This time I thought I'd show some process all the way through to the final product. If you're just tuning in, these are for an internationally themed pin-up card deck I'm producing with
Josh Cooley.
These are some of my first thumbnails, not all of the pieces started out this way but it definitely got the ball rolling.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgECJWv7p6p85Lab-GJ6h7DV1LXhCbUFWGjDmow_l1uCvIp5XVbxUAqGHRVqxi5x0g67CXT3vtXT2NIAcyxUucN2IzHRXL2nMMLLVQ127zln7SPyAhLGx3H0PlSFC9Gb1TsWjo0ajm6HNw/s400/card+thumbnails.jpg)
You can see a few of the early ideas for the Egypt card above but I later settled on Cleopatra. As you can see by the roughs below I did some exploration before I found a pose I liked. I knew I wanted to have Cleopatra swooning over a photo of Marc Antony, but how exactly took a little trial and error.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWUZweH7T1KOCwiFZoqqh2YigVAhJsDuSlXLpvTnc3BBV8YLvNU0MKPUk6jfnFz_-UJLdRglJh5faF2M7nOwH-OMEcUpdO9lkrgdfn9-JCVLZG4b5DBckT6boL-rfRSUN_jQTtEzC-ziM/s400/egypt+roughs.jpg)
Ultimately I decided with this version since it seemed the most queenly.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6E-PZmB4ytBlWtippTuzDJKJYb0hh2XNG0BsKpX-ezmVBP-hMWn7_EUYHBZh-zdnQmsQcH4j4wF7tPbS0fvBAxhL3YNR5Kb8osZj0ugJgr-zQjll4S9fuoGpMAJSuFIK73kOQTVZyP6E/s400/egypt+rough+alt.jpg)
The composition wasn't quite working right with the way the corner suits were falling so I flopped the image when I inked it.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLZI7zGfz15NTMAYQlh60Y3vIO9cXsggWfoKKhFWHF2PxsqVcKkvsKhzdeSfCZqcUPEyxE5jUdo5shk6bfSsksKalCukcxiUus7ZYCBH7ShySFxY_Y97fc0Sx5R20mCoFoFxBUqxpXaFA/s400/egypt+line.jpg)
And the final card with color.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX24j24k2daqaVrd_mOgLxjgTWQAA8e6A6UG5S8VpE13YQt7KeTJ6jz7okX5l_ROGvTyMOapfN2cUKhj0FrW-xVIOpJp6lp5dXwwHW-lGEhsA57vJ7Shv6KN0e6Co48tOcS7ulZp5aSvM/s400/egypt+color.jpg)
Here's the same process again with the Vietnam card.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioXKgVafIcPuN7gDLmuD9hWvV9EmpScv-BgA9p0Msznl8S-7IAZew6qO6DKaGUw7XZ8ZY9_v03noIstOrIeh4VhQEV00MDpOclrWrn6yHJmQBsk85PPvt-BAKnuAvkA1nmgKCdi58Mf1I/s400/vietnam+roughs.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzcgcBa7ng1EXgtl7yES2hvd_7IjqyKQpxU3TlHq5mvw9XdonSbg8JHO7fNOe6JTjl-7KbEndNVgqlGegUDI4UW2yIOum0RpiD5f-yJeD52yk6sKjOdBKJS5qSqdN5VKNe3_vUfcvnIVw/s400/vietnam+rough.jpg)
When I inked this one I separated the foreground elements from the background. Just for ease of inking mostly, but it came in handy when I was coloring too.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTZRT3vmhI4FBPL3QgHCwm6HzWjFeakrlBs6dn1a0G_acNLiSKNXcKoSjVg89xj2j805DwX7UVkzp44o9FDPzZgjl8zcWuBVXrhZH2j3ZEBKPQyvhIXMs5f4MFH7-RRR61JjBogwTTPrY/s400/vietnam+line.jpg)
And the final colored composited card.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1zIvAMfv4qKT6LqjifdxKd2SQBRcSxt3M_FJ7Wk51FrhpCw1_dwzn25_NAgc1y8tZOvOUaJbvhG2oBaps2Ngq00cvMUxS9EMOj_NcdHI8V4-QOgZ7QINX7LkqEHKd6p1P6jb9-hrRU74/s400/vietnam+color.jpg)
The deck will be available to buy at the San Diego Comic-con in July, then shortly thereafter will be available for purchase here on the blog.