OLD: The Fake Card Resources and Help Thread

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The blank looks like mine, but cut out in paint. The copyright has been removed as well, which is a big nono.

n.b. the transparent part that Auride speaks of has to be achieved by cutting out (in this case) prof oak into a new layer, placing it over the blank then changing its opacity.
 
aschefield101 said:
The blank looks like mine, but cut out in paint. The copyright has been removed as well, which is a big nono.

n.b. the transparent part that Auride speaks of has to be achieved by cutting out (in this case) prof oak into a new layer, placing it over the blank then changing its opacity.
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The blank isn't yours. I downloaded it right here.
http://xintetsu.deviantart.com/art/Blank-Supporter-and-Stadium-Full-Art-291384855
And I didn't remove the copyright. There isn't one on the blank.

Auride said:
Having done one full art card, this is how I did it:
  • Start with a basic layer of alternating one-pixel lines and transparency. This layer should be between 1.5 and 2 times the size of the canvas of the card.
  • Expand this layer to 150% width/height (just to make it so you can actually see the lines later on. If you don't do this, it might turn into a gray blur in places. Duplicate this layer a bunch (or keep a vanilla copy safe somewhere). You can also do, say, concentric circles or other shapes. Just make sure they're alternating.
  • Look through your menu of warping/distorting effects (don't ask me how to do this on GIMP; I use Photoshop) and just try things until you get something that looks interesting. Alternatively, you can use a variety of other methods to apply some pattern here, like cutting shapes and rotating them. Just mind that you're going to be doing this a lot, so don't just throw things away if they're not immediately useful.
  • Alternatively you can start with a pre-made texture (you can find a few on deviant art) and slightly modify it for your purpose.
  • Set the transparency type on your texture layer to Multiply at ~60-85% (you can fiddle with this. It's dependent on the card, often).
  • Pick whatever you want to texture (I started with the background, but whatever). If you already have some pattern on the background (like you do) you will want something to highlight those (this might be a different texture layer altogether). Make sure you mask the layer only to cover what you need it
  • When dealing with smaller parts of the card, like rule bars, or the card border, you can often get away with just using a random texture and moving it around until you find some part of it that fits (look at real cards to get an idea of the way the texture follows the contours of the art and other card elements).
  • And with some fiddling, you're done!

As for fonts, you have to find the folder where you downloaded them and highlight all of them. Then, right click and click "Install" or "Install fonts". They should then be found within the fonts menu in GIMP. Some fonts include alternate typesets (such as Condensed, Bold, Heavy, etc.), and these may be under a second menu after you select the font.

Also, where did you get that blank? It seems to have some bad masking around the edges, and is completely missing translucency on the rule bar (if you look at any actual scans, you can partially see through that bit). And the art itself could do with some better masking too. Remember: The polygonal lasso tool is your friend!
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I got the blank here.
http://xintetsu.deviantart.com/art/Blank-Supporter-and-Stadium-Full-Art-291384855
The rule bar actually is translucent, but I think I did something to mess it up. I remember it being translucent when I was editing. I'll try to fix it.
And thanks for all the advice, I'll try to put some texture on the card when I have some free time.
 
"Made this blank using the Trainer Blanks and the grey gradient border that where made by [Aschefield101's DeviantART profile picture]."
It's Asche's blank, cannibalized into a blanks pack for Photoshop. Not exactly your fault so much (credit/blame Xintetsu), but still bad.

Anyway, I don't know if you're bothered by the little white pixelated edges of Professor Oak there but there's an easy way to get around it (in Photoshop at least, dunno about Gimp). If Professor Oak is on a separate layer to everything else, see if you can do an Inner Glow or anything like that and set the colour to black. It'd help polish the image of Professor Oak and make the card look a little nicer.
 
Double post, but the Russian cards have got me experimenting. I was using the cards visible in the Russian Reveal Trailer as a reference, but I don't think what I've made is 100% accurate yet;

35_weavile_full_ruskie.png
35_weavile.png

Comparison to English version.
I literally just put everything through Google Translate. A lot of the fonts used in image-based fakes don't support Russian characters, so it's defaulted to "Minion Pro" for all Russian text. I think it's a good blank, but it must've been real tedious for TPCi to get localized.

