Tarot Deck Creation Group - Where do you start?

[kayne]

We have started covering this in the first Tarot Deck Creation Group thread and seen so many great examples of first cards (Big thanks to Hush, Morgeinne, Melvis, blumoon and Nightwalker) but I thought it was worth starting a new thread specifically about where you start...

SO! You have your theme sorted, you have decided on the type of media you will use and have some great ideas about particular things you want to appear in your deck... You may have even decided if you want to do all 78 cards or concentrate mainly on the Majors, Minors or court cards... Where do you start???

[kayne]

I always seem to start with the fool, not only because it is the first card in many decks but because it is my favourite. I have done so many fool cards and decided I don't really like that theme, style of drawing, technique etc... and start again. From there I usually do the majors I find easiest or the ideas come to me for first.

In the most recent deck I am working on I am using models to draw from for each of the cards... and since my friends and I are the easiest to access I make them do all sorts of different poses, photograph them... wait for the photo to be developed and go from there. At the moment I am calling my latest deck 21st Century Tarot (http://www.geocities.com/tarot21stcentury). It was trying out techniques for the FACT deck that inspired me to do a whole deck this way... also I really want a contemporary deck...

[Hush]

well, im only doing my first deck so i can ionly say how i started this one - which was to find out the size of the card, decide which card im gonna do and pull the image out my file.

this is what i done with my 'high priestess', i already had a biiig file of buffy pictures because i already make a lot of banners/wallpapers etc, so i pulled out the image i thought stuited the card and made it. then i tried out another, which was the death card, in the same sort of style. and then i started planning the deck. i decided i was going to do a deck with just a major arcana feel so i started with the list of the rider waite major arcana, taking out the cards i didnt feel suited and kind of....taking it and adding bits, editing bits, swapping things around, that sort of thing. and then started working through them, i think pretty much every image has a certain way i already know its going to look.

kayne: i love that deck! omg, its so good!

[Liliana]

I really like your new deck kayne, Ill be buying it once its published ;)


Anyway, Ihavent done a full deck, but I start when I do a card with a blank image of the appropriate size, then I think about what the card Im working on meansto me, after that I decide on symbols to express what it means to me, then I go to clip art sites to find images to use on the card, which usually takes a looong time. Then Icollagethem all together using a paint program (called gimp, its for linux)and I have a card.

If I was doing my own complete deck Id start with whatever card I managed to see in my mind first. Most people have favorite cards that making will be easier than the others, id start with the easy ones so I wouldnt have them cluttering up my mind when figuring out how to do the harder ones :)

:THP

[catboxer]

I started off not being able to draw. I decided maybe I could do the trump cards as a series of mandalas, using colors and shapes that express the idea of each card, because after all to draw a mandala you don't really have to be able to reproduce anything more than a straight line. So I started with the Magician, and liked it ok.

After trump XXI I had drawn 21 mandalas, and I was left with the Fool, and decided a mandala just wouldn't work. By that time I was ready to attempt a human figure, and it worked out pretty well. Then I went through the suited cards -- mostly abstract, but as I went, I started putting in drawings of people, animals and objects.

By the time I finished those I realized I had to re-do the trumps, in a more traditional format, with the human figures. I found I had learned to draw a little bit. By the end, the project had taken four years.

I used colored pencils and watercolor stock, and to print a deck I scanned and reduced the images and printed them on a playing-card-like stock. I still haven't set up a web site. When I figure out how to do it, I'll post couple of them here.

Dave D74

[Melvis]

I make a list in Excel of all the cards and then list any correspondences, symbols, quotes, images that fit in with each card. If I'm doing a deck from a TV Show (which I am, BTW), this is where I list the characters that go with the cards, and maybe a quote from the show that I will use either on the card or in the explanation that goes with it.

I also make separate directories in my Pictures directory for each suit plus one for Majors. Then, when I come across an image that I like, one that seems suited for a particular card, or maybe just for a particular suit, I save it in those directories. Then I use the Browse function in Paint Shop Pro to browse through thumbnail images of the picture in each directory. This is where the visual part of the card comes together, and suddenly I'll see things that would illustrate the connecting elements that I've listed in my Excel file for each card.

I guess it's just that I get so many ideas running around in my head when I start a deck, that I need a way to get them all down before I forget them!

