The Silver Soul Tarot

[FindYourSovereignty]

It is a very beautiful deck. You are a talented artist and the vision you have for using the art from your class is truly amazing. Is there a reason you are switching up the art style for some of the cards? Such as the Five of Cups and Five of Wands?

[FindYourSovereignty]

2 hours ago, Day Soleil said:

Thank you @LoveLightPeace, @Raggydoll and @lucksmith!

 

Thanks also @lucksmith for noting something that seems off. That's very helpful. The Ten Wands piece was from one of my life drawings from 2013, so I'm not sure if maybe I just didn't capture the foreshortening correctly at the time, or if it's just because this model has a little bit of a disproportionate body shape. You can kind of tell by the variation I drew from the other side of the room when she did a second similar pose. Both were 20 minute poses.

 

  

 

However, I have several other drawings of similar "weary-looking" poses I could potentially use for that card, so maybe I'll hunt down a new one. I feel like I need more male poses in my deck anyway.

 

 

 

I think the angle of the leg looks correct here. Beautiful.

[holidayhouseATL]

Your artwork is amazing!  I really love the Magician, I think his face is perfectly expressive.  I cannot imagine how hard it would be to create a whole deck on your own....

[Day Soleil]

4 hours ago, joy said:

Great work @Day Soleil those cards are so beautiful!!!

Thank you so much, Joy!

6 hours ago, Raggydoll said:

I believe that’s simply how her body looks. The human body can have such a range of appearance - it’s absolutely fascinating 😍

Yes, I really love the variations of the human body, and some are more challenging to draw than others. The hardest body types I found to draw were the very thin models. 

[Day Soleil]

3 hours ago, FindYourSovereignty said:

It is a very beautiful deck. You are a talented artist and the vision you have for using the art from your class is truly amazing. Is there a reason you are switching up the art style for some of the cards? Such as the Five of Cups and Five of Wands?

Thank you so much for taking a look and for noticing the different styles. You're the first to bring it up, so you win a prize! (not sure what that is yet, but I'll have to think of something).

 

Anyway, my thought was I wanted to have a little bit of stylistic variation in my deck, because I'm drawing all human bodies/faces so the subject matter is always going to be the same. I also personally find myself yearning for a bit of variation in the decks I've purchased. i.e. Shadowscapes, Thelema - love, love, love the styles, but they get a little... flat? Monotonous? I can't think of the right word - when you lay out spreads. Maybe if they'd just done a few more close-ups.

 

I'm not married to the variation idea right now. I'm on the fence. I don't want to overthink things too much, I need to plow on, kind of like the first draft of a novel. 

 

5 Wands came to me in as an intuitive drawing, so I thought, what the heck, let's try it. Lovers and 5 Cups is a particular style I used to employ a lot, so I wanted to include a few like that. 10 of Swords is pretty different, too - it's the only one on black paper and I overlaid it with digital swords so they'd be perfectly uniform. Part of me loves these cards the way they turned out and part of me is thinking I might want to re-sketch them to have that "soft" pencil drawing feel.

 

I think once I have all the initial drawings done, that's when I'll go back and decide if I really want to have that kind of variation, or not.  Honestly I feel like once I'm done, I'll probably redraw at least 30% of these cards for one reason or another.

 

I'd love to hear what others think about having some variation in the drawing style in a single deck.

 

Thank you so much for looking and commenting!!!

xoxo

[Day Soleil]

1 hour ago, holidayhouseATL said:

Your artwork is amazing!  I really love the Magician, I think his face is perfectly expressive.  I cannot imagine how hard it would be to create a whole deck on your own....

Thank you so much! I love the Magician, too. I had to purchase a high-quality photograph of a model posing for that one so I could do him justice.  🙂

[FindYourSovereignty]

31 minutes ago, Day Soleil said:

Thank you so much for taking a look and for noticing the different styles. You're the first to bring it up, so you win a prize! (not sure what that is yet, but I'll have to think of something).

Awww... I feel so special! That’s a nice surprise! ❤️
 

33 minutes ago, Day Soleil said:

Anyway, my thought was I wanted to have a little bit of stylistic variation in my deck, because I'm drawing all human bodies/faces so the subject matter is always going to be the same. I also personally find myself yearning for a bit of variation in the decks I've purchased. i.e. Shadowscapes, Thelema - love, love, love the styles, but they get a little... flat? Monotonous? I can't think of the right word - when you lay out spreads. Maybe if they'd just done a few more close-ups.

