The House of the Rising Spade

[JuFiN]

Or just really really small indices ^.^

[joeblow]

If you squint a little, the queen is giving the finger. Another masterpiece in the making.

[jsantafe]

Please, keep it index less! That makes it more unique! Great idea, Lorenzo!

[rousselle]

I'll back this whichever way you go, but I like the fact that you're currently going index-less. I like the way this is a modern version of the old-style cards.

Oh, and that solid background of metallic gold ink? Sign me up again!

[montecarlojoe]

I've already decided I need the uncut for this...

[Justin O.]

I'm getting out of collecting Playing Cards and selling off most of my collection, but I will continue to get every Stockholm17 deck that comes out. Absolutely my favorite designer and these are no exception! Can't wait!!!

[Stockholm17]

thanx for the feedback and the suggestions!

I agree with removing the Q (therefore J and K) and go 100% indexless.
for the sake of consistency and the concept, no letters.
I will make it clear that the queen is the queen, the jack is the jack and the king is the king.

Thank you!

[Olethros]

Looks like a queen from a tarot deck, especially if the index is going to be excluded. I really like her! Have you thought of designing a tarot deck sometime in the future? Or a deck that will serve both as a standard and a tarot deck like the Arcana deck by Chris Ovdiyenko?

[Cbkimble]

I've already decided I need the uncut for this...

I try to get the uncut of all Lorenzo's decks, most of the time 2. They always come out beautiful.

[montecarlojoe]

I'd love to too - but budget often prohibits that!

[Stockholm17]

Hello everybody!

finally I am able to get back to work after a big break due to moving to a new place. It was a process that took a few months (buying, selling, moving, fixing etc), that´s why I am so late with the new deck.

I gathered the many sketches I made during the year and selected a few. These are the 12 court cards.
I dont know when they will be ready, I still have to work on the aces, back design, and tuckbox.... Work in progress folk!
Let me know what is your fav

JACKS






QUEENS





KINGS

[Bradius]

I like them. So, this time you are going for a full card illustration. I am not so wild about the obscured faces of the Kings with their visors down (Diamond and Spade), and the King of Clubs needs some work in my opinion. The King of Club's beard is not doing it for me. The Jacks look great. The Jack of Spades is my favorite with his face obsured by the hood (I know my earlier comment, but here it works for me) and with his snake familiar. The addition of the animals is a great twist. Thanks for the update on your next project and glad you are getting settled into your new home.

[Bikefanatic]

Very rarely I like one way courts. I liked Calaveras, I haven't got my Origins SOH yet but I will like those. This deck I think I will like a lot too.

When you have the cards in your hand, it takes nothing but a second to turn around a court card to be aligned with a spread. I still highly prefer two way courts but I really don't care that much about one way backs.

[Mankin]

Looks really promising. I like the idea of the courts with a 'pet'. Will they all get one?

[Stockholm17]

thanx for the feedback!

Only the jacks will have an animal, the kings will have a weapon.
I will do some rendering in the weekend and see how it turns out

Much to do eheh

[sms69x]

So pets for Jacks, weapons for Kings and the girls??

[Stockholm17]

So pets for Jacks, weapons for Kings and the girls??

the ladies will have a special feature and I am not talking about their breast eheh
wait and see, I hope it turns out decently.

As reminder, these cards will be INDEX-LESS
O_O-

[rousselle]

I'm excited by what I see so far.

[theCapraAegagrus]

So pets for Jacks, weapons for Kings and the girls??

the ladies will have a special feature and I am not talking about their breast eheh
wait and see, I hope it turns out decently.

As reminder, these cards will be INDEX-LESS
O_O-

I said it before and I will say it again: These look f^&*ing great. I love the one-way courts and I love the lack of indexes.

I've seriously been waiting for an update on this forever. I'm heavily anticipating these.

I'm done with Lotrek. Nothing against him at all. 6 of his decks are industrially innovative, ridiculously well-designed, and meticulously crafted. Venexiana Gold, Icons Signature, Liturgy Treasure, Grotesk Inverted Inferno Signature, Golden Oath, and Oath Sanctus are all ground-breaking IMO. That's about $2K (X2 of each deck) of investment though and I'm experiencing fatigue on all playing card fronts. It will be tough to continue delivering state-of-the-art products for Oath Playing Cards (Ambassadors begins that trend).

I'm done with JR. 36 decks in and I've hit the dead end after the Arthurians.

Paul Carpenter is still going strong. I think his few and far-between releases keep his stuff looking pretty fresh and his line detail work is tremendous.

I'm done with Giovanni. A brick of his signature artwork bodes well for his legacy with me but the style is stale and I had no interest in his latest super bright colored campaign.

Alex Chin is still going strong for me as well, but I think Seasons has to come to a close and he needs to pull another Magna Carta out of his bag of tricks.

That brings me to you, sir. It's weird, because I first came across your work with the Heretic decks and Noctis is so easily one of my favorite decks. I saw the Requiem decks online a few times and was "eh, I'm not sure I see the catch". Well, lo and behold, I ended up ordering them and I don't know if there is another deck that pictures do no justice for. They are unbelievable. Everything you've crafted has been a stunning work of art and this "fresh" look of one-way courts and index-less designs just has me excited. I have no love for one-way backs, as some have said, but the courts don't restrict the deck's function IMO.

A long post, I know, and I'm sorry. I had a lot to say.

[theCapraAegagrus]

I just wanted to quote this because it's how I feel about this upcoming deck lol.

