No one should see this.: July 2021

Monday, July 5, 2021

Oh yeah, last thing

One last thing, the box I designed for it:

Nothing fancy, just the card back on top, logo on the sides and the symbols for the witcher schools on the ends. I'm getting a nicer rigid box this time instead of a tuck box, which I wish I'd done for all of my decks, tuck boxes are so cheap.

Deck is ordered, I can't wait to get it!

The Witcher Swords Suit

And it's done! WOW that went fast. Like I said, I had ideas for all these cards, there was just one or two I got slowed down on. But I made most of these just yesterday after I made my post about the pentacles.

TRIGGER WARNING: SUICIDE, BLOOD

The image I used for the ten of swords is pretty graphic, be warned.

So, obviously, the swords suit gets the Nilfgaardian banner and the close range row icon.

To be perfectly honest, my ace here is just because it's a picture of Geralt's swords. But it gets the message across.

I'm counting the 2 as another appearance of Emyhr, he's back there, you can see him. The crossed pikes perfectly match the card meaning.

Iris Von Everec literally says "I am sadness." What could be better for the 3 of swords? Plus I liked that quest enough that I wanted Iris to have her own card.

I've been planning to put this image here basically all along, Iorveth looks very chill, and we know how much fighting he does. He needs a break.

5 was a good place for Radovid, especially in this scene. He'll definitely do whatever it takes to win. Philippa's a conniving bitch like most sorceresses, but she didn't deserve this.

The 6 features Caranthir, the Wild Hunt's navigator, absolutely necessary for traveling between worlds. Works well for the traveling message of this card. Technically Eredin is also present in the background, so I can count this as an appearance of Eredin, but it's iffy. Unfortunately Imlerith didn't make it into the deck, but I got some Wild Hunt at least.

My 7 is good old Thaler. What a guy. Can't trust him as far as you can throw him, the sneaky old spy.

I had some debates with the 8. I had thought once I'd put Vivienne here, but the curse that trapped her wasn't of her own doing or ignorance, I think she worked better in the 5 of pentacles. I thought about Anna Strenger and the geas put on her by the Ladies of the Wood, there was even a nice picture of a pair of dimeritium shackles I could use, but in the end, well, Birna Bran dug her own grave with all her plotting. Plus she's literally chained up in this picture. It works.

I had a good picture of the Hym tormenting Udalryk that I thought would work well for the 9, and it is good, but I really liked the idea of getting Johnny and the Ladies into the deck, and his expression of fear still works beautifully for this card.

THIS IS IT, THIS IS THE TRIGGER WARNING.

My 10 is pretty brutal, the suicide of Tissaia. A horrible image and moment, but it works perfectly for this card.

I think Ves would have made an equally good page of wands, girl has got some passion, but I feel like she's less on the emotional side, so I decided page of swords would be a good place for her. Lambert is perfect as the knight of swords, and only Yen could be the queen, that was never a choice. And finally, Eredin gets his own card as the king.

And the art sources:

Ace. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/bW3Qg

2. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/rKllJ

3. https://www.deviantart.com/cyan707/art/I-am-sadness-739097968

4. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/5x2xw

5. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/dbkXA

6. https://www.deviantart.com/cg-zander/art/Caranthir-The-Navigator-779847502

7. another by https://www.artstation.com/akreon, but it's not on the page.

8. Artist is Katarzyna Redesiuk, but it's not on the page

9. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/ELG9W2

10. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/88Aqw

Page. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/WJydN

Knight. https://www.artstation.com/bpsola, image not on page

Queen. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/w6E3w6

King. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/ob4PO

Oh, and there is one more thing. There was one piece of art that I desperately wanted to use but never found a good spot for, so I'm adding it like a bonus card like the weather cards. I don't have the artist, but it's official Gwent art:

Roach! To be read as bafflement, confusion. This circumstance is unlike anything you've dealt with before and you might need help. (Depending on the reading it could also be read as loyalty and trust, going to great lengths to help those we care about. Roach is our most faithful companion and will do whatever he must to come when we call, even if it ends up with him on a roof.)

And that's it! The deck is complete! I believe I've decided to use the fancier card back, it still matches the artistic theme of the deck and I want prettier backs on my deck, so I can have them. This deck really went pretty smoothly, although it was a challenge sometimes to find pictures depicting positive things, most Witcher art is combat or portraits. But I managed and I am very happy with it. All that Gwent art helped me so much, and gave me a quality of art I don't always get when I'm making fanart decks. But I suppose official Gwent art isn't fanart, is it? Oh well. I love my deck.

Now to printing!

Sunday, July 4, 2021

The Witcher Pentacles Suit

The pentacles suit is done! I had a lot of indecision with this suit but after making multiple versions of cards I was able to come back and cut out the extra one so I don't have a bunch of extras. I think it went pretty well.

The pentacles suit gets the Scoia'tael banner and the siege row icon.

I was happy to get Avallac'h in at the ace, even if it's with his mask on. I was having trouble finding a good place for him. The portal and his offered hand definitely speak of new opportunities to me.

I really fought with the 2. I had a nice image of a random street performer girl juggling daggers which did match the meaning, but I have so many characters that I want to get in the deck I wasn't happy with having a card with a literal non-character, not even a minor character from a small side quest, she's literally just no one, just a random member of a performing troupe. I had trouble finding another option and at first I wasn't super comfy with Orianna in this place. But I would definitely say Orianna is juggling many things that she needs to balance, there's a significant amount of careful balance and give and take in her life. And her situation is an interesting one. So she goes here. It might not be the most perfect fit ever, but I'm satisfied with it as I've thought about it more.

