The Day of the Rooster

"The Rooster" Loteria Card

I'm not sure exactly how I feel about this card, if I'm completely honest.  It didn't come out exactly like I'd planned, but at the same time it really did come out pretty good considering that I've never really painted a rooster before.  The T-O medallion around his neck looks great (although I'm still considering jazzing it up a touch) and the crest is good.  But I didn't count on him looking like a Masonic Lodge member in full regalia sitting for his portrait.  There is something self-satisfied in his look which wasn't planned.

But what the heck.  The Rooster is card #1 in the deck, and so should be glitzy.

Update!:  For more information about the meaning behind this card, visit the loteria divination page!

Spider on the Fly

"The Spider" Loteria Card

"The Spider"

I painted this image on the fly.  For the spider loteria card I didn't have any images floating around my mind.  In fact, I really didn't know for sure if there even was a Spider card in the standard deck of Loteria.  But while going through an unsorted virtual gallery I came across this spectacular image and knew that I didn't need to look any further.

I was hesitant about making another card with the slate background.  Sure, the background looks fantastic and captures the mood of the piece in the foreground. But I'm only about 7 cards into the deck and I already have two with that sort of cloudy background.  This just seemed like taking the easy way out.  So I really was tossing around the idea of changing the background for this image.... but resisted and I'm glad that I did.  It came out very nicely, if I do say so myself!

Now that I get a good look at it, I'm thinking this is what "Charlotte's Web" would look like if Gorey was inspired to do the illustrations.  One other thing: I'm not liking the way the scans are picking up the texture of the canvas but it's far to late to do anything about that now.  I'm about 7 cards into this project, and if you remember what I mentioned in an earlier blog post, nothing kills enthusiasm like having to go back and fix things.  So full speed ahead!

Update!  Although the divination definitions haven't been completed on this website, the official page is complete.  To find out more about the La Arana loteria card, click here.

The Man In Black Loteria

"The Little Black Man" Loteria Card

"The Little Black One"

This is a modified version of the previous Avatar image I made. Unintentional similarity to the El Negrito Loteria card prompted me to commandeer it for the King of Clubs. This is a painting that I've always liked, even though the figure depicts a figure that is associated with fear and bad luck, this is something that just... well... I like it. What more can I say?

Do you notice the woman's face on the left side of the card? It took me about a year to notice that!

Update!:  This image is controversial, but if you want to find out more about the El Negrito loteria card, follow the link.

Recycled Paintings

"The Skull" Loteria Card

Originally painted for the Day of the Dead, I wanted to capture the quick and non professional nature of most day of the dead images.  When I looked at paintings of skeletons and skulls for the festival, I noticed that many of them were obviously painted by non professional artists.  It made the paintings more personal.  To get a similar effect I gave myself just a few hours for this painting.  It's quite large and was used as a background for a shrine.  Even though I rushed through the painting, it still shows a lot of character.

The second image that I decided to co-opt for a loteria card was the buring figures of the Lovecraftian inspired work that I'd completed a few months ago.  I knew that the picture would be suitable for the Death Card, but was a little worried that some of the texture would be lost.  This painting is very large, and when reduced to the card size, the texture of the canvas isn't apparent.  There is a feeling that this image doesn't look as much a part of the whole series because the level of detail visible, but it was just too good to pass up.

"The Death" Loteria Card

"The Bottle" Loteria Card

What were the chances that "The Bottle" would be a legitimate Loteria card? I really wasn't comfortable with scavenging old paintings for Loteria images, but this was fate.

El Paraguas : The Umbrella

"The Umbrella" Loteria Card

Yes, at first blush there might not seem to be much interest that can be derived from a Loteria card dedicated to the lowly umbrella. I tapped the imagination to come up with something that would add a touch of drama and life to the utilitarian device. This image shows the card's namesake made of a dead branch of oak. A large rent in the canopy is letting in the downpour, and where the water touches the handle, a sprig has stirred to life.

Pretty enough, but I really should have made the color of the umbrella either purple or blue. Grrr...

Update:  The symbolism in this loteria image is described in greater detail here:

Loteria Little Devil

"The Little Devil" Loteria Card

Man o man, I like this card and loathe it at the same time. Yeah, it came out better than I expected. I wanted a vile devil and I got it. Ewww.

I'm still getting the hang of using photoshop to cut out part of the overlay scroll.  In this case it just happened that one of the first cards that I made needed to have the scroll cut out in certain parts so the background could show through.  At first I had sort of hit-or-miss luck, but after awhile I was not only able to do it more quickly, but with a more natural look.

Still, this card is creepy.

This little devil, or "El Diablito" card is now posted in greater detail here:

Loteria Core Design

The layout of the eventual cards has been completed, but now I need to have an image to sample it with. This is the fun part, painting! So some paint getting splashed around on a small canvas blank results in the following:

Now this looks 'flat' because the canvas has actually been scanned into the computer so I could combine it with the template in PhotoShop. I've noticed that when I take photos of paintings the flash can have unusual effects but it's nothing too dramatic. But in this case the canvas didn't have any sort of gloss or matte coat on it. The light from the scanner washed out some of the colors, but considering that the eventual image is going to be reduced to the size of a playing card, I'm not too worried.

This image is first straightened for perspective in Paint Shop, then opened up in Photoshop where I can adjust the contrasts and hues to make the colors pop more. When I'm satisfied that the colors are close enough to the original, the image is then changed to a different proportion. The canvas is about 6"x8", which isn't the ratio of a loteria card. It's close, but we want to get accurate with this. If all goes well, the deck will actually be able to be used for any standard card games.

The image has been resized and is eventually combined with the template. After some text graphics are added, the result looks like :



Note that the suit icons have been adjusted and placed in the corner of the final image. Each suit icon has this done on a different layer in Photoshop which is then rendered transparent. As a particular suit is needed, that icon will be made visible and the extra suits invisible. Crafty!

Update:  You don't even want to know how much effort went into making the official La Escalera loteria page.

Loteria : How To Make (volume 1)

First you need to realize that this is one of "THOSE" projects. The projects which seem simple at first but suddenly leave you with the sickening feeling that you've probably bitten off more than you can chew when you start. This project revolves around coming up with a deck of cards, each one with a different image on it. There are anywhere between 50-100 cards in the deck. I'm going to start off modestly and aim for 52.

Starting a project with a grand scope isn't really that tough as long as the framework has been thought of before the first drop of pain hits the canvas. In this case, each card should have a similar look and feel so that they are united as a whole when viewed together. Instead of just starting willy-nilly and hoping that it turns out OK, I resisted my firesign nature and carefully planned a uniform format. This will prevent me from having to redo any images or designs as the project goes along. This is very important, because nothing kills enthusiasm for an art project like having to start it all over again to change something basic.

The design I chose was this:



Pretty sweet, eh? Oh... Hold on. Let me show you how I'm going to use this template...

Loteria is underway

Design has been decided and it's good to go! Lightning and thunder hitting the High Desert right now. Chance of art? 100%

Zap Gun! Pew Pew!

The Zap Gun for Faith's wedding is complete! To be a little more accurate, this isn't a sidearm for the bride but a hogleg for the mother of the bride. What amazes me about the piece isn't the fact that it looks pretty darn good for a project without a preconceived plan. What gets me is that the handle is extremely securely attached to the barrel. That was more than I hoped for. I thought I could get away with having a zap gun that was delicately attached, leaving the person holding the weapon to treat it with extreme caution.
But PVC turns out to be a miracle material and it took the handle with a grip second only to welding. The paint on the handle may not take a lot of knocking about, but the barrel will break before the handle comes off.