rskingofcards - Tumblr blog

[rskingofcards]

Evaluation

As always there has been a range of new skills and techniques I've learnt throughout this project. For example some studio based outcomes from when we didn't have access to the adobe suite so i started creating outcomes hand based like marbling which is using nail polish in water to create different patterns. I really like this technique as it was quick and easy and the outcomes were really good and everyone's unique. Even though I didn't use this in my final design, I hope I can implement it into my future designs. Another skill i learnt was op art which was cool as i've never done anything like this before so was nice to have a change. Also as we watched a tutorial it helps teach you and how you could think about making your own. Lastly, zentangle art which i've done before but was nice to redo and create just some very loud, ‘messy styled’ artwork. Next i've learnt loads of new tools I can use in illustrator and photoshop such as using the shape builder tool which i used through the majority of my project to help make the highlights and shadows. As well as the pattern tool and how to make my own and how this helps me work more efficiently as i would have to keep recreation the star formation so saved a lot of time and was able to do more in a smaller amount of time. This project was also nice to rebuild my knowledge of other skills like the tilde key work.

Before i started creating my designs, I did a lot of research on various websites to help get ideas and concepts of what is possible and get a better idea of what i want to achieve from this project. Firstly, working for someone was a good start as you could look through his instagram profile and get an idea of the standards and what kind of things have been done so you don't create something that was similar. Then I did a lot of research on card designs on playingarts.com and there were lots of great examples on there. My favourite ones were the cards that got rid of the original ideas and completely transformed them and inspired me to make completely redesigned ones while keeping the necessary things such as suits and numbers. The theme of multi verse was also helpful as it narrowed down the concepts but by researching into it a bit more and creating a mindmap i could link to my favourite idea which was space.

If i had more time on this project i would have created different court cards for each suit so you can easily tell them apart, even more so, and also developed the designs further and made them look more realistic. Another thing I would do is obviously complete the whole pack completed with all the 52 cards and 2 jokers. Also if i had more time is to research more so i could link my work to other space related artists. Lastly if i had more time i would make the packaging better as i had hardly any time left for the packet so i had to use the star pattern i had used throughout which works fine however it looks a bit boring. I also may have changed the colours a bit but overall I'm really happy with the outcomes and the style of the cards and was happy to see them on the mock ups and get a glimpse of how they would look in real life.

Working in lockdown was a much harder process as I was working at different times and it was hard to keep a routine and this meant I got more distracted so in many ways it was much longer. Another thing was at the start i didn't have access to adobe suite so i started using another programme which made me have to learn the layout and how to do things so took time getting used to it. But overall I'm happy with the outcomes and how they look and I think it's some of my best work. In some ways it was better as I started off developing ideas on paper so it meant I got my ideas right before starting to actually design them.

[rskingofcards]

My final designs on the mock-ups.

[rskingofcards]

These are my number cards, they are to represent constellations which is when stars are formed in a certain way so i decided to recreate withe suits. I made each pip into plain white, and then added a light grey shadow to add some minor details. I then thought about how i wanted each constellation to look, and then put them in their place. I then connected them by using the pen tool and making it a white line and slightly lowered the opacity. I really like how they turned out and think they look like constellations. I also put them on the star background once again to keep everything consistent. I also had to change the font as the one i used didn’t have numbers available so i chose this one and rounded the edges to make a more softer approach.

[rskingofcards]

Back of card designs:

My initial thought was to recreate the design i saw on pintrest of a gradient so i started off by drawing colours from blue to purple.

I then took onto alternate illustrator and used it to blur it so it created a smooth transition from each colour and then puts this on the back of the card design however i wasn’t as happy with the outcome so i tried some others.

This one was using the gradient tool on photoshop however once again i wasn’t as happy with the outcome.

This is my final design for the back of the cards. I chose to have a simple plain dark blue background and the only colour i used was blue (just different shades of it) like on the pintrest design so it looks simple. I then copied and pasted the planet from my card and put it on here and then added 3 rings that slowly get bigger which starts to make the effect of a tunnel and the rings get further into the page as you go down. I kept the majority of the card simple as i didn’t want to make it too busy as only back of card. I also didn’t go for a symmetrical look however by keeping the same design for each card theres no way you can cheat.

[rskingofcards]

Back of cards inspo:

This one is kind of an optical illusion of as it creates boxes that look as tho it goes down and up the card. I also like the monochrome look as most op art is. Also its a good design as its symmetrical so you cant tell which card another player has got which is important as it stops cheating.

