Summer ’17: Loteria Grande Singles Sale!

Posted on July 27, 2017 by John Picacio

Heads up, Loteria Familia! For the first time ever, my Loteria Grande Cards are available for online purchase as SINGLE CARDS. Previously, they were sold online only as sets and now for a very limited time — you can purchase the cards individually online, but ONLY UNTIL MONDAY, AUGUST 7TH at 11:59pm CST. After that, the shop’s purchase window will close and I’ll fulfill all of your orders in one mighty batch.

Each card has a limited print run of only 1000. I expect some of the remaining cards will sell out VERY soon. All of the cards currently available are pictured above, and they include:
• El Pescado (The Fish) — only 60 units remain!
• La Rosa (The Rose) — only 25 units remain!
• El Paraguas (The Umbrella) — only 25 units remain!
• El Nopal (The Cactus)
• La Corona (The Crown)
• La Botella (The Bottle)
• El Arbol (The Tree)
• La Pera (The Pear)
• El Gorrito (The Bonnet)

Some of my cards have already sold out, including:
• La Sirena (The Mermaid)
• El Arpa (The Harp)
• La Luna (The Moon)
• El Corazon (The Heart)
• El Venado (The Deer)
• El Mundo (The World)
• La Escalera (The Ladder)
• La Calavera (The Skull)

Get yours before they’re gone! 🙂 Here’s a brief FAQ on the new sales model.

How many total cards are planned for the series? Do you plan to continue producing new ones?
Yes, I’m definitely working on new ones. There are 54 total cards planned for the series. Some fans don’t feel the need to collect all of the cards but just want the ones that speak to them. Some want them all.

If I already bought your Series One and Series Two sets, which cards do I not have?
‘El Gorrito (The Bonnet)’. Because it’s the newest, I currently have good supply on that one. There’s an online purchase minimum of $10 — so if that’s the only card you want to purchase, you might wait until this fall / winter when I’ll make some new cards available, and you can bundle that one with those. For everyone else, I recommend ordering TODAY so that you’re not disappointed when cards sell out.

Will you reprint the Loteria Grande Cards and create a second printing?
No.

If I want some of the cards that are already sold out, where might I find them?
I’m planning to start a Loteria Facebook Group so that collectors who have the sold-out cards can sell or trade them with collectors who want them. You might also check with George R. R. Martin’s Jean Cocteau Theatre in Santa Fe, NM. I did an appearance there a couple of years ago, and they MIGHT have a few remaining sets of the Series One cards (includes La Sirena, El Pescado, La Rosa, El Arpa, El Paraguas, La Luna, El Corazon, El Venado, El Mundo, La Escalera, La Calavera). Beyond that, check eBay as well.

Why is the order window for the cards only until Monday, August 7th?
I like fulfilling orders in one wave of work so that I’m not packing, shipping, and dealing with the post office day after day. Doing it this way allows me to maintain balance toward drawing, conceiving, and creating more Loteria art. 🙂

Thanks, all. Holler if you have any questions. In Loteria We Trust!

LOTERIA GRANDE CARDS / SERIES TWO!!

Posted on November 21, 2016 by John Picacio

The new Loteria Grande Series Two Cards are now available online — for a very limited time! Included in this new deluxe five-card set are ‘El Arbol’ (The Tree), ‘El Nopal’ (The Cactus), ‘La Botella’ (The Bottle), ‘La Corona’ (The Crown) and ‘La Pera’ (The Pear), featuring my color artwork on the front and my final graphite drawing reproduced on the reverse. The cards measure a giant-size 4.5″ x 7.5″ and are printed on thick card stock. There will only be 1000 of these limited run sets produced — and they make a timely holiday gift for yourself or the art lovers in your life. 🙂

The Series One sets have completely sold out, and I expect these Series Two sets will as well. Advance sales have been brisk. IMPORTANT: The order window for these cards won’t last long. Deadline to order is MONDAY, DECEMBER 5th at 11:59PM CST, when the online order window will be closed. I will then fulfill all orders at once and ship them out, in hopes that most everyone will receive in time for holiday gift-giving. Online ordering will be discontinued after the December 5th date.