Please allow me to assure you that your art is far from flat - wouldn’t even come close to using that word to describe it. Your talent along with your knowledge of Tarot is coming through so beautifully in both the human bodies you are selecting and the symbolism you are including. It is a joy to look at each image. We miss out on the beauty of the human body and what it expresses when our veils of clothing are removed. 
 

41 minutes ago, Day Soleil said:

I'm not married to the variation idea right now. I'm on the fence. I don't want to overthink things too much, I need to plow on, kind of like the first draft of a novel. 

Oh yes, please! Do not allow anything to delay you. Forge on - I am excited and honored to watch the process. I also look forward to the opportunity of adding this deck to my own one day. It is beautiful.

 

48 minutes ago, Day Soleil said:

5 Wands came to me in as an intuitive drawing, so I thought, what the heck, let's try it. Lovers and 5 Cups is a particular style I used to employ a lot, so I wanted to include a few like that. 10 of Swords is pretty different, too - it's the only one on black paper and I overlaid it with digital swords so they'd be perfectly uniform. Part of me loves these cards the way they turned out and part of me is thinking I might want to re-sketch them to have that "soft" pencil drawing feel.

 

I think once I have all the initial drawings done, that's when I'll go back and decide if I really want to have that kind of variation, or not.  Honestly I feel like once I'm done, I'll probably redraw at least 30% of these cards for one reason or another.

 

Each art style is beautiful in its own way. It will be interesting to see what direction you feel speaking to you once you have all the cards and can lay them out together.  

 

53 minutes ago, Day Soleil said:

I'd love to hear what others think about having some variation in the drawing style in a single deck.

I suspect you will receive a varied response here, but it will be interesting to hear if there is a preference one way or another and if that is valuable information for you.

 

55 minutes ago, Day Soleil said:

Thank you so much for looking and commenting!!!

xoxo

 

It has been a joy having the opportunity to connect with you about it. Thank you! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

38 minutes ago, Day Soleil said:I'm not married to the variation idea right now. I'm on the fence. I don't want to overthink things too much, I need to plow on, kind of like the first draft of a novel. 

 

[lucksmith]

19 hours ago, Day Soleil said:

Thanks also @lucksmith for noting something that seems off. That's very helpful. The Ten Wands piece was from one of my life drawings from 2013, so I'm not sure if maybe I just didn't capture the foreshortening correctly at the time, or if it's just because this model has a little bit of a disproportionate body shape. You can kind of tell by the variation I drew from the other side of the room when she did a second similar pose. Both were 20 minute poses.

Thank you for the clarification to the picture and the second picture you made during the same session. I don't think it is that the model does not follow the "proportional guideline" of what is normal human proportion - let alone the philosophic discussion arising from that question - as i can see from the second picture that her body is perfectly fine for my understanding. Right now i'm not sure why it strucks me with the odd feeling when looking at it. It seems sort of an anatomical / vision / perspective issue in my perception as of now ... i need to think about it.

 

However, more important is that your art has a touchy vibe! It makes me think about it! Thank you for sharing it 🥰

[FindYourSovereignty]

52 minutes ago, lucksmith said:

Thank you for the clarification to the picture and the second picture you made during the same session. I don't think it is that the model does not follow the "proportional guideline" of what is normal human proportion - let alone the philosophic discussion arising from that question - as i can see from the second picture that her body is perfectly fine for my understanding. Right now i'm not sure why it strucks me with the odd feeling when looking at it. It seems sort of an anatomical / vision / perspective issue in my perception as of now ... i need to think about it.

 

However, more important is that your art has a touchy vibe! It makes me think about it! Thank you for sharing it 🥰

I agree with you on both counts. The front of her leg in the original drawing is ever so slightly angled differently. And yes, these images have a touchy vibe that makes you think about it - it sticks with you.

Edited January 30, 2020 by FindYourSovereignty

[Day Soleil]

On 1/30/2020 at 3:38 AM, lucksmith said:

Thank you for the clarification to the picture and the second picture you made during the same session. I don't think it is that the model does not follow the "proportional guideline" of what is normal human proportion - let alone the philosophic discussion arising from that question - as i can see from the second picture that her body is perfectly fine for my understanding. Right now i'm not sure why it strucks me with the odd feeling when looking at it. It seems sort of an anatomical / vision / perspective issue in my perception as of now ... i need to think about it.

