three of Pentacles...and half the fun of the design was studies that I worked on.

I hope you are having fun and some of the suggestions feel good to you. It may be just me talking about my design process! If so, thanks for letting me express my ideas and it is kind of you to share your ideas with us.

Mari H.
 

Lady Eclipse

Hi Major Tom,

The Love card is terrific! Not to sound corny but I absolutely LOVE it. The use of color is perfect and the way the two different types of women are competing for the man's attention does echo the "all's fair in love and war" sentiment. You've really outdone yourself on this card...BRAVO!

Joy to you,
Maralee
 

rota

Hi, Major T!
I'm thoroughly enjoying seeing the development of this new group of card designs. Good work, overall!
If I have any criticisms, it would be that the drawings seem a bit faint, due to the linework that's fairly narrow and similar throughout. What about using a wider drawing tool for thicker lines?