Talk:Tarot (Dragon Age)

Wow, I love this gallery! I was wondering - what about tarot inspired art but for other fandoms? Should those be separate pages, or should the mandate of this page be expanded? For example - Fanart Tarot is the page about sets of tarot decks, but that doesn't correspond so well with more individual pieces of art, like those here. Or maybe this page should be renamed to something like "Examples of Dragon Age Tarot Art" ...? Distracteddaydreamer (talk) 08:20, 30 October 2023 (UTC)

I absolutely adore the "tarot" art style. It was fun collecting some CC-licensed examples. I definitely feel this article should cover use of the "tarot" style in fandoms beyond Dragon Age. The style can exist independently of both Dragon Age and tarot decks. It's influenced by the visual iconography of classic tarot decks, but that doesn't mean every example references a card from the major or minor arcana like "The Star," "Seven of Cups," etc. And, while the style was introduced in Dragon Age: Inquisition and popularised by fans, its prevalence has since expanded to other fandoms. I would consider this fanart of Astarion (CW: bleeding cuts, indirect reference to torture) to be an example of the "tarot" style.

So, to answer your first question, I'd say it depends on the type of "tarot-inspired" art. Is it fanart based on tarot cards that doesn't adhere to the unique DA-inspired art style? I'd say relevant examples would be a better fit for Fanart Tarot. If it adheres to the DA art style, regardless of the fandom in question, then I'd say it belongs here.

My hope for this article is that it will eventually grow to include information on the origin and spread of the "tarot" style. This could possibly encompass: 1) how the art direction shifted between the first two DA games and Inquisition, 2) why the aesthetics of Inquisition, in particular, resonated with fans to the point a lot of fanart now depicts pre-DA:I characters in it, and 3) how this popularity may have influenced the aesthetic of other official DA releases. Compare the generic fantasy-novel covers of DA books released before or concurrently with Inquisition to the ornate symbolism and flat desaturated colour palettes of later books. Some of this almost certainly reflects wider trends in visual design and popular culture. The overall popularity of tarot cards and New Age-y things has reportedly increased in recent years.

So, to answer your second question, I don't believe the suggested re-titling is necessary. The art gallery currently takes up most of the article because it's a stub. There's several possibilities for expanding the informational content. I feel it could potentially limit the growth of the article to opt for an article title that centered the art gallery/examples. Night Rain (talk) 19:33, 5 November 2023 (UTC)

Interesting! And love the notes you have on the overall trend, this would definitely be a great direction to have on the article and I completely agree that it shouldn't be refocused on the gallery then.

I do wonder if it really would be fair to say the style was introduced in Dragon Age Inquisition - I think there would need to be a way to differentiate inspiration from Dragon Age style and inspiration from Rider Waite or similar decks. I've definitely seen a lot of tarot-inspired art around, even from sources I don't associate with Dragon Age - it could mean its spread a lot from dragon age, or it could mean there's a common ancestor. I'm not sure I could tell which are DA-art style and which are just tarot inspired, but I'm no artist. I agree that the Astarion art looks like it belongs. What do you think of this card of Julian Devorak from The Arcana or this card of Vaccaria/Wang Jiexi from The King's Avatar or these tarot x female character cards? More links: this MXTX character card that reminds me of stained glass, and this card of Castiel that feels like it has a similar painterly vibe.

Either way, Fanart Tarot as a page seems closer to at least major arcana decks and overall fan-projects, rather than individual cards or the art style. I think individual card examples wouldn't really be appropriate for that page as it is now. Distracteddaydreamer (talk) 16:46, 6 November 2023 (UTC)

I didn't mean to suggest that the origin of the art style that's come to be known as "tarot" within fandom can be pinpointed solely to Dragon Age: Inquisition. The art style has many antecedents in the history of art. I do feel it can be fairly said that the style was popularised by DA:I – particularly within fannish spaces. There's also an inevitable subjectivity in ascribing a specific style or movement to a piece of artwork.

As for the examples you've given, here are my personal assassesments:

• The Arcana – I could go either way on whether this is drawing inspiration directly from imagery traditionally associated with The Hanged Man tarot card or via the DA:I aesthetic. There's not a lot of ornate details or symbolism (not from a surface look, at least), but the detailed foreground character set against the clean, simplistic lines of the background tree does echo the original tarot art from DA:I to an extent.
• King's Avatar – I'd say this doesn't really match the in-game "tarot" art in DA:I. But it could definitely fit alongside the fanart that the DA:I aesthetic has inspired. If you told me this was anime-styled fanart of Cole in a fancy outfit I wouldn't hesitate to add it here.
• Art by Myvividreams – I feel these are the best example of the DA:I-inspired "tarot" style out of the lot. It's got the ornate flourishes and symbolism; the varying levels of detail in background vs. foreground; the dream-like qualities in perspective and colouring. For example, in the Lady Katsa card, the character is portrayed relatively realistically, while the crown is a series of simplified glowing lines, the background is flat and geometric, and there's decorative circles.
• MXTX – This feels like it could fit on this page. Compare to the examples by Ioana-Muresan.
• Supernatural - The weakest fit here, I'd say.

These are only my own opinions, of course. I can't claim to be the sole authority in this matter. There's currently a redlink for Tarot (trope) at the Tarot disambiguation page. Perhaps an article could be created to cover broader uses of tarot cards as a trope in fanworks? Night Rain (talk) 20:09, 6 November 2023 (UTC)

Considering a (similar) new page for fandom Book Covers

I saw this page and wondered if there was such a page for art made to imitate book covers, both for fanfic(more here and here) and not (here, here and here). And if not, if one would be of interest to create. Aliandry (talk) 01:02, 5 December 2023 (UTC)

Yes, please! We have Cover Art and Fanfic Cover. But those don't seem like exact fits for the examples you've provided. There definitely seems to be a genre of fanart that seeks to imitate the design/aesthetics of book covers. Especially mass-market romance novels and '50 pulp novels. Such pieces seem to be created as works in themselves. They might be inspired by specific fanfics like the Kylux examples, but they probably weren't created to be placed in Chapter 1 of the fics in question, like the photo manips/edits we generally call "fic covers." I feel like visual art is a little underrepresented on Fanlore. I've been trying to do my part to fill in gaps in our coverage. I'll try to find wrangle up some CC book cover-inspired fanart. Also, cool, something to stick on Wyll/Mizora, which I literally created for the one piece of art I found! XD Night Rain (talk) 02:27, 5 December 2023 (UTC)

Awesome! I think that's a great idea; the ones which are art for fanfics feels like it does fit into Fanfic Cover, but the ones that don't have a fandom and just use the overall style seems like something that deserves its own page. Seems similar to this item linked on the cover art page: File:Neckznthroats.jpg. Would this include cover art for fictional media that doesn't exist, like in-universe magazine covers? Like mediavengers? Distracteddaydreamer (talk) 13:07, 5 December 2023 (UTC)

I'm just dropping some links here (Star Wars Illustration). I'm sick with covid and I haven't had the strength to update or create any new pages, but I'm afraid of this getting buried. There's also these that are also interesting and adjacent to the topic. Aliandry (talk) 00:25, 16 December 2023 (UTC)

Sorry to hear you're unwell. Hope you recover soon! There's no rush with anything here. This Steven Universe fanart is the only CC-licensed mock book cover I have found thus far. The "book cover" and "cover art" tags on Newgrounds seem be filled mostly with artists sharing art they've created for actual books. Searching DevianArt has also turned up little (with the added bonus of results being filled with AI spam). Night Rain (talk) 22:11, 16 December 2023 (UTC)