Cool things about the Russian style:
- Metric system!
- Lack of Pokedex entries means we don't have to think so much
- Lack of Pokedex entries means the card doesn't have to be so cluttered

Not-so-cool things about the Russian style:
- I have no clue about the Russian language
- The Russian language requires a bit more space than most other languages, so cards can get cluttered sometimes
- As far as I know, no Pokemon have Russian-localized names yet. We have to wait until October for that.

Any thoughts? Feedback?
Fonts and font sizes are far from perfect, and the bottom of the card needs to be reworked (but I think we have to wait until we actually get the Russian cards for some accurate stuff to work off of). I like the general Russian blanks, but there's so many new challenges to making them really work properly...
 
The attacks will be alot bolder + W/R/R as well, heavier etc.

and yep xin appears to have taken my old blanks, mauled them into a giant mess and packed em up...
 
Inspired by Alex's printable jumbo cards, I've decided to do something I should've at the start of Neo Redux...correct blanks. When the set was still just me updating Nick15's Neo blanks to create, at the time, the largest available blanks, out of half laziness and half the desire to make really accurate blanks, I didn't make a blank blank -- each type is edited from a collection of scans of that particular type. While not obvious when looking at individual cards, it becomes clear when trying to layer the blanks for dual-type cards/textures. Having never imagined the set would get this far, I was content with what I'd made...until the past year or so. I realized that I'd never be able to mass produce Dark- and Light-Pokémon blanks, dual-types, etc, and I've wanted to do so for a long time.

So here's a preview of what's to come. The blanks I'll release (and re-do Redux on) won't be this big, as there are simply not enough HQ texture scans. However, they'll probably be around the 1000x1400 range -- still plenty big for customizing to your heart's content. The Energy symbols are tricky to get right, as those have to be custom made as well. I think I've done a decent job on Grass -- while it's not perfect, it'll almost be impossible to reproduce the symbols 100%.

Grassbasicultimate.png


Basic still isn't 100% done, as I need to make the W/R "swooshes." I'm also currently in the process of making Stage 1 and Stage 2 evolution circles. Once those are done, all that's left is reproducing the Energy symbols and upscaling the textures. Shouldn't take more than a week or two. The hardest part will be remaking 800+ cards. Since I'm close to finishing the Kalos Pokémon, though, it'll be a nice way to tide me over until Gen VII. =)
 
So that's why, whenever I try using the same text layers on different Redux blanks they always get mislaced..

Great to see you working on these CMP. Looking awesome so far.
 
So, if anyone remembers this post...

Athena said:
I've actually been debating trying to make fake cards myself. I really like the idea of playing around with blanks (especially some of the cool custom ones I've seen here and on dA and the like) and composing something nice. The biggest problem, really, is that I don't really know what makes an actual card good or interesting (I just appreciate the aesthetics), so I'd either be copying attacks and such or making up bullshit. I guess I could always just make a thread with my Pokémon and ideas and see if text fakers might want to contribute with the text for me to put into a card or something. :p
Click to expand...

... you're not alone! I also remembered it, though I haven't expanded on any of my ideas or anything yet because, until recently, I haven't had have the time. Now that I'm back from vacation and my workload is lessening, I've been looking at this potential project in a new light and starting to do some research and prepare ideas.

Since I am so completely new to this, I would like to ask for some help from the community in getting started. My first decision is picking a set. This may seem a simple choice, but I have some kind of cool concepts and ideas I'd like to play around with, and I'm not really sure how great I will be at customizing blanks. My main goal is to find an existing blank set that more or less captures most of what I'm looking for and would be easy enough to customize what I need with minimal risk. To this end, I've been looking at some blanks and stuff available on dA and elsewhere and evaluating my choices.

I would definitely love to hear opinions and feedback from image fakers, who would definitely be more knowledgeable about this than me, to help me start off on the right foot.

What I'm looking for: All current TCG types (including Dragon and Fairy), trainers, etc (yes, I do plan on including trainers). I also have designs on a secondary type/mechanic (think: dark/light Pokémon, dual-types, etc.), so it would be nice to have a blank that has some kind of secondary option like that that I can play with to fit what I'd like to include. FA support would be cool just so I could play around with that, but not a dealbreaker.

Another note is that, because I do plan on very probably making some edits/changes, I would also like to use a set made by someone(s) that do not object to edits being made. Of course I would give credit where credit is due, but I'm not sure how acceptable it is to different fakers about other people modifying their works. Specifically, I will very likely be editing borders no matter WHAT set I use because I strongly dislike the bright yellow border on English cards and would prefer to make something less obnoxious. However, it seems like a lot of people who make blanks put their trademark stuff on the border, so I'm not sure how best to handle that. Advice, please.