This one i really liked with the merged colours gradient and how it flows about the card and i would like to try something like this for the back of my card. They have used colours that are next to each other on the colour wheel so go well together and they have also made it symmetrical.

This one also looks really cool i like how theres lots of different space related objects on different parts. However they have kept the symmetry so works well. I also like the use of different shades of blue and would work well with my other card designs.

[rskingofcards]

I once again used the starry pattern from my cards as i like it and also it keeps the consistency and you know the cards go with that box so feels like a real pack of cards.

I then decided on the name space for my card pack as its very simple and explains how the theming is. I also got the correct sizes for the mock ups. I then put the word space and also added a box behind it so the stars didn’t get too close to it and so its easy to read. I then made a barcode out of different widths of rectangles and put it on the back.

I then got the astronaut which i was going to use for my court cards and placed it under the title and made it diagonal so it looks like its floating.

Then i added a wavy line going across all the boxes like he’s being held on to something. I really like the simplistic/ minimalistic look of the box and how the line goes around the majority of the box.

[rskingofcards]

Kings:

This rocket was the tallest one and was the one i made up the most as the others i had looked at different photos. This one i chose to go with the colour green and in the end i changed the smoke to be a gradient of green so then the colour palette for each card is reduced which makes it less overwhelming and less in your face.

I made all the different parts and also added the different lines which make it look more realistic and like different parts on the rocket. However i didn’t like how at the bottom it looked like a green square was just sitting there so i got rid of the grey part above it and made it connect with the other green part.

Overall i’m happy with this design and how it turned out. I also made the king text bigger so the user can tell what court card it is. Also by having set colours for each card it helps the user get used to it and so after a few games they don’t need to look at the name to understand what one they got. I also like the background and helps it set the environmental for the cards and less like they are just sitting on the page

When making the cards i thought of having one of the court cards as an astronaut however i wanted to keep them consistent and all of them as rockets so this design ended up being used on the box design.

[rskingofcards]

Jacks:

This was my original design i made for the court card, jack, however it didn’t fit in as well with my other designs so i started to remake it. I also didn’t really like the smoke being the suit. The text on the side also was very bad and didn’t stand out nearly as much as the final result. 

I then started adding the shadows and highlights onto the rocket as well as the smoke, name on the side of the ship, and the window which were the main things that make the rockets similar and so its consistent and feel like a real pack of cards.

When designing the background of the court cards i wanted to use the stars pattern however by just putting on its very overwhelming as the user would be distracted from the main card design by the stars and also makes the text much harder to read so to resolve this i lowered the opacity of the background so you can still see them but just less visible.

I also played around with how i could show which suit the court card. Firstly i had it up in the top right corner so it may represent a moon however this didn’t look right. I also tried putting it on the window however i didn’t think it was obvious enough and knowing which suit you have picked up is important so i moved it to the bottom of the text so you can easily tell which card you have picked up.

A last change i made was changing the bottom smoke into the colour red to match the colour scheme for this card as i think it works better and you can still tell what it is meant to be. I also chose for this rocket to be on this card as its smallest rocket of the 3 and this is the jack so less powerful so it made sense for them to get bigger as the cards do. I also like the simple look of the rocket i changed it to only have 2 legs instead of 3 which i started off with as it was too much and didn’t need it.

[rskingofcards]

Queens:

For the court cards i wanted to keep them all consistent so i thought of the idea of having different rockets for each court. So i started off looking at different rockets and i found one like this so i replicated. I started off adding the main parts of the ship.

I then added the bottom fins and i made them the same colour as the side parts so it looks as though they go straight down into them. 

I then went over and started adding shadows and highlights on different parts so it looks better and more 3d and less flat on the page.

I then wanted to add more details onto the actual rocket so i added different lines so it makes it look more rocket like. I also made more shadows. 

I also kept both sides the same so they’re symmetric as the normal court cards are symmetrical so keeps it faithful and also helps the user understand the cards a bit better.

I also wanted to make it look as though its moving and so it also reinforces it is a rocket. So i added the yellow to fade out gradient which acts as the blasting off smoke.

I then had the idea to make the name of the rocket the name of the court card so i made the name ‘queen’ from rectangles i tried making each letter the same size so it looks better. I then added a slight shadow over the bottom half of the letters.

I then put it onto the side of the ship. I then added the background which was the same pattern as the background of the aces. I also kept the same font to keep it consistent and also i spell the word at the bottom backwards as the normal cards do this. I also added a window on the rocket ship to add some quick simple details.

