Tarot of the Gods

[Pan]

Yes.. I decided to make up my own deck. I've been researching gods from all of the pantheons to borrow for use in the deck.

I don't know how to draw them, though. Do I draw them on the index cards? Or draw them on large paper, scan them, colour them, print them, etc? With smaller paper, you can't go into as much detail as you might like. With large paper, there's a lot more work involved.

So far, I've been looking at different decks' meanings to get a general idea of what the card usually means. As I draw them, I'm sure I'll get more meanings. :)

Thanks for this idea!

Oh.. and it's an in-progress name. 8O

[Lavender]

That's great! I love seeing people's personal decks. I hope you'll post yours here. :) Some of the best decks I've seen are the personal ones. If you're looking for more insight on the individual cards, there were some threads discussing each card. If you do a search on the card name, I'm sure you'll find them. I found it helpful reading other people's interpretations.

You could always try a couple on large and small cards, using the different methods. Then you could see what you like better.

[tarotbear]

Except for the St. Petersburg tarot which is reported to have been painted the actual size of the finished cards ( artist used brushes with a single hair for the details) most artwork (except for computer-generated graphics) is usually larger than the finished project and 'shrunk' to size. However, if you are not creating a deck for sale ( or reproduction) you should experiment with some sizes and see what works best for you.

[Storm]

I am thinking about creating my own set of cards, and wondering once I create the images I am happy with, in larger format, what do I do with them. Do you think a copy place would shrink and copy the images? Would they make them into cards? I am thinking of my own Soul Cards and in water color and images are already being born in my brain. They kept me up all night.

[tarotbear]

Storm- why don't you ask the copy place FIRST?

They may be able to tell you that to reduce to 3 x 5 that the original image should be Y x Z and not Q x Z to prevent distortions. They can also tell you what kind of card stock is available and how many cards will fit on a sheet. They can probably laminate for you, too.

PS - it won't be cheap!

[Storm]

err, okay.Maybe I'll have to rethink this. Maybe I should card paper and cut them down to the size I want. If I get a real thin paintbrush and am carefull with the water amount I could still have a decent amount of control and detail with watercolor. There is an art store just up the block. Hmm.

[Zaniah]

Hello :)

I'm in the process of making a deck for myself as well. Not Tarot, but a deck as described in the book Ask Your Angels by Timothy Wylie, et.al.

I'm drawing my cards on half-sheets of paper and when complete, I will shrink them to half-size and put on the card stock with the aid of a laser-colour photocopier. The quality of these machines is incredible.

Granted, this is a 3-5 year project for me. I'm maybe nearing half-done the drawings, not touching the colour until they're all finished... (If interested, please see my site. http://members.rogers.com/analae/angels.html).

You might want to take into account that this will be a huge undertaking and use up a lot of your time. By the time you're halfway through you will wonder why you started this project in the first place. You will question seeing it through, and you may off and on actually get bored with the whole thing. When that happens, put it down for a month and come back to it. ;) I started a tarot deck once, and was unhappy with my progress. So I stopped. I started this deck in summer 2001, and don't expect completion until 2005.

Hope this helps ;)

(Edited for typo)

[Mnemosyne]

Your project sounds interesting, Loki! I really like tarot cards with mythological references. I can really relate to those cards, since I am a fan of myth. So is Loki going to be the Devil Card? I think that you should draw each card on a bigger paper, instead of a smaller one, so you can get really detailed. If you are going to take the time to make a deck, choose the best quality of supplies; it will be worth it.

[Pan]

I've not started the actual drawing process of the deck yet. I'm still making lists of deities to research and find which card would be best for them. :)

That includes the minor as well as the major.

Thank you all for the ideas. Really. It's helping me a lot.

[Witchy Cowgirl]

Loki, check to see if your in-box is still full. Thanks:)