 

However, more important is that your art has a touchy vibe! It makes me think about it! Thank you for sharing it 🥰

 

On 1/30/2020 at 4:30 AM, FindYourSovereignty said:

I agree with you on both counts. The front of her leg in the original drawing is ever so slightly angled differently. And yes, these images have a touchy vibe that makes you think about it - it sticks with you.

I think I know what the issue is. In my attempt to not show too much of the labia for this deck, I tried to angle her leg and it's now coming across as off.  Thanks so much for noting this. I'll redraw! Since I'm not that skilled of an artist to figure it out on my own - I can only draw what I see. 🙂

[Day Soleil]

I'm super excited to have hit 50 cards on my deck! And even MORE excited to have uploaded ten of them to Printerstudio to have them printed up so I can see what they're looking like. Real cards! EEK! Honestly, I'm like a kid before Christmas, I'm so eager to touch and feel them. I'm also psyched at the prospect of experiencing the whole process of packaging, marketing, selling... all those things I've no clue about.

 

I'm getting ahead of myself. But it's hard to resist that light at the end of the tunnel, which was nonexistent around the 30 card mark. I was really starting to despair I'd ever finish just a month or so ago. Now, the prospect of holding a printed deck in my hands is a really good motivator. Of course, that's when all the hard work begins, like editing, revising, etc.

 

I think because I'm so amped up with excitement, I started another deck, quite different, but one that meets my need to sit at the computer and do manipulation work. It's also allowing me to really think about all the things I wish I would have thought about before diving into this project (such as target audience, overarching goal, symbolism, description, etc.). I think much of my thought process in the digi-mani deck is going to inform the rest of my Silver Soul work and make it all the richer. I've created a journal for that deck here: 

 

 

 

[FindYourSovereignty]

1 hour ago, Day Soleil said:

I'm super excited to have hit 50 cards on my deck! And even MORE excited to have uploaded ten of them to Printerstudio to have them printed up so I can see what they're looking like. Real cards! EEK! Honestly, I'm like a kid before Christmas, I'm so eager to touch and feel them. I'm also psyched at the prospect of experiencing the whole process of packaging, marketing, selling... all those things I've no clue about.

 

I'm getting ahead of myself. But it's hard to resist that light at the end of the tunnel, which was nonexistent around the 30 card mark. I was really starting to despair I'd ever finish just a month or so ago. Now, the prospect of holding a printed deck in my hands is a really good motivator. Of course, that's when all the hard work begins, like editing, revising, etc.

 

I think because I'm so amped up with excitement, I started another deck, quite different, but one that meets my need to sit at the computer and do manipulation work. It's also allowing me to really think about all the things I wish I would have thought about before diving into this project (such as target audience, overarching goal, symbolism, description, etc.). I think much of my thought process in the digi-mani deck is going to inform the rest of my Silver Soul work and make it all the richer. I've created a journal for that deck here: 

 

 

 

I cannot wait to see! Congratulations!

 

2 hours ago, Day Soleil said:

 

I think I know what the issue is. In my attempt to not show too much of the labia for this deck, I tried to angle her leg and it's now coming across as off.  Thanks so much for noting this. I'll redraw! Since I'm not that skilled of an artist to figure it out on my own - I can only draw what I see. 🙂

 

I am so glad. It will be a beautiful card.

[Day Soleil]

I just uploaded all my images to date into PrinterStudio so I can see how they are looking laid out as a whole. I haven't been drawing these cards in any particular order. I tend to go with whatever is speaking to me in the moment. So I'm finding it really interesting to see where the holes are: what cards/suits I've gravitated toward and which ones I've not yet touched.

 

In the major Arcana, the only cards I haven't drawn are the Hierophant and the Chariot. Two cards I rarely ever pull in self-readings, so I don't have much of a personal connection with them. I'm still stumped for compositions on both of these cards. I'll probably do some guided meditations to "meet" these cards and see if something comes to me.

 

I've not drawn a single Knight. That surprises me. I'm going to give this some thought, because I think it's revealing something important about myself and this project.

 

The only numerical minor card I've drawn in ALL suits is the 5. Wow.

 

I'm also noticing a lack of diversity in my Wands suit.

 

 

[Raggydoll]

1 hour ago, Day Soleil said:

I just uploaded all my images to date into PrinterStudio so I can see how they are looking laid out as a whole. I haven't been drawing these cards in any particular order. I tend to go with whatever is speaking to me in the moment. So I'm finding it really interesting to see where the holes are: what cards/suits I've gravitated toward and which ones I've not yet touched.