It seems like XY would be the default "easiest" option for what I'm looking for. It has all the types, trainers, etc., plus FAs, and offers a lot of support since the set is relatively new. The biggest downside is the lack of an alternate mechanic of sorts (there's megas, but that sort of design doesn't really fit much with what I had in mind), and the fact that I don't really care for XY's holo style, so I would likely have to make up my own holosheets (including borders) or find something different that could work as well.

Older sets appeal to me too, though there doesn't seem to be as much available for them. EX-era holds a lot of theoretical promise (it's basically my favourite era, too), but few blanks (though I'm really rather drawn to the Rocket ones). The Pokémon TCG Resources Wiki has some pretty cool Gym-era blanks, complete with what I'm assuming are meant to be FA blanks (marked as SR), which is tempting to play around with, too, even though owner's Pokémon isn't quite what I'm looking for in an alternate design framework. Of course, I'd have to make dragon and fairy blanks for all of these.

I'm not adverse to trying out custom sets, too. So many of them look really cool! There's just a lot to sift through in that respect, and I would really not want to make any significant changes to someone's custom work, so it would have to be something that fits my needs very well, and I wouldn't know where to start.

Alternatively, perhaps with so much weird shit that I want, I would be better off making my own custom blanks... though I'd have no idea where to start, so any kind of help or advice on that front would be much obliged.

Alternatively, alternatively, maybe I've jumped too far into the deep end of the faking pool with the things I have in mind and I should really be wading in on the opposite side over by the kiddy end. I could (temporarily, anyway) drop my designs about mechanics and alterations and just get a feel for the basic first with something more simple.

Anyway... HALP.

If it makes a difference, said cards would be made in photoshop. My own design experience is minimal, though I've made banners and icons and such for websites (mostly for the sadly now-defunct Fire Emblem Universe), and avatars and wallpapers for personal use, as well as digitally cleaning and colouring sketches of my own. I'm purely an amateur, having never taken any design courses or even read a photoshop book; the stuff I do is stuff I either figured out myself while playing around with the software, or from tips and tricks suggested to me by others.




tl;dr: Suggest Athena a blank set to use to make image-based cards.
 
What I use is ShiningBill's BW Blanks (can't remember if it was the Plasma ones or not - have a look at both, I guess?). They come in a Photoshop PSD and are extremely easy to edit and mess around in, and only require minor tweaks to be used in XY-era stuff as well.
And ShiningBill has been very cool about me modifying blanks (see: Legend-styled Mega Pokemon from a few months ago) (just remember it's always polite to ask nonetheless!).
Honestly, anyone who makes their blank sets in the form of an easily-broken-down PSD deserves at least a look. Flat blanks are great right up until you want to try something new. But I'm completely biased because I have a thing for customizable stuff
 
If you can wait a week or so, my neo Neo blanks will be released at sizes large enough to customize, and I plan on releasing the blank blank to customize even further (Dark/Light Pokémon, dual-types, etc). Otherwise, I'd suggest Bill's BW blanks, as he includes the PSD file to freely edit anything about the blank.

EDIT: Not quick enough -- I second bigfoot's suggestion of Bill's blanks.
 
Thanks for the suggestion! It seems like all the blanks I've seen before have only been a single layer (usually a .png), so I wasn't even aware that there were people who released blanks in full .psd glory which does, indeed, make my customization job much, much easier. In addition to my weird stuff, I'd only have one type to customize, and the holos. In fact, he actually has a Delta Species set up for his BW blanks that might actually work really well with only minimal customization, so I may play around with that, and a font guide that will be useful, too (once I get all the right fonts installed anyway). The BW-era, like XY era, isn't really my favourite design-wise, but which so much awesome stuff available for me to play with, it seems a shame to turn it down based on that alone, which is really my only complaint.
 
Athena said:
Thanks for the suggestion! It seems like all the blanks I've seen before have only been a single layer (usually a .png), so I wasn't even aware that there were people who released blanks in full .psd glory which does, indeed, make my customization job much, much easier.
Click to expand...

I personally only do .PNG's as well. Generally as I hate people messing around with blanks that have my name on, then running the risk of others thinking its my work; if/when it comes out a giant mess :)

Not saying yours or others would, but it happens regulary even with base .PNG blanks. So I keep my master .PSD's to myself now.

