Zentangle Playing Cards

[EndersGame]

I have a family member who specializes in Zentangle art, and plans to create a deck done in that style. She's already hand-drawn an entire deck (see a couple of photos below), and has had a lot of positive feedback on it. So the plan is for her now to redraw the entire project digitally (her preference, so she can improve it).

She'd do this with an Apple Pencil on our iPad. She mostly uses Procreate for iPad work, so she was hoping to use that, rather than paying for some other costly app just for this project. If there's a free app that would work instead, that's an option as well.

The requirements are fairly straight forward:
1. Files for the faces of a standard deck, since she won't customize those (except perhaps the colours). I've got some initial templates from USPCC in *.AI (illustrator) format, but Procreate won't open those.
2. Ability to draw in black. Complex digital editing likely won't be needed, since Zentangle art is basically just colouring in with black. It's all about the creativity and style.
3. Ability to export in a format that USPCC can use.

Is there a way to do this, given the above criteria? Any other suggestions and advice?

[GandalfPC]

I would use the Procreate, exporting the cards from AI into JPG or PNG so Procreate can open them

For the output, I would send the images to a desktop and then put them into their final format for USPCC, but depending on what that format is you may be able to output directly from procreate

I can do the AI exports for you, and the final formatting if need be

[RandyButterfield]

Hey EndersGame,

I don’t use Procreate, but I prepped all of the Face Cards (with USPCC Dies) for a buddy who does use it. They’re Layered PSD files for each, and I think he was able to open each one in Procreate as a Layered file.

Do you want me to send them your way?

Thanks, Randy

[EndersGame]

Thanks to both of you for your input and assistance, it's really appreciated. I'm genuinely grateful for your help and support.

That will really be helpful, so we can get going with doing the digital artwork. Will send you a private message.

Regards and thanks again, Ender

[GandalfPC]

I sent you an email with a procreate file to test

[EndersGame]

It's been a while, but I wanted to give an update about this project. Thanks to those who provided me some digital files to use. The ones from Randy especially worked well.

I have another family member working on digitizing the art. The art is being polished and perfected as part of this.

Below are some samples of the cards that are in progress. We're still in early stages, so a lot of changes to the artwork can still be implemented.

I'd welcome some feedback and suggestions from others based on your impressions of what you're seeing here.

Two areas that needs attention and consideration, among others, are these:
1. Finding a way to make the indices a bit clearer, especially when there is black on black. Are there ways to do this better?
2. What to do with the edges of the cards, which are currently borderless, but this could prove to be an issue if the print registration is off. What is the best thing to do here?

Perhaps there are also other points you can think of, which we should be considering, to improve things further. Any input and suggestions are gladly received and appreciated!

[GandalfPC]

Butterfly marked decks require extreme registration, and cartamundi seems to manage it

[EndersGame]

Thanks for the feedback.

Anyone else have any advice to offer?