"If I Had Only Known When I Started This Deck That ......"

blue_fusion

I used to be on the fence when it comes to borderless decks (Though I did self-publish one, and it was hell to cut!). There's something about them that (used) to make them seem less card-y to me. I appreciated them more (as well as using wider borders) when I shifted to using the Gamecrafter, since off-registered machine cuts tend to be less obvious in borderless or wide-bordered decks.

Also, a bit of a tip. If the colours of the proof deck you get from the printers don't match the ones on your computer screen, try selecting your most colourful card and calibrating your monitor with the card beside it. Or you could ask a friend with a good eye for these things to do it for you.
 

tarotbear

Decks take a massive amount of time and effort to produce, yet are ridiculously cheap to buy, and still people will complain they're too expensive! We should value artists and writers more. If deck creators were paid at plumber's rates, decks would cost about £2000 each :surprise:

As someone who sewed for a living - we know that Time Is Money - although something like a quilt can take untold hours and something like a shirt could take 4 or 5. This is what the buying public does not understand. When you go to Wal*Mart and buy a silk blouse for $20 you cannot expect the sewing professional to make one for you for $15. A custom-made, one-of-a-kind garment as opposed to a mass-produced sweatshop garment will cost you MORE - many buyers do not understand this.

It took me 30 days to draw out my original deck images ... but to colorize them would take me almost a complete year. Should my B/W deck sell for $25 and my colorized deck sell for $3,000? Yes - we should value artists and writers more - but paying someone $4,000 for a deck is a little absurd. There is a difference between 'value' and 'worth.' And unfortunately, artists and writers know that buyers that will shell out $4,000 for a deck do not exist ... it comes with the creative territory.
 

tarotbear

Reversible Card Backs ... Or Not ...

A thought about 'Non-Reversible Card Backs' --

Sometimes the card back you want to create is not reversible - it shows a definite top and bottom. For some people this is a problem - especially when they 'don't want to know' that a particular card in a reading is 'going to come up reversed.' (Personally - I don't have this problem since I don't get card reversals when I shuffle, but most Querents inadvertently reverse cards when they shuffle).

In a thread about 'Card Backs' I saw a beautiful card back created for 'The Wizard's Tarot' which is a whispy gold filigree design against a blue background - and is non-reversible. It started me thinking - since you can chose the card backs for your card fronts - a different back for every front if need be - what if you deliberately created a back design and reversed it randomly on half the deck? In that way some card backs would always be reversed but you would not be able to know if the card fronts would be reversed or not. It could be done....

What do you think - too much work? After all, on TGC you do have an option for a different card back for every single card you are creating - just mix some reversed card backs in!
 

JOdel

That's an interesting idea. For that matter, since no one doing a reading is trying to hide what order the cards are going to come up -- in mean, it isn't a *game*. People aren't betting on which card is going to come up in what order -- why do they even need to all have the *same* back?

Admittedly it would make it obvious that all the cards are parts of the same deck. But there is no reason why the card backs all have to even match. It wouldn't affect the reading. You could back them with, say, a gradient, and let the gradient randomly radiate from any of the four corners of the back of the card if you wanted. You might not even tie the direction the gradient was flowing to the suits.

My own deck's back is absolutely not reversible. But then, it's an illustration. If I'd been thinking about it I might have given it a reversible design, but can't really see that it makes that much of a difference.

I recall that makeplayingcards.com doesn't seem to have an option for multiple designs for the backs of the cards, but clearly other print-on-demand services do.
 

JOdel

Time involved in building a deck

Thinking it over, I'm not really able to pinpoint how long it took me to build my deck, since it was done in a number of stages.

It wasn't even intended to be a deck originally. It was a handful of illustrations to be used to decorate a couple of publication projects. There were only six cards in that first set. It was close to two years before it became evident that the two-volume project was going to have to be a three-volume project or there was going to be problems with opening the .pdf online, and downloading the full-resolution version was going to be impossible for anyone with a slow connection.

So the six cards became nine cards. Which, considering that all of the cards I was using were from the major arcana, was really a fairly hefty chunk of the majors. So I decided to complete the majors. Which took a number of weeks. And once I was closing on the end of that phase I decided that I probably could complete a full deck.

