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Don Boyer · « **on:** June 15, 2015, 11:45:44 PM »

This is the official entry topic for the 2nd Annual PCF Deck Design Competition. ENTRY STAGE IS CLOSED, VOTING HAS BEGUN!!

This is where you vote for your favorite official entry. You have until 19 Aug 2015 at 04:00 UTC to make your entries - after that point, the voting stage will begin and no new entries will be accepted. A poll will be added to allow voting for your favorite design - one vote per login. (Per forum rules, individuals are only permitted a single login.)

MAY THE BEST ENTRY WIN!

Don Boyer · « **Reply #1 on:** July 30, 2015, 05:36:05 AM »

The Official Entry Topic is NOW OPEN!

Please, only posts from contestants entering the contest!

If you wish to comment on an entry, use the entry's topic in the Design/Dev board. If one doesn't exist, please feel free to create one, but only after checking thoroughly!

NineLives · « **Reply #2 on:** August 02, 2015, 12:21:44 AM »

Hello Everyone,

I'm Annette Abolins, artist and designer from Australia

Here is my entry for the 2nd Annual PCF Deck Design Competition:

Inspired by the tarot, Nine Lives Playing Cards subtly connects Courts and Aces to their corresponding tarot suit using colour and combined symbolism.

In tarot, the characters of the courts can be seen as enigmatic, and at times, ambiguous to read ... Personally, I find them a most talkative and entertaining bunch ... which is why after spending more than 3 years completing the artwork for my tarot deck, I was inspired to delve deeper into the fun and games of the royals. With a long admiration of both tarot and playing cards, creating a deck of playing cards felt just right ... and in June, I self-published the first version (a small print-run) on standard bridge size cards.

The suits are associated as follows:

Hearts with Cups - connected to emotions and relationships
Clubs with Rods/Wands - the fiery spark of creativity
Diamonds with Pentacles - a journey of prosperity
Spades with Swords - where clear minds soar high

Feedback from people on this forum, with more playing card aficionado than I could ever dream of, inspired me to create a Poker size version of my deck. Despite being very new to the wider card size, I have to say I find it quite appealing and am quickly becoming a fan of the additional width. The extra room to move has resulted in additions and alterations throughout the deck:

The courts are depicted without borders, and after a long conversation with the Knights, they have agreed (in the name of honour and valour at the card table) that the letter 'J' should represent their cards.

This deck features a second Joker 'signature card' ... Both Jokers are depicted in an alternating colour scheme of green and red, representing artist with her palette board or paint brushes, alongside the cat who lends his persona to the deck...

The artwork is done by hand, using a combination of pen and ink drawing and digital painting. While my imagination and inspiration is responsible for design and artwork, I have acquired the necessary font licence for the indices.

I hope you enjoy the look of Nine Lives Playing Cards; I would be thrilled to see this deck brought to life by EPCC.

Annette

Images below - Box design, full deck preview, card back and the courts

NineLives · « **Reply #3 on:** August 02, 2015, 12:25:37 AM »

Nine Lives Playing Cards

The rest of my entry with more images of the cards:

Don Boyer · « **Reply #4 on:** August 02, 2015, 07:49:45 AM »

Congratulations on being the first official entrant - this was a lovely entry and you've covered everything I can think of off the top of my head that a complete entry requires. Best of luck to you!

Chris Mayhew · « **Reply #5 on:** August 05, 2015, 12:00:25 PM »

Hi Everyone, my name is Chris Mayhew, I am a magician living in Toronto Ontario Canada.

This my official entry into the 2nd Annual PCF Deck Competition.

I am submitting my deck called "Leon Playing Cards". I got full permission from Hiro Sakai (Dr. Leon), to use his lion image in a deck of my own paying homage to his playing cards. I decided to go the opposite route of the Dr. Leon cards and go for a more minimal feel. I am a fan of a lot of the minimal decks coming out right now, and think that this design works perfect for that style.

The back design consists purely of the Lion Silhouettes resting against a beautiful burgundy backdrop. The borders are thin to help compliment the sleek design, and you will notice some fine line details to help bring out the imagery.

The faces will all be standard faces, this was a feature that I really liked about the Dr. Leon cards (especially at the time when I found them among all the black tigers and ghost decks) and something I want to maintain with this deck.

The ace of spades is one big solid ace (Something I have always wanted to see in a deck, but rarely have!) and the Jokers are the lion silhouette each facing opposite directions.

The card box will be a solid burgundy box with no writing on it at all. The only image that will be seen on the box is the lion logo, this will add a touch of mystery to the cards and also reminds me of the way fashion designers tag their shirts and sweaters with just their logo (think Lacoste even though I don't wear them haha). The box will be printed on a thick matte paper with texture, and the lion logo will be embossed. (My designer didn't have time to make a professional image of the box so I had to mock one up myself, my apologies).

Don Boyer · « **Reply #6 on:** August 05, 2015, 12:59:54 PM »

Hey, Chris, glad to see you've entered!

Would you clarify something for me and the fellow members? When you're referring to "standard faces," is it a safe bet that you're talking about something akin to current USPC Standard, or perhaps something more of a generic modern standard? Expert PCC does have its own standard faces - but they look like USPC faces from about 100 years ago, complete with big pips and small indices. There's also the Arrco Standard, the Hoyle Standard, etc. So, which standard is yours? Inquiring minds want to know!

