The Vulpine Tarot

[Mabon-Tail]

That's an interesting thought, but what I had in mind when I made the card was far more mundane, but I still think that it could tie in with the card's meaning. I figured that the Seeker presented an excellent opportunity to start exploiting a few animalistic traits and zoomorphic tendencies in my characters. As I've said in my Artist Comments section on The Seeker's dA page, a fox's eyes will shine in the dark just like most other animals. I suppose that this, in addition to the glow coming from the orb on his staff, implies that the Seeker's guiding light is coming from within himself. I had an earlier version of this card, and that Seeker was holding a ball of light in his paw. I had the same thing in mind then, but here, I had an opportunity to look at the same concept from another angle.

 

[cardlady22]

Yes, I had seen that about the eyes. Our neighborhood has many cats that are let out at night. Also see the occasional rabbit and fox zip along between the uncleared lots. When they look at me, that's what I feel. Like I wish I could get inside their head, know what they know.

 

[Mabon-Tail]

I've been reworking The Empress, and I'm kinda torn as to which dress design I should use. Posted to my deviantART gallery is a sketch depicting my two designs. Which do you prefer?

The Empress Dress Designs

 

[cardlady22]

I like B, the off-the-shoulder. A makes me think of Aurora in Sleeping Beauty.

 

[Alta]

I like the off the shoulder dress as well. It just seems in keeping with the quality of the Empress.

 

[Mabon-Tail]

The Empress is up on deviantART at last! I notice that I'm getting a lot better at clothing and lighting.

III The Empress

 

[cardlady22]

I do like the purple! Did the off-the-shoulder make her look frumpy in that setting? I can relate to the shady spot under the tree for thinking and day-dreaming of what is to be.

 

[Mabon-Tail]

Yeah, after a good bit of thought, the off-the-shoulder gown did look a bit frumpy for such a high-class fox. I made her dress purple mostly because it really shows the Empress' status as royalty.

Oh, here's something I think might interest some people here. If anyone is curious about learning exactly how I work on each card, they can take a look at my Livestream channel and actually watch The Empress as she develops! Right now, she's the only one I have posted to Livestream, and her development is broken into several videos. The earlier sketch-stage videos have botched audio.

http://www.livestream.com/MabonTail

I figured it might be appropriate to post this link here because my Livestream channel is devoted in its entirety to broadcasting the development of my deck... I won't be spamming the forum or anyone's inboxes with invites to live broadcasts, though. I'll be doing that on my deviantART page.

 

[Alta]

I agree with your comment that you art is getting better with lighting and depth. The Empress does look very regal. I saw that and I think commented a couple of cards ago. It isn't just the backgrounds, though those are getting great too, but your figures have more life. For example in this one the face on the Empress fox is so expressive, regal but inner, proud and happy but thoughtful.

 

[Mabon-Tail]

After months of procrastination (and two prolonged Internet outages), The Emperor is finally complete! Now I don't have to worry about re-doing any cards or updating their style.

Like it says in the DeviantART page for the card, I hope that the tree at least resembles an Alder.

Anyway, this card is really close to me, since I was born under Aries, and the Alder of the Celtic Zodiac. On top of that, the fox is the power animal of the Alder.