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Hey Guys,

I'm working on a new deck of cards. Most everything is up in the air right now like (name, printer, brand, etc). I'm thinking about calling is "Eminence" because I'm really focusing on the royalty, but it's a working title.

It's going to consist of 12 custom court cards (with updated hues but still keeping a very traditional feel), custom tuck, Ace of Spades and card back. My goal with this deck is to keep to the standard parameters when designing the court cards. I want to really focus on making a very beautiful but functional deck (not so much a novelty item). I may have two versions of the deck, a black and red version and a full color version (using traditional yellows, reds, blues, and blacks).

I have 4 court cards done thus far and I'm going to try to get a card out every two days. At that rate, it will be on Kickstarter sometime later this year!

Here's the Jack of Spades:


The biggest thing for me when looking at the standard JoS was what he was holding. To me, it has always looked like he was looking in a mirror. So, I gave him a mirror, slightly modified his face, hair, and overall torso. Throughout this deck I'll try to keep a lot of the patterns that appear on the standard court cards but slightly modifying them. Of course I'm going to add a few new ones too! Again, I'm going with an updated look but a familiar feel.

Hope you guys like it!

I post all my latest card designs to Instagram first, so if you want to see things before they're posted here, please give me a follow on instagram! @vadim.smolenskiy

New card!

Queen of Diamonds:


Red hair is still up in the air, but I'm kinda digging it. Also, Flickr is being annoying and pixelating my images

Thoughts?

Really nice work on the queen! Kind of has an Indian vibe to her, particularly the cloak and eyes. I prefer the black/red version but I also like the red hair. Maybe an orange or yellow orange to go with the black/red version?

It's been done.

sprouts1115 wrote:It's been done.

Ah nice, but not on a Jack of Spades!

Jack of Diamonds:

Kleetz - Don't let the court border define you. At least let the pole arm poke out.

sprouts1115 wrote:Kleetz - Don't let the court border define you. At least let the pole arm out poke out.

Thanks for commenting Russell. Normally I would, but as of now i'm sticking with the traditional borders.

Is it crazy to reveal Jokers right away?! Because here they are:



I'm going to modify the type treatment, but for now it is what it is.

C&C welcomed!

-Vadim

Kleetz - Nice Jokers.

"This card takes either Bower" and "Imperial Bower," or "Highest Trump card."

Which one is hightest Joker? White or yellow it doesn't matter. They are different....

sprouts1115 wrote:Kleetz - Nice Jokers.

Which one is hightest Joker? White or yellow it doesn't matter. They are different....

Thanks Sprouts! I'm not sure how to interpret that sentence. Good or bad?

-Kleetz

Worked on the Ace of Spades. I'm probably going to go with the all black, but I wanted to see what some added color looked like. The bird still needs a few more details in the head, but overall I'm pretty happy with the look.



Vadim

Finished the King of Clubs yesterday. Added a woman hand to hold the orb that normally floats by his torso, modified his robes a bit and added the chainmail in the center. Queen is next in line!

Kleetz - I see your are going with traditional courts. Usually, the Jack has long hair while the King has short hair. Just a thought.... Looking forward to the QoS...

I think the crowns look weird and plastered on, very out of place.

Thanks @voltanangel, I'll see if I can't round them out later.

In the meantime, I finished up the Queen of Clubs last week. Here she is:

Jack of Clubs was finished up yesterday. I've also added a new gold border to him and the previous royalty cards. It's the same kinda of border that runs around the Ace of Spades, the same one that will be on the back of the cards and tuck. Ties everything together and (in my opinion) gives it a more regal feel, no?

Here he is:

Got the King of Hearts done. Living up to the Suicide King name!

I re-did the card backs. Not sure if I posted the original one here or not. I wanted to use only the elements that are featured on the court cards, aces, jokers, etc. to tie everything together.

Hope y'all like them. I rendered two colors red and blue, but I'm leaning towards the blue.



Thanks!

I like how it's not a blue blue, more like a muted cyan. I too prefer it over the red.

I'm also leaning towards the less blonde version of the courts.

Eoghann wrote:I like how it's not a blue blue, more like a muted cyan. I too prefer it over the red.

I'm also leaning towards the less blonde version of the courts.

Sorry, been meaning to say "thank you". I've been caught up working on the Tuck box and I'm happy to say that it's done!

My goal is to be able to get one - three versions printed. At the core of the project would be the blue tuck you see below. "The Premium Edition". If the project goes on to be more successful, then I will version off a "Gold Edition" that will feature gold foil on the the entire tuck and my person favorite, a "Platinum Edition" that will feature silver foil on the entire tuck.

Anyway, here it the tuck design before it's folded:


And folded (please excuse the colors not being exact, it will be lighter than what's pictured here:


Weave pattern printed on the inside

Queen of Hearts!

Only two more courts remain, then pip cards, the campaign! Hope you guys like her:


Vadim

Kleetz - In modern decks, the Queen's head should extend outside the court border. If you can fit it, do it...

sprouts1115 wrote:Kleetz - In modern decks, the Queen's head should extend outside the court border. If you can fit it, do it...

Sprouts, I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Can you give me an example of a "modern" deck?

Thanks!

You know I'm brand new to all this but I'm totally digging the Queen of clubs with the pretty blue accents.. she's my favorite so far!!!

Gina wrote:You know I'm brand new to all this but I'm totally digging the Queen of clubs with the pretty blue accents.. she's my favorite so far!!!

Thanks Gina! For some reason the link to the Queen of Heart broke, so that's back up now.

she looks great too - I like how pretty you drew her face!!

Gina wrote:she looks great too - I like how pretty you drew her face!!

Thanks Gina!

I finished up the Jack of Hearts last week. While working on it I was curious to know why the standard JoH was holding a leaf. So I did some digging around and found that he was originally holding what looked like a sheath from a sword in one hand and an axe in the other, but though years of bad copying it morphed into a leaf. So, to pay a little homage I gave him a sheathed sword in one hand and a bardiche (a pole axe) in the other.

Here he is:


Thanks,
Vadim

Kleetz - It would look better if the Halberd was in the court border covering some of the Celt knot. Short sword for a JoH. I like it...

Picture-less Update

I've finished all of the cards, in the process of getting pricing per decks, and building the KS campaign page! I'll post stuff / info as I have it.