Deck of Many Things Art contest -Poll closed

[Felix]

If I were voting for wicked cool art, it'd be DertyAngel. But since tarot cards signify primal forces, I feel the art should be similarly simple and direct, though pregnant with symbolism. Sialia does that for me the best.

 

[ElectricDragon]

If the deck were for the cards most like the deck put out by TSR, then Sialla's would be best. Symbolism dealing with the card's name, the card's description, and the description of the card's game effect is best signified by DertyAngel's versions of the deck.

Look at the cards for ruin and void and compare their game effects to the actual pictures from all the artists.

I think someone should reply, as many people seem to be bashing DertyAngel's artwork without using their imagination.

The tarot cards are not in issue here. The deck of many things is a minor artifact supposedly created by chaotic gods in an effort to increase the amount of chaos in the multiverse. Unlike tarot cards, these do not foretell the future; they bend it. Why limit yourself to only specific pictures to denote various effects (first set down by TSR years and years ago) when so much more is available.

As always, these are my opinions. The only reason I posted them was because some posters seemed to have to bash DertyAngel's artwork as undeserving or not applying to the card at hand to validate their choice for their single vote. If you do not see the symbolism, you need to look harder: it is a failing not of the artwork.

Ciao
Dave

 

[Steve Jung]

It was a hard choice between Sialia's and DertyAngel's, but DA's won me over.

 

[Crothian]

Don't let slow boards and sites going down stop you from voting!!

 

[Henry]

Looking at all of them, I find I liked Todd's "classic" approach best (who I voted for), though Sialia's did have a style that kept drawing me back to them. The style of those cards were very similar to the illustrations in "Knight of the Living Dead", but I can't find who illustrated that (wasn't Jeff Easley).

 

[Sialia]

In truth, after looking at all the entries, I now feel that there is a better set in me.

There are things I like about all of them and yet no one set fulfils me perfectly: perfectly symbolic, metaphorical, simple in design, complex in meaning, luscious to behold . . . each set has something that the others don't.

It makes me want to fold them all together somehow. Each time I loaded someone else's set, I had an agonizing moment of of "Ah, now why didn't I think of that?"

Which is why I love doing these sorts of competitions, I guess.

 

[Tessarael]

I like that the decks from Sialla, Todd and anonymous keep strongly to the same thematic style. Sialla's artwork is great, but I like more color - along the lines of what you might find in many tarot decks. DertyAngel's deck varies a bit thematically, but I do have some favourites from there: fates, flames and the fool ... and maybe I'm looking for brighter pictures than this set which tend to be a bit darker and gothic.The anonymous deck makes me think old school, OD&D style. Todd's deck was my favourite overall being quite colorful and thematically along the lines of what I would want for a campaign without OD&D style.

 

[green slime]

I voted DertyAngel. I really, really liked that version of "void". Good work everyone!

 

[Jdvn1]

Siala's and DertyAngel's are the best by far, but the anonymous one is better than I expected. I do think that any contestant should at least be registered in EN World, though.

 

[Xyanthon]

You know, I found the anonymous person's entry was actually quite cool. It really captured an "old school" feel to the art somewhere along the lines of David Sutherland. I know it is no as flashy or as technically skilled as the other entries, but something about it just works for me.