[rskingofcards]

Diamond:

The last one was the diamonds my first idea was to add a planet so i copied remade the ball shape with shadow and then started to add some lines all different widths to add extra details to my design. I started off with the colours green and blue. However after looking at the other cards i realised each of them used different colours: spades was green, clubs was blue, hearts was yellow. So i got the idea to have each suit a separate colour which would also help with the playability. 

I then changed the colours used a red colour and i also had the idea of adding a ring around the planet but i didn’t know how to make it look right so i ended up making one go around the whole thing 

This was the final design i made the ring less visible so it don’t stand out as much as also so it acts as the ring of the planet as the rings are made out of dust and particles in real life. I really like the simplicity of this one and i think its effective. I also left a small gap in the outer circle.

[rskingofcards]

Clubs:

I started off creating the suit outlines by hand however for the more difficult ones with more curves such as the clubs and spades i used a template to trace around. I also rounded the edges of each suit as i don’t want sharp edges as this pack of cards its more playful and fun as most of the things i have included are cartoonish.

I made all the different parts and for the solar parts i used the grid and by clicking down once you can choose how big. I also kept all the parts different shades of grey and bits that went inwards are darker. Also on some things the curves i made were odd on each side which i altered with the direct selection tool.

I then went over and added the colour blue and some shading and highlights. This was one of the hardest designs on the cards as i had to make sure you could tell what it was and i think i made it identifiable. 

This was the final result and sometimes when putting the design onto the suit background it would go half over a bigger star and it would look weird so required some replacing to make sure it looked right. Also i chose to keep it on the tilt a bit to make it look more realistic as nothing would line up straight in space. I then added it onto the background and added the outer shadow on (see mock-ups)

[rskingofcards]

Heart:

I then wanted to make a meteorite however it looked more like a planet or the moon. After looking at some other designs, i saw they made it less of a circle and made the outline more bumpy so i made some circles go over the edge. 

I created a circle a little darker than the asteroid and then used the shape builder tool to create a shadow on the circle. I also added a shadow to cover the entire thing. Overall i really liked how it turned out and think its easy enough to tell what its meant to be.

I knew i would have to create something around the meteor otherwise it would look out of place so i started off by using the rounded square shape and then using the direct selection tool to round the edges and then deleted the opposite sides so it created a straight line. I then added the yellow to fade out gradient like i did for the ufo which also makes the two link and make it consistent. 

I put it on and i like how it reaches the end of the heart and then completely fades out however felt something was still missing...

I then created another rock which was much smaller and also grey to go alongside the bigger one as then it feels more like an asteroid shower and also fills the suit up more and makes the design more interesting to look at. I then put on the background template which i copied and pasted. Overall i really like this design and how the two gradients overlap and create a different colour and looks nice.

[rskingofcards]

Spades:

I Started off using an alternate version of illustrator just to start creating some ideas and concepts and this is where i first thought of creating a ufo as its space related and fitted to my theme. I thought the bottom part of the suit was a great opportunity to create the ufo beam to go down into.

I also thought of other minor details such as the cow however i later removed as i felt it didn’t look right and felt out of place.

I then started using illustrator to create the proper designs. To start with i found a picture of a ufo and used it as reference. I also changed it to a different suit, spades, as i thought it worked better in that shape. I Liked the shape of the ufo however was too bland.

Also around this time i remembered the repeating pattern workshop so i used it to create a starry sky which was perfect so then i could use the pattern on all the other suits without them looking different and therefore is more consistent. It took a few tries to get the stars right. I made the stars by creating a 3 sided polygon and then using the direct selection tool to pull in the sides so it created a star shape. Then i added some other dots and triangles, and then i changed a few to a light blue colour.

I also used the shape builder tool in that workshop which i realised i could use to my advantage and cut off bits i wanted. So i started using the pen tool drawing out a curve off the screen part of the ufo. Then clicking the shape builder tool creates it into a separated shape which i can change the colour, so i could add highlights and shadows to, which makes it look more realistic.

I added a shadow on the main part and a highlight on the screen part which makes it look much better. I then wanted to recreate the ufo beam so i started with a straight line and then i had an idea to make it take up the whole of the bottom part. I did this by using the direct selection tool to move the edges and then cutting off the bits that went outside the shape with the shape builder tool. I then thought of using the gradient tool to make it slowly disappear and i really liked it so i kept this. I also like how you can still see the stars through it. 

