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Lorenzo's Requiem deck is already in the pipeline over at USPCC, and before long - maybe even in about a week, he will be showing off his second deck (long story, actually it was first) HERE only on UC!

Stay tuned, it's another home run, and he's been working on the refurbishment of the deck for a while, now - it's looking really nice...

I can't wait!!! Lorenzo's Reqiuem is awesome! I'm sure his next deck will be just as awesome or even more so.

Exciting! I can't quite put my finger on the theme based on the teaser pics, but it looks a bit oriental.

Eoghann wrote:Exciting! I can't quite put my finger on the theme based on the teaser pics, but it looks a bit oriental.

hmmm... Not really, although there are some elements that go that way. It won't be long before Lorenzo is ready to show some things for those of here on UC. I've seen the latest iteration of it after it was adjusted and the name changed (what it was originally going to be called has been used in the meantime) and I'm going to bet everybody will like it!

Heretic Playing Cards

Hi All!
As promised I unveil the new deck, just reached 300 followers on the Requiem facebook page http://www.facebook.com/requiemcards.

Requiem is in a looong queue at USPCC, and I have plenty of time before it´s done. They say 5-6 weeks plus USPCC ”delay variable” = ? = myteries of mankind.

Heretic was made in 2013 and it was stuck in an American company for one year with another name The first name was ”Der Alchemist”, then it was changed to ”Oracle”, but while I was waiting for this company to start a production, another Oracle deck was launched on Kickstarter. You know it.
After the successful kickstarter campaign with Requiem, I decided to cancel the contract with this company and finally I took it back. I tweaked it, improved it, I changed the name and finalized it for another Kickstarter campaign, ONLY AFTER Requiem will be delivered to the backers.

There is a first version of this deck, slightly different. I have 10 prototypes (let´s call it Oracle-Heretic prototype 00), but I decided to do improvements and change something.
The theme is Alchemy, and it´s a vast theme with a lot of symbols and esoteric matter such as astrology, sacred geometry, hermeticism, chiromancy, magic and more.

Briefly about Alchemy:
There are 3 main "ingredients" as bases for all the weird out-of-this-time alchemical formulas and processes. They are called Salt, Sulfur and Mercury.
The jacks hold the symbol of Salt, the Queens hold sulfur and the Kings hold mercury.
There is much more and I dug into Alchemy for a while to give consistency to the deck.

It will be printed by..... uhm, I don´t know yet. USPCC is slow and expensive, inflexible and I believe they are using their fame to charge a lot, even for a printing proof or the work they are supposed to do with the graphic files (such as preparing the file for the pre-press).
This – to me - is absolutely unacceptable.
I´m exploring other possibilities keeping high quality linen finishing. Same as Bicycle, or nearly the same.

About Heretic Playing Cards, I had another 4 months work for:
Custom courts completely redesigned and illustrated with diagonal symmetry (which is hard).
Standard suites symbols, superclassic.
Standard index, with theme-related font.
Spades' background with the left hand
Hearts' background with the right hand
Clubs and Diamonds background alchemical 16th century illustration (taken from an ancient book).
The back side is still work in progress in terms of color. I´m testing some options.
Tuck-box with embossing (still work in progress).
Custom Seal with a known cryptic Latin crossword.
Maybe 55 or 56 cards.
And for the Kickstarter campaign if I find a good producer, the prices will be lower of course.
How I will do the campaign? Just wait for it ,I have a couple of ideas.
Only after Requiem is delivered!


Here is a sneak preview. I hope you like it! cheers

Shiny!

I'm in!

Visa, PayPal, Amazon, etc., are all standing by waiting to make a payment!

You are going to be surprised.. my banker hate you. Once more.

eheh, you have time, it will be may2014 I guess. First Requiem

Wow. Seriously - what's wrong with people? How were these not snapped up by the big design companies in the first place? Someone needs firing!

Now i have to buy a "Lorenzo proof" wallet !

The Jack, the tuck box, the joker : all of these are beautiful ! My prefered : the jack.

This will be a crazy deck...

(running around the room with strange laugh...) I'm in ! i'm in ! i'm in !

@lolo and the others
11 courts to be unveiled

Love the design. I can't wait!

I've loved your design aesthetic since I first laid eyes on it. This new deck looks awesome.

That said, my respect for you skyrockets when you say you will ship Requiem before launching Heretic / Alchemist. And when you do, I'll be lining up with all the others here to back the new project.

Kudos to you!

Love it, a brighter, more sparing look than Requiem but your usual kickass awesome work, Lorenzo.

Do I get a discount if you adopt me?

montecarlojoe wrote:Wow. Seriously - what's wrong with people? How were these not snapped up by the big design companies in the first place? Someone needs firing!

Doesn't have standard courts.

Ah, I had a feeling that I'd see you soon! I stickied the topic for now, and I'll nuke the "LG's next deck exclusive" topic as well.

Looking fabulous, buddy! I feel a whole burning in my left rear pocket already (I'm a lefty, so that's where the wallet and plastic hides)...

(merged and renamed as per your post, LG!)

