Aether Cards Second Deck; Harlequin Series

[Gunshy1]

ill be honest; im more excited about the EX finish (or whatever the hell its called) than i am the design of the deck.

... just to be clear i am excited about the design of the deck... just more so about the ex finish.

[Don Boyer]

Sounds awesome, Alex.  Looking forward to seeing more.

[xela]

Someone on Facebook said the concept art offended them but they have yet to elaborate as to why. Do you guys have any insight? I can't pick between the partial nudity or the dark theme.

If it comforts anyone, the size of the AoS detracts from the "explicit" imagery. If you look at some David Blaine decks, there is nudity there as well. I feel like if it's tastefully done, it can be good. Hrm...

[Don Boyer]

Someone on Facebook said the concept art offended them but they have yet to elaborate as to why. Do you guys have any insight? I can't pick between the partial nudity or the dark theme.

If it comforts anyone, the size of the AoS detracts from the "explicit" imagery. If you look at some David Blaine decks, there is nudity there as well. I feel like if it's tastefully done, it can be good. Hrm...

I have a hunch.  Looking at his profile, he lives in Oklahoma and his school is listed as the "Christian Heritage Education Center".  It could simply be that he's some kind of Bible-thumper and anything too revealing would be offensive to him.  I don't see so much dark imagery as of yet, but that, too, might have sent his morality detector into the negatives.

I would simply chalk it up to "You can't please everybody."

[Lara Krystle "Lane"]

I was going to say the same thing. I came from a very religious background. went to a Born again Christian church, studied in a very conservative babtist school (I have a love/hate relationship with) and I matured in a Pentecostal chuch (which taught me to be more open minded). I've seen and met a lot of different kinds of Christians with different ideals. And this one person who is offended by th art is probably conservative baptist.

[NathanCanadas]

Someone on Facebook said the concept art offended them but they have yet to elaborate as to why. Do you guys have any insight? I can't pick between the partial nudity or the dark theme.

If it comforts anyone, the size of the AoS detracts from the "explicit" imagery. If you look at some David Blaine decks, there is nudity there as well. I feel like if it's tastefully done, it can be good. Hrm...

I have a hunch.  Looking at his profile, he lives in Oklahoma and his school is listed as the "Christian Heritage Education Center".  It could simply be that he's some kind of Bible-thumper and anything too revealing would be offensive to him.  I don't see so much dark imagery as of yet, but that, too, might have sent his morality detector into the negatives.

I would simply chalk it up to "You can't please everybody."

I think that he may think that by being depicted naked, it may seem to him that the woman seems more like an object than a real person. He may be a feminist and that may be the reason.

[Lara Krystle "Lane"]

I really see nothing "offensive" to the lady- drawing there. Venus is more "reavealing" I think. I mean Alex's concept art does not even have... uhm.... the things that should be in the middle of each breast.
there is nothing pornographic to it. Nothing obscene. Its pure art and beauty like those Greek paintings and sculptures.

[Kanped]

Drawings of naked women are offensive to feminists?  What?

Nudity in general offends these bible-belt psychotics.  I wouldn't give it a second thought.

[Lara Krystle "Lane"]

@kanped - Hey  hey hey easy on the insult. I happen to be one but I'm not uptight like uhm... "them"
Anyway, @Alex, don't mind him, just one person. I'm sure there will be some more of them, but its funny because if this person who got offended with the concept art drawing because he has IDEALS, STANDARDS and PRINCIPLES and hard core BIBLE-person... then he shouldn't be delving in the "worldly and 'satanic' art of magic" **wooooooo** you know what I mean right. And im pretty sure he has indulged at least once in sinful internet browsing. So yeah. I have been with these lot before and they're all pretty much double standard except for a very select few.

[Kanped]

I didn't mean to insult anyone but people who identify themselves as bible-belt psychotics.  If you're a reasonable Christian, that doesn't include you, I'd assume.  I'm basically targeting anyone who gets 'offended' by a semi-rendered naked woman due to their religious beliefs; that's psychotic, and this guy happens to be from the bible-belt.  If you want to know what I actually think about religion, it's pretty well documented in the religious discussion thread but this isn't the place to get into that; this is about the deck and by extension, people's reactions to it.  I think that reaction is weird.

[Collector]

Alex, give him a link on Big Blind Media decks and I am sure he’ll forget about you.

[moonexe]

Hey, it's not like messed up imagery of christian origin doesn't exist.
As for nudity... Unlike Alex's drawing, Eve actually has nipples on most paintings where this region is visible.
Oooh I should stop, I'm being offensive.