That and my prized posessions, the textures, that take months to perfect, I like to keep to myself :D
 
When I started playing in the CAC contest last month, I used an HGSS (flame claw's, I think) template PSD and blanks I got from here a long time ago. So you may want to do one or two standard cards to get a handle of it.

Then, because I'm incredibly fussy about my things, I made my own blanks; if your goal is to try and implement things that are yours, you could do the same; sure, it starts being a bit of a chore at first, but if you're smart about it you can make all your future cards so quick that you'll be surprised.
For example, I keep my template with everything included, blanks, words, frames, symbols, position, names, etc, all in color-coded layers and groups, so I only have to turn things on and off whenever I want to make a new card, to the point that searching the pokemon's information and pokedex entry is what takes me more time. This one must have taken me about ten minutes, not counting the artwork (and even that was faster than it should)
Corsola.png

Besides, you have talent (and taste, judging from the not-yellow-border thing), I'm sure you could make your own blank perfectly suited to whatever it is you need.
 
Making my own blanks probably is, indeed, somewhere down the line, though it's a bit much for me to dive into at first. Someday I'll probably take a stab at it, once I'm more familiar with the concept in general.
 
professorlight said:
-snip-
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Eughghgh I hate looking up dex entries. Anyway, using a PSD file for the whole blank AND text is really cumbersome. I don't recommend it. Instead, export your blanks first and THEN create a template.
 
I can guarantee that CMP's will be a lot more accurate, but I just finished my jumbo-sized Neo blanks. When printed at full resolution (300 DPI), cards made with these blanks should measure about 10.5 inches tall. If printed at screen resolution (72 DPI), though lower quality, cards made with these blanks could go up 3.6 feet tall! I doubt many people will be trying the latter unless they have a wide printer (like posters are printed on), but you could always print it out on multiple sheets of paper, cut out the pieces, and glue/tape them together (although this is quite tedious and doesn't look great close-up).

Baby Blanks:

(Includes an extra 3-way evolution Fighting blank for Tyrogue)

Basic Blanks:

(You'll have to remove the white box yourself... Sorry 'bout that)

Stage 1 Blanks:


Stage 2 Blanks:


Symbol Sheet:

(This is just a thumbnail, click for full-size symbols)​

I won't be making Light/Dark variations of these blanks, so you'll have to edit them yourself if you want those. I'm not sure if I'll make jumbo-sized Trainer/Energy blanks yet (depends if anyone's interested in them, I guess).
 
Does anyone know what needs to be done to make an EX card? I have my template finished, but I don't know how the holo layers and the art are supposed to go.
 
I suck at holos so I'm skipping over that, but anyway:
I typically sandwich the Pokemon-EX template between various layers of artwork. Background Art -> FX -> Pokemon Render -> Card template -> FX -> Pokemon Render -> FX

Step-by-step of what I normally do:
1. Background Artwork works as an artbox filler and stays at the back. I find it easier to visualize my ideas when I see what I'm doing, and having a background helps set the scene I'm making in the card.
2. Import the Pokemon Render on top of the Card Template. I do this because I bevel and emboss and do all sorts of other layer effects to that render and I can see the whole Pokemon this way. And this helps plan out what parts of the Pokemon you want to pop out from the card in that way that Pokemon-EX cards do.
3. Duplicate the Pokemon Render layer, rasterize the layer effects on that original/top Pokemon Render layer, and place the duplicate between the Card Template and the Background Art. This duplicate is a backup and (depending on the render you're using) can help add depth to the Pokemon. And it helps you line up the artwork again if you screw it up on the front layer. I guess you don't need to do the duplicating thing - it's just something I like to do.
4. Crop the Pokemon Render that's above the Card Template as needed. Shouldn't be too hard, depending on the render. This is where rasterizing the top render layer's effects comes in handy; cropping that layer would make the layer effects look weird 9 times out of 10 because they'd try to look for new layer edges to apply effects to. Rasterizing prevents that.
5. Do FX! Depending on the Pokemon type and the era (BW or XY), the FX may vary from basic swirly lines and lightning and sparkles to fully-fledged 3D objects. Spread these all throughout the card in all layer depths - I usually just stick to layers in front of and behind the top Pokemon Render.

And if it's a M-Pokemon-EX, leave the 3D text til last. It goes on top of everything (except sometimes maybe some FX, but don't overdo that). It sometimes helps to have extra FX behind the text as well, but it's really situation-dependent.
 
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