Opulent Playing Cards

[Frosty]

Hello everybody! I have been into cards/magic since I was a kid, so I decided to try something I've been wanting to do for years. Creating my own deck of playing cards! The plan would be to launch a kickstarter campaign in order to get the deck funded by the USPCC! The project title is Opulent Playing Cards. Anyway, let me know what you guys think!

I have two color versions of the same thing. I personally like the blue better, but I'm interested to know what the publics opinion is.

[RichK]

Blue better color for me. Jack looks odd with only one arm.

[willroya]

I prefer red. They look great!

[Frosty]

Blue better color for me. Jack looks odd with only one arm.

The Jack only has one arm because the standard jack of spades design also only has one arm.

[shaitani]

Before anything else, I need to say that I love that back design and I'm really digging the artwork for the Jack. I hope you have already put into consideration to make it easy enough to differentiate between suits. As it looks from this small preview, I'm not sure for example how you'd indicate the difference between the 'red' and 'black' suits and that index isn't easy to read quickly.

Anyway I can't wait to see more, keep up the good work.

[portcullis]

+1 to loving this deck's back. I'd also really like to see it in some other colours [black, dark green, maybe purple].

[vedus]

Not a fan of the chunky vector shading blobs on the joker. It is stylistically inconsistent with the other cards and stands out quite a bit.

[RichK]

Before anything else, I need to say that I love that back design and I'm really digging the artwork for the Jack. I hope you have already put into consideration to make it easy enough to differentiate between suits. As it looks from this small preview, I'm not sure for example how you'd indicate the difference between the 'red' and 'black' suits and that index isn't easy to read quickly.

Anyway I can't wait to see more, keep up the good work.

This was my next question. Your index pip needs a border or something because its texture gets lost into the card color. How will the 'red' and 'black' corner indexes look, not to mention number cards.

Thanks and thanks for the one armed Jack info.

[Frosty]

Here are some more.

[Frosty]

+1 to loving this deck's back. I'd also really like to see it in some other colours [black, dark green, maybe purple].

I was planning on doing this eventually. I hope to launch this deck on a kickstarter campaign, then if they are received well hopefully launch with different colors.

[Frosty]

Before anything else, I need to say that I love that back design and I'm really digging the artwork for the Jack. I hope you have already put into consideration to make it easy enough to differentiate between suits. As it looks from this small preview, I'm not sure for example how you'd indicate the difference between the 'red' and 'black' suits and that index isn't easy to read quickly.

Anyway I can't wait to see more, keep up the good work.

This was my next question. Your index pip needs a border or something because its texture gets lost into the card color. How will the 'red' and 'black' corner indexes look, not to mention number cards.

Thanks and thanks for the one armed Jack info.

I was planning on having them just one color. Sort of similar to the Ellusionist Black Tiger deck (just the black and white edition. Not the red edition).

Concerning the index, would it be better in your opinion to just have a solid pip there rather than a fancy one? Or just a border around the pip?

[Frosty]

Before anything else, I need to say that I love that back design and I'm really digging the artwork for the Jack. I hope you have already put into consideration to make it easy enough to differentiate between suits. As it looks from this small preview, I'm not sure for example how you'd indicate the difference between the 'red' and 'black' suits and that index isn't easy to read quickly.

Anyway I can't wait to see more, keep up the good work.

This was my next question. Your index pip needs a border or something because its texture gets lost into the card color. How will the 'red' and 'black' corner indexes look, not to mention number cards.

Thanks and thanks for the one armed Jack info.

Would something like this for example look better?

[flashcards]

Yes, much better. A using color like traditional red and black in the index pips won't hurt. It would make things a bit more comfortable and familiar without taking anything away from your unique design. As it is, things are just to monochrome. A judicial use of color could really make the design pop.

[MagikFingerz]

I agree with flashcards; in general, monochrome playing cards quickly become boring to look at, regardless of the quality of the design. Not much is needed to make it more visually appealing and eye-catching.

[RichK]

Agree with above comments. Keep your fancy index pips but just add the border like in center ace.

[rousselle]

For whatever it's worth, I find the drop shadow on the pips highly off-putting. They are not organic in any way, and as a design element, they only interrupt the patterns you've created without enhancing/improving them at all. There's no other indication of lighting, and there's no other indication of three dimensions. Plus, the effect is further marred by the fact that they don't even work as true drop shadows; they are not quite proportional to their sources, especially in the indexes, and even the pips in the center of the Aces are... off.

So, my request is that you lose the drop shadow effect entirely.

[Frosty]

Thank you everybody for your feedback! I've done some alterations and I want to know which you guys think is the best. I took off the drop shadows, put borders around the pips, and gave the index pips color for comparison. The index pips do not match because they are intended for comparison. Hopefully you guys will see which style you like the best.

For the spades/clubs, I was thinking about using the goldish color because I feel like the black makes it too hard to see. Regardless, I look forward to hearing everyone's feedback.

[flashcards]

I think this is a step backward. In the 7oC the indices down match the interior pips at all. Very disconcerting. I think the styles should match so go with one or the other. The white pip is even worse. It looks like the card is unfinished.

The red on the 7oD looks good. The "bottom" pip looks out of place, however. I understand that you are trying to highlight your intricate pip design but other creators have added color and still kept their designs visible. If you look at your colored indices, they really make the background design stand out. More color will relieve the eye fatigue you get from looking at the monochrome design. There is a way to have color and intricate design- you just have to find it.

[Frosty]

I think this is a step backward. In the 7oC the indices down match the interior pips at all. Very disconcerting. I think the styles should match so go with one or the other. The white pip is even worse. It looks like the card is unfinished.

The red on the 7oD looks good. The "bottom" pip looks out of place, however. I understand that you are trying to highlight your intricate pip design but other creators have added color and still kept their designs visible. If you look at your colored indices, they really make the background design stand out. More color will relieve the eye fatigue you get from looking at the monochrome design. There is a way to have color and intricate design- you just have to find it.

The purpose of the non-matching pips is intended for comparison. There is no way I would print the cards that way.

[RichK]

Frosty,

Can you try fancy pips in corners but have all, including corner pips, with red or black lines around them instead of the current color? And have you shrunken the images to card size so you can see what detail might be lost?

[shimmering]

My advice would be to look at the amount of detail you have in some of your patterns (in the pips and the jack) and potentially to tone it down a little.

In the pips in the aces, you can see the detail of the patterns, and it looks fine --- at least it is all visible. But these ace cards are on the screen at above printing size. When they are printed at a smaller size, you may lose something even here. But for all your other pips, to me, it looks like the pattern is squashed so far that it can't be seen, even at this expanded size. The patterns around the borders of your card faces are at a very different "scale" that to me look clear on the screen and I don't think will lose anything on printing. I could say the same thing about the jack ... nice design, but for me the difference between the linewidth and "scale" of the outline of the jack, and some of the patterns that are used to fill is just a little too great. Hope you understand what I am driving at and hope this helps.