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I enjoyed watching your development of the font. If you want, I can send you a picture of a page I have from Wynkyn De Word, the second English printer and apprentice to the first English printer (William Caxton was the first English printer) which was printed in 1491. Especially, if you haven't seen any actual printing of them. I can also send you a photo of a page that was a reprint of a hand printed copy of a William Caxton book to which it is the only surviving copy (none of the printed books survived).

However, I love the detail you are doing by hand making your fonts. Frankly, it is a lot better than most of the early stuff I have. However, some of the hand made works by some monks is amazing. Anyway, as someone that likes those old fonts...bravo. I would love to get my hands on that font as part of a reward package!

Those videos are so relaxing . My favorite is still the plate engraving from the Intaglio project though. Would be awesome if some footage of the printing process would exist as well...

One deck to rule them all..

Here is the Boromir card.

Art is gorgeous... At first glance the sword hilt proximity to his mouth made it look like he was smoking a pipe or something but otherwise looks great

Cant wait to see Legolus, Arwen, all the elves!

Boromir looks great.

I'm looking forward to seeing Eomer and especially the Balrog.

I love the art as well, and I like the Boromir card very much. But I have to comment - for some reason, my eyes keep getting drawn towards the flat/top of his head, especially on the lower part of the card. I know they are mirrored images, but his haircut/style just seems a bit flat on the top of his head and, for some reason, it just grabs my attention as being off for some reason.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leGQ-ti ... e=youtu.be[/youtube]

Watching these clips as you fast draw this stuff is amazing. I hope you play some music as you draw. I sometimes listen to music when I do some of my creative detailed work myself and it can really help me focus on my task. I am frankly blown away at the level of prodigious creativity involved. The detail included really is stunning and I wonder where you even get the image that you seemingly throw onto the screen.

The great Pit of Doom is what I am going to call my bank account. My squirrel tail is really twitching right now....

Bradius wrote: The great Pit of Doom is what I am going to call my bank account. My squirrel tail is really twitching right now....

I have to wonder, Brad, if your wife has sounded you out on the sheer size of your collection taking up space in the house and the amount of $ you've poured into it? Has your family sought intervention yet for your squirrely habit of hoarding decks by the brick?

If not, how do you explain it away? Inquiring minds with family want to know.

Eric, I have no idea what you are talking about. What collection?

Goldberry - (Tom Bombadil's wife for the non LoTR nerds)

FYI- Everything that is gold on the card is gold foil, including her hair.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYyW466MC7s&t[/youtube]

Not feeling good about that elbow sticking out that much.. Maybe giving her a bit more body (moving the head closer to the border) would make it better.. Don't know.. just not looking too good.

Agree too, that left elbow is sticking out like a sore thumb, not that it's ugly, just that the angles are invading too much of the upright image.

The elbow doesn't bother me too much but the lack of body does

This is a deck where one way courts would look way better.

JacksandJokers wrote:The elbow doesn't bother me too much but the lack of body does

Exactly how I feel. That is kinda the downside (but as well the challenge) of playing cards - your canvas is strictly limited.
I love the expression and the details of the card though. Great stuff.

badpete69 wrote:This is a deck where one way courts would look way better.

I wouldn't say better but I get what you're saying and it would be definitely easier to do with the depth and detail that Jackson wants to incorporate. I kinda like that he goes for the challenge of two-way courts though.

One of the hard parts with my engraving style drawing, is making the figures bigenough that the small line work just doesn't come out as grainy noise when printed the size of a playing card at 300dpi. Because of this I many times have to make the bust of the characters go past the mid line of the card which sometimes make mirroring and making the tradition harder. I totally understand your comments about their not being a body, but to me the important elements to these cards and telling the story correctly is getting the many details of each of these characters correct and in the composition.

For example it is more important to me to exagerate the fact that Goldberry has long golden hair, and that is she is holding a white water Lilly. Both of these elements were very specifically called out in the text. This deck is for LOTR nerds just as it is for playing card collectors (which I am one of both) So I have to be able to strike a good balance.

If I made the characters smaller in scale to get more of the figure / body in there my line work would still have to stay the same size thus making the amount of detail I can put into a drawing less.

I may end up doing a second set of one way court cards... maybe.

JacksonRobinson wrote: For example it is more important to me to exagerate the fact that Goldberry has long golden hair, and that is she is holding a white water Lilly. Both of these elements were very specifically called out in the text. This deck is for LOTR nerds just as it is for playing card collectors (which I am one of both) So I have to be able to strike a good balance.

Fair enough! Is just the balance doesn't seems right this time.
Is still a beautiful card nonetheless,

My heart says. More versions...yeah!

My pocket book says...one version is just fine, thanks.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8etMtAc ... e=youtu.be[/youtube]

JacksonRobinson wrote:[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8etMtAc ... e=youtu.be[/youtube]

Unreal

I'll rate that 100 x OMGs

For some reason, the gold foil doesn't do that much for me. Don't get me wrong, I love the artwork. However the foil seems forced on the card. It does add some pop, but I am not sure it works with the antique feel of the art.

Personally I think a metallic gold ink would be better on the background while keeping the gold foil on the ring. That ring looks really nice!

Somebody with a leaf blower at your house Jackson?
Cool prototype but I would go for a more muted gold look. Less mirror like and more antique leaf gold like.

Bradius wrote:For some reason, the gold foil doesn't do that much for me. Don't get me wrong, I love the artwork. However the foil seems forced on the card. It does add some pop, but I am not sure it works with the antique feel of the art.

Give it time... Just wait till you see the gold foil scroll work I'm going to put on the side in the empty spaces...

I enjoyed the drawing of Samwise that was put up on Instagram today. However, I was thinking he should be a bit grimy, especially under his fingernails. He is even holding a plant. As a gardener, he is close to the earth and it should be more a part of him. Otherwise, it looks great. My 2 cents that you didn't ask for. Your welcome.

Bradius wrote:I enjoyed the drawing of Samwise that was put up on Instagram today. However, I was thinking he should be a bit grimy, especially under his fingernails. He is even holding a plant. As a gardener, he is close to the earth and it should be more a part of him. Otherwise, it looks great. My 2 cents that you didn't ask for. Your welcome.

I understand what you are saying. Not to split hairs but the box and plant/seedling is a direct reference to the gift that Lady Galadriel gave him as a gift, not necessarily that he is/was a gardener. While Sam being a gardener is important, it's not the most important character aspect I wanted to portray. The fact that Sam is the one true hero in the entire trilogy is the character trait I wanted to get across.