How to Add Artwork for Individual Cards in Decklab AI (Step-by-Step Tutorial)
Give every card its own picture. Add an image column, put an image element on the card, connect the two, then fill the column one card at a time, by dropping images, or by matching a whole folder by name.
· 3 min read
In this post
A card's artwork is data, like its name or cost. Each card has its own picture in an image column, and the card's design has one image element that shows whatever that column holds. Set that up once, and every card shows its own art.
Step 1: Add an image element to the card
Open the deck's tab and choose Design.
- Open Insert › Elements and add an image, then size and place it where the art goes.
- Or drag an image you've uploaded from Assets › Uploads onto the card.
Keep the art box clear of the cut: turn on Bleed and Safe zone in the canvas footer to see the lines. Full-art cards should run into the bleed.
Step 2: Connect it to an image column
If your deck already has an image column (say "Art"), drag it from Insert › Fields onto the card, or select the image element and use the link button beside its image to connect it to the column.
If not, add one: in Data, choose the + after the last column, name it "Art" and set its type to Image.
The image you placed in Step 1 becomes the fallback, shown on cards with no art of their own.
Step 3: Give each card its picture
Choose Data. You have three ways to fill the Art column.
One card at a time
Click a card's Art cell. Use its upload button to choose an image from your computer, or pick an image you've already uploaded. You can also type a file name that matches an uploaded image, or an image URL.
Drop on the card
In Design, go to the card with the row previewer (◀ Row 3 of 40 ▶) and drop an image file onto the canvas. Images dropped anywhere in Design mode are uploaded to the project.
A whole folder at once
In Data, choose Match images (or drop several images onto Data mode). Pick the column that names your cards and the image column to fill, then check which file goes to which card. Files match by name, ignoring case and extension: fire_drake.png goes to "Fire Drake". Confirm, and every matched cell fills in one undo step.
Step 4: Check every card
Choose Preview to see the whole deck. A card whose image cell names something that isn't there shows a problem: in Design, an amber "N problems on this card" pill beside the row previewer, and in the Problems list in the header.
What size should the images be?
For print, aim for 300 DPI at the art box's size. A full poker card with a 3 mm bleed is 821 × 1121 pixels. Bigger is fine; much smaller looks soft when printed. The print size calculator works out any size:
Print size calculator
Convert millimetres, inches and pixels at any DPI, see the image size a card needs with its bleed, and how many cards fit a sheet of Letter, A4 or A3. Free, in your browser, with no sign-up.
Managing your uploads
Assets › Uploads lists every image in the project. Search, rename or delete them there. Deleting checks where an image is used first. Uploading the same image twice keeps one copy.
No art yet?
For a prototype, icons often do more than illustrations. Decklab AI has a built-in icon library in Insert › Icons, and the free icon browser has the same icons to download:
Game icon browser
Search over 4,000 free game icons from game-icons.net, recolour them, put them on a background and download an SVG or a PNG up to 2048 px, with the credit the license asks for ready to copy. Free, in your browser, with no sign-up.
Want AI to draw art for every card? See How to Generate Bulk Artwork.