War of Realms by Curio (ill. Ricardo Rodrigues / WAVELOOP) [KS]

[BaconWise]

Hey Folks!

Opening a thread as a parking space for my upcoming project this fall. This one will be exciting! I am working with a fantastic artist out of Portugal to bring a badass good vs. evil project to life. One deck has completed artwork and we are working on completing the 2nd deck by the end of April. Here are a couple of teasers for now. More to come as I work on renders and prototypes. Get ready to choose a side!

[hsbc]

I take it the artist is Waveloop Art?

[Timmargh]

[...] This one will be exciting! [...]

They've all been exciting! Can't wait for this one.

[GandalfPC]

I’m in for a dance.

[Harvonsgard]

Promesing teaser. Maybe my first curio deck(s)?

[Fenrir]

Promesing teaser. Maybe my first curio deck(s)?

Could be mine as well. Looking forward to seeing more.

[steampunk52]

I may be in on this one as well. The artwork teaser looks very nice!

[BaconWise]

MINI CARD TEASE:

Here is a draft of the King of Spades so you can get an idea of the direction this will go. I am a sucker for full-length courts that really allow the full expression of the theme.

Printer: Cartamundi
Tuckboxes: B&N

More to come!

[steampunk52]

OK, now I'm bummed. I am less a fan of the full figure design. Would you consider another edition with a tradition layout? Im probably still in of this as I love what I see for the artwork!

[bdawg923]

Looks great!

[BaconWise]

OK, now I'm bummed. I am less a fan of the full figure design. Would you consider another edition with a tradition layout? Im probably still in of this as I love what I see for the artwork!

It's a possibility, but cost is a big factor on offering a two-way deck. This is mainly because the project is two decks. The teasers have been for the deck called "Hostile" and artwork is currently being worked on for "Feral" which will feature beasts and demons in the same epic struggle. The art costs are incredibly high so doing a two-way design would require some major alterations because I don't want to just do a split transition. Also, a new card back, tuck box design, etc.

Potential stretch goal? I will see what I can do in the meantime, because I would love to offer a more traditional two-way deck. And thank you for the feedback!

[Harvonsgard]

I like the quote, "Tradition is peer pressure from dead people". In that regard I couldn't care less if one-way, two-way, three-way or foursome. I get why some love to have the classic layout though.
I like the draft so far but I assume there will be some background artwork on the courts. If not then I'll join steampunk in the I'm bummed camp .

[GandalfPC]

I think perhaps the addition of a bow tie would class him up a touch and make him less intimidating.

[STLBluesNut]

i like the full length courts. on art like this the transition can be wonky and the other alternative is to use a banner which i really dislike. so full length is good.

[Fenrir]

I don’t mind the courts. I need to see more and I would probably prefer a different background but looks good so far.

I will say that the name sounds more like a video game then a deck of cards though.

[kevork]

Looks like it's now called War of Realms.

[laitostarr777]

there’d be animal people

[Artiphany]

Very exciting. All good villains use double-bladed swords.

[kevork]

[Fenrir]

I like the artwork on the cards but I have to say I’m underwhelmed by the back designs and especially the aces. I wish you all the success in the world but i’m not fully in love. Something about it feels like art added to cards rather than art designed for cards.

[laitostarr777]

Love the Fera Special Edition - cuz of the white tiger~

[Adamthinks]

That King of Diamonds looks like it's wearing a suit of armor about 5 sizes too big. The art styles of the various figures don't quite match either. That and some of the proportions suggest a good amount of AI with this project to me.

[laitostarr777]

I DON'T think that is AI... it's just a big white lion fox hybrid with a big body and bulky armor?
I don't think Waveloop is one who would use AI after years of hardwork

Gawd, it feels like: with the AI keeps on getting smarter, one can't tell the different if an art is made of AI or not - like in MCU, you can't tell the difference who is Skrull and who is not. Think its time to refine on traditional works

[Adamthinks]

I DON'T think that is AI... it's just a big white lion fox hybrid with a big body and bulky armor?
I don't think Waveloop is one who would use AI after years of hardwork

Gawd, it feels like: with the AI keeps on getting smarter, one can't tell the different if an art is made of AI or not - like in MCU, you can't tell the difference who is Skrull and who is not. Think its time to refine on traditional works

I'm not against AI in general, I just find it's faults hard to ignore. In that for real art projects the concepts, styles, and story are shared across images to share a particular perspective and tell an overall story. AI doesn't do that ( yet) so you'll see images with varied styles that are disparate with no story or perspective being put forth. Also, there are still many artifacts in AI imagery such as extra or missing fingers, weird proportions, etc. This project seems to share some of those varied issues. Doesn't necessarily mean it's AI, but it does share some of its faults. At least from what I've seen so far.

[Fenrir]

I can’t imagine these are done with AI. I guess anything is possible but it doesn’t seem that way to me. I thought Jamie had an artist working on them.

[STLBluesNut]

love the character art especially the QoD.

[BaconWise]

Thanks for sharing the update @kevork
I am getting more and more excited to share this project. I will be sharing some more courts and artwork soon along with getting prototypes ready. Stay tuned.

Definitely not AI, though I can understand these days why people would be wary of it. Ricardo's process is incredible. I included a quick sequence from an early character that shows his sketch through the final shading.

[Harvonsgard]

I guess people confuse AI and AI nowadays. If you use software like photoshop, illustrator and alike, it's already AI. Just not on full-auto mode like the latest tools where you just type in prompts and it'll do everthing. Shading, filters, effects and stuff is done by AI since ages unless you manually do everything.

[BaconWise]

Hey Folks,

I did a quick and dirty preview of the Daya Standard prototype. This lets me get a better feel for color, layout, and the overall experience. I am very excited to have these and can't wait to get things going with the campaign. As with my past campaigns, I am doing a standard version with mirrored courts and a special edition with full length courts to really show off the artwork. Enjoy!

Jamie
P.S. I am not sure how to embed YT videos, so please follow the link if you are interested

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4qJsw1qV5zM[/youtube]

[steampunk52]

The artwork looks fantastic. Definitely in for this.