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Hey Everyone! Here is another project I am working on with my designer. Everything is hand drawn as usual. I wanted to post a couple different options of the back of the card we are working on. Please let me know which one you like the best. The box is a work in progress. We are going to work on the lettering Widow some more. Let me know what you think. Thanks!

Tuck Box!

It has to be two-way so definitely not the first. The third looks pretty "trippy", so I'm going with the second. I'm not completely sold on the design though. I don't really know what it needs so I'll wait for others to chime in.
The tuck box looks alright but the back seems rather empty.

On second thought, maybe you could make the pattern on the spider's butt more imperfect. I'm not a spider expert but I doubt the pattern on the black widow's butt is that perfect. To me it looks like two triangles drawn out with the click and drag shape tool. And for some reason, seeing two perfect triangles is making me feel kind of annoyed.

I really like the third design myself except for where the flies butts touch. Maybe thin that down b/c that wide oval shape is killing it.

I also have to agree with Yashi, the triangles are too much of a solid pattern. I'd say, round it off a little or instead of a solid shape, make the triangles out of hundreds of tiny hairs. Making it look more realistic will add so much to it, IMHO.

Love what I see so far. But the hourglass is actually under the female spider, not on its back. The male has spots or lines. But I guess you can take some artistic liberties. Just preparing you before other nerds decide to chime in.

I like the first option but that's pretty much swimming upstream.
Third option is definitely a winner but as Kimble suggested, separate the conjoined flies.

Very interested to see what your approach to the court cards will be.

I'm probably in the minority here but seeing the fly about to be devoured makes me sad. I must be flashing back to the original version of "The Fly" ("Help me! Help meeee!") Maybe do without the fly altogether?

Definitely like the first one the most. And I wouldn't mind a one-way deck once in a while

Eoghann wrote:Love what I see so far. But the hourglass is actually under the female spider, not on its back. The male has spots or lines. But I guess you can take some artistic liberties. Just preparing you before other nerds decide to chime in.

I like the first option but that's pretty much swimming upstream.
Third option is definitely a winner but as Kimble suggested, separate the conjoined flies.

Very interested to see what your approach to the court cards will be.

Thanks for all the feedback, as usual it is helpful. Glad people like it so far. Yes we are being more stylized not actual on this design. So the triangles looked more menacing with the sharp edges and we are taking artistic liberties with the hour glass - is it on the front or back, up to interpretation.

Frimann79 wrote:Definitely like the first one the most. And I wouldn't mind a one-way deck once in a while

Glad you like the first one! That is one of my favorites as well. I am not sure how the majority of the card community will like the one way design. Tough choice

I'd like to see a back design with 4 spiders as well, just for comparison. I think 4 spiders as corner elements (like the Tally Ho Fan Back) would look good.

MagikFingerz wrote:I'd like to see a back design with 4 spiders as well, just for comparison. I think 4 spiders as corner elements (like the Tally Ho Fan Back) would look good.

Might be interesting.

Sorry for this little vandalism.

[quote="Collector"]Sorry for this little vandalism.



No problem on the "vandalism". Thanks for all of the suggestions everyone, we have been toying around with some of the suggestions. We do want to keep the hour glass one of the focuses on the cards because I am thinking of actually putting foil on the card, red foil for the hour glass, not sure if this will be a stretch goal or one of the specs of the cards.

The Ace of Spades turned out great! Here is the Ace of Spades for the Black Deck.

Ace of Spades looks good, but we all want to see the back of card. The hour glass is an issue. The hour glass is under the spider right? It looks like your black widow spider is battling a fly that is up side down. That fly is going to die.

sprouts1115 wrote:Ace of Spades looks good, but we all want to see the back of card. The hour glass is an issue. The hour glass is under the spider right? It looks like your black widow spider is battling a fly that is up side down. That fly is going to die.

Yes we are being more stylized not actual on this design. So the triangles looked more menacing with the sharp edges and we are taking artistic liberties with the hour glass - is it on the front or back, up to interpretation.

If you're going with the one-way back posted earlier than the Ace of Spades would be disappointing since it would seem like a copy+paste job.

Yashi wrote:If you're going with the one-way back posted earlier than the Ace of Spades would be disappointing since it would seem like a copy+paste job.

Yes, I decided not to do the one way back, I really liked how the one way back looked so the ace of spades was inspired by the one way back concept. I really like how the ace of spades turned out.

With this deck we have custom hand drawn court cards but I wanted them have a "standard" court card feel. We are adding the web in our custom court cards to add the spider flare to it.

Black Widow Deck coming soon to kickstarter.

I really love that King of Hearts.

Now that's lovely. Now im starting to think, perhaps the theme doesn't need to be black widow and the back design can be better. Keep it up and ill definitely be in.

Travis Carter wrote:I really love that King of Hearts.

Thank you!

The impact of the spider and the fly could be a bit more dramatic on the tuck box / backing.
Perhaps by lightening / bringing out the greys a bit more so they don't get lost amidst the details.
That spider, the red and the black, are such strong elements, it would be a shame to not have utilised the most of that tension between the predator and prey. Considering the nature of spider cannibalism, you can really go places with the ideals and symbolism just from that concept as well.
For instance, the Queen of Spades, in Russian literature has some pretty nice dark connotations which if you are reworking the deck to that lovely spider theme, the Queens could really benefit from a darker approach.

http://www.wikiwand.com/en/The_Queen_of_Spades_(story" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;).

Coming soon to Kickstarter! Look for in mid June - Red and Black Deck

Red and Black Deck coming soon to kickstarter - look for in mid June

I really like the courts that you have shown so far...can you provide a clear shot of the back of the tuck box as well? Look forward to the launch and seeing all the other cards!

shermjack wrote:I really like the courts that you have shown so far...can you provide a clear shot of the back of the tuck box as well? Look forward to the launch and seeing all the other cards!

Thank you very much, glad you like them. The tuck box is laid out flat in the post at the beginning of this post.

Woah very nice work on the courts! I especially like the black tuck.

Eoghann wrote:Woah very nice work on the courts! I especially like the black tuck.

Thanks Eoghann! Glad people are liking the court cards!

Hey Everyone! I am launching the Black Widow Deck on Kickstarter at 11:30am AZ Time/2:30 eastern tomorrow June 17th . Pledge early so you can take advantage of the early birds. The playing card case early bird is a big saving with the decks included. here is a pic of the case. Thanks for all of the support!