Widdee wrote:

montecarlojoe wrote:Wow. Seriously - what's wrong with people? How were these not snapped up by the big design companies in the first place? Someone needs firing!

Doesn't have standard courts.

Haha!


I'd also like to know more about Diagonal Symmetry - I don't really understand what it means. I see rotational symmetry in the JoH - but that's normally what's meant by "2-way".

Woah! That is amazing! Loving the Jack and her hair! Definitely in!

The only thing that strikes me as odd is having a woman as a jack. I mean, I'm all for equal rights and stuff, but... it goes against tradition.

Other than that, it looks amazing. Love the theme and artwork.

Maybe in this case, we refer to that card as the Jill, instead.

MagikFingerz wrote:The only thing that strikes me as odd is having a woman as a jack. I mean, I'm all for equal rights and stuff, but... it goes against tradition.

Other than that, it looks amazing. Love the theme and artwork.

Maybe he's mixing in a little Italian and Spanish into the French tradition. Knaves/Jacks have frequently been represented as young men or females in those decks. Sometimes they're pretty androgynous. Others you can clearly distinguish the gender.

Eoghann wrote:

MagikFingerz wrote:The only thing that strikes me as odd is having a woman as a jack. I mean, I'm all for equal rights and stuff, but... it goes against tradition.

Other than that, it looks amazing. Love the theme and artwork.

Maybe he's mixing in a little Italian and Spanish into the French tradition. Knaves/Jacks have frequently been represented as young men or females in those decks. Sometimes they're pretty androgynous. Others you can clearly distinguish the gender.

I see. I don't think I would mind, as long as there is some kind of symmetry (e.g. 2 female and 2 male jacks).

MagikFingerz wrote:

Eoghann wrote:

MagikFingerz wrote:The only thing that strikes me as odd is having a woman as a jack. I mean, I'm all for equal rights and stuff, but... it goes against tradition.

Other than that, it looks amazing. Love the theme and artwork.

Maybe he's mixing in a little Italian and Spanish into the French tradition. Knaves/Jacks have frequently been represented as young men or females in those decks. Sometimes they're pretty androgynous. Others you can clearly distinguish the gender.

I see. I don't think I would mind, as long as there is some kind of symmetry (e.g. 2 female and 2 male jacks).

Now where's your sense of gender equality Magik?

rousselle wrote:Maybe in this case, we refer to that card as the Jill, instead.

Or Jackie.

Designkiller wrote:@lolo and the others
11 courts to be unveiled

...and they are all killers like the JoH. Better change that avatar, buddy!

Widdee wrote:Now where's your sense of gender equality Magik?

Like I said, I'm all for equal rights. But some things shouldn't change, like our role as jar-openers (we need that ego-boost) or the honesty of our answer to "do I look fat in these pants?" (we all know that would be a disaster) or salaries (KIDDING!)

Awesome! Liking what I see so far

MagikFingerz wrote:

Widdee wrote:Now where's your sense of gender equality Magik?

Like I said, I'm all for equal rights. But some things shouldn't change, like our role as jar-openers (we need that ego-boost) or the honesty of our answer to "do I look fat in these pants?" (we all know that would be a disaster) or salaries (KIDDING!)

Have to agree, would rather see all the Jacks male. The court designs look like they're going to be wicked cool though.

Widdee wrote:Have to agree, would rather see all the Jacks male. The court designs look like they're going to be wicked cool though.

You've got to remember that although Lorenzo lives in Stockholm, he's Italian. Europeans think a bit differently about things like that than we do.

As far as the courts - you've seen 1 of 12 so far: "you ain't seen nothing yet" (poorly written English).

MagikFingerz wrote:The only thing that strikes me as odd is having a woman as a jack. I mean, I'm all for equal rights and stuff, but... it goes against tradition.

Other than that, it looks amazing. Love the theme and artwork.

Hello!
but that´s exactly the point of being heretic. Take it literally, it´s a heretic deck. - Even if the index is quite standard (holy readability) the heresy is in the Jack (or jacks?).
Thank you so much for the comments and I´m so glad you like it. I´ll post more pictures soon.

Two important things:
1-Heretic will be released on kickstarter ONLY after Requiem is in your hands.
2-This was ready quite soon, since the deck was already made in 2013.
cheers

Hi again,

I add little more to explain the 2ways with diagonal symmetry.
I show the work in progress from the sketch to the final layout of the King Of Clubs.

1. sketch (kinda messy) but with the important coordinates on a diagonal line to match the "overlapping ending lines" (if that´s a good term).
2. improvement of the sketch on 1/2 card, better proportions and clear elements
3. mirroring of the sketch and centering, tweaks and fixing - again - the "overlapping ending lines"
4. clean version with a mix of hand-made strokes (faces and hands) and the vector graphic elements: body parts
5. axe, details and meshes (all vector)
6. final layout with index and background.





now you know why I get kinda bitter when I see cash-cow-decks with copy-paste and swapping color (= 10 minutes job) sold as the revelation of the year.
Quality Over Quantity is my motto.

thank you so much for your comments, I´m SO GLAD that you like it
Lorenzo