[Lara Krystle "Lane"]

@moon is right. hahaha. Anyway, with what @Collector just said, yeap BBM will be his cryptonite. Oh the Satanic images will make him go Avada Kedavra... or something. LoL!

I can't wait to see this beautiful work of art be incorporated in the deck (AoS right?) but yeah really looking forward to it!

[xela]

It's not my drawing. I conceptualized the art, and Ross drew it. Credit for the awesome work goes to him! His work actually has a very graphic depiction of her nipples. Very realistic. This was before I had to make sure it was tamed and didn't show some nether regions as well. If this was anything else, I'd be all for it. I love the idea of an "in your face" female Devil. The whole point is to tempt you in every imaginable way. That includes lust. However, I edited the nipples out for the simple reason that I want to keep this deck PG-13 at most and I didn't want to encounter any legal problems with USPCC since it is a branded deck.

When we talked about the idea behind this deck, I mentioned how this is a "remake" of classic Bicycle art in some ways. We went with a female version of the Devil (hence the name Lilleth) and her artwork was inspired in part by the standard Bicycle Ace of Spades as well as the Devil from the movie Bedazzled.

As for the the Harlequins, they were actually inspired by a single character from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Hint: He's a fairy.

Then we took that and made it grittier and more evil. The Harlequin art is inspired by the Dark Wanderer from the Diablo lore.

The court cards are one of my favorite aspects. They are custom drawn, but by and large are identical to standard Bicycle court cards. With one awesome twist: They all look slightly off and a tad bit insane. I guess that's what happens when you have your life altered by a Harlequin.

Touching back on the back design vs. face art aspect, the two are obviously tied thematically (same color scheme, and the diamond back pattern is influenced by the costumes actors would wear when depicting a Harlequin in plays). However, the back patter also makes appearances on the faces in very subtle ways.

To put it bluntly, it works, but you are asked to invest into the story of the deck in the same way that you had with the Vortex.

@Collector: Haha, too true! If I could sell my work with half the success of a BBM deck, I would be ecstatic.

[NathanCanadas]

The whole point is to tempt you in every imaginable way. That includes lust.

Can't wait!    (Raises one eyebrow in a very creepy way).
Nice job creating this amazing artwork! Are you planning on releasing other teasers through Facebook, AetherCards, or through a chat?

[xela]

The whole point is to tempt you in every imaginable way. That includes lust.

Can't wait!    (Raises one eyebrow in a very creepy way).
Nice job creating this amazing artwork! Are you planning on releasing other teasers through Facebook, AetherCards, or through a chat?

Next teaser will be shown to Zach Muddiman about a day before it goes up on a site that will remain anonymous for now. The site will host two teasers before they hit our Facebook.

The next teasers are: Jokers & court cards.

[zmuddiman]

The whole point is to tempt you in every imaginable way. That includes lust.

Can't wait!    (Raises one eyebrow in a very creepy way).
Nice job creating this amazing artwork! Are you planning on releasing other teasers through Facebook, AetherCards, or through a chat?

Next teaser will be shown to Zach Muddiman about a day before it goes up on a site that will remain anonymous for now. The site will host two teasers before they hit our Facebook.

The next teasers are: Jokers & court cards.

Thank you Alex!!

[NathanCanadas]

The whole point is to tempt you in every imaginable way. That includes lust.

Can't wait!    (Raises one eyebrow in a very creepy way).
Nice job creating this amazing artwork! Are you planning on releasing other teasers through Facebook, AetherCards, or through a chat?

Next teaser will be shown to Zach Muddiman about a day before it goes up on a site that will remain anonymous for now. The site will host two teasers before they hit our Facebook.

The next teasers are: Jokers & court cards.

That's awesome! What I like about you is that you purposely think outside of the box, creating artwork that you know won't be easily accepted by many, and daring to open yourself to criticism. I have a little idea as to what the court cards will be like, and I'm very excited to see what you have in store for us. Are you planning on selling through here?

[-kakos98-]

when you will give us the new teasers???

[NathanCanadas]

when you will give us the new teasers???

Within the next 2 weeks. No precise date or time yet, just make sure to check these forums and AetherCards' facebook page regularly.

[Frost]

hey Alex are you ever going to release the Harlequin deck or are you really done making playing cards ?

[LauR]

hey Alex are you ever going to release the Harlequin deck or are you really done making playing cards ?

What? Didn't you read the posts above you.

[dmbaggs]

hey Alex are you ever going to release the Harlequin deck or are you really done making playing cards ?

What? Didn't you read the posts above you.

Laur, that post was almost a half a year old. Frost poses a good question... will we ever see this deck?

[xela]

Nope.

[KPopFever605]

Nope.

You serious? Did you just give up? Lack of funds? No more creativity?