Illustrated Minors...RWS or other...opinions?

[vee]

@ vee

So it sounds like you are saying "As long as I can see where you are getting it from..." if it follows, based on number ,element, suit, and other meanings out there....

Haha, pretty much. If the deck is coherently thought out, I will accept most anything from it. Even if it's your own personal system that I've never seen before--as long as you have something I can read -- if I like the artwork, if I'm drawn to it, I'll put the time needed into learning it with good faith that the author made purposeful choices.

The only thing that turns me off is when I can't find a coherent rationale in the deck. If there doesn't seem to be any purpose or meaning behind it from the creator, then why should I struggle to create my own? I'd have to really love the art to plow through that. (Nothing's coming to mind as an exmaple here, but I'm sure I have some.)

 

[Sword King]

I'm not sure what this is technically called but I actually favor minors like what's in the Thoth - they're illustrated but I'd say non-scenic. Somewhere between RWS and the simplest of pips.

Here's an idea, Mallah - the tri-wizard pips! Do one set straight-up pippage, one non-scenic (Thoth-based or not), and one scenic (RWS or not). Of course, it's easy for my to volunteer you for all the required time and effort.

 

[VGimlet]

I like BOTH pips and illustrated minors, and Toth-y minors (variously called moody, or semi-scenic..).

I don't mind minors that are not RWS oriented, as long as they follow some kind of system. In some ways I like to step away from the expected. If I like the art, and the system makes sense to me I'm willing to give it a try.

 

[Mallah]

one that comes to mind for me as having no seeming rhyme or reason to the illustrations they put on is the Lunatic.

I love the art, but it seems like it's one of those artists who adapted work he already created, chose 78 images, slapped some titles on them and said "How's this?" There's often nothing to go on at all...just the picture of some guy in quasi emo-goth clothing. Ok....

Just my example. There's numerous examples of decks by artists who know nothing about Tarot and think they can just put out a deck. Sad, really. Then there's me... who knows something about it, and am struggling with the art side (I enjoy it but I'm more of a Taroista than an artist...). This is my second deck, and my art has come far since the first one I did 20 some odd years ago.

I tell you truthfully, there is nothing like drawing your own deck for learning about the cards!

Sometimes you want a viewpoint from outside yourself though, and so i value everybody's input, thank you very much.