The problem with many decks...

...is that it seems like the artist has devoted all their energies to the Trumps first, but when it comes to the suit cards, I often get the feeling that they were tired of the endeavor by the time they finished the trumps. I try to check out new decks at conventions, especially if the illustrator is present at the booth, but most of the time I get the feeling that they used up their brilliance on the trumps and decided to phone it in on the rest.

Anybody else get that impression?

I don't have any decks like that, but I have heard that there may be such decks. In my opinion, if the artist gets burned out doing the majors, then the pips should be left non-scenic, just the suit spots, perhaps with a floral embellishment as in the TdM. Of course, a lot of people hate that too.

You should take a peek at both Bonefire Tarot, and Rosetta Tarot. The artists for these two worked straight through and stuck with it til there were 78 wonderful and original creations produced.

I do know what you mean though.

I do pick up something like this on occasion. Usually with the cards that are perhaps mundane compared to others when looking solely at imagery. I would love to see more creators actually take these cards and have a scene showing what they portray. Example? 8 of wands. Purleez, no more staffs just whizzing through the air.

However, where I do get a peeve going is when I look at the companion book. It really bugs me when you see 3 / 4 pages on a Major Arcana card, and then see each of the other suit cards only warrants a couple of brief paragraphs, sometimes even less than that

Sorry for grouchy mood today. We had bad storms here over night, and my partner is now repairing the roof ready for potentially two more nights of onslaught. Sleep was impossible and adrenal glands were on overtime for around 2 hours when it was at its worst. I am not usually this grouchy or critical.

Oh, Yes! I pick this up in 'heavily-themed' decks a lot; either the designer got tired halfway through (78 cards is a lot of cards), or they based their design on someone's story characters and there aren't enough interesting characters to fill the deck...so they fudge around hoping no one will notice....

shadowdancer said:

I do pick up something like this on occasion. Usually with the cards that are perhaps mundane compared to others when looking solely at imagery. I would love to see more creators actually take these cards and have a scene showing what they portray. Example? 8 of wands. Purleez, no more staffs just whizzing through the air.......

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The whizzing wands are an attempt to portray swiftness (Mercury in Sagittarius). Maybe Superman (faster than a speeding bullet) or the Flash would be better?

Having just completed my own deck, I have to LOL...funny, I had to slog thru the majors, cause I just couldn't wait to get to the minors!!

The minors intrigue me...even more mysterious than the majors! Real life! Who could dream this stuff up??

But i went with "moodies"....right up the middle...no 'characters' (well, there IS a spider on one...) but all kindsa stuff showing off the feel of the card.

I posted on the Llewelyn earlier on in the week. The artist went to town on the Majors, very beautifully done - then the Minors !!! Doesn't even look like the same artist did them, the style is different, very poorly done. I tried to get over it, I really wanted to like this deck but I couldn't.

The Liber T is one deck where it is the Minors that make this deck, so much time and effort must have gone into them and it shows.

I think Liz Dean's Golden Tarot fits your description. The majors are beautiful but the pips are just plain lazy. When I bought the deck, all I could see were the majors on the box which seduced me to buy this deck. When I took the deck out of the box I was so disappointed.

I echo the comments on the Bonefire deck. Each and every card has been given individual attention and love. Stunning stunning deck.

Kgirl said:

I think Liz Dean's Golden Tarot fits your descripton...

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Slightly off topic, but may I ask what the card stock is like on this deck?

Back on topic, I just purchased the Rosetta Tarot; I'm very curious to see the treatment of the pips. I find it very interesting each suit is done with a different medium to impart a different feeling.