New Deck WIP - Eminence (working title)

[Vadim Smolenskiy]

Hey Guys,

I'm working on a new deck of cards. Most everything is up in the air right now like (name, printer, brand, etc). I'm thinking about calling is "Eminence" because I'm really focusing on the royalty, but it's a working title.

It's going to consist of 12 custom court cards (with updated hues but still keeping a very traditional feel), custom tuck, Ace of Spades and card back. My goal with this deck is to keep to the standard parameters when designing the court cards. I want to really focus on making a very beautiful but functional deck (not so much a novelty item). I may have two versions of the deck, a black and red version and a full color version (using traditional yellows, reds, blues, and blacks).

I'm going to try to get a card out every two days. At that rate, it will be on Kickstarter sometime later this year!

Here's the King of Diamonds:


I've relocated the axe from the original card to the Kings hand, slightly modified his face, beard and hair, and overall torso. Throughout this deck I'll try to keep a lot of the patterns that appear on the standard court cards but slightly modifying them. Of course I'm going to add a few new ones too (like the chainmail on this king). Again, I'm going with an updated look but a familiar feel.

Hope you guys like it!

I post all my latest card designs to Instagram first, so if you want to see things before they're posted here, please give me a follow on instagram! @vadim.smolenskiy

[Don Boyer]

Looks cool to me!

[Vadim Smolenskiy]

Thank Don!

Here's the Queen of Diamonds:


Still messing with hair color, but I kinda like the red. Also, not sure why Flickr is being a total P.O.S., but it makes everything pixelated. It's sharp as a tack!

[Don Boyer]

You should consider entering this in the 2nd Annual PCF Deck Design Competition - there's a link for it in my signature, below.

[Vadim Smolenskiy]

I'm gonna need to really look over the rules and everything that goes along with that. In the meantime, Jack of Diamonds:

[Magasaki]

Looks cool Vadim,

I agree with Don about entering this into the PCF contest.

[Collector]

I like.

[Vadim Smolenskiy]

I like.

Thanks Collector!

Not sure if this is frowned upon or not, but I decided to do the Jokers over the weekend. Figured I'd knock out two cards at once. Here they are, hope you like!


The type treatment will change, but for now that's what it looks like.

C&C welcomed!
-Vadim

[Don Boyer]

Not sure if this is frowned upon or not, but I decided to do the Jokers over the weekend. Figured I'd knock out two cards at once. Here they are, hope you like!


The type treatment will change, but for now that's what it looks like.

C&C welcomed!
-Vadim

Why would we frown on them?  They're perfectly fine jokers.

[HankMan]

I like.

Thanks Collector!

Not sure if this is frowned upon or not, but I decided to do the Jokers over the weekend. Figured I'd knock out two cards at once. Here they are, hope you like!


The type treatment will change, but for now that's what it looks like.

C&C welcomed!
-Vadim

I think the hand that is holding the staff is in awkward position.. that's just me though

[Vadim Smolenskiy]

Why would we frown on them?  They're perfectly fine jokers.

Not so much on the Jokers themselves, but showing them so soon. I was being silly! Glad you like them.

I think the hand that is holding the staff is in awkward position.. that's just me though

I see what you mean. I have another version with a forward facing fist. I'll post it up.

Thanks guys!

[NineLives]

Nice The blue head dress on QoD is gorgeous - and I think red hair suits her

[Vadim Smolenskiy]

Nice The blue head dress on QoD is gorgeous - and I think red hair suits her

Thanks NineLives!

[Vadim Smolenskiy]

I think the hand that is holding the staff is in awkward position.. that's just me though

Here's the other hand version. I also reduced the size of the stars and changed the "Joker" text a little.



Thoughts?

[Don Boyer]

I preferred the first joker style.

[Vadim Smolenskiy]

Worked on the Ace of Spades. I'm going to stick with the all black version, but wanted to see what some added color looked like. Let me know what you guys think!

Ace of Spades:

[Don Boyer]

Nice - evoking a Russian style?

[NineLives]

Ace of Spades is looking very nice, love the detail

Your second Joker - the hand feels better coming forward I prefer the way you had 'Joker' on the earlier version (curved and without 'the').

*wave*

[Thirdway Industries]

Hey Vadim, looks great!

Queen and Ace are my favourite cards for now.

[Vadim Smolenskiy]

Thanks guys, glad you like em. I'll have more in the coming days. Working on the Clubs royalty now.

Nice - evoking a Russian style?

I honestly thought I was going to, but upon further research it looks like the double headed eagle was used not only by the Russian Empire but by the "Byzantine Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, the Serbian Empire, the Russian Empire and their successor states." - wiki

So I kinda switched gears a little and focused more on the royalty. Thus the "Eminence" name.

[Vadim Smolenskiy]

Here's the King of Clubs. I've added a woman's hand coming from the left of the frame to hold the orb that's normally floating next to his torso. Modified his robes a bit and added some chainmail in the middle instead of the downward stripes.

[Don Boyer]

Here's the King of Clubs. I've added a woman's hand coming from the left of the frame to hold the orb that's normally floating next to his torso. Modified his robes a bit and added some chainmail in the middle instead of the downward stripes.

You call it a woman's hand - but on something this small, how can you tell the difference?  It looks like the King's hand, and it looks like an integral part of the design rather than something artificially tacked on.  Looks good.

[Vadim Smolenskiy]

You call it a woman's hand - but on something this small, how can you tell the difference?

Thanks Don! To answer your question... nail polish! I know, tough to see at first, but printers today will get all those fine fine details. Once you notice it, you'll always see it.

[Don Boyer]

You call it a woman's hand - but on something this small, how can you tell the difference?

Thanks Don! To answer your question... nail polish! I know, tough to see at first, but printers today will get all those fine fine details. Once you notice it, you'll always see it.

Hey, I'm from New York - guys wearing nail polish isn't exactly off the beaten path around here...  Even Penn Gillette wears it!

[Vadim Smolenskiy]

Hey, I'm from New York - guys wearing nail polish isn't exactly off the beaten path around here...  Even Penn Gillette wears it!

Ha, true! Jim Morrison said it best, people are strange.