I then created a template for all the ace cards i wanted all of them to feature the suit as a big version in the centre. I then added the words ace up the top left and bottom right in a san serif font, coco-goose, I like this one as its easy to read and also matches the theme as quite fun and slightly ‘cartoonish.’

I then took this into photoshop to start putting onto the mock ups and got an idea to add a shadow around the suit however in illustrator its harder to do and when in photoshop its all on one layer so i had to cut around the suit and then add the outer glow effect on the ‘fx’ part. I think this adds more detail to the card therefore making it look better.

[rskingofcards]

Mahi Abdul

Based in the Maldives. He designs fantasy animals using the Zentangle style of art.

This design is of a turtle. I really like the use of mainly light blue colours is reminds me of the sea, particularly tropical sea, where the turtle lives and also surrounds with artwork with a calming, positive mood. I also like how some of the ‘scales’ are falling off which also makes it look like its moved. This design uses a lot of repeating patterns and it looks really cool.

This one is monochrome and is a design of a fantasy creature possibly a mermaid as most of his work is aquatic. I really like how he made lots of parts and curly lines which shape the body of her in some ways and also creates a hidden designs such as a face at the bottom, fishes and another type of animal which adds more interest to the design. This one is made up of shading and also on the outside of the design they have used shading so it looks like its coming out the page.

This one is like a water dragon and i really like the colour scheme if blue and green and how he mixes them together. I also like how each scale or different part he takes a different approach for example some have patterns or some just have stripes. I also really like how it curls up and creates an illusion as if the tail is going down into the page. The eyes are my favourite thing in this design as they look very interesting.

[rskingofcards]

zentangle artwork.

I started off by sketching out an image of the king however in the end it looked more like a queen so i went with that. I made the drawing simple as it didn’t want to make too many shapes and make it difficult to colour. I then made wavy line from one end to the other and then started to colour. To start with i tried using the same colours (blue and green) however there wouldn’t be enough colours to fill the whole design. I made different parts from roughly same colours for example the crown was mainly blue to represent crystals and diamonds and the body was mostly orange and yellow as i wanted to make it look like she was wearing armour. As i was colouring the markers bled over the lines but in the next step i saved it by making the black line thicker in those areas.

Overall i’m happy with the outcome as its an unique look and every single design would be different however i don’t like the patchy parts where the pens didn’t work as well. This could be used for the court cards and i could make different ones for king and jack.

[rskingofcards]

Repeating patterns workshop

I started off with creating 3 triangles with the pen tool i made them all different colours which i saw which ones worked best and in the end i decided with green, blue, and pink. i arranged them in a way where they all overlap.

I then created the broken triangle by making another triangle with the pen tool and then drawing rectangles over it which will be the bits that were cut out. Then with the shape builder tool i cut them out by also holding alt. i then changed the colours to green - blue so it created a gradient effect.

I then made a circle and a triangle using a gradient. I made the circle go from yellow to pink and the triangle purple to red to catch the majority of the colours.I then laid the shapes out on the page changing the size and direction so they all look different and made sure they were roughly equal distances apart. Then i selected it all and went to object, pattern, make and then made it into a pattern.

I really like my design and i think i used lots of different colours and theres an even amount of them all. I think this workshop is helpful if i create stars which i can make and then make into a pattern so i don’t have to keep making it. This could also be a good idea for the back of the cards as its a repeating design which is also symmetrical and also looks cool.

[rskingofcards]

Tidle key experiments.

These were my first load of experiments by simply using the different shape tools while holding option some times to create different effects. I particularly like the polygon one (top right) as you can create an interesting look almost like a tunnel. They also in some points look like flowers. i also changed some rectangles together which i also kind of like.

I then started using the line and curved lines where you can create really unique shapes. I also played around with colours and gradients. The green one i noticed sometimes it looked like planets so i made a circle then added a ring around it so it resembled a planet more which also links to the theme. The orange one i layered red and yellow beneath so it looks like a gradient. The 3 circles i thought of it because it resembles the suit, clubs, which is something i could make up my pips with. The bottom middle also could represent a diamond if turned.

These are some more experiments using different widths of lines and making some parts more full than others. I also like how some create a 3d effect and some seem further in the page.

This was some ideas if i made a set of cards surrounding the theme of nature as i made a jellyfish but it could also be a heart and i also made a flower and butterfly. These could be used as the aces for that card they would take some more edits to make look more like the thing. i also like how the black background makes the colours stand out more and seem more vibrant like it glows.