Nelde on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/nelde/art/Zelda-Poker-Cards-the-back-side-280107324Nelde

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Zelda Poker Cards: the back side

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Description

That's the back side of the Zelda Poker cards. The text isn't final of course. ;)
And it might not even be black.
Image size
397x557px 85.95 KB
© 2012 - 2024 Nelde
Comments33
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Dekler's avatar
:star::star::star::star: Overall
:star::star::star::star::star-half: Vision
:star::star::star::star-half::star-empty: Originality
:star::star::star::star::star-half: Technique
:star::star::star::star::star: Impact

Ahhh, the most important part of any fancy deck of cards and most of the time the most intricate and tricky part. As such, a wise decision to save this treat for last.

Let me start by saying how amazing this project has been. Nelde did his research thoroughly into Zelda lore and no one can deny he is truly a superb vector artist. As such, every card he's made has been taken care of with excruciating attention for details that any Zelda fan can appreciate.

This design once again proves the dedication this artist has to his projects. There are some obvious Zelda elements in here such as the rupee, the sword, the heart and the Triforces, but there's also more subtle references that any true fan can enjoy. Take, for instance, the notesheets from the Wind Waker on the inner border of the card and the sage-medallion symbols for Light and Dark that go hand-in-hand with the colours used for the card.
I am unable to identify the symbol in the top left and bottom right corners, but that doesn't bother me much. What's important is that this image is a feast of recognition for any Zelda enthusiast .

In my personal opinion I feel that the white Triforces near the center of the card don't do it for me. Putting a Triforce within a Triforce makes the image seem more of a mathematical fractal than a Hylian symbol and I feel that the artist went a bit overboard with creating borders around borders, constantly switching from black to white.
There are a lot of symbols in the Zelda lore that could fill up any empty space instead of filling it up with triangles - take for instance the Marks of the Goddesses or the wings from the Hylian Crest.
The writings is something that obviously needs to change. I would suggest giving the text yet some more symmetry to the piece by putting NELDE on both of the sides and putting deviantART on the top.
Some fonts I could recommend to make it more zelda-like are the Wind Waker or Ocarina of Time font which requires minimal research into Japanese hiragana or katakana, or Twilight Princess's alphabetical font. Or the artist could, of course, use the font they use for the Zelda logo.

Overall this is an amazing image that I think fits perfectly with the rest of his fantastic cards. I feel there might be some small things the artist could change but in no way does this piece feel incomplete or flawed.