Hi Don,

Simplifying the art work would involve drawing each peice again from scratch, and though I fully appreciate your feedback and agree with you, I'm not sure I want to do that. They are all hand drawn with the shading incorporated into the source art work, so separating that out is not possible. I think perhaps the entire theme is too complex, especially as a first attempt at a project of this nature.

I'm not going to give up though. I have decided to pursue some other ideas in the mean time, simpler, cleaner more familier and easier to manage, and perhaps finish these once understanding of producing cards matures.

Thanks again for your input, and watch this space...

Hi Don, Fes,

Thanks again for taking the time to comment, and compliments. You've given me loads to think about.

Making the cards more playable wasn't something I had considered before, but it makes perfect sense. My primary reason for collecting is for the artwork, and really only play with a couple of standard decks.
I have been working on the title thing too, it is too much of a mouth full. But again your point here makes good sense, it needs a title, if Star Wars was instead simply called Sci Fi, it wouldn't really have sold the film.

We were trying to add an element of grunge with the splotches, and agree that perhaps its not working well with the genre we're focusing on. We have also explored other printers such as legends, which I think are really nice. I've just received one of the Leonardo decks by Art Crds, and the quality is superb. I want to end up with something that does that level of quality justice.

I'll rethink the the stretch goals and add ons, I'm not into cheap gimmicks, but I do like the foil, embossing, specialist inks and presentation box ideas that I feel do add to the deck itself rather than a cheap trinket that just gets lost in a drawer somewhere. I'm glad that you have really elaborated upon our understanding of where the deck needs developing. Not meeting our target was a bit of a downer but we've seen it as a learning opportunity and are still in this to win, so to speak.

Well, back to work then. I have almost completed a colour version of the KoH, so I'll post an image soon to get your opinion if that's OK?

Hi everyone,

I'm a newbie to this forum and currently working on a project that includes a deck of playing cards, and hoping for some feedback on my efforts so far.

I have previously launched it on Kickstarter, but the campaign failed to attract enough interest to make it a reality. I am in the process of refining the design, the art work and the campaign. I feel I have perhaps made the theme too complex, but due to the amount of work that has gone into it, I don't wish to scrap it.

I have created 4 factions (4 suits) of a fictional war. The idea was inspired by classic Gothic horror stories and characters, where each faction has developed its own technology. Wanting to have an explanation to each of the factions, how they came about, the story behind the characters portrayed in the court cards and jokers, I am also in the process of producing a book that promotes the art work and tells the stories to back up the cards.  What seemed like a simple idea at first has become a labour of love for almost 2 years.

If anyone would be kind enough to check out my project and give me any feedback, I would be extremely grateful. Given the limits to number of images I can add to a post, I include a link to the previous campaign on Kickstarter that best summarises my efforts here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/556560107/gothic-horror-industrial-punk-bicycle-playing-card

Any questions please ask.

Thanks in advance for taking the time to check it out.

Alun