DESIGNING THE CARDS

Dec 30, 2021

IMAGE CAPTION: The above image shows some of the steps in the MT card design process. Many of the cards are influenced by works from art history and occassionally mormon art history. The Hermit card was influenced by "Stevedore", a sculpture by mormon artist, Mahonri Young. I often use Barbi doll size maniquins for models. I ink each card with a brush and then digitally color it. The digital coloring of each card is one of the final steps. I will continue tweaking colors until just before going to print. 

DEAR MIGHTY MORMON TAROT PATRONS!

It's been a while since I checked in. Here's some news about the project if you’re interested:

A HUGE THANK YOU!

First off, I want to thank all of you. Your support means the world to me! Your patronage is a constant source of inspiration and motivation. Thank you so much!

2021 RECAP 

To keep this short and sweet: I learned a ton about tarot this year from Sarah K. S. Hanks (Cottonwood Tarot) and her Patreon based "Hierophant's Year" course. I think she's brilliant and it's been fun to work with her. I took what I learned from her course and reorganized the alignments of the MT minor arcana 4 or 5 times. I feel way more confident about them now and I'm excited to share them with you when they are finished. 

I feel like I've grown a lot in terms of drawing, composition, figure proportions and color scheme design. I've also developed a more nuanced understanding of Mormon History. I'm starting to get a better sense of the personalities and the evolving cultural chemistry of mormonism during those early years...

Lastly, my computer died a few weeks ago and I'm still transitioning to the new one. My new computer is 10 times faster than the old one and I'm loving it! I have big goals for 2022 so I can use all the speed I can get!

TITHING SETTLEMENT 2021

I donate 10% of all proceeds from this project to charities that are somehow connected with the world of mormonism. A friend of mine told me about a cool charity called the Three Corners Women's Giving Circle. You donate to them and they prudently distribute your money to the best charities in Utah, Arizona and Nevada that support women and girls. I donated 10% of this year's patron donations to them and became a member of the giving circle. You can donate any amount you want. Memberships cost $250. You can see which programs they support at their website: https://threecornerswgc.wordpress.com/

POSTERS!

For all you $10 MOON and $25 SUN per month patrons, I will be sending out posters soon. If you have a request feel free to PM me and I'll see if I can get you the specific MT poster you want. You will need to PM me before January 9th otherwise I will send out posters from my current stock pile.

PORTRAITS AND MT ORIGINAL DRAWINGS

For $25/mo SUN patrons, the offer to include your face or the face of a loved one in the tarot is closed for new sign ups, but not for you! If you want to take advantage of this cool perk, please send me a couple unique front views and side views of the face you want me to include. I will do my best to interpret the likeness in the card drawing. A dog, cat or other pet can also work, and might be easier to incorporate than a human face. There are only a few places in the MT where this will unobstrusively work with the card designs. Please reach out to me with your portrait proposal ASAP. I will do my best to find a good fit for it.

The alternative option is to claim the original MT ink drawing of your choosing. Both of these options are available once you have passed the one year mark. I need to start finalyzing the cards so from here on out only the second option is available for new Sun patrons. If you're desperate to include your dog or another face in the tarot, PM me and maybe we can work something out. :)

A potential third option for SUN patrons is a $200 voucher on any paintings from my website www.joshuabaird.com. PM me if you have questions about painting prices, I don't usually post them on my website.

GRAMMAR, SPELLING & SOURCE MATERIAL

I happen to know that many of you come from academic backgrounds or work in jobs that require impeccable spelling and grammar. I just want to say thank you for your patience with my writing! I am not a very good writer and the information I post with each card is a bit sloppy sometimes, but I hope it is still helpful…The MT book will probably only contain a few primary sources to support each card, but I would like to eventually include as much information as possible about the cards on the website for people who want to really geek out about the card meanings. I’m still trying to decide how to cite, organize, format and curate this source material…

POSTING FREQUENCY

I'm trying to release at least two new cards each month from here on out. I would love to increase that number to 3, 4 or even 5 cards each month! I'm working on all the cards at once so I'm hoping that will be more possible further down the road as more cards get closer to being finished.

AN MT NFT?: NFT's or non-fungible tokens are a way for artists to sell one-of-a-kind digital artwork online. NFT's are unique in how they benefit artists because every time an NFT changes hands, the artist recieves a percentage of the sale.  The downside to NFT's is that they require insane amounts of computer processing and are therefore bad for the environment. The average non-fungible token has a footprint of approximately 340 kWh and could power the average EU household for 1.5 months! But the future of NFT’s is looking bright: The ETH2 aka Serenity uses a Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm which is orders of magnitude more computationally efficient than the current algorithm. When NFT’s become more energy efficient I will start releasing each digital MT card as an NFT starting with the Fool card and the other major arcana. It’s a weird, but cool idea. Stay tuned for that opportunity if you’re interested. My MT patrons will be the first to know. ;)

MY CURRENT MARKETING PLAN

• PREORDERS: I will have a table at next year's 2022 Sunstone SLC—and possibly other 2022 Sunstone events. I will start taking preorders at that time (August 2022). 

• OTHER MT PATRON PERKS: All MT patrons who stay with me through the Summer of 2023 will be the first to receive printed MT decks at no cost! All patrons will have the opportunity to buy additional decks at a discounted price.

• SHIPPING DATE GOAL: I'm super motivated and on course to have the cards finished, printed and ready to ship by September 2023. I'm hoping that doesn't change.

• PRINTING, PRICES & PURCHASING: I still don't know how many decks I will print and how much the wholesale and retail cost will be. There are so many variables involved in pricing a project like this! A lot of it has to do with which printers I choose to go with, what their minimum order amount is and how much they charge per deck. My current guess would be somewhere between 60 and 90 dollars retail. I don't think I will do an edition larger than 500, but that number depends on the quality of the printer. My favorite printer won't print less than 2500! That's a lot of cards for an indie deck like the MT!

• A FUTURE MT EXHIBITION: I plan on holding an exhibition for the cards at a SLC gallery in late 2023. I plan on selling original drawings from the MT portfolio and newly printed MT decks at this exhibition. All patrons that stick with me to the end get first dibs on purchasing original MT drawings. I might have some sketches on hand to give away or sell for cheap as well…

• MEET & GREET: After I have completed the art exhibition and mailed out all the preorders; I will be signing books and cards at my favorite SLC bookstore. It’s too early to mention it by name, but the owner has expressed a ton of enthusiasm for this project and I so appreciate his support! I'm going to give his store exclusive rights to sell the cards for a yet to be determined amount of time.

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THANKS EVERYONE! AND HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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