Juri was nice enough to drive all the way to Pittsburgh from DC for the Tarot shoot and I couldn’t be more pleased with the results. Not only was she fun to shoot, but this was one of the easiest editing jobs I’ve ever had to do. She was pretty much perfect for the card and had the exact right look I wanted for a staff card and her skin was perfect for the staff effect.
Would love feedback as always.
This is the second time I have coerced a model’s escort into posing for the tarot deck as well. And once again I am pretty pleased with the result. Kenny looks great with a black eye, I think. I’m starting to really like this high detail, desaturated 300 effect I am using lately. Originally the staff cards were going to be high saturation, but I think the grainy look suits them better. It makes a nice contrast to the sword cards I think.
I’ve been getting a lot of sword cards done lately, and so here’s another. Liz came over to pose for me again yesterday and we shot the Page of Swords. This is cool because Liz posing for me last time was what gave me the idea of shooting this deck in the first place, and I was pretty sure where I wanted to use her. So hopefully this one came out ok.
Let me know what you think.
Yet another tarot card complete. I think Yara was perfect for my Queen of Swords. She had just the right mix of sex appeal and sophistication. When I found out she was a belly dancer as well, I knew exactly where I wanted to take this card. I modified the illustration processing technique slightly from what I did with the Jack of Swords card, and I think I’m pleased with the results. Its a little less comic booky than my original technique. I think it lends more of a fantasy look. The question is, should I stick with it? Should I change the Jack to look like this as well or should I allow some variance of style between cards of the same suit?
Opinions welcome and encouraged.
The problem with some of the tarot cards is they require very specific casting. Judgement, for instance requires a newborn baby and a mother. And since the major arcana cards are all nude, it required a naked newborn and mother. So, when a friend of mine had one I certainly wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity.
Connie was nice enough to bring over her four week old son, Thomas Jefferson so they could pose for my tarot deck. I am quite grateful, and I’m sure this will traumatize him 13 years from now.
Pinky came over and posed for me the other day. The result, yet another Tarot card. The first one in the Staffs suit. I’m still not totally sure I like the effect of this one. I keep floating between loving it and thinking its not quite right. I like that its vibrant and distinct. I was initially going for kind of an airbrush effect, but then started going with a tinge of "300"-style postprocessing. I really need it to have a distinct contrast with the swords cards, but I want to make sure its obvious that its processed.
So I’d definitely like feedback here. What do you think?
Another tarot card complete. This time my friend Jameel was nice enough to pose for it. You know, when I started this, I really expected the nude major arcana cards to be the hardest to fill, but I have more of them done than anything.
I swear, there are clothed cards coming… really there are.
Schwei was a friend of Brae’s (the model I picked to be the Death card in my Tarot deck) and was accompanying her on her shoot with me. He didn’t have any modeling experience but he had a good look for my concept of the Devil card. I especially love the beard and the tattoo on his hand.
Initially I had envisioned the devil having traditional horns, and I probably could have created some pretty realistic ones in photoshop or maybe with theater makeup, but in retrospect, I’m kind of glad I didn’t. I really like the look of the single model bathed in red light except for the flaming hand. I think more would have been distracting.
This also shows that there are indeed men in the Tarot deck. It’s only the second male card I’ve done. Its actually a little harder to find male models for this kind of thing than I thought it would be. I also need to get some more of the less gothic cards done. Just so that there’s a little more variety. The cards with Steph and Theresa show a little more playfulness, but its still on the dark side right now.
When I first saw Brae’s modeling page I knew that she had to be my death card. She had the perfect look for what I had envisioned for it. Exotic, sexy. Reminiscent of Neil Gaiman’s Death, but a little more dangerous. I had the base idea for what i wanted to do in mind when I first wrote her, and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.
I went back and forth as to how ghostly I wanted to make her. I considered putting tombstones directly behind her so that you could really see right through her, but the ultimately decided that that would ruin a rule I had set for the deck when I first started. Don’t let the background overwhelm the model. It’s something that I really feel about photography in general, actually, which is why I am so fond of the solid black background look.
In any case. 8 Tarot cards done. Only 70 to go. That’s better than 10% I’m on a roll!
Continuing my Tarot Deck series. This time using Steph for my model. In these two cards (the first of the cups series) you can see another couple of concepts that will be continued throughout the deck. First, the artistic look and fashion of the coins cards, and also that the aces and tens will feature the same models with the ace being a close up shot of the ten card.
Continuing my Tarot Deck series. This time using Steph for my model. In these two cards (the first of the cups series) you can see another couple of concepts that will be continued throughout the deck. First, the artistic look and fashion of the coins cards, and also that the aces and tens will feature the same models with the ace being a close up shot of the ten card.
The fourth completed card in my tarot card series.
Mallory as the Moon. I had originally envisioned this as a card where she was standing and looking at the moon, but as we were shooting yesterday, she got tired of standing and wanted to shoot some sitting down. I really loved her head placement in this one and the arch of her back. I think the facial expression is perfect for what I wanted to convey.
The biggest thing I am unsure of is the placement of the moon. When I took the pic of the moon last week, I really had envisioned her looking at it, not away, but I do feel as though it kind of works how it is. Not positive though.
Finally began the process of creating my Tarot card deck. This is the first card I have completed. The model is my friend Gina (the day before she gave birth to her new baby). This is card Five, of the major Arcana, The Empress. Only 77 more cards to go.
Used in LJ post: chrismaverick.livejournal.com/249658.html
Image replaced on 4-28-07 with correct numbering
The third completed card in my tarot card series.
Shiima as the Jack of Swords. Commonly called a knight. I decided to rename them to Jacks for the same reason they call them Jacks instead of Knaves on the modern playing card deck. Namely, that K is the same letter for King. I’m still not positive on that. But its growing on me. I’m also of still of the opinion that the lens flare is a bit cheesy, but I think it adds something to the effect. Opinions?
Used in LJ post: chrismaverick.livejournal.com/251542.html
The second completed Tarot Card in my series. Using a shot from the Theresa photoshoot that I thought was perfect for capturing the idea of the card.
I’m using spot color for all of the cup cards, and I really wanted to have a little more in them than appears here, but I feel its important to not overdo it, and the little splash of red wine seems to be perfect for this one.
Other themes of note here: All of my pages are going to be women. I’m considering changing it to the alternate name "Princess" but I like the sound of "Page" some how. Also, all of the pages will be wearing lingerie or bed clothes (as will all of the male knights). The cups, aside from B&W with color cutouts will also all be wearing rather casual or street clothing (i have other methods of dress in mind for other suits).
I also just realized a flaw in my design. I have the number of the card (Roman numeral for Major Arcana) in the upper left hand corner, but the kings and knights will both start with K. This is bad. Any suggestions for avoiding this are appreciated (I am considering Kn for knight).
If anyone has any suggestions or questions about other themes and ideas I have worked out so far, please comment and let me know… its a big job and all input is welcome.
Used in LJ Post: chrismaverick.livejournal.com/249658.html