 

In the major Arcana, the only cards I haven't drawn are the Hierophant and the Chariot. Two cards I rarely ever pull in self-readings, so I don't have much of a personal connection with them. I'm still stumped for compositions on both of these cards. I'll probably do some guided meditations to "meet" these cards and see if something comes to me.

 

I've not drawn a single Knight. That surprises me. I'm going to give this some thought, because I think it's revealing something important about myself and this project.

 

The only numerical minor card I've drawn in ALL suits is the 5. Wow.

 

I'm also noticing a lack of diversity in my Wands suit.

 

 

That’s so interesting! I am definitely noticing a pattern already in how I pick cards to draw but I haven’t tried to analyze it. Maybe I will at a later date 😉 I can’t wait to hear what you think of your test cards once they arrive! 

[Day Soleil]

Thought I'd post a quick update on my Silver Soul deck. As I mentioned in my journal about my other, collage, deck, I just started a new job in town. It's part-time, but is just exactly what I wanted and needed to get me out of my isolation and feeling energized and productive again. As a result, my art has gotten a much-needed infusion of energy.  I redid my High Priestess card this week, although I might add a bit of darker background.

 

My goal is to get the last two pieces for my majors completed (Hierophant, Chariot) so that I can start reworking some of them (I know I want to redo my Star, Moon, and World cards, probably tweak Judgement a bit). Then I'll pick up on my minors, which in are a hodgepodge state. Still a lot of work to go, but it's so wonderful to have a long, luxurious art project like this to look forward to. I'm not feeling in a hurry.

 

[Raggydoll]

On 2/21/2020 at 3:57 PM, Day Soleil said:

Thought I'd post a quick update on my Silver Soul deck. As I mentioned in my journal about my other, collage, deck, I just started a new job in town. It's part-time, but is just exactly what I wanted and needed to get me out of my isolation and feeling energized and productive again. As a result, my art has gotten a much-needed infusion of energy.  I redid my High Priestess card this week, although I might add a bit of darker background.

 

My goal is to get the last two pieces for my majors completed (Hierophant, Chariot) so that I can start reworking some of them (I know I want to redo my Star, Moon, and World cards, probably tweak Judgement a bit). Then I'll pick up on my minors, which in are a hodgepodge state. Still a lot of work to go, but it's so wonderful to have a long, luxurious art project like this to look forward to. I'm not feeling in a hurry.

 

I love seeing them all together like that!! I was trying to pick my very favorites and it is SO hard!! I think justice is at the top, followed by High Priestess, and Sun and Strength and.... !! 

 

[FindYourSovereignty]

I, too, enjoy seeing them all laid put like this. After you posted this I immediately went to your site. Thank you for sharing here.

[Day Soleil]

6 hours ago, Raggydoll said:

I love seeing them all together like that!! I was trying to pick my very favorites and it is SO hard!! I think justice is at the top, followed by High Priestess, and Sun and Strength and.... !! 

 

Thanks @Raggydoll! I'm so glad to hear you like the Sun, as I wasn't sure if it was clear to anyone else beside me what I was going for in that. 🙂

[Day Soleil]

5 hours ago, FindYourSovereignty said:

I, too, enjoy seeing them all laid put like this. After you posted this I immediately went to your site. Thank you for sharing here.

Thank you so much!!  💕💕

[Day Soleil]

I received 10 test cards from Printerstudio, and have to say, I'm really impressed with the card stock and print quality. (the colors on my other photo collage deck are really spot-on). Wish I could figure out how to do a video, but I just don't have the patience, lol.

 

I'm glad I decided to test out 10 cards just to see, because I noticed a few things I want to change. Specifically, I'll probably utilize charcoal for darks going forward, as they "pop" better in such a small format. I don't like the pencil strokes being so visible with my pencil dark backgrounds. And I don't think the ones I did on black paper "go" with silvery look I have in mind for this deck. So I'll have quite a few cards I need to redraw or tweak.

 

I'm almost done with a completely revised World card will hopefully post soon.

 

 

 

 

[FindYourSovereignty]

1 hour ago, Day Soleil said:

I received 10 test cards from Printerstudio, and have to say, I'm really impressed with the card stock and print quality. (the colors on my other photo collage deck are really spot-on). Wish I could figure out how to do a video, but I just don't have the patience, lol.