The 3 also had two options because I had a neat picture of Geralt and Iorveth fighting together that worked well for teamwork, but I plan to put Iorveth on the 4 of swords so I didn't really want to put him on another card. And this is kind of a great picture of Triss and Yennefer working together, from the end of the last book I believe. And I'm a big fan of girl teamwork.

The 4 is just funny. Man I love that part in 2 where the troll tries to keep Triss. It's hilarious. The trolls are so great in these games, man.

For the 5 I had a nice picture of the crazy guy you find in Skellige in the boat where the ice giant lives who talks to the skulls of his dead companions. Seemed a good match. But it was very important to me to get Vivienne into the deck because her story had a pretty strong affect on me and I realized her curse worked beautifully here. So, sorry crazy Skellige guy, you got cut.

6 I had planned for ages, Nenneke is perfect for this card and I love this picture.

For 7, hilariously enough after reading the description on the artist's page this drawing is not actually meant to be Vernon Roche, but damn, coulda fooled me. And I decided to ignore that. It's totally Roche, waiting for the restoration of Temeria.

The 8 had a few good options, I had this one of Yoana, a good picture of Eibhear from Novigrad and one of the runewright from the DLC, but in the end I just love Yoana and I support women in blacksmithing.

I'm not sure if Uma really represents luxury and success, but I really wanted him in the deck, and doesn't he look happy here? It's close enough.

The 10 is Hjalmar and Cerys celebrating her coronation, I think it's perfect.

Cahir is my page, he was definitely a bit naïve and eager. Eskel always struck me as the responsible, methodical one of the wolf witcher boys, so he works well here. And Cerys of course is my queen. And as promised, Vesemir is here in his proper king spot. Used a different picture though.

And the sources:

Ace. Artist: https://www.artstation.com/gawel, image not on page

2. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/PK8N1

3. https://www.deviantart.com/telmand/art/The-Witcher-Merigold-s-Hailstorm-535794002

4. https://www.deviantart.com/cg-zander/art/Where-is-Triss-Merigold-409774108

5. https://www.deviantart.com/skyrawathi/art/Gwent-Art-Contest-Vivienne-s-Transformation-739591539

6. Artist: https://www.artstation.com/bpsola but no longer on page

7. https://www.deviantart.com/servia-art/art/NORDEN-583123832

8. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/45wal

9. https://www.deviantart.com/cg-zander/art/Uma-s-Curse-Gwent-Card-785720518

10. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/58keoz

Page. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/65Zv5

Knight. Artist is https://www.artstation.com/gawel, no longer on page

Queen. https://www.deviantart.com/blackassassin999/art/Queen-Of-Skellige-651692834

King. Artist is https://www.artstation.com/gawel, no longer on page

And that's it for the pentacles! I already have ideas for every one of the swords cards, so I expect that suit to go real smooth.

Fun fact, when my subject matter is as grim as something like the Witcher, the swords suit is not to difficult to figure out.

Thursday, July 1, 2021

The Witcher Cups Suit

The cups suit is done! This one wasn't nearly as hard for some reason. And I didn't have nearly as much Gwent art in this one, got a lot more fanart. But I found some good stuff.

FYI, the cups suit gets the Northern Realms banner and the Ranged row icon.

The ace is just a bottle of Yen's perfume, subtle, sexy and also cup shaped. It was a struggle to find a high res version of the painting of Iris and Olgierd for the 2, but I knew I had to have them there. Even if it all goes wrong after that painting. Their story is so sweet and then so sad.

I have two threes because dammit, I worked hard on that first one. I really wanted a picture of Geralt drinking with the boys for the three, but all I could find was this one picture in a totally different art style, and it originally had just a plain white background. I spent so much time removing that white background and the faint white outline it left on them so that I could find a good tavern picture and drop them in it and hopefully not have it look too unnatural. I think I did an okay job, but I can tell it just doesn't fit in the deck. So I will be using the card of Zoltan chilling with his friends. I just had to show my work for the first version.

The 4, honestly, I don't know how well Ermion/Mousesack fits the card, other than the fact that he's offering a vessel similar to the traditional imagery and I wanted to make sure he made it into the deck.

My 5s are just an art debate. Both of them apply to the meaning, I just can't choose which one I like more yet.

The 6 made me laugh, who doesn't love the painting of angry baby Ciri? I know the frame around it looks a little odd, but it gets cut out in the printing, don't worry. And Kalkstien is the 7 because if anyone can offer you lots of options, it's our dear alchemist. Plus there's a lot of vessels of some form around him holding who knows what, it fits.

The 8 sort of broke my heart, that's Essie Daven from the books and her story made me cry. I almost put Vivienne there, but I think I have a better place for her. And the 9 is one Borkh Three Jackdaws and his Zerrikanian bodyguards, I can't think of a better wish granted than a hot tub with those two.

The 10 I'm quite proud of, you wouldn't know it but the original picture cuts off the top few inches of Geralt's head and the sky does not extend that far up. So I cut out the sky from further over and fit it around them and drew in the top of Geralt's head. I think it looks great. For the page I'm just happy I finally found a place for Shani. And I adore Dandelion's dramatic pose for the knight of cups.

The queen was another photo editing escapade of mine, if you look at the original, you'll see that Triss looks rather angry in the picture. Well, I wanted this picture for my queen, but I don't really want the queen of cups looking angry. So I spent a LOT of time editing her eyebrows to take out the anger and just make her a little softer. I also think it turned out amazing.

The king took me a lot longer than I thought it would to find the right image, I think this one is actually a promotional image from a mod to improve the graphics of the game. It had the right look for me.