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[Article] The Pokémon Journey Tarot Series

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    17
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    • Age 31
    • USA
    • Seen Nov 6, 2024
    Tentative title!

    This would be a series of articles where I utilize the symbolism of the Rider-Waite-Smith system of tarot cards and illustrate cards of my own using Pokémon Trainers and Pokémon themselves. Each article will include my card illustration and the original illustration by Pamela Coleman Smith, a brief* analysis of the character(s) depicted, a brief* exploration of the traditional tarot card meaning, and how the character(s) and card meaning overlap(s). Over the course of the series, it will be fascinating to see how Pokémon characters and their arcs overlap with the "journeys" depicted across traditional tarot cards. Since tarot decks include 78 cards, the series will last a while, and will have "something for everyone" as I utilize characters from every generation.

    *I will try to keep these as brief as possible, but knowing my tendency to thoroughly analyze things, certain articles may run longer—especially articles about Major Arcana cards, which encompass "deeper" concepts in general.
     
    As said in DMs I'm happy for you to tackle this, and it sounds fun. I also like the idea of you randomising what card you have to work on next. (Although if there are 'Major Arcana' ones (and I presume the rest are hence not so... 'important', may have to control for that so you're not pulling all the majors at once I suppose).

    What is your timescale per card/article, and how is your schedule for that?

    Also happy for a separate page to be set up for this long-term project. But then we'll have to consider how it would look (maybe a dedicated banner image featuring some earlier designs?)

    Title is tentative you mentioned - did you want suggestions/brainstorming on it?
     
    As said in DMs I'm happy for you to tackle this, and it sounds fun. I also like the idea of you randomising what card you have to work on next. (Although if there are 'Major Arcana' ones (and I presume the rest are hence not so... 'important', may have to control for that so you're not pulling all the majors at once I suppose).

    What is your timescale per card/article, and how is your schedule for that?

    Also happy for a separate page to be set up for this long-term project. But then we'll have to consider how it would look (maybe a dedicated banner image featuring some earlier designs?)

    Title is tentative you mentioned - did you want suggestions/brainstorming on it?
    Good point about not doing all Majors at once! Thankfully there's a ratio of 11:28 Major to Minor cards in a deck, so as long as I shuffle well, it should be a fair mix of a Major card in between a few Minor cards. I can always just draw again if I feel I get too many Majors in a row, but thankfully I think it will naturally lean more balanced.

    (I did draw a card after our chat, and it's actually a Minor Arcana card! I think it's a pretty good one to start things off, even if it isn't as "grand" as a Major card.)

    I'm thinking a schedule of one card and article every one to two months. That should account for my other responsibilities, the time taken for research and illustrating, and for writing. Some may be done faster if they aren't as "complex," and as I get more "into the groove" more of them may be completed faster.

    I was thinking the header for each article could be a consistent background, then a smaller version of the card in question in the center, with the full image of the card in the article itself. If we did a "home page" for the series, I could make a special banner for it (some tarot decks come with one or two extra cards, silly or serious, so maybe it could be based on something like that?).

    I'm totally up for brainstorming for a title! I didn't want something as simple and, frankly, uninspired as, say, "The PokéTarot." The "Journey" idea comes from how Trainers go on their "Pokémon journey" and the tarot Major Arcana is generally considered to be "the Fool's journey," combined with the "journeys" conveyed throughout the Minor Arcana. But I am very open to more ideas, since this only came to me on a whim!
     
    Tentative title!

    This would be a series of articles where I utilize the symbolism of the Rider-Waite-Smith system of tarot cards and illustrate cards of my own using Pokémon Trainers and Pokémon themselves. Each article will include my card illustration and the original illustration by Pamela Coleman Smith, a brief* analysis of the character(s) depicted, a brief* exploration of the traditional tarot card meaning, and how the character(s) and card meaning overlap(s). Over the course of the series, it will be fascinating to see how Pokémon characters and their arcs overlap with the "journeys" depicted across traditional tarot cards. Since tarot decks include 78 cards, the series will last a while, and will have "something for everyone" as I utilize characters from every generation.

    *I will try to keep these as brief as possible, but knowing my tendency to thoroughly analyze things, certain articles may run longer—especially articles about Major Arcana cards, which encompass "deeper" concepts in general.
    I also can't approve this, but this seems like a really interesting idea that I'd love to read through!
     
    Rider-Waite my beloved... I'm obsessed with tarot cards and so is one of my characters. ^^

    It's very nice to meet you, Rivvon. I didn't perform any sort of divination, the fool that I was, but I have a suspicious feeling that we can be great friends. I just returned to PC a month ago, like the hermit crab Dwebble that emerged from her shell. But I've been here since 2006 because my bestie Raichi told me to come here. And everywhere that Raichi went, the lamb was sure to go.

    This sounds like a great idea. Feel free to message me, whether you want to talk about tarot cards or chat about anything else.
     
    Good point about not doing all Majors at once! Thankfully there's a ratio of 11:28 Major to Minor cards in a deck, so as long as I shuffle well, it should be a fair mix of a Major card in between a few Minor cards. I can always just draw again if I feel I get too many Majors in a row, but thankfully I think it will naturally lean more balanced.

    (I did draw a card after our chat, and it's actually a Minor Arcana card! I think it's a pretty good one to start things off, even if it isn't as "grand" as a Major card.)

    I'm thinking a schedule of one card and article every one to two months. That should account for my other responsibilities, the time taken for research and illustrating, and for writing. Some may be done faster if they aren't as "complex," and as I get more "into the groove" more of them may be completed faster.

    I was thinking the header for each article could be a consistent background, then a smaller version of the card in question in the center, with the full image of the card in the article itself. If we did a "home page" for the series, I could make a special banner for it (some tarot decks come with one or two extra cards, silly or serious, so maybe it could be based on something like that?).

    I'm totally up for brainstorming for a title! I didn't want something as simple and, frankly, uninspired as, say, "The PokéTarot." The "Journey" idea comes from how Trainers go on their "Pokémon journey" and the tarot Major Arcana is generally considered to be "the Fool's journey," combined with the "journeys" conveyed throughout the Minor Arcana. But I am very open to more ideas, since this only came to me on a whim!
    Sounds good to me!

    Header image being of that format (ala the name rater articles!) sounds sensible to me. And agreed on a special banner for a hypothetical page. Bonus for that is we can also use the newer Modula image galleries for that page to display them all!

    I'll give the title some thought... but +1 for now.
     
    Thanks to everyone for all the kind words and feedback! I'm bumping this thread up for additional input!

    (As a note, I've been playing around with "The Pokémon World Journeys Tarot" as another possible title to align with the concept of "the Pokémon world" as well as "Pokémon journeys" without being just... Pokémon Journeys like the anime series.)
     
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