Do you have any advice for someone hoping to make their own tarot or oracle deck?
My first piece of advice is to be interested it. If youâre interest is going to be fleeting, I would not bother starting because youâll just disappoint yourself. I am not saying to not try, but if you flit from one project to another, you can do some easier projects first. Iâve had a number of people coming to me saying they canât finish because they just donât want to.
My next piece of advice is to pick a theme! I like to doodle out ideas, even though I havenât drawn any decks (yet). Doodling gets the brain going. ITâs good for you and I 100% recommend doodling when brain storming.
Next figure out how youâre going to do your deck. You could do fractals like I did for the Auroracle or you could do collage. You could do digital images. You could take photos. You could use stock images. You could paint. You could do anything, but you should make it constant. You donât want a deck with 75 drawn images and suddenly 3 painted ones.
One you have your idea of the how you should think of what you want each card to include. Do you want partial black and white? Do you want only neon colours? Line drawings?
(Oracle step in here: try and decide how many cards you want. Itâs not an answer you need 100% but it helps to figure out how much work you need to do!)
Next step is the best step! If possible do a rough draft (doesnât work if youâre doing college/fractal images). Make notes for all the cards. This way you donât forget something you loved at the beginning. These arenât the be all end all for your deck, but it gives you an idea what you were thinking at the beginning!Â
As for making the cards themselves, you need to pace yourself. I know this can be hard, but I know from experience that making 12 cards in one day can make you take a look at a deck and just give up for a long time. Work on them when you can and step back if you think theyâre done and come back to them later. They might be done, you might see what you need to finish.
The last piece of advice is: show me your progress pics! I love seeing those so much!