Thanks to everyone who has already advance-ordered these and to all of the fans who grabbed up their packs when they debuted at Alamo City Comic Con. It was gratifying to see all of those happy faces. I’m working on Series Three right now, including artwork for ‘El Gorrito’ (The Bonnet), ‘El Valiente’ (The Valient One), ‘La Mano’ (The Hand) and more! All best to you and yours for the holiday season, and I look forward to fulfilling all of your card orders.

In Loteria We Trust.

Loteria Fest at Salud Tequila Bar!

Posted on March 16, 2015 by John Picacio

San Antonio: Ready for an evening of amazing tequilas, cocktails, art, and Loteria?

I’ll be hosting Loteria Fest at Salud Tequila Bar (8123 Broadway, San Antonio, TX, 78209) on Saturday, March 28th from 6pm to 8pm. Join us for multiple rounds of the classic Loteria game (AKA “Mexican Bingo”) and win fun prizes and drinks!

Prizes will include:

• Heads up, Game of Thrones fans! Signed prints featuring John Picacio art from the award-winning George R. R. Martin / A Song of Ice and Fire Calendar!

• Signed John Picacio Loteria art posters

• DVDs including Alien, Batman Begins, Underworld and more!

• Movie art books

And even if you don’t play Loteria — you still win as Salud offers commemorative Loteria-inspired tequila specials with a free John Picacio Loteria Grande card included when you order selected drinks!

Don’t miss executive chef Michel Costa (formerly of Frederick’s), serving delicious food throughout the evening, and I’ll be there signing Loteria Grande cards and posters after we finish the games and prize-giving.

Spread the word and bring your friends! See you on March 28th.

In Loteria We Trust.

Austin Books Signing + FRAZETTA!!

Posted on March 15, 2015 by John Picacio

So much fun yesterday at my Loteria Grande Cards Signing at Austin Books & Comics. Thanks to Brandon Zuern and the entire ABC team for the hospitality. Huge thanks to everyone who attended, including appearances by Michael and Linda Moorcock, C. Robert Cargill, Rick Klaw, John Worsham of Texas Lightsmith, Peggy Hailey, Kimm Antell, Lawrence Person, and many, many more. Austin Books now has a few of my signed Loteria posters and Grande Card sets available in-store — so get ’em before they’re gone!

It's @JohnPicacio, signing his stunning Loteria Grande cards here until 4pm! Plus, posters & Game of Thrones prints! pic.twitter.com/7fHcPIaP4w

— AustinBooks & Comics (@AustinBooks) March 14, 2015

After the signing, I made the pilgrimage to Robert Rodriguez’s Frank Frazetta Exhibit in downtown Austin. They don’t allow photography inside (understandably), so I don’t have onsite pics to share, but lemme just say that if you love great works of art or have any love at all for fantasy, this is one of the year’s MUST-SEE art events. Why? Because these are only a few of the originals on display……deep breath……

The Rodriguez exhibit doesn’t just have ‘some’ Frazettas hanging on a wall (which no matter what, would be pretty cool). No — they’ve got some of the all-time GREATEST Frazetta paintings ever hanging on a wall. And if you’ve never heard the name Sebastian Kruger — you won’t be forgetting it after you see a giant 6′ x 6′ painting like this on display. I won’t even post his Keith Richards painting because it needs to be seen to be believed, and was one of my favorite works of the entire display, Frazettas included!

Add to that original Drew Struzan movie poster art, Frank Miller Sin City art, and George Yepes originals, and…..seriously, folks. Missing this exhibit means living with regret for your remaining years. Don’t think. Don’t stop. Just GO.

Enjoyed visiting with Nixon Guerrero of Troublemaker Studios while touring the exhibit. (Borges FTW!) Brought along a blast from the past with me, just for fun. Back when I was attending the University of Texas, I used to shop at a comic book store called Funny Papers. One day, circa 1991, I spotted stacks of compendiums for a comic strip called Los Hooligans, written and drawn by a guy named Robert Rodriguez. Never heard of him. I flipped through it, dug it, plopped it on my stack, and carried it to the register. The manager rang up my purchase, opened up the Los Hooligans book and said, “Oh hey. Congrats, man. You scored the free one.” As fate would have it, Robert did an original sketch inside that single book with a note saying that the buyer received this copy for free. What were the odds? I’ve kept it all these years.

