Tiki - Artist help needed

Hi Everyone!

I'm new here. I found Tiki Central while looking for ideas about a new game I'm working on called "Tiki Rummy". After looking through the forums and seeing all the creative people I decided to sign up and ask for some help from the wonderful talent that I've seen here.

I have the main idea of the game flushed out. Tiki Rummy is a Rummy game. This means that it is a card game where players draw a card, lay down sets or runs, then discard a card. The ideas that makes this game different will be both through the use of special Tiki cards. They have powers that add a little spice to the normal rummy game. Also, I hope that the stunning look of the deck will help to set it apart. The intended audience is a casual card player (nothing too fancy or complex in the game, it is easy to play on a boat or at a bar).

The suits I'm thinking of are:
Drinks- The cards are things like "Fog Cutter" and "Singapore Sling".
Places- The cards are things like "Luau" and "Lounge"
Glasses- The cards are cool looking Tiki mugs/glasses
And People- The cards are people like Hula dancers and surfers

I'm open to other Tiki themed suit ideas!

Also, the four Hawaiian Tiki gods and the Moai will be in the deck and they will have special powers over the game.

And now for the help part. While I'm rather good at game ideas and writing the rules, I really stink when it comes to the art used in games (think Clip art). I'd love some help in drawing the fronts and backs of the deck that will be used in the game(54 cards). If you are interested or if you know someone that may be interested in helping out, please point them to this post and let me know.

I posted this earlier in the general forums... BigBroTiki suggested that I move it over here. He also pointed out that this sounds like it could be a lot of work. I can see what he was thinking... and rest assured I'm not thinking of anything like a 3ft by 4ft velvet painting for each card (although... that would be really cool!).

Honestly I'm looking for some color sketches is all, what I have in mind is no more complex than "menu art" for lack of a better way to explain it. As an example, for the drink cards my thoughts are to have images such as these:
http://www.soulshakers.co.uk/mahikimenu.html
A card would use one drink image per card and have a value number in the corners.

I'm creating this for a contest over at Board Game Geek (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/4141548). The contest judge, Mike Fitzgerald, is a big name in Rummy games (some of his games are considered collector items) so there is the possibility of big exposure for the art used in this deck.

I have a prototype deck built (using web clipped art), if you are interested in helping out with the art I can forward what I have to you so you can see what the deck looks like.

Thanks for reading and look forward to hearing from you!

Mahalo,
Steve

Edited to add image.
[ Edited by: Steve 2009-11-02 12:19 ]

[ Edited by: Steve 2009-11-02 12:22 ]

Aloha Steve

I'm the guy that illustrated and designed the mahiki menu.

I've sent you a personal message - but in case it hasn't made through the interweb...

I'd be interested in chatting through your brief - the whole set would be a LOT of work but like the idea of doing some of the set.

Reply or pm me back.

cheers

Steve

Wow! That is too cool!
Thanks for the reply and I'll be getting in touch with you!

Steve

with Racer on the job
this should be too COOL!
:)

Thanks to everyone that helped out on this project. I have the final prototype in and this should be published very soon!

While I had to scale back on the illustrations, I'm very happy with the final product.

I'll post links here as soon as I have the info.

Steve

Congrats! I think I stumbled on your game looking at other stuff today, my hubby has a card game that we'd like to get printed someday, (although I think we need some new art for it too!)

Looking forward to seeing the finished product!

Thanks!

Tiki Rummy is now available at:
http://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/tiki-rummy

Stop by and check it out!

Steve