JCC Playing Card Ideas

Designing a deck? Need input? Show us here!
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Re: Kelidoscope Playing Cards

Unread post by MagikFingerz »

Jester318 wrote:This may seem like it is an uneducated question,( because it is ) but why would someone want the same design over and over again? If you are a collector of playing cards, would you not want something that looks unique and different?
It's a fair question, to which I think the answer is simply: you can't expect people who collect things, an already illogical habit, to behave logically. It comes down to taste as well as just personal decisions, neither of which are based fully in logic. Some collectors go very specific, while others go wider but may have other personal preferences for the decks they collect. The subjectivity of the art plays a big part, of course, but some are cardists, magicians, card players etc that have specific criteria they look for. And some have just decided to collect green decks, because they like the color green :roll:
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Re: JCC Playing Card Ideas

Unread post by Jester318 »

@magikfingerz,

Thank you for that informative response. What your saying makes a lot of sense to me. So perhaps if I were to make a design that a bunch of people liked ( maybe one from each of the types of people that collect cards, aka a cardist, a collector, and an average person just looking for a cool deck of cards ), then it would do better on kickstarter. ( along with using a reputable printing company. )
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Re: JCC Playing Card Ideas

Unread post by TGunitedcardists »

Jester318 wrote: So perhaps if I were to make a design that a bunch of people liked ( maybe one from each of the types of people that collect cards, aka a cardist, a collector, and an average person just looking for a cool deck of cards ), then it would do better on kickstarter. ( along with using a reputable printing company. )
Calculate less. Put your work out there. The business stuff can come after.
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Re: JCC Playing Card Ideas

Unread post by MagikFingerz »

Jester318 wrote:@magikfingerz,

Thank you for that informative response. What your saying makes a lot of sense to me. So perhaps if I were to make a design that a bunch of people liked ( maybe one from each of the types of people that collect cards, aka a cardist, a collector, and an average person just looking for a cool deck of cards ), then it would do better on kickstarter. ( along with using a reputable printing company. )
I have to agree with TG. If you try to plan the "best" or "most-selling" type of design, you'll just spend a lot of time on something that may not work out at all (can you successfully anticipate something illogical? Not likely). I think the best course of action is to create what YOU want to create; a design you are passionate about, in a style you are good at. Then, you can tweak it in smaller ways to appeal to as many people as possible (two-way back design, usability in card games, and so on).

If what you mean is to have some kind of focus group to provide feedback on your design, then this forum is basically that :ugthink:
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Re: JCC Playing Card Ideas

Unread post by Jester318 »

@magikfingerz,

Thanks for the info. Probably a good idea to just go with what I think looks interesting, then asking what others think.

In my research on kickstarter I have found that decks with some sort of textured theme do really well. So I made this to see what you guys think of it.

So here is something a bit illogical:
New cards front.jpg
Stained glass looking pips on a rock textured background. What are your thoughts on this design, everyone?

Also, If you were to try and pick a background texture for this type of pip, what would you pick and why?
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Re: JCC Playing Card Ideas

Unread post by RichK »

Jester318 wrote:@magikfingerz,

Thanks for the info. Probably a good idea to just go with what I think looks interesting, then asking what others think.

In my research on kickstarter I have found that decks with some sort of textured theme do really well. So I made this to see what you guys think of it.

So here is something a bit illogical:
New cards front.jpg
Stained glass looking pips on a rock textured background. What are your thoughts on this design, everyone?

Also, If you were to try and pick a background texture for this type of pip, what would you pick and why?

You're contradicting yourself here Jester. First you're saying "go with what I think looks interesting" then you're researching KS for design ideas. Design what appeals to you then worry about changes to improve it.
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Re: JCC Playing Card Ideas

Unread post by Jester318 »

@Richk,

Alrighty then. What do you think of the design though?
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Re: JCC Playing Card Ideas

Unread post by TGunitedcardists »

Textured backgrounds suck. Thumbs down.

Spade pip is interesting. I like bigger pips though. There is no information on the Ace. It looks unfinished.