[alric]

I'm done with Lotrek.

I'm done with JR.

Paul Carpenter is still going strong.

I'm done with Giovanni.

Alex Chin is still going strong for me as well.

Interesting list. I'm not done with Lotrek, I just can't afford him!

I am also done with Jackson Robinson. As in "never again" done. As in "you're dead to me" done. As in "even if you're the last deck on earth" done.

I only loved two decks from Paul: Zenith and Chancellor. The rest of his decks are merely OK, there's a bit of not living up to the hype going on.

I might be done with Giovanni. I like everything I've got from him, but its become the same old same old.

Always looking for what Alex Chin does next.

Lorenzo does just enough so that it doesn't seem like the same old same old so he's still going very strong for me as well.

I still like Randy Butterfield, he makes decks that are meant to be used and I appreciate that.

The designer I will never get tired of is Uusi! If they ever design a UC Annual deck my head will explode. God, I wish they would start another series of custom playing cards.

[theCapraAegagrus]

I'm done with Lotrek.

I'm done with JR.

Paul Carpenter is still going strong.

I'm done with Giovanni.

Alex Chin is still going strong for me as well.

Interesting list. I'm not done with Lotrek, I just can't afford him!

I am also done with Jackson Robinson. As in "never again" done. As in "you're dead to me" done. As in "even if you're the last deck on earth" done.

I only loved two decks from Paul: Zenith and Chancellor. The rest of his decks are merely OK, there's a bit of not living up to the hype going on.

I might be done with Giovanni. I like everything I've got from him, but its become the same old same old.

Always looking for what Alex Chin does next.

Lorenzo does just enough so that it doesn't seem like the same old same old so he's still going very strong for me as well.

I still like Randy Butterfield, he makes decks that are meant to be used and I appreciate that.

The designer I will never get tired of is Uusi! If they ever design a UC Annual deck my head will explode. God, I wish they would start another series of custom playing cards.

I'm there on the bolded, too. He's a legend in playing card history, though.

I think where Paul falls short is his court cards. They always seem kind of "standard". I can't speak to his process but I feel that if he put work into making them stand out against each other in each "series" then his decks would be more beloved. I still love everything he's done.

I'm one of those few people that don't really have any interest in Randy Butterfield's stuff. I've definitely thought about backing his projects or buying some of his decks like the Lux series but he just doesn't make the cut for me (sorry, Randy, I know you're a good contributor to the site). The same goes for Uusi. Their stuff just isn't my style.

I'd really like 52+Joker to consider Lorenzo for the 2018 Club Deck design (if he's interested).

[Bradius]

Okay, back to the House of the Rising Spade deck. Which one of the draft courts gets you excited and why?

As I stated earlier, for me it is the Jack of Spades. It is just flat out wicked with the obsured hood and draped snake. That card means business, and without any unnecessary blood dripping extras. I just would not want to see him coming out of the dark mists toward me. And that fits the deck name, House of the Rising Spade too. The spades need to be the ones that chill your blood.

[theCapraAegagrus]

Okay, back to the House of the Rising Spade deck. Which one of the draft courts gets you excited and why?

As I stated earlier, for me it is the Jack of Spades. It is just flat out wicked with the obsured hood and draped snake. That card means business, and without any unnecessary blood dripping extras. I just would not want to see him coming out of the dark mists toward me. And that fits the deck name, House of the Rising Spade too. The spades need to be the ones that chill your blood.

Buzz Killington...

I agree on the Jack of Spades. Jack of Diamonds looks too feminine. I'm a little confused on the character orientation, though. The Spade is the only Jack not in side-profile stance. Then, the Queens are oriented by color (black: side, red: front). Then all 4 Jacks are drawn side-profiled...

I'd honestly prefer all Spades to be front-profiled and all 9 other courts are side-profiled, since as mentioned, this is the House of the Rising Spade...

[NineLives]

Oh it's hard to pick favourites I do like the Jack's pets, reminds me of the daemons in 'His Dark Materials' - the soul of the character, if you like.
Strongest characters for me (at the moment) are: QoD, JoH and KoH (though they're all great!)

[Stockholm17]

thanx everyone for the feedback

I understand that some courts are more appealing than others for some reason, but it depends by your tastes.
Anyway, here is a rendering that I just posted. This is how I want to color the court cards

I hope you like it!

[Bradius]

Exquisite is the word I prefer to use for your playing cards, and this is no exception.

[RoyalSecretCards]

Yes, definitely great court cards. GJ

[Shade]

I also think the King of Clubs also looks too feminine. Not his head and face, I believe it is the arch in his back and his upper arm. His beard also doesn't do it for me, makes him look like he has breasts.

The rest look damn good. I really like the hawk, and dog on the Jacks. The lack of indexes in interesting. Would take me a while to differentiate the Jacks from Kings. Assume that is why most of the kings have no face, although the King of clubs does & the Jack of spaces seems to not have a face as well. Might want to make all the kings faceless as well to help differentiate them.

I agree on the Jack of Spades. Jack of Diamonds looks too feminine. I'm a little confused on the character orientation, though. The Spade is the only Jack not in side-profile stance. Then, the Queens are oriented by color (black: side, red: front). Then all 4 Jacks are drawn side-profiled...

I'd honestly prefer all Spades to be front-profiled and all 9 other courts are side-profiled, since as mentioned, this is the House of the Rising Spade...

[portcullis]

I said I'd make up my mind on seeing the courts. One request, can you hold off until next year?