Why Tarot Cards Take For Ever To Creat

Ok, I don't know if this topic goes under Talking Tarot, nor do I want it to sound like a stupid question, but why do the illustrators take forever to make tarot cards? I've read that the creator of The Deviant Moon (spelling) to 20 to 25 years to make his tarot cards, why is that? Anyone care to explain?

When I say "Why Tarot Cards Take For Ever To Creat" I don't mean on the publishing, printing and distribution.


Thanks alot.

I'm no artist, but I live with one, so I might have a bit of observational insight...

As far as I know, they're not doodling little pictures on card stock. Each card is a full piece of art, whatever the medium. Multiply that by 78-81ish (title cards, backs, etc...) It's filled not only with centuries of symbolism, but with life, and detail, and layers and layers of medium. Never mind all the re-dos, late add ons, and final tweaks. Then once they're created, they have to go through the lengthy process of publication, whatever that entails (getting paintings into card form, finding a company, networking, writing the lwb, and or companion books)....plus a mess of stuff I haven't even probably considered.

My resident artist has been working on one of his painting for well over a year, and he's not close to done.

Ars longa, vita brevis.

WOW thanks alot Lilija. It's kind of like making a motion picture or a CD album. Darn. Now I know why some artist stick to Oralce Decks most of the time.


Thansk alot Lilija.

You're welcome! I'm sure real artists will chime in with more on the subject, it's just my limited view on it Glad I could be of some help.

The Deviant Moon artist spent 20-25 years from CONCEPT to reality. He only spent three years actually drawing (painting?) the cards. Still, it is a lot of work.

Assuming I have another job that pays the bills I have maybe 2 hours a day to work on my 'projects' (as long as someone else does the housework, you know). Figure 20 hours per card (studying symbolism, history, and traditional images. Making rough sketches, choosing themes. Executing the art.). Mulitply by 78 cards, that's 1560 hours. I'll take off one day a week, so I can do 12 hours a week. That's 130 weeks, or 2 and a half years, unless I take extra days off, get sick, take a vacation, or suffer writers block... and only if I can grind out a card in 20 hours.

25 years is a long time... but art takes what it takes.

Oh yeah, Taamar has the right of it. I forgot about that, but my artist is currently working two jobs, so he paints maybe 8-12 hours a week.

Taamar said:

Assuming I have another job that pays the bills I have maybe 2 hours a day to work on my 'projects' (as long as someone else does the housework, you know). Figure 20 hours per card (studying symbolism, history, and traditional images. Making rough sketches, choosing themes. Executing the art.). Mulitply by 78 cards, that's 1560 hours. I'll take off one day a week, so I can do 12 hours a week. That's 130 weeks, or 2 and a half years, unless I take extra days off, get sick, take a vacation, or suffer writers block... and only if I can grind out a card in 20 hours.

25 years is a long time... but art takes what it takes.

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WOW with that much time, I'd cut my finger off lol.

Thanks a million you guys.

Any reference to the number of years spent on a deck does not really say much. As Taamar already explains, its relative to how much time (hours) you can dedicate while balancing other commitments.

The other major factor is the style and medium used. Some styles are simpler and take less time (a description not a critique), others are more detailed and simply take longer.

Then there is changing your mind along the way, and redoing many cards.

In my case I estimate in the the region of 3,000 hours for 78 images.

Then there is the having issues wih one card and after a while deciding that you will not ALLOW yourself to get on to another till you sort it..... (I just have the gut feeling that if I leave it till last, I will rush a solution to make it all finish....)

And there is also the small matter of inspiration. I well recall hearing Margaret Atwood speaking and she was asked why she hadn't brought out any more poetry for a while, only novels, and when she was going to bring out a new poetry collection. She said (in effect) that you can sit down and write a novel, but for a poem you have to wait for the thumb coming out of the sky and forcing you to.....

She told the story, now listed in famous quotes all over the place:

The day I became a poet was a sunny day of no particular ominousness. I was walking across the football field, not because I was sports-minded or had plans to smoke a cigarette behind the field house — the only other reason for going there — but because this was my normal way home from school. I was scuttling along in my usual furtive way, suspecting no ill, when a large invisible thumb descended from the sky and pressed down on the top of my head. A poem formed. It was quite a gloomy poem: the poems of the young usually are. It was a gift, this poem — a gift from an anonymous donor, and, as such, both exciting and sinister at the same time. I suspect this is the way all poets begin writing poetry, only they don't want to admit it, so they make up more rational explanations. But this is the true explanation, and I defy anyone to disprove it.

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I think this is true of creating cards as well.... I well recall the day I saw the card in my head that made me start on a deck (and no, no-one but me and a very few friends will ever see it, so no-one has to start saving !!!!)