Low Reef Playing Cards

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BenMorrisRains
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Low Reef Playing Cards

Unread post by BenMorrisRains »

Hey everyone:

I am designing a new deck of cards called "Low Reef" playing cards. The name is an Anagram. The deck carries a theme throughout, but is pretty subtle. All the courts are modified, made simpler, ala the first couple versions of Smoke and Mirrors. I didn't completely rip off Dan and Dave however, as I left some of the details that make sense for the theme.

I am a fan of simple and clean decks like Wynns, etc., but I also really appreciate ornate decks like Smoke and Mirrors, Split Spades and Gator Backs. I also believe you can have both, which is what I tried here.

When I am done I will be using Kickstarter to try and get the cards funded and printed with EPCC.

Here is a back design and a tuck box design. The owl is still in progress, and is going to be one of the jokers.

Let me know what everyone thinks! I still have quite a bit of work to do, but I'm getting there.
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back template red preview .png
box temp red preview prototype.png
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Re: Low Reef Playing Cards

Unread post by montecarlojoe »

Hosestly, whilst I appreciate your resoning (and this would be a deck for magic, I'm assuming), there have been a glut of minimalist Wynn clones with essentially standard courts.
They don't always do particularly well in the crowdfunding market.

(There's a whole topic dedicated to them somewhere...)

You would have to be doing something VERY special with the quality of the cards and tuck to pique peoples' collective interest. THe ar on teh Owl looks great though.

I'm curious about the Anagram though - I'm guessing OWL is part of it but cant figure outt what to do with the R,E,E,and F...
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Re: Low Reef Playing Cards

Unread post by BenMorrisRains »

I see what you are saying. I unfortunately don't have a large audience of conformist kids to sell simple designs to like some others do...

These are minimalist, but ornate at the core. Everything took work. My back design wasn't done in an hour, it was a sketch, then digitally inked.

I am thinking about adding more to the back design for sure. I also know that more ink printed tends to lead to more clumping. Maybe not on EPCC's cards but on USPCC's, almost always. That might just be my thoughts however.

I am still experimenting and I will for sure take your comments into consideration.

I have some thoughts about adding more details to the back design. If I had the money up front I would print them as is, as I just love simple designs.

All I have to say about the anagram is Mason. The theme is embedded in the back design. Owls are just a part of it. Life is a mystery isn't it?
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Re: Low Reef Playing Cards

Unread post by montecarlojoe »

I thought that the Ink=Clumping notion was a misapprehension... a pure white card is saturated with white ink already after all.

Now you say it I can see the compasses, slide rule / pyramid, crescent (used in alchemy and my own town's coat of arms). I can see the design has a lot of thought in it, but I would encourage adding more to the back (any maybe tuck).

See now there's a puzzle and I'm gonna have to solve it! :)

Free [Maasonic] Owl?
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Re: Low Reef Playing Cards

Unread post by BenMorrisRains »

The clumping issue may be a misconception. Maybe it depends on stock?

And you are pretty much correct. I was watching a show on the History Channel and had an idea and ran with it. There are a lot of numbers and symbols hidden in the courts that have to deal with myself or my family that no one will necessarily know or care about, but also the same theme more or less through out.

I'm going to keep posting updates in this thread for sure.

Thanks for the advice so far!
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Re: Low Reef Playing Cards

Unread post by montecarlojoe »

Ooh - that eye or Horus is subtle - like that!
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Re: Low Reef Playing Cards

Unread post by BenMorrisRains »

Yeah! That's the kind of subtle stuff I enjoy. And if you are a magician you could easily incorporate it into some sort of patter or at least interesting dialogue.
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Re: Low Reef Playing Cards

Unread post by BenMorrisRains »

Playing around with the back design:
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Re: Low Reef Playing Cards

Unread post by BenMorrisRains »

I have tinkered with the design a little bit and I wasn't happy with the design I posted above.

I am pretty happy with what I have now:
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Re: Low Reef Playing Cards

Unread post by montecarlojoe »

Definitely better - personally I'd like to see a little more going on in all that black space though..
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Re: Low Reef Playing Cards

Unread post by BenMorrisRains »

Update:

Ace of Spades and Joker:
ASpreviewjpg.jpg
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Re: Low Reef Playing Cards (wap)

Unread post by BenMorrisRains »

So I finally received my prototype from MPC. Some of the proportions are definitely off due to my confusion with their online template. But still turned out pretty nice!
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Re: Low Reef Playing Cards

Unread post by volantangel »

Hmm i think the how the owl is drawn makes the card very lopsided, and its pretty evident. Perhaps its something you can consider to change.
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Re: Low Reef Playing Cards

Unread post by BenMorrisRains »

On the Jokers?

I think that's what you mean. I noticed it when I was designing them. The triangle it stands on is centered, but yeah it gives a little bit of an off appearance. I think on the second proto's I am going to have an owl that is spreading it's wings, so it is more centered. This was done off a photo of a barn owl that was standing exactly like that. I didn't really consider it too much until later on.

Also going to move some of the circles on the edges down further, as well as try to play with the back design as far as filling the empty space up a bit.
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Re: Low Reef Playing Cards

Unread post by ecNate »

Moving in the right direction from my perspective. I rarely pick up specialty decks that don't have custom courts so I may be out on that alone, but I'll still be keeping an eye on this one. Looking forward to see what you have next.
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Re: Low Reef Playing Cards (wap)

Unread post by BenMorrisRains »

Thanks Nate! I've been getting some decent feed back on instagram as well. Not rushing these though. And they will have modified courts as seen below. Those are a few of my favorites. You can also see the hilarious proportioning. Haha lesson learned. *Don't be super afraid of the dotted line.*
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