I attended UT around the same time as Robert, even though we never crossed paths. I graduated with my architecture degree, and went on to self-publish my own comic books, which led to my current career as a Hugo Award-winning science fiction/fantasy illustrator. Yesterday’s signing, plus the exhibit visit, was rocket fuel, an energy boost for the career-expanding work I’m currently doing, but it was also a reminder of my roots — the Frazetta paintings, visiting with Worsham who knew me ages ago in my architectural intern days, seeing Michael, Linda, and Rick who were with me at the birth of my book cover career…..good times.

One last word on the Frazetta exhibit — it’s located at 920 Congress Ave. and will be on display until this Saturday, March 21st. I think visiting hours are 12noon to 8pm. Make the time to see this, even if it means taking a day off from work, or driving a long distance to do it. Experiences like this are precious and few. So worth your time.

All proceeds from the admission fee of $10 (such a bargain!) and the limited-edition Frazetta giclees (gorgeous) are dedicated to the preservation of these artworks by the Frazetta family, as well as funding for a potential permanent Frazetta museum down the road.

Hats off to Robert, Nixon, and Troublemaker Studios for a first-class exhibition.

FRIDAY FAB FIVE: Tarot Decks!

Posted on January 30, 2015 by John Picacio

I’m not a Tarot devotee, and yet I love Tarot decks. When they’re done well, I can’t get enough of their art, design and aesthetic. I collect my favorites. Tarot lore fascinates me. One of my dream jobs is to be paid good money to illustrate and design a mindblowingly cool Tarot deck that enchants true believers as well as true detectives.

This week, I’ve watched a lot of people commenting that my new Loteria Grande cards feel like Tarot objects in their proportion and design. Now the truth is Loteria Grandes aren’t really Tarot cards in the strict sense (or even oracle cards, if you want to get down to it).

Loteria Grandes are designed not as playing cards, but special-edition collectibles that have a deluxe size that feels good in your hand, with a cool pencil drawing on the back. They won’t be available for long though — and when they go poof and the supply is gone, cardowners will possess something unique that future collectors will covet, as we always do with cherished card decks. My Loteria work will then evolve to the next big stage. More on that next week though.

Today, let’s do a Friday Fab Five, presenting a few of my favorite Tarot decks.

1) THE VERTIGO TAROT by Rachel Pollack and Dave McKean • (DC Comics)

This was the first Tarot deck I ever bought, and it’s still one of the most gorgeous. I bought it when it first released back in the ’90s, and it still holds up as an amazing art object. How can it not be, when Dave McKean is doing the art and design? Lately, I’ve been reading the set’s companion hardcover with Rachel Pollack‘s texts and I still marvel at the way she wove the DC Universe into the constellation of Tarot.

2) TAROT OF THE ORIGINS by Sergio Toppi • (Lo Scarabeo)

Let me just say that Toppi is one of my all-time favorite artists ever. I could do an entire post about how much I love his work. I don’t own this Tarot deck because it’s rather expensive and out-of-print, but I would love to get my hands on one. If someone has an extra, and wants to trade for a nice Loteria drawing plus a stack of Loteria Grande cards, gimme a holler. Instead I own a signed slipcased edition of the Italian monograph Tarocchi Delle Origini that contains the artwork from this deck, and every page is full of ‘wow’. Toppi is such a master composer of positive and negative space. When I’m stuck inside my own compositional deadends, I look at Toppi and remember that there are so many beautiful ways to compose infinity within a rectangle.

