I am designing a deck of playing cards. I am completely using my own artwork, on number, face, jokers, and back. Some themes from the standa...

Question

I am designing a deck of playing cards. I am completely using my own artwork, on number, face, jokers, and back. Some themes from the standard deck of playing cards I want to keep such as suicide kings (king with sword facing head), profiles of faces (side views of jack of spades for example, to retain idea of "one eyed jacks"), queens holding flowers, etc...

would this be considered some kind of copyright violation even though my artwork is completely unique & done from scratch?

Answer

If you are copying someone else's design, you likely are committing a copyright violation. That means you can be sued for all your profits, enjoined from selling the product, and pay damages.

If you're an artist, start from scratch. Do NOT copy.