A lot of the time involved was expended on figuring out what character was going to be drafted into depicting each card. Since the whole thing was always going to be tied to a specific theme. And I hit a couple of roadblocks where it came to trying to figure out how I was going to produce a couple of the cards -- for the theme didn't really cover everything that the Rider deck covers (and it needed to be a Rider deck homage, or a fair part of the audience wasn't going to be able to recognize it as the Tarot).

All in all, the actual work took a number of months. Although probably not a full year. But then, I work digitally, so I don't need to wait for the paint to dry, and I don't need to move furniture to get my work space set up. And, once I figure out what I'm going to do, I go ahead and do it.

But it did take a fair amount of time with character design (something like 60+ characters needed to be built), and costuming and setting up the scenes to render.
 

Deaux

If only I had known that...

... working with the structure of a deck would be so inspiring and helpful that I'd get a gazillion NON deck related ideas and have trouble keeping up with the deck as a result!

Seriously, working within the structure of Tarot has been the greatest boon to my artwork in, like... forever!
 

cosmicon

lovely thread! after reading all the posts i feel really positive about seeing my own deck creation to the end. some really helpful comments were to plan and write everything down. i get so caught up in dreaming and looking at inspo that i develop this kind of anxiety about translating these mental images into words on paper, but i've found that through writing, my ideas become more fleshed out and i come up with more interesting stuff than i thought i had! the details just seem to flow really well, and i like doodling in the margins (or in the middle of the paper, haha).

it's also encouraging to hear how long others have been working on their own projects.. it's daunting to think this project may take years but sharing stories like this gives me the motivation to go on. :)

one question though, how would i go about adding something like a "holographic" sheen to repeating elements on my cards? you know, like some baseball or pokemon cards... it's symbolic and not ~just~ an aesthetic touch so hopefully it won't cost a leg and an arm extra.
 

reall

so happy you find this thread helpful and inspiring!^^ ;))
guess time aspect is different for every artist?:) it depends on how you organize and plan your shedule, art media, how many cards you plan to paint, do you plan writing a book? etc!:))
in my case it takes 3months to paint deck/with notes I keep drafting that served for book again 3months, and more 3 for friend to check on my english translation!x,x ;)) and finding publisher is still in progress, so 1yr would be reasonable good time?:)) lolz :))
and holographic do you mean holo foil?:)) that something I would like to see on my cards!:)) but there is not much people doing it?!:)) and only company I know print holo is this http://www.jimiagency.net/
so be sure to post us about your progress and what you learned from it!^^

best luck on your creative journey!^^:)))))))))
 

cosmicon

yeah that's exactly what i want! :-D ahh it's so cute!! i want something to convey a cosmic, sci-fi kind of feel? and the bubble prism option fits perfectly.

i'm notorious for not finishing projects that i start. even 1 month is too long usually for something to hold my attention. i just suck at planning. ^ ^; i'm not going to panic until after a year has passed though, lol. i want to paint all 78 cards but even if i just get all the majors i'll be happy, but i really want the aces and court cards, too. so it's like why stop there? it would be a shame if i don't get through the minors as well. and since this deck will probably be just for me i don't need a book but it would be nice!

too bad i can't magically conjure each card from my imagination, haha.
 

reall

YeY!:)) SO HAPPY TO HEAR THAT!:)) I had same idea moment I see this http://jinyjin.deviantart.com/art/Animalia-Card-Design-WIP-collection-448591150

oh! know what you mean!:)) somehow i always end up doing so many things same time!x,x with new ideas all the time!x,x but lack *focus&determination* to actually work and finish my projects! facepalm ;)) and not once I was thinking will I ever see paint program that can paint from your imagination!XD LOLZ ;)))

don't panic! starting with majors is great idea! and if you fell like doing aces or courts or whatever whenever just do it!:)) imo it's best to work when you have inspiration!:)) if nothing at least will get fantastic holo bookmarks and postcards!XD :))) and be sure to keep us updated!^^ I'm ready to open indiegogo acc just to back this project!:)) WE NEED SOMETHING LIKE THIS!XD TAROT AND ORACLE COMMUNITY NEED THIS BREAKTROUGHXD LOLZ :))

p.s no need to say you counted all the tings I LUV!XD cosmic sci fi sparkling holo cards!:)) and if you opt for pastel colored kawai/cute style even better!^^ lolz so feel free to ask whatever you need help with!XD If nothing I can kick you to work on your ideas!XD lolz ;)) so be sure to post us with some images soon!^^:))

till next!^^ holo rocks!XD ;))))))