"I don't think that of all the beastly things that man ever did, or all the terror he caused me, that there was anything as loathsome as that casual marking of my skin for de Gautet to cut at. There is only one word for it - it was German. And if you don't understand that I mean, thank God for it." -Flashman
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Flashman on Soldiers
"It was a common custom at that time, in the more romantic females, to see their soldier husbands and sweethearts as Greek heroes, instead of the whore-mongering, drunken clowns most of them were. However, the Greek heroes were probably no better, so it was not so far off the mark." -Flashman
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Save those Box Tops
An update on the project so far.
Right now I am three cards away from completing the loteria deck. This is amazing because I never really thought too much about the END of the project. I was concentrating on the card I was working on, and mildly thinking about what I'd do for the next card in the series. Suddenly, I'm almost out of cards and the next step in the process will be sending the graphics off to a publisher. How on earth did this happen?
There is a large template that the publisher gives out to clients to help them format graphics for the box design. For reasons that I won't go into here, the box needed to be made using original art. I was tempted to just pick one of the cards that I liked best and make that the graphic for the box. That isn't going to work. Artwork going through the publication process needs to have different borders than what I've been using, so a new approach was called for.
If you've checked out the "Dark Deck" on the atalentforraw.com page, you'll know what I mean when I say that I was thinking of using a block cut design. This would work well and be striking. The more I thought about it the more it seemed like a cop-out thought. The block cut designs are great looking, but not particularly as a centerpiece. The artwork on the box has to capture the feel of every card in the deck, and nothing that I was coming up with fulfilled that requirement. So I grabbed the largest piece of canvas that I had in the studio and set to work.
I'll post the results soon, but let me say right now that I'm thrilled with what I came up with. This is going to be something extra special that will capture everyone's eye.
Right now I am three cards away from completing the loteria deck. This is amazing because I never really thought too much about the END of the project. I was concentrating on the card I was working on, and mildly thinking about what I'd do for the next card in the series. Suddenly, I'm almost out of cards and the next step in the process will be sending the graphics off to a publisher. How on earth did this happen?
There is a large template that the publisher gives out to clients to help them format graphics for the box design. For reasons that I won't go into here, the box needed to be made using original art. I was tempted to just pick one of the cards that I liked best and make that the graphic for the box. That isn't going to work. Artwork going through the publication process needs to have different borders than what I've been using, so a new approach was called for.
If you've checked out the "Dark Deck" on the atalentforraw.com page, you'll know what I mean when I say that I was thinking of using a block cut design. This would work well and be striking. The more I thought about it the more it seemed like a cop-out thought. The block cut designs are great looking, but not particularly as a centerpiece. The artwork on the box has to capture the feel of every card in the deck, and nothing that I was coming up with fulfilled that requirement. So I grabbed the largest piece of canvas that I had in the studio and set to work.
I'll post the results soon, but let me say right now that I'm thrilled with what I came up with. This is going to be something extra special that will capture everyone's eye.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Fisher King Loteria
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| "The Fish" Loteria Card |
There is no question that the Fisher King is a powerful figure in most European history. The influence of the king in disguise is also present in contemporary images and philosophy. For this reason, the card dedicated to the Fisher King is not the obvious value in the suit (King), but instead appears in the Pope's Loteria Deck as a Nine. This is not by chance. The card is the most important and powerful card in the suit. The flavor of the text in the descriptions makes this clear.
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| "The Palm" Loteria Card |
Most movies and cartoons which feature palm trees usually show the Caribbean variety which is smooth and banded with thin ridges up the length of the trunk. For those of use who have decided to make their homes in Southern California, we're award that palm trees have different categories.
The most attractive to my mind is the shorter and more interestingly textured variety which can produce dates. The trunk is stippled with stubby thick branches which are trimmed. If the tree is left unattended after trumming, these end pieces can grow out and make the tree look rough and hairy. It might be tempting to climb one of these things just to have the ability to say the feat has been accomplished.
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