Background: Students have learned the basics of Fireworks Vector Graphics. Now, the students will begin to learn some of the Fireworks Bitmap Graphic Editing Tools.

The Project:

Students will be using their Fireworks Masking and Vector Graphics Skills to create a deck of playing cards. (Actually, the student will only be making one suit from their deck, but their cards will include the A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, the Back of the playing card deck and a Joker.)

Vocabulary:

The Deck Theme:

Students must choose a theme on which to base the cards of their deck. Any school appropriate theme is fine, but the student must be able to find at least 4 different images based upon their theme for use as the King, Queen and Jack face cards (and one image for their Joker) in their deck.

When you have come up with your appropriate Theme and Suit Symbol for your Deck of Cards, check with Mr. B. to make sure that your choices will work for this project.

Here are some possible deck themes, feel free to dream up your own:

Base Images:

The students must locate 4 good size images (at least 500 x 500 pixels in size) for use as face cards and joker for this project. These pictures should be photographs, if at all possible. Use of complicated paintings or graphics are fine. NO CARTOONS are allowed! Cartoons are too easily cut out from backgrounds and so do not fit the spirit of this project.

Our current network filtering system has rendered locating pictures very difficult.  I do not have an answer to this at the current time.  Do the best that you can to locate suitable images for the project.  If you can't find the proper pictures, select a new theme for your deck of playing cards.

Select images that would fit with the idea of a “King”, “Queen”, “Jack” and “Joker”, such as a Large One, a Medium One, a Little One and a Funny One, or a Father One, a Mother One, a Baby One and a Silly One.

In general, the King, Queen and Jack images on a deck of playing cards are portraits, usually seen from the midsection or the shoulders up. The Joker card is usually a full figured image, showing head, body and feet, usually in a silly or funny pose.

Creating the Deck:

Students will download

The Card Deck Template

from the highlandtechnology.org website. Then, using the card outlines shown, will create their card deck by adding the various face card images, ace suit indicator, etc.

Face Card Creation:

Students will take each of their four face card/joker images and, using Fireworks MASKING tools, will cut out the objects from their backgrounds. This should be completed as thoroughly as possible, with a minimum of haloing. Students should make sure that the base of each figure is sliced to a straight, angled line for copying, inverting and reattaching. Then, copy the image, paste into your card template and resize as needed to fit your card outlines.

Now, copy your top piece of your face card, rotate it 180 degrees, and reattach it to your face card graphic!

Here is a Video Tutorial that walks you through the Face Card Creation Process!

The Joker:

The Joker usually has a full figured image, not a copied and reverse image, as on face cards! Cut out your full figured image, just as you have done with the face cards above and place the figure in the center of the Joker card spot. The card indicator in the case of a Joker usually only says “JOKER”, without a suit indicator.

Suit Symbols:

Of course, decks of playing cards need suits. The common suits used are Hearts, Spades, Diamonds and Clubs. Our deck will be different. Our deck will have a customized suit, based on the theme of the deck. For instance, the suit for a deck about dogs might be a dogbone or the theme for a deck about football players might be footballs or helmets.

The suit symbol, however, is to be created completely using only Fireworks Vector Graphics tools, just like those used to create your Webpage Emulation. DO NOT import or copy any outside images for this part of the project.

Once your suit symbol has been created, place it together with the proper card letter (K, Q, 10, etc.) on your deck. You will have to copy and invert these symbols for the bottom side of your card.

You will also use these suit symbols for the creation of your 10 through 2 cards. Make sure to place all of your suit symbols in the proper fashion on the card where the pictures went on the face cards, check the cards from an actual deck, if necessary, to make sure your alignment is correct.

The Ace:

Generally, with a deck of cards, the Ace of Spades in a deck has a greatly enlarged suit symbol in the center of the card, with some sort of manufacturer’s mark placed somewhere on the suit. On your Ace, please do the same, place a large version of your suit symbol and personalize it with your initials or a "Maker's Mark" of some sort.

The Back of the Cards:

The back of a deck of cards usually has a small repeated pattern. We will do the same. Locate a proper pattern for your themed deck, for instance, a deck regarding Disney Characters might have a Mickey Mouse silhouette for a repeating patter n.

Place your design on a small canvas and save it as a .PNG file. Now, you can use this .PNG file as a PATTERN FILL for the back of your cards!

Here is a Video Tutorial demonstrating how to use a created Pattern fill for the back of a deck of playing cards.

Example Decks from Years Gone By:

Here are a couple of galleries of Playing Card Decks from years gone by:

Saving and Submitting Your Work:

When you have completely finished making all of your cards and your card back, you can DELETE the “CARD LABELS” layer if you wish, to give your deck a cleaner look.

Do a FILE>SAVE AS… and save your file to your network folder, call the file “lastname_cards.png.”

THEN, FILE>EXPORT PREVIEW>JPEG>EXPORT, to save the picture. Call the picture “lastname_cards.jpg” and put a copy in the DROPBOX folder for your class.

Grading:

This assignment will be worth a total of 175 points. As there are a total of 15 cards in the assignment, the student will receive 10 points for each card completed according to the standards laid out above. 0 points for each card undone and 5 points for each card in which the student demonstrates poor effort given in the completion of the card.

Turning in the original Boxer Dog Mask is worth 25 points. Put your "lastname_cards" folder in the M: Drive Dropbox, make sure it contains your cards AND your boxer dog mask file.