Vintage-style Marseille deck, looking for feedback (hoping to kickstart this summer)

imarya

Those sure are some spiffy bags!

This is so fun--first time I've been involved with a kickstarter. :)
 

spiralingcadaver

Thanks for jumping in! It's been quite a first experience for us, too (we've backed quite a few and followed a lot more, and it's always been interesting to see how things develop).

Also, yeah, we really like Shannon's work, she did one of our friend's wedding dresses, even.
 

ueI

I don't think you've addressed the card titles. I noticed that your magician does not use standard Marseilles spelling, but I don't know enough French to say what he should really be called. I do know that your deck and old Marseilles use the same archaic spelling for "king." What other titles did you change or not change, and what are your thoughts on the matter?
 

spiralingcadaver

Hi, we're mostly keeping the spelling intact when there's an accepted older spelling. However, we're mostly avoiding the misspellings, intentional or otherwise (such as the "empereup" instead of "empereur") and stranger notation (like "viiii" instead of "ix").

While some theorized symbolism is lost in the changes we've made, the symbolism is largely speculative and based on specific illustrators' decisions, and the thought on this deck is that we're attempting to capture the sensibility of the original, which isn't, we feel, based on the quirks of the specific decks.

Since the jodorowsky/camoins(IIRC) deck is great if you want an updated/"remastered" version of the marseilles and there are a number of photographic reproductions for historical accuracy, we wanted to make something less covered elsewhere, in marseille sophistiqué deck.

(I think I mentioned this earlier, but) we're going to correct the cups face cards' text (as a backer caught that) and the 2 of coins will have a better translation, but all of the other text in the thumbnails on this thread's first post are what we're using, and we'll be posting the final images for our backers before going to print, for any last suggestions.
 

blue_fusion

Good luck on your project! I really like the fact that you drew them with a slight cartoony feel (like in the face of the Queen of Cups) but made the feel of the cards vintage. It's a nice way to connect what's new to the old.

And, we may have used the same medieval squirrel picture as the basis for the Happy Squirrel card! :D
 

spiralingcadaver

Hehe, thanks, I had a lot of fun giving some of the more neutral expressions some specific character.

Also, cool, do you have a link to your squirrel?
 

blue_fusion

Hehe, thanks, I had a lot of fun giving some of the more neutral expressions some specific character.

Also, cool, do you have a link to your squirrel?

Well, it was supposed to be a surprise card with my deck, but then someone else announced it here, so I guess there's no harm in posting it: http://smg.photobucket.com/user/necromancer151/media/MARIACELIASQUIRREL.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

I Googled "medieval" and "squirrel" and used the top results as bases for my drawing. :)
 

spiralingcadaver

Oh, that design's a lot of fun! I particularly like the background/texture, and the color choices. I did about the same when looking for my version of the card, and the tail definitely looks like we were referencing similar pieces.



...Also, phew! The kickstarter just finished, and as I'm typing this, I realized how stressed I was, even once it became a sure thing that we'd at least be able to print the deck. Time to start finalizing files and printing specs... no time to rest on our laurels ;)
 

blue_fusion

Oh, that design's a lot of fun! I particularly like the background/texture, and the color choices. I did about the same when looking for my version of the card, and the tail definitely looks like we were referencing similar pieces.

...Also, phew! The kickstarter just finished, and as I'm typing this, I realized how stressed I was, even once it became a sure thing that we'd at least be able to print the deck. Time to start finalizing files and printing specs... no time to rest on our laurels ;)

Yes, the tail was the first I noticed in yours as well.

Congratulations on your successful kickstarter campaign! :)
 

spiralingcadaver

Thanks! (Sorry for the delay, it's been a busy week, trying to finish this stuff up.)

Also, yeah, the tail was a unifying element throughout.