Marn Tarot UPDATE!!!

I'm so excited to announce that the tarot deck is nearly finished!

After 3+ years, I'm very nearly ready to publish my tarot deck! It's been an insane amount of work, and I feel like I've grown substantially as a visual artist from completing this project. I've talked before on this blog about how interesting and new this process has been for me. Starting from a fully realized image and set of themes and finding a way to re-interpret the core of that idea into my own image has been very difficult and at times un-natural for me (with a background as a visual artist, working primarily from observation). Finding myself as an illustrator has been a process, but I think it turned out quite well!

I've shared the project with a few friends I have who are interested in Tarot, and they were very excited about how the deck turned out.

I've done a few readings with it, and I was delighted and a bit surprised to discover how different it felt to actually read with these cards. Changing the suits and adding my own subtext to them added a new dimension that can be used in a reading that I don't think I fully understood or expected when I was making it. I'm very glad to see how well the cards work, and to see first hand that they have the capacity to do what tarot does.

The time and energy it took to complete this project rivals that of my first album. 😅 I'm proud that I actually managed to accomplish it. I admit that when I started I didn't know if this project would end up seeing the light of day- but with the support of my friends, I was able to make steady progress and reach milestones one by one until the deck started to take shape.

I'm extremely excited to start releasing this deck into the world! The plan for now is to sell them online through my merch store, (or etsy, tbd), and to sell them in person at live shows <3 No final decision on the price yet, but I want very much to make sure it's affordable for everyone who wants one. I also plan to upload the digital compositions to a section of my website sometime later this year, so everyone can see the cards without paying anything if they so desire.

This week, I've been putting the finishing touches on the box and comparing various printing and distribution companies. I have received a few samples from distrubtors already, but so far all were either too expensive to produce at scale, or too low-quality to feel good about. I think I finally found a production facility I like, but I'll know for sure once I get the samples back in the next couple weeks!

Till then! <3