Nendil's Procrastination Outlet

I wasn't really planning to post any in-progress pics of the tarot cards between the sketch and finished phases, but I'm feeling pretty good about this part, and you wouldn't see this amount of detail at the size I post the final images, so TAKE THIS.

( 01. The Magician (progress) )

Painting for The Fool is already underway, but I went on ahead with the next two cards because I didn't want to lose the sketch energy I had going while I'm neck-deep in fiddly paint.

( 01. The Magician + 02. The High Priestess (values sketch) )

(And no, I'm not going to do the sketches for all the cards before I turn out a finished one!)

Horray, all the Major Arcana thumbnails!! At this point, I am going to not yet go onto the Minors but try to work on the full-size versions of these cards instead, because it's better to have a completed Majors-only deck than nothing at all. (Plus I'm eager to get started on doing some full paintings.) I still have every bit of intention to do the whole deck, but you never know when life will throw me another tripstone.

( Overview - all together now! )

On to real painting E3 squealing~!

This is going to be THE most difficult and time-consuming Majors card to paint, calling it now. Ironically the thumbnail came together quite quickly, for how long I've turned it over in my mind - probably because I totally didn't bother to do accurate perspective or architecture.

( 20 - Judgement (thumbnail) )

I did finish all the cards on time! The last thumbnail will be posted tomorrow once my clock ticks over to June 14th :P

( 13 - Death (thumbnail) )

(Does this even look like a Death card at all...?)

I was mid-way stuck on this one for a long time (since before the thumbnails dry-spell) because I think the amount of stuff to draw turned me off (and I'm not looking forward to drawing it out in full, either). Someday I will be able to put more than minimal effort into backgrounds. Someday. :\

( 03 - The Empress (thumbnail) )

This one is also sloppy because it was done at the same time as The Lovers. Sorry if it all looks like a bunch of blobbiness.

( 12 - The Hanged Man (thumbnail) )

(I always knew Snape was a good guy all along. Hrmph. :P)

I didn't expect to feel so satisfied with a composition that I had to redesign and re-think several times over since that usually leads to stagnation, but then I drew a big black blob and suddenly it worked. Please feedback to how well it works, because I want it to have an emotional impact a little bit.

( 15 - The Devil (thumbnail) )

Heh, from this point on, I've got 4 more character cards, two of which I'll probably be doing next, and then all the rest are scenes from the last book. Maybe I subconsciously didn't want to get to them because they're not quite as ingrained into my HP-mindscape. :P

Work has been deadly hectic lately so it might take me a few extra days to build up the reserve of thumbnails again. Nonetheless I still have this one left:

( 05 - The Hierophant (thumbnail) )

11/22 cards posted, 2/22 in progress. Halfway done!

A lot of fanartists, at least ones whom I've followed, tend to fall out of the habit as they "grow up". Spare time becomes short as careers take over, and/or original ideas dominate as personal skills (and business sense) develop. I think I'm uniquely in the position to turn out just the opposite of that - I have more personal time now that I'm making a living and not deluged with homework; I'm not doing actual art for my job so my creative energy isn't all spent; and I... never have original ideas. ._. Working on this project kind of makes me want to make a tarot deck that's original or at least public domain-themed that I'd be able to publish (AS IF I'D EVER FINISH EVEN ONE DECK AHAHA), but nothing inspires me nearly as much as a well-crafted pre-existing work. So um... I think my only hope is that one of you will write a really great story that I'd want to illustrate for. How's about dem old-time plans, ctrl_a? :P

78 pieces of fanart. I'm never going to finish it. But what if I do?

( 17 - The Star (thumbnail) )