Chris Mayhew · « **Reply #7 on:** August 05, 2015, 05:32:28 PM »

It would be the USPC standard faces used for Bicycles etc. The classic look we've all grown to love haha. Cheers!

Don Boyer · « **Reply #8 on:** August 05, 2015, 08:52:04 PM »

Quote from: Chris Mayhew on August 05, 2015, 05:32:28 PM

It would be the USPC standard faces used for Bicycles etc. The classic look we've all grown to love haha. Cheers!

Well, considering that we're dealing with a company OTHER than USPC as the contest's sponsor, let's call them "basic modern standard"...

Thanks for clarifying that for us and good luck!

Don Boyer · « **Reply #9 on:** August 12, 2015, 12:25:37 AM »

Ladies and gentlemen!

Voting has NOW BEGUN for the 2nd Annual PCF Deck Design Competition!

You have one week to cast you ballot for which of the two entrants is your favorite. As there are only two entries, there will be no run-off vote - it's winner takes all! In the event of a tie, the winner will be chosen by vote of the forum's three administrators - myself, Lee Asher and Tom Dawson (52plusjoker).

PrincessTrouble · « **Reply #10 on:** August 12, 2015, 10:36:44 AM »

Where do we vote?

Don Boyer · « **Reply #11 on:** August 12, 2015, 10:46:49 AM »

Quote from: PrincessTrouble on August 12, 2015, 10:36:44 AM

Where do we vote?

Did you notice the poll at the top of this page?

PrincessTrouble · « **Reply #12 on:** August 12, 2015, 04:28:33 PM »

Quote from: Don Boyer on August 12, 2015, 10:46:49 AM

Quote from: PrincessTrouble on August 12, 2015, 10:36:44 AM
Where do we vote?

Did you notice the poll at the top of this page?

No I didn't. LOL! Thanks, Don.

Don Boyer · « **Reply #13 on:** August 18, 2015, 05:18:09 AM »

REMINDER!!

ABOUT 19 HOURS REMAIN BEFORE THE END OF VOTING AND THE END OF THE COMPETITION!!

Make your vote COUNT!

Don Boyer · « **Reply #14 on:** August 19, 2015, 01:41:34 PM »

The winner, with 77.3% of the vote, is the Nine Lives deck! Congratulations to Annette Abolins (NineLives) on her success!

NineLives, I'll be notifying EPCC about your win in a moment - you'll be hearing from them soon.

NineLives · « **Reply #15 on:** August 19, 2015, 07:32:29 PM »

Thank you to all who voted and to Chris for being part of the contest.

I am excited and grateful that Nine Lives Playing Cards (poker size) has been given the chance to be brought to life and printed by EPCC. I have been an artist for a long time and do know that opportunities like this are few and far between...
As a thank you to all of you here, I can promise that there will be exciting specials and giveaways once the deck is 'live'

Big thanks to Don and to everyone who has given support and valuable feedback on the forum and via PMs ... and to everyone at Playing Card Forum for all the work you do in running this inspiring hub, along with the work that goes into hosting awards and contests. Hopefully many more designers will take their decks beyond the pre-entry-stage in next year's contest; as I've seen plenty of talent and great design around here.

Thank you
Annette

PrincessTrouble · « **Reply #16 on:** August 20, 2015, 09:25:30 AM »

Annette,

Can you go over the differences between the poker sized Nine Lives and the bridge sized Nine Lives (other than size, of course)?

NineLives · « **Reply #17 on:** August 20, 2015, 11:42:00 PM »

Quote from: PrincessTrouble on August 20, 2015, 09:25:30 AM

Annette,

Can you go over the differences between the poker sized Nine Lives and the bridge sized Nine Lives (other than size, of course)?

Hi PrincessTrouble

Absolutely and thanks for asking.

Putting together these images (which aren't huge, but hopefully help illustrate the differences), a certain puzzle game: 'spot the difference' came to mind

Starting with the tuckbox:

While the 'logo' and name are very much the same, there is a slight difference in the colour scheme to help set the two decks apart. The front on the poker size box features one card preview (instead of two) and a badge to indicate 'poker size'. Finally; the sides, top and bottom of the box has a different look for each of the decks.

Court cards:

Here, the main difference is that the courts have no borders in the poker size deck. Placement (and size) of indices is also different - and the Knights (or Jacks) are represented with the letter 'J' in the poker size deck. Other changes include addition of artwork detail, where I wanted to make use of the extra canvas width.

Number cards:

The number cards in the poker size deck feature slightly larger pips and the same change to placement and size of indices (as on the court cards).

Card back design:

As with the box, the colour scheme of the back design is slightly different between the two decks. The poker size back has additional elements in the 'corners' to make use of the wider card, though less detail (and colours) in the centre.

Jokers:

The bridge size deck has one Joker (2 identical cards). The poker size deck has two Jokers (2 cards) - with a few small changes to the artwork in the red joker. And, as my cat model had grown from kitten to cat, the poker size deck reflects this impressive growth spurt

Cheers
Annette

PrincessTrouble · « **Reply #18 on:** August 21, 2015, 10:54:24 AM »

Wonderful improvements. Thanks for explaining them.

NineLives · « **Reply #19 on:** August 21, 2015, 11:53:20 AM »

Quote from: PrincessTrouble on August 21, 2015, 10:54:24 AM

Wonderful improvements. Thanks for explaining them.

Thanks PrincessTrouble - and my pleasure

Poll

Which deck is your choice as winner of the 2nd Annual PCF Deck Design Competition?

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