3) XIII TAROT by Nekro • (Fournier)

I found this set in NYC last fall, and even though I was familiar with Nekro’s art, this is the body of work that made me say “I need to meet this guy someday.” This deck is all about the desaturated color palette and touches of red that are Nekro’s calling card, and the reason that doesn’t get boring over 78 beats is because he’s such an amazing character designer. My only complaint: holy cats — there is so much baroque goodness in Nekro’s art that a tiny card does not show it to its full effect. I wish these cards were bigger. I wish I didn’t feel like I was trying to defuse a bomb every time I open the awkwardly-tight tuck box, lest I rip the packaging and unleash sadness. Bottom line though — hats off to you, Nekro — your stuff blows me away every time, man.

4) THE ZOMBIE TAROT: AN ORACLE OF THE UNDEAD by Paul Kepple and Stacey Graham • (Quirk Books)

If some of you are thinking, “Oyyyy, please not zombies. How are we not over the zombie thing yet?” — hey, I’m with you. Personally, I thought zombies jumped the shark back in 2005 with the Marvel Zombies series. And yet, ten years later, the zombies didn’t go away because instead, the world around us turned into them. (A few of us are still holding out though. Back off, flesheaters…..)

And yet, I find this deck to be a box of undying genius. It’s kitschy, smart, irreverent, and deadly beautiful in its design. Even after the Zombie Apocalypse is over (aim for the brain), this set will be a fave.

5) TAROT OF THE IMAGINATION by Ferenc Pinter • (L0 Scarabeo)

Thank you, Lo Scarabeo! Without you creating this set, I might not have known about the Italian painting master Ferenc Pinter. These cards are the first works I ever saw of his, and like Toppi, he’s such a master of composition and color. Simple shapes. Complex ideas. I love that the Minor Arcana images are so non-traditional. He realizes that Tarot is a a fabulously pliable form that can absorb an immense amount of reinvention, and still be just as potent as the established formats — maybe even moreso. That inspires me to no end….

My first eleven Loteria Grande Cards are now available from Lone Boy, while supplies last! Free shipping within the US.

Next week: THE LOTERIA MATCH GAME (AKA “Which one of my pals is El Diablito? El Valiente? And the burning question, Who Is El Borracho?”)

Grandes On The Way!

Posted on January 29, 2015 by John Picacio

The first Loteria Grande Card Sets are here and ready for shipping. 🙂

Update: Good News! All Loteria Grande Card orders received by 11:59pm CST tonight (Thursday / Jan. 29) will ship out this weekend. That means if you order before then, you will receive your Grande Cards by the end of next week if you live in the US (barring Snowpocalypses), and international orders should arrive shortly thereafter.

To all who have already placed orders for the Grande Cards — THANK YOU! Your Grandes will be in that first wave of shipping. For the rest of you — what are you waiting for? Jump aboard and get some of these special-edition cards for yourself!

The Look of Loteria

Posted on January 29, 2015 by John Picacio

When I was a kid, I played Loteria (AKA ‘Mexican Bingo’) with my family. If you know how to play traditional Bingo, then you know how to play the game. Bingo is played with random selections of letters and numbers, but with Loteria, it’s the shuffle of a fifty-four card picture deck that creates the agony and the ecstasy. These cards can do so many fun things. Curanderas (fortune tellers) use them as a personal ‘tarot’ to tell fortunes. My grandma used Loteria cards to play concentration games. She would pick a few random cards, show them to me, turn them over and then I’d have to remember which cards were where. All of those old-school cards are packed with memory and nostalgia.

Many of you have played Loteria with me at large assemblies and featured events when I make my convention road appearances — some of you for the first time ever –and the energy from those games is fantastic and contagious. I love doing it. For those that haven’t played yet, here’s what all fifty-four of the traditional Loteria cards look like, courtesy of the classic set produced by Don Clemente / Pasatiempos Gallo. These cards are beloved by millions, and they’ve been around for more than a century, while the game of Loteria itself is much older than that.

The classic Loteria cards. TM & © Don Clemente / Pasatiempos Gallo, Inc.

I’m currently attempting to create my own series of iconic Loterias — a set of artworks that can honor the rich tradition of the game while inviting the world to collect, play, celebrate, and enjoy.