Have you designed a court card yet? That's something that shows the kind of skill the designer has. Waiting for that now. It seems like this thread has slowed down and is going in circles.
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Re: JCC Playing Card Ideas

Unread post by RichK »

I agree with @TG about the Spade, bigger, deck or company name worked into or under the Spade. No texture. Show us a court card.

You're overthinking things. Design what you like, show us, have a thick skin for comments on how to improve the design from us (since we want you to succeed), try suggested changes. You won't please 100% of people ever so don't keep thinking like that.
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Re: JCC Playing Card Ideas

Unread post by Jester318 »

Alright here are the queens, what do you guys think? I know you said no background textures, but plain white did not look as good to me.

I used 3d rendered models here.
Untitled-1.jpg
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Re: JCC Playing Card Ideas

Unread post by TGunitedcardists »

Jester318 wrote:
I used 3d rendered models here.
Untitled-1.jpg
Using Poser 3D models will not cut it at all. There is zero skill in that and they don't look good at all. You have zero chance of having a successful Kickstarter with what you've shown.

Why would you use Poser models? Was that a bad joke?

And the font for the Queen is hard to read!
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Re: JCC Playing Card Ideas

Unread post by Jester318 »

Alright then, I'll just have to try harder.

Be back in a while.
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Re: JCC Playing Card Ideas

Unread post by Jester318 »

Here is a really plain version of the aces. This is more to show you all the pip designs.

Got rid of the hard to read font, took out of the textured background, and made the spade pip bigger and added more detail to it.
aces.jpg
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Re: JCC Playing Card Ideas

Unread post by TGunitedcardists »

Huge improvement from the previous Aces.

"Jesters Custom Cards" is hard to read.

Shouldn't it be Jester's Custom Cards or Jesters' Custom Cards?

This might be hard to swallow, but I think a lot of your effort with regards to time has been misplaced. Your last batch of court cards (those awful Queens with Poser 3D images) shook my confidence in you as an artist. You seem to be focusing on the easy cards. Nothing you've shown gives me confidence that the deck shows significant potential. The pips are interesting, to a point, but what else? You bounced from textured to non textured backgrounds, your back design seems like an experiment with effects/filters etc and your designer's eye seems to lack confidence. While it's nice to want feedback and suggestions, so early in the process, it seems to me you are avoiding the main area of custom court cards, which are the face cards.

Challenge: Show a King, Queen and a Jack, any suit, and show off your vision for the cards. I still don't know whether you're going to design them from scratch or try and use premade art to fit (that's what Poser 3D screams).

If that's something you want to do, great. Or, the other option is to continue to play with your pips, work on your back design and consider using non custom court cards. Lots of magicians do that for their decks.
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Re: JCC Playing Card Ideas

Unread post by RichK »

Jester,

TG said everything I would have too.

As for the courts, even a kaleidoscope recolor of standard courts, remove unnecessary bits if you like to make them look cleaner/updated, might look good. Lets see what you want for a court then we can help you make a great deck.
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Re: JCC Playing Card Ideas

Unread post by Jester318 »

Thanks for your replies guys, Took me a while to respond as I've been out of town the last few days. I was going to attempt to digitally draw the courts ( not the standard ones, My own ) In the next few days, probably at the rate of a card per day.
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Re: JCC Playing Card Ideas

Unread post by guru »

Jester318 wrote:Thanks for your replies guys, Took me a while to respond as I've been out of town the last few days. I was going to attempt to digitally draw the courts ( not the standard ones, My own ) In the next few days, probably at the rate of a card per day.
I will advise not to rush this sort of work. If you look at what's happening on & off Kickstarter, you'll see huge number of decks being released every month. If you want to succeed on Kickstarter, you need to create a compelling value proposition through your deck......And, even then, Kickstarter can be brutal sometimes as there are projects from renowned designers/artists that have struggled to gain traction on Kickstarter. Designing a card a day (even though digitally) won't cut it if you ask me. YMMV.
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Re: JCC Playing Card Ideas

Unread post by Jester318 »

Just a quick question, does anyone know what program is used to make the current artwork you see in most playing cards? I'm manually drawing on my tablet but the lines don't look near as sharp or even. Any insight would be great!
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Re: JCC Playing Card Ideas

Unread post by TGunitedcardists »

Photoshop or Illustrator. Variations of those two.
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