I'm not looking for new deckmakers yet. That'll come later!

Since my previous deck making tutorial is now outdated, here's the updated tutorial with new pointers about what to look out for. This is to make sure all of us are on the same page and are consistent across decks! (If any of our current deck makers have pointers to share, do share!)

This was done in Adobe Photoshop CS2.


This is the template. Name your file after the deck name. The font used here is 04b24 at size 8. If you don't have the font, you can download it here.

All cards are different layer groups and labeled accordingly. 01 is card01, 02 is card02, master is the master badge, etc. I made masks for each layer group. This mask hides the corners and all the other cards, so by pasting your image underneath that layer group, your image automatically ends where it needs to end, and all the corners are already hidden. You do not have to do any cropping.



First, copy and paste your images under each layer group where you want your image to be. Make sure no other characters are in the image. Resize your image and move it around. I generally like to pick images for card01 and the master badge first because these are what people will see the most.

When resizing the image, make sure the card features the character from around the head to the upper shoulders. Do not zoom in too much. Do not zoom out too much either. Neither looks too good. I like having their hair run (bleed) into the card. We want more than just their face or head, but we don't want the card so zoomed out that we can barely tell who it is. The master badge should feature an image that fills the horizontal space nicely.



Continue pasting your images, resizing them, and moving them around. We want to make the deck as comprehensive as possible, so pick images from more than one source if possible, and from a variety of scenes. Don't put all the images from the same source next to each other. For example, if you have manga and anime images, alternate between them. For manga sources, choose colored images first.



We also want to vary the character's expression and poses, so if you see you have the same pose or expression right next to each other, switch the card order up or pick a different image from a different scene. Here, I have all the images chosen and resized, but I haven't done any touch ups to the images yet.



The borders, dots, and numbers all have their own layers. For the light border layer, use the eyedrop tool and pick a prominent color from the character (their hair, clothes, eyes, accessories, etc). The color should be present throughout the deck. If the character does not have that color in some images, alternate the placing of those images so they're not all together.

Select the light border from your layers. Use the paint bucket tool on the layer. This should color the whole border in since it's all connected. Cards have no black border, so this colored border is the border! It has to be dark enough to be seen and dark enough to tell apart from the white dots. But it can't be too dark either because we want to be able to tell it apart from the darker color!



Pick the dark color for the stripes from the same color as the light border, just a darker shade. Generally, this means the color should be from the same H degree. The dark color should be dark enough to be distinguishable from the light border, but it shouldn't be wildy different.



Select the dark color layer and use the paint bucket tool on each row. (The rows are connected, so you only have to do this 5 times)



The text layers use white font with a 1 px border that is the same color as the dark layer. To change the color of the font border, select one of your text layers, go to Layer-->Layer Style-->Stroke and change the color of the stroke to the same color as the dark color layer.



Change all of the text layers so that they have the same colored border. To do this, right click on your text layer that you just changed and select "Copy Layer Style".



Select all of your text layers, right click on them, and then select "Paste Layer Style" so that all the text layers have the same colored border.



Rename all of the text layers with the deck name to the name of this current deck. All text should be in lowercase, even the first letter or any deck names that use capitals. The deck name cannot go past the last pixel before the rounded corner of the dark layer.



For each card, make sure you change the brightness and contrast by going to Image-->Adjustment-->Bright/Contrast. I usually like upping the contrast and lowering the brightness a little. Use your judgment. ;) I don't want faded cards or overly saturated ones! If you need to use selective color or what not to make the cards look better, it's your judgment. To make things easier, choose images that aren't too dark in the first place because dark images are very hard to work with.

I usually sharpen the images a bit as well (Filter-->Sharpen-->Sharpen) but almost always need to fade the sharpen (Edit-->Fade Sharpen). It's better to have the image less sharp than TOO sharp, because you can always sharpen the images more, but once it gets too sharp, it's hard to go backwards. You can tell an image is too sharp once a character's hair or face starts having jagged edges, or when the card looks pixelated.

If you can't do anything to make an image look better, don't be afraid to swap the image out for something else.

For black and white manga images, please change the lines in the image to the dark color you used for the deck. Go to channels-->load channel as selection (the bottom left dotted circle tool). Then go to select-->inverse. This should make you select all the lines in your image. Make a new layer and use the paint bucket tool on this layer. You'll need to make another layer under this, deselect your lines, and use the paint bucket tool on this with the color white.



Now it's time to save the cards! Go to File-->Save for Web. The deck is all sliced up, so all you have to do is save and rename the resulting files.



Make sure you're saving as .gif and that under slices, you have "All User Slices" selected. If you need to go back and resave specific cards, select the cards you need and then choose "Selected Slices" under slices.



Tadah! The cards are now finished! Please take out the underscore from each file by renaming them. Here, the filler card is named nullify_21. Rename that as nullify00. The master badge is still nullify_22. Rename that as nullifymaster.

ETA: New templates do not require you to take out the underscore. The underscore should no longer be there! But do remember to rename 21 -> 00 and 22 to master.


Things to look out for in a nutshell:

Cropping:
-cards should only feature the character himself/herself. No other characters should be in the card.
-there should be no gaps between the border and the image
-the character should fill the card nicely
-the character should generally be featured from head to shoulder (not too zoomed in, not too zoomed out)

This is my pet peeve. I hate it when we have a glaring dot in the corners because of the color difference (black is such a dark color and yellow is such a light color). Please move the image around so that there are no dots in the corners. The same goes for the sides of the cards. If there's a sliver near the border that has a drastic color difference, I'll be itching to moving your image around or coloring it in.


Color:
-the light border should be dark enough so the white dots can be seen
-we should be able to tell the light border and the dark color apart at a glance
-the text layers are the same color as the dark color layer
-character decks only use one color, just different degrees of darkness. Character decks cannot use two different colors.
-special decks must use two different colors (generally, the stripe should be the darker color still. this will look better)
-decks meant to be gray should be completely colorless without any hint of another color
-black and white manga images should be changed to the same color as the dark color layer (example)

Deck name:
-all text should be in lower case. No exceptions (first letter, deck names that use capitals, etc, are all in lower case!)
-please double check to see if the deck name is already in use
-deck names cannot go past the last pixel before the rounded corner starts. See enlarged example below. That's the longest a deck name should ever be.



Image choice and placement:
-be as comprehensive as possible. pick images from different scenes and sources.
-vary the placement of the images (don't place images from the same source next to each other)
-vary placement of the images based on poses and expressions (don't place images that look too similar right next to each other)
-make sure images don't have text on them (if you chose an image that has text on it, please edit it out)
-make sure images don't have fold marks (some scans are from folded images. if you choose such an image, please edit the fold marks out)
-make sure images aren't pinched or elongated (some screencaps don't have the right dimensions)

Image adjustment:
-always tweak the brightness/contrast. images should not be too faded, dark, or saturated.
-images should not be so bright that we can't see the character's mouth or nose (in this case, try selective color to make it not so bright)
-sharpen the image when necessary, but don't overdo it