Bicycle Lucent by Sean Whelan - KICKSTARTER LIVE !

[walrus]

Alright backed you for a bit more Sean. Hope this will push you over the edge, not in a bad way.

[samurai007]

Sean, you seem mystified why these aren't doing better compared to your Galvanics and some other KS projects. As a fellow artist, I hope you'll allow me to offer my opinions.

I bought the Galvanics but I've not pledged for Lucent. Here's why:

Back: The back design is swirling ribbons and lines, and while it's not bad, it doesn't really grab me either. The more technological design in the middle is more interesting, but too small to really help out. I think if you had taken the larger but stylistically similar image from the Joker and extended the purplish grey lines into a knotted interlacing semi-celtic design and extended and expanded the darker pattern behind (maybe into dark claw marks similar to the background lines on the current back) it you would have had a much more striking background than the "ribbons and swirls".

Jokers: As I said, I like the Joker designs, but for the backs. So you'd need new Jokers. I'd stick with the interlacing patterns and constrast of dark and light that you have though. Also, IMO the reveal should be a little more hidden, that one is just obvious. But that's not a big concern to me, I'm no magician. What you might do is have 1 "dark joker" and 1 "light joker" by reversing which parts are light and dark on them, the celtic pattern or the background lines. I think that'd be very interesting, and I always prefer different jokers.

Face Cards: These are pretty much just recolored standard faces with a different pip and a small design in the middle. I prefer unique face cards if possible, like you had on the Galvanics. Building on the interlacing theme from the new backs and jokers, I would redo their clothes to include similar celtic-style patterns and the contrast of dark and light... make the "red" suited cards have noticeably lighter patterns, and the black-suited cards have noticeably darker ones. This makes the 2 colors easier to distinguish and keeps with the "war of light and darkness" idea.

Pip cards: The pips may be custom, but it's very, very subtle with just the 2 little lines. I think something a little more intricate and detailed would be better, I don't see the point of the 2 little lines.

Aces: While the background is fairly interesting, the simple outline of the Spade and the little ribbon don't do much for me. I would have a detailed design that meshes well with the redesigned back, featuring the interlaced lines and "light vs darkness" theme. I would do all 4 jokers as special cards, not just the Spades, and as I mentioned on the Joker and Face cards, in the black suited cards have a black woven pip with "claw marks" of light behind it, and on the red suited pips have a light woven pip and dark "claw marks" behind it.


Well, that is what I would do anyway. No idea if it would be more popular or not, though.

[SeanWhelan]

@Samurai007: Thank you for your honest opinion and for your time to type that out. I love to hear feedback like that. (The following will make you understand why)

Well it's safe to say that Lucent will not make it's goal for the second time around. It's amazing to hear all the positive feedback about the designs and really makes makes my day knowing many people appreciate it. It was my chance to break away away from my sci-fi art (which is what I normally do) and still was a fun experience even if it didn't reach it's goal.

Lucent to me was abstract and I find that funny because during my time at college I hated that kind of art haha. I would go how is this art?? Well I found out why during this whole process and was amazing to find that out myself. Abstract is your own take of the piece. For me again was to break away from my norm and to open up photoshop, blast music, zone out and create what came to mind.

You have to remember I'm (in today's view) still fairly new to the field. I'm learned my technique and what I'm comfortable with when it comes to using photoshop and maya. I went to college and received my Bachelor's in Graphic Design and have been out of school for almost 2 years. I am so glad that I have 1 deck already under my belt and showed that anything is possible. That was a 1 man team much like many card designs now and I can't wait to show the next company my portfolio of that project. My goal is to find a full time job as a Graphic Designer (very hard to find a job in this field) and to continue to pop out more decks for you guys.

For now I will put Lucent in the back burner and continue on other projects. What's on the to do list:

Playing card decks:
- Surge
- Celtic
- Lucent
- Aftermath (if I get enough followers on the Galvanic series, this will be the third and final deck to the set)

Other projects will include:
- Magician coins
- t shirts based off other designs
- concept art
- animation films

I have a lot of plans and still want to develop my skills hoping to land that dream job : D

Thank you again everyone,
Sean Whelan
3D Artist

[walrus]

Alright Sean, I think it was Edison. who said I failed my way to success. Never give up.

[MagikFingerz]

Alright Sean, I think it was Edison. who said I failed my way to success. Never give up.

Also this guy:

[Oswin]

The project is not funded

[SeanWhelan]

Direct quote from Kickstarter page:
"Thank you to everyone who supported me with this project! Was a great experience to work on something completely different. Without your support, this project wouldn't have done half as good as it did even though it failed.

But hey a few good people told me "Sometimes you need to fail to succeed".

I would like to give a huge shout out to UnitedCardists which was my main advertising site for all of my projects. The community over there is one of the best!

I will be putting these designs on the shelf for now and move on to other projects. Once it starts to die down I'll relaunch it. Next time with other rewards as well since that's the only way projects get funded now.

Thank you again to everyone!! Any questions you know how to contact me : D "

Well that project is done and over with for now, time to start on other stuff!!
Remember that Celtic deck awhile back? I think I want to focus my time on that! I attached an image of what the border is going to look like. Mind you no color has been added yet and will be gold in the final product. (save the image to your computers to see a better point of view)