This series is a labor of love and I’m hard at work on it. As with all endeavors, it doesn’t arrive out of a vacuum. Here are eleven of my Loteria artworks featured as special-edition Grande Cards from Lone Boy (pictured at the right in each grouping), juxtaposed with classic Loterias and inspirations from other artists and creators.

If you have your own favorite Loteria cards, artworks, or memories — let’s hear about ’em! And for those of you that want some of my Loteria Grande cards for your very own, you can purchase them here while supplies last.

My art for 'El Venado' was inspired by the phenomenal YA novels of Leigh Bardugo.

My ‘El Venado’ art was inspired by the phenomenal YA novels of Leigh Bardugo.

‘El Corazon’ has been selected for inclusion in the forthcoming annual, INFECTED BY ART.

‘El Mundo’ is a love letter to my daughter, postmarked from the future.

‘La Escalera’: Do you ever have days like this? Yeah. Me too.

I love when people cosplay as my ‘La Calavera’ art. If you do — send me photos! 🙂

My ‘La Sirena’ art won the 2012 Chesley Award for Best Product Illustration.

‘El Pescado’: There’s more going on here than first meets the eye. 😉

This was the very first Loteria card I did, inspired by an illustration I created for Borderlands Books in San Francisco.

My Loteria work turned a corner after ‘El Arpa’ — one of my favorite works I’ve created in the last few years.

The Loteria icons are gateways. I’m walking through them — writing down the stories, while creating the pictures.

The classic version of ‘La Luna’ (upper left) was always one of my favorite cards when I was a kid. I’m proud that my art for ‘La Luna’ and ‘El Arpa’ were selected for inclusion in the forthcoming INSPIRED Art Annual, via theartorder.com.

My first eleven Loteria Grande Cards are available right now from Lone Boy. Free shipping in the US! 🙂

Home!

Posted on January 26, 2014 by John Picacio

It’s been a long time coming. Today, Lone Boy has a new, improved online home — with a new Shop — and this blog where I’ll share thoughts and processes about all things Lone Boy. I’ll keep updating and improving the look and function of this site in the coming days. However, now that it’s been switched to WordPress, it’s now so much easier to update and improve than the previous version. Down the road, there will be more offerings in the Shop, but right now, Loteria Grande cards are the most-requested item.

Good news, everyone — because of this popular demand, my Loteria Grande cards are available for online purchase, while supplies last! If you’re new to the term “Loteria”, it’s a classic Mexican game of chance played with a fifty-four card deck featuring pictorial icons. Think Mexican Bingo. I’ll soon share more about the rich history of the game — fun stuff!

My Loteria Grande cards are special-edition, giant-sized art collectibles, exclusively produced by Lone Boy. They feature new artwork by me, inspired by the classic iconography of the game. The front sides feature full-color artwork printed on thick cardstock with a durable semi-gloss finish.

The reverse sides present my final pencil art for each work, and this is one of the features that make Loteria Grande cards unique. Future editions of my Loteria cards will not include these drawings on the backside, and that will automatically distinguish these from other sets. In addition, these are the first editions of these Loteria artworks in card form, and in future, I suspect that will make them very desirable for collectors.

So what exactly does “giant-sized” mean, and how are these cards different from your average cards? THIS:

I’m proud to offer The Once Set (pronounced <ohn-say>) — the first eleven of my Loteria Grande cards, sleeved in a custom-made, clear, resealable display bag, priced for $22, while supplies last. Bonus — the price includes FREE shipping to destinations within the US!

For those that kindly supported my 2014 Calendar’s Kickstarter campaign — many of you already acquired the first six of my Loteria Grande cards for free, as campaign rewards. For you, I’m offering The Cinco Set as a convenient option, which includes the next five brand-new Loteria Grande cards for only $10 — including “El Venado”, “El Corazon”, “El Mundo”, “La Escalera”, and “La Calavera”. Cinco Sets will only be available for a limited time, until Wednesday, February 4th, and then after that date, only the Once Sets will be available.

These cards are a labor of love, and I’m excited that they’ve struck a chord with so many of you. Come and get ’em while they last!

In Loteria We Trust.