Joining the occult ITT

[nendil]

I got my first tarot decks in the mail today! Since I have disposable income now, I figured I'd actually splurge and spend it on something I wanted but didn't need because I was getting tired of digitally flipping back and forth between scanned images on the computer when I wanted to reference something. Plus, doing readings with them feels much more "proper" than relying on a computer algorithm to generate randoms for me.


The first deck I got was the Universal Waite tarot deck - I definitely need Rider-Waite based decks, since that's what I learned on. And after looking through scans of many many decks, it still comes down to the fact that no matter how clever they are, I just don't feel it unless they have imagery and symbolism at least as rich, and art at least as competent, as the original Rider-Waite. So why not go with the original? Except that I chose a recolored deck that's "prettier" (but keeps the original line work and details), as well as having nicely depicted facial expressions. The cards are printed on even nicer stock than I expected - stiff and laminated, and smells like... I think it reminds me of getting new anime toys from the hobby shop. :) Will definitely be the standard reading deck, especially since it's so nicely durable.

The second deck is the Tarot of the New Vision - exactly the same as Rider-Waite, except from behind :P I was really impressed with how these cards reflect just as much meaning as the originals, and even adds new things to support it. Plus the art is super-competent. This will probably be the self-reflection/meditative/learning deck.

The third deck I WILL get in the future is this: Shadowscapes Tarot when it's available spring 2010. This is like my ideal deck - not only is it illustrated by one of my most admired artists, but it's emotional, meaningful, inspirational, AND traditional. Will purchase at first opportunity regardless of price.


Did a Celtic Cross reading for Dan and it actually came out pretty coherent :) Anyone else want to help me break in the deck?

P.S. And the point of all this is that I've been working on the HP tarot deck lately. I would say that I'll show some thumbnail sketches for the cards soon, but every time I promise to show something it ends up not happening for forever. So uh... I'm NOT going to show you some thumbnails. Ever. :P

Comments

[ctrl-a.livejournal.com]

Wow, both of those decks look pretty cool. I really should get a RWS deck one of these days. 9_9;;

And dude, the Shadowscapes Tarot has a release date now? Awesome.

[ctrl-a.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I dunno if you ever went to a Fanime when they had the big Yaoi-Con booth(s) in the dealers room. The main attractions tend to be (1) the most complete selection of doujinshi in the dealers room, (2) the raffle, and (3) a bunch of really pretty bishie artwork. Anyways, so this year the bishie artists (who are mostly Chinese, apparently) split off and had their own booth with all their prints and artbooks and . . . tarot decks! It was exciting just that they had them, but unfortunately both decks were collaborations and while some of the pictures were gorgeous, some were not, and I didn't really like the inconsistent style. =/ But it was cool to see. You should check it out next time you're at Fanime.

[nendil.livejournal.com]

Ehhh, after looking through scans of hundreds of decks my conclusion is that 1) 95% of tarot decks suck and/or are not up to my artistic standards, and 2) Pamela Waite was actually a much, MUCH better artist than my initial impression. I don't trust a compilation of yaoi artists to satisfy.

Here's a couple of decks with bishies that I DO approve of: Der-Jen Tarot (http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/china/index.shtml) and Lunatic Tarot (http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/lunatic/). Both are only marginally meaningful but SO PRETTY.

I was thinking of getting a copy of Shadowscapes for you as a gift when it comes out, as long as you actually want it :)

[ctrl-a.livejournal.com]

These are pretty amazing bishie artists... I could never find samples online and there are a bunch of them, but if you've ever seen my print of the guy with a unicorn, that's all red-themed, that's what about half of their stuff looks like.

Do want. I've been despairing that she'd ever finish it.

[nendil.livejournal.com]

Shouldn't you have been in bed? ;P

Concurred, that print is badass. Nonetheless, collaboration decks are always disappointing. The only one I've seen that was consistently up to my standards was the Eatpoo Tarot (tarot.eatpoo.com (http://tarot.eatpoo.com/)... but they're down? :( I can send you the images), because it's done by a forum of concept artists, not tarot... people.

I'm just happy enough that she did finish all the cards and they're out there (read: saved to my hard drive). The fact that it'll be a physically published, ownable deck is just gravy.

[ctrl-a.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was supposed to be in bed. It's been hard to stick to a bar-like schedule. -_-

Yeah, if any of those artists decided to do all the cards by herself, I'd probably buy it, but collabs don't work for me. In fact, a lot of decks by a single person don't work for me because of inconsistency.

Ah, I stopped checking a long time ago whether she was actually doing more cards, so I didn't even notice that they were done. I should go grab them all, too . . . after the bar.

BTW, what is the status of HP plans? Catherine and I need to do a Slayers hand-off while we're at it. I ask, though I probably can't think about it that hard until Thursday night.