 

I'm glad I decided to test out 10 cards just to see, because I noticed a few things I want to change. Specifically, I'll probably utilize charcoal for darks going forward, as they "pop" better in such a small format. I don't like the pencil strokes being so visible with my pencil dark backgrounds. And I don't think the ones I did on black paper "go" with silvery look I have in mind for this deck. So I'll have quite a few cards I need to redraw or tweak.

 

I'm almost done with a completely revised World card will hopefully post soon.

 

 

 

 

Test runs on print products are so helpful. I look forward to seeing the new World card. It feels like your energy is up, up, up. It is very palpable - I like it! 

Edited February 26, 2020 by FindYourSovereignty

[Raggydoll]

2 hours ago, Day Soleil said:

I received 10 test cards from Printerstudio, and have to say, I'm really impressed with the card stock and print quality. (the colors on my other photo collage deck are really spot-on). Wish I could figure out how to do a video, but I just don't have the patience, lol.

 

I'm glad I decided to test out 10 cards just to see, because I noticed a few things I want to change. Specifically, I'll probably utilize charcoal for darks going forward, as they "pop" better in such a small format. I don't like the pencil strokes being so visible with my pencil dark backgrounds. And I don't think the ones I did on black paper "go" with silvery look I have in mind for this deck. So I'll have quite a few cards I need to redraw or tweak.

 

I'm almost done with a completely revised World card will hopefully post soon.

 

 

 

 

You may have already thought about this but if you change the scanner settings then that can alter your artwork so that it perhaps not needs to be redone. I decided to test different settings after not feeling like I could ever get the contrasts right. It turns out my scanner can do different type of grey tone scans and that made the shades much richer and more like what I see on the paper. Scanning it in color and then adjusting to grey scale did not work as well. It is possible that you could get your darks to feel even richer by tinkering with those settings. It’s at least worth a try! But I do agree that charcoal is the best medium to compliment light graphite. It’s like you don’t get the full range of grey shades until you combine them.

 

[Day Soleil]

6 hours ago, Raggydoll said:

You may have already thought about this but if you change the scanner settings then that can alter your artwork so that it perhaps not needs to be redone. I decided to test different settings after not feeling like I could ever get the contrasts right. It turns out my scanner can do different type of grey tone scans and that made the shades much richer and more like what I see on the paper. Scanning it in color and then adjusting to grey scale did not work as well. It is possible that you could get your darks to feel even richer by tinkering with those settings. It’s at least worth a try! But I do agree that charcoal is the best medium to compliment light graphite. It’s like you don’t get the full range of grey shades until you combine them.

 

My pieces are too large to fit on my scanner, so I photograph them. But I need to do this on a more consistent basis on good, overcast days with my 35mm camera. I've gotten kind of lazy with this lately and have been using my cell phone camera. Bad artist! 🙂

 

But I'm really liking the charcoal + graphite thing! As long as I can keep from messing them up - I am not used to working carefully with my hands, and usually blend with my fingers because I love getting touchy-feely with my art, haha. Very tricky to keep things neat with charcoal, as you know!

 

Here's a sneak peek at my World card - about 70% finished - I still need to go in and deepen the darks in the background and define around the figure.  The figure's a deliberate reference back to my Fool card, hopefully pointing to the endless cycle of the fabulous Journey...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Day Soleil]

7 hours ago, FindYourSovereignty said:

Test runs on print products are so helpful. I look forward to seeing the new World card. It feels like your energy is up, up, up. It is very palpable - I like it! 

Thank you - yes, I'm totally into the art these days! I love it when this happens, and I don't take it for granted at all, because I do have a lot of dry spells. 🙂 

[joy]

On 2/21/2020 at 10:57 AM, Day Soleil said:

Thought I'd post a quick update on my Silver Soul deck. As I mentioned in my journal about my other, collage, deck, I just started a new job in town. It's part-time, but is just exactly what I wanted and needed to get me out of my isolation and feeling energized and productive again. As a result, my art has gotten a much-needed infusion of energy.  I redid my High Priestess card this week, although I might add a bit of darker background.

 

My goal is to get the last two pieces for my majors completed (Hierophant, Chariot) so that I can start reworking some of them (I know I want to redo my Star, Moon, and World cards, probably tweak Judgement a bit). Then I'll pick up on my minors, which in are a hodgepodge state. Still a lot of work to go, but it's so wonderful to have a long, luxurious art project like this to look forward to. I'm not feeling in a hurry.

 

 

Totally missed that post. OMG the cards look amazing together! ❤️