Anyway, here's the Lovers card from the TV Show deck I'm creating (just for fun, not for any kind of profit). I have a few more touchups to make on it, but you'll probably be able to recognize the show from this card, if you're a fan. I'd tell you the name outright, but this show's creators are *fanatical* about no other website but their own have *any* images of their show. So don't mention the name of the show, please, if you know it. (Big Brother is probably watching, you know! ;) )

Peace,

Melvis

[Liliana]

Hey, good choice for the card, a "Stellar Journey: The New Age" deck is a good idea heheh ;)

[Melvis]

LOL :D

'Stellar Journey'...I like that, Liliana! Excellent pseudonym! ;)

Peace,

Melvis
:TSTRE

[Maan]

really like your deck Melvis!!!!
I would love to see some other cards....

I started out comparing al the Fool cards from my decks and writing down what symbols i liked and the ones i didn't like. After that i wrote down from the top of my head what the meaning was of the cards.

I wish i had a scanner so i could show some cards i finished :(

[Rhiannon]

So far I've found what I believe is a perfect theme! It's a series of books and reading them with Tarot in mind, you could almost belive the author based them on tarot! (no, it's not by Piers Anthony ;) ). I'm gonna keep you guys guessing for a bit longer, don't want to spoil the surprise.

Anyway, now I'm doing my research. In my case that means reading through the books again and paying very close attention to the different characters and situations. If a particular character or situation strikes me, I'll write down the "scene" or quote for future reference.

Once I've finished my research I plan on paring it down a bit.

Then I'll either (by some miracle) learn to draw or convince a (probably unwilling) friend to draw it for me.

I'll keep you posted on my progress. In the meantime I'm enjoying learning from you!

Rhiannon :)

[Morgeinne]

What I did was, first I made a list of all the majors (because I like to start with those) and, since I was doing a themed deck, I made a list of tentative characters/situations that I wanted for each card. Example

0 The Fool - Dobby the House-Elf
1 The Magickian - Harry Potter
2 The High Priestess - Hermione Granger
3 The Empress - Minerva McGonagall
4 The Emperor - Albus Dumbledore

(to show an example of a specific situation - I had The Chariot - Ron as the Knight in the chess scene in the first book)

Then I started making montages of my favorite cards first...I've also started a quote tarot deck, and for that one, I started on the Fool, but for my HP deck I started with the Lovers. Basically, I picked the first card I felt like doing that I was absolutely sure I'd use the character/situation for.

Now...not sure if that made any sense to you...but if it helps, good.

*hugs*
Morgeinne

[Ravenswing]

as a student of both kabalah and the tarot, the deck i'm designing is an attempt to synthesize these two. one of the unique qualities of this deck is that i am using ordinal rather than cardinal numbering in the minors. so, instead of the 'eight of swords' i have the 'eighth sword'; the 'ace of cups' is the 'first cup'.
this means that there is only one object per card-- the 'fifth wand' has on it only one wand; this wand IS the fifth wand. this becomes rather nice from the artistic point of view in that you don't clutter up the illustration with the objects.
i've used a modernized version of gematria (the kabalah's version of numerology) to create a series of poetry for each one of the cards. the tarot card is a visual interpretation of this verse.

as an example, here is the verse for the first sword:


the first sword

dispelling illusion,
the first sword rises
from the waters of the last cup


naked and glittering,
it slices freely
as the duality before it


one after understanding,
learn carefully

---lest it be wielded unwisely.



this deck has been about 15 years in the making, with many false starts, re-editing and re-structuring... but i feel that i am finally on the path to bringing them into manifestation.
if anyone is interested in the gematria, drop me a line. it's one of my obsessions, and if you like playing with numbers, it's a facinating topic

love, light and life
steve

[Pamela]

Start painting the card that you are the most passionate to draw/paint. That will be the card that doesn't take any effort because your visionary ideas about that card will be pouring out of you!

[Metal Queen]

I find the creation of one's own Tarot deck comes as a combination of planning and spontaneous inspiration relating to the many different themes.

My Tarot begun with "Sun",and has become a journey of exploring the Major Arcana first...all done in acrylic on large stretched canvasses.The completion may take me a decade,but it's all about enjoying the process of creativity.

[SkadisPhoenix]

Well I've been planning my deck for ages, finally had it typed up, and started the first card (The Wheel of Fortune), and my computer screen dies (thank god for the boyfriend's laptop!), so, while I can do the cards, I can't get to my file! Ah well, I still know how they're going to look, it's just not written down. :P

I knew that I wanted it on paper, and I was either going to use acrylic paints or watercolour pencils. I've decided acrylic, as I'm more comfortable with them, and it's going to be fun.

I went with the wheel first, as no matter what happened, I just saw that image in my head, no other, so here we are, got some drawn, then I'll paint, and then find a scanner if mine isn't big enough... :P