I’ve always wanted to create a series of playing card art as a collection. It just felt like such a daunting challenge. 52 designs, over 4 coherent themed sets of cards… its a lot to sign up to! I also just could never decide on a theme, one that would offer enough scope and potential variance whilst keeping an overall coherent aesthetic.
Lately I’ve been experimenting a lot with Krea AI and their recent integration of Flux, and would argue its up there with Midjourney if not better in some regards. The results are very consistent, and some of the details are eye popping. I’ve been focusing on sci-fi themes and how to draw out more unique styles and results with a combinations of prompting, style weights & post edits. It soon dawned on me that this would be a great process to make a set of playing cards with.
I first set about creating the card template itself, using Flux and Adobe Photoshop to design and establish a dystopian steampunk-meets-art deco border.
I then started to work with Flux to build a series of intriguing character designs for the main images for each card. My aim is that each set, (Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs and Spades) will have a different inherent colour scheme, but still work together cohesively as a deck.
When it came to publishing the art, I initially couldn’t decide on the best way to release them or which platform to use. One at a time or all 52 at once? Open edition or 1/1s?
However, with the recent launch of Foundations’ Rodeo.club, the 24hr OE window seemed like a really fun way to drop the cards in sequence. People have a set time to pick up an edition, and once the time is up, that’s it. It keeps the number lower and adds some potential FOMO. The UI of the Rodeo Profile page is also nice and clean, and the cards look great together as a collection.
I’m challenging myself to release one a day, and currently am up to 21 cards done! I’ve completed the set of Hearts, and currently I’m up to the Eight of Diamonds.
Please feel free to check out the collection. If you are on Rodeo, drop me a follow and I’ll happily return the favour.
Dan | Digitalgyoza is a lighting designer and digital AI artist based in the UK, who writes about Art, Technology, Web3, Culture and Blockchain.
This week I’ve been obsessed with Unprocessed, and have also been enjoying reading
’s latest post “Hunting Color Palettes”.Have any thoughts on this article? I’d love to hear them! Drop them in the post’s comments section and let’s talk about it.
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These cards look amazing, with gorgeous atmosphere and colors!
Thank you for the shout out!!