The Wickwillow Tarot formerly the Stained Glass tarot

[Mallah]

Moon in Sagittarius. "Great Strength."

Can't believe I only have the 10 still. That's coming this afternoon/evening. Then the court cards.

[Mallah]

Oppression... BWAHAHAHAH.....

The 10 wands surround the smouldering logs. They smoke but will not burn. The wands are stealing all the energy, and preventing the blaze. This is fighting fire with fire.

[truelighth]

I finally caught up with this thread after some time. I love the new cards. Wonderful work!

[Mallah]

...coming soon to a pole near you!

the naughty, haughty hottie.

Guys, give it up, we are SO not in her league. She would roll you up and smoke you.

"...trouble ahead, a lady in red,
take my advice, you'd be better off dead!"

[Mallah]

Ok; back when I did the "rings" suit, I decided to call this guy a "hero" instead of a knight. But they are clearly knights, so I'll probably end up changing them back. Only problem is that then both "King" and "Knight" will have a "K" in the corner. Maybe "K" for King, and "Kn" for Knight? I'll have to play with it.

Also, I'm going to re-do all the rings court cards after this...not the borders/frames, but the characters. The "flat playing card" thing isn't working for me.

Also, I'm starting to wrestle with the color palette for the swords cards, which are coming up next.

[Mallah]

I've just realized that TGC has a "Jumbo" size that works pretty well with my dimension ratios. When i started off designing, they had not introduced their "Tarot" size...and I was too far along to make the change when they did. But their "jumbo size" will work pretty well, and I'll only have to do a little edit in photoshop or on the scanner to get the "bleed" right. This is good news, because I'll be able to have the deck in a large size as well...closer to the Thoth. Further, If I want, with seperate scans, I can do the smaller size as well.

I'm still a ways out yet, but it's good to know where I'm headed with this. With 28 more to do, I'm expecting maybe early spring. I have to finish my cards and make an edit pass over several cards that need tweaking. Then the final scans and adjustment to the overall dimensions before submitting them.

I'm pumped.

[Mallah]

There's been a change of plan with the printers I'm going to be using. I'm going to be going with a finished card that is 3.5 by 5.5...which is considerably larger than what I was planning before. That means a bigger image in the end, which will be very nice. But the cards will have a different "aspect ratio" (height and width). What this means is that the cards are narrower in relation to how tall they are. So adjustments will have to be made most (but not all) of the cards I've already done (and that's 50!). Most of these adjustments can be done in the computer, just by "cropping" them different. But with some, that will cut out essential content..and so I will have to extend the image out about 1/2 inch all around, to accomodate for the new dimension ratio. It's a hassle, but better to know it now, because I still have 28 more to do!

So when I start the suit of swords (that's next), I'll be working in the new dimensions (a very slightly taller card).

That's why you don't see the gold frame border on this one...that frame will have to dissapear from the Princess and Hero of wands. I suppose I can put it back in digitally if I want to.

Then I'll have to go back, when all the cards are done, and card by card, tweak the images so they work. Many can just be "squeezed" a bit, and you'd never know the difference. But when there's a circle in the composition (like the Wheel of Fortune) it ends up with a slight oval shape thats more noticable...so that will have to stay in the same ratio, and have the artwork extended up and down to make the image taller. Card by card, each one will have to be adjusted.


I'm happy about the larger size, but I had temporary panic when I realized I hadn't left enough "bleed" on the images, and would have to fix that. Now I know what to do. I just have to DO it.

Anyhow, here's the Queen of Wands. I have the King all done in line drawing...I'll probably color him tomorrow; then I'm going to go back and upgrade the characters on the Rings courts to bring them up to this level...then it's on to the swords, in the new size.

Thanks for reviewing all these, folks!

[ofigenno]

I like the style and the vibe.

[Mallah]

Now I'll go back and upgrade the courts in the rings suit. Then it's on to the swords.

This deck will be ready by March, I bet!

http://photobucket.com/wickwillowtarot

(the link to the whole deck so far)

[wooden-eye]

Hi Mallah -I just spent way too long reading this entire thread.
The Deck is going amazingly well and holds together utterly.
What I really want to congratulate you on though is the quality of this thread as a very real blog describing the creation process in all of of its glory. You have really committed to telling your story and I realise that this is an effort in itself. I am at card number 46 of my own deck and would love to seek feedback as fearlessly as you have, but find the bits which are not just the art work are consistently deferred. My current aim is to get to 50 cards and spend as long as I need updating my website etc.
It is great to be included in your journey. Your card interpretations are great- very deep and I know this can sometimes be a real effort to synthesize into a single card image, also you write really well.. Now if this thread was a fully illustrated book- that would be something I would buy- ah well, a girl can dream.