Sialia's New Deck

[Sialia]

In the clear light of morning, I feel like I want to redo part of this last one--the proportions are off. Too much amphora, not enough kettle.

Should be just a bit plumper and shorter.

Will fix and replace over the weekend.

 

[Piratecat]

I love the kettle! It'll be fun to see the changes, but I really like the other one as well.

 

[Knightfall]

Kettle

The "Kettle" card is amazing. That's your best one yet.

KF72

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Printing them? Hm. I would want them on cardstock, but I don't think that they make a glossy cardstock. Good question. Anyone work at Kinko's?

Anyway, the kettle is fantastic. Goes really well with the green background, but I agree that it's the best yet.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

The neatest thing here (OK, maybe not the neatest, but something that impresses me) is that I know you're doing most of this work on a PC, but the final work doesn't look even slightly computer generated. These are awesome, I will certainly be using them as an alternative DoMT/Tarot in my games... if only I can figure out the significance of the flumph card...

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Hey, Sialia, love all of them so far. The middle card from post 36 is my favorite.

Three requests if possible: a [domesticated] dog, a [house] cat, and a trio of wild horses.

 

[Baron Opal]

Magnificent cards.

Random ideas...

A sword sticking out of a stump.

A cracked mask.

A door concealing a secret.

An open hand holding three coins.

 

[Sialia]

Hey, Sialia, love all of them so far. The middle card from post 36 is my favorite.

Three requests if possible: a [domesticated] dog, a [house] cat, and a trio of wild horses.

Ok, that's just creepy.

Above three items all already in the works.

I swear.

I suppose the cat and dog weren't all that unpredictable, but the idea that the horses are a trio when absolutely everything else I've posted has been a solo . . . how on earth did you call that one?

 

[Sialia]

The neatest thing here (OK, maybe not the neatest, but something that impresses me) is that I know you're doing most of this work on a PC, but the final work doesn't look even slightly computer generated. These are awesome, I will certainly be using them as an alternative DoMT/Tarot in my games... if only I can figure out the significance of the flumph card...

>Grin<


This was the essence of the concept. After the first set of cards I did, the thng I most missed was the sense of weight and texture and thickness, the feeling that these could exist in the real world, solid enough to hold.

There happens to be a lapidary and jewlery supply store next to my office, so I walked over at lunch time and bought a slab of jade, and talked to the jewelers and stonecutters in the shop for a while. Then I came home and scanned the slab of jade. I've been using that scan to get the main background texture and altering the color in Photoshop to make the various stones I need.

I've also been duplicating the effect of early Germanic cloisonne work by using layers and shadows and various kinds of transparency in Photoshop. "Kettle" took me to nearly 20 layers to get all the effects I wanted--some reflected light, some transparency, some shadow, some opaque overlays.

This is one of the most fun projects I've ever worked on.

But if you really want to be impressed, you should look at the original pieces that these things are a pale imitation of. They are so much finer, that when I go back to them for inspiration, I am humbled utterly.

Check out the British Museum online, and look for the Sutton Hoo burial.

I will also at this time admit that I stole a bit more of the frame than I'm really proud of, and feel that I should redo a good bit of it from scratch to reclaim my sense of honesty.

But it does have such a lovely "real world" light to it, it's hard to replace.

 

[Sialia]

Magnificent cards.


. . . An open hand holding three coins.

Hmm . . yes--that might solve one of my problems.

I've got "Death."

I've been trying to figure out the design for "Taxes."