Silverfool
I pimped my Rider Waite deck. I believe it was shadowdancer who gave some of the blondes in the Robin Wood deck black hair with a Sharpie.
Whatever changes you make, test them out on playing cards first and then rub against a sheet of white paper to see if you get any transfer. If you do, then you'll need to spray a light coat of varnish over the cards to seal in the changes you make.
Rodney
Thank you, I will definitely try this! Varnish is definitely a good idea to keep a consistent finish.
It's so challenging to find decks that aren't whitewashed, or decks with "strong females" that aren't sexualized and thin-washed. Or, decks that aren't flat-out racist-but-trying-to-be-inclusive (ugh, the Native American cheeseball Tarot and the sexified Maori Tarot).
I've used Copics on decks in the past to create variation, but you can only do it with some card finishes.
Exactly! I'm glad other people understand the struggle haha. I seriously can't wait until we have more diversity in our tarot card art!
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I have hand 'painted' decks of B/W cards that are printed on laminated/ shiny stock. I found that *permanent* professional art markers (like Design, Pantone, etc) will cover slick card surfaces and that one can produce light struck and shadow areas by certain techniques. First acquire permanent markers in preferred colours, a marker called a 'colourless blender' and a few Qtips. This type of pigment is transparent. If you want to turn some of the figures into a range of skin tones, choose markers in earth tones, like umber, burnt umber, sepia, ocher, dark peach, terra cotta (red-browns/ in the brick family), depending on the depth of the skin tone you want and the richness of rose tones in it.
Do no use black! Would look like streaky shoe polish.
Lightly, using long strokes of the marker 'brush' over the existing figure. Then use the colourless blender's fine point or swipe the 'juice' onto a Qtip, to lift a bit of the colour you just applied...where the light (from above) would strike the figure...top of shoulders, forehead, thigh, knee, top of foot so that there is a slight variation from dark areas to light struck ones.
If you get something too dark, quickly swipe the broad edge of the colourless blender across where you applied the pigment then wipe with paper towel. You can do that several times until the colour is removed but don't saturate. Dry and start again. Work with markers in well ventilated area (some artists who painted landscapes with markers while in their cars have become vegetables).
Pen
Heeeyyy this is exactly what I needed, thank you so much! It actually sounds super easy. But I might buy a backup deck anyway LOL!
You guys rock! Thank you for the help.