A Talent For Raw

Queen of Spades : Cards of Loss

This is one of the most attractive queens in the deck for the "Cards of Loss".  I was thinking of having a more sinister woman to grace this card but when I looked at the other queens, it just made more sense to have someone pleasant and warm.  The deck needed balance.  The other queens are hard and waspish, so a softer side was called for.
I did check out the possibility of getting blocks to carve for block printing.  To my surprise, it is a cheap and seemingly simple process to turn a block of rubber into a working stamp for inking.  But still, I really do like Photoshop and even though it might be a crutch for my artwork, it works for this project.  The colors are clear and bold.  I'm able to weather the paper and give it a realistically worn look that is scalable.  There are lots of benefits to running the art through a computer first.
So block printing is going to have to wait until I've got another project on my plate, or until I decide to ruin my wardrobe with ink.

Five of Diamonds : Cards of Loss

The Five of Diamonds came out better than I could have hoped for and really raises my spirits when I think about how many more cards I have to do before I've got a working deck in my possession.  If they all look this sharp, creating unique images for each card will be a pleasure.