Illustrated Playing Cards

I've developed an interest in Playing Cards.  Two things set me on this path.  I'm always looking in Charity Shops for books.  In one such Charity shop I bought an art book for the princely sum of £1.  It depicted work from Fantasy Artists sketchbooks.  Right up my street.  It's part of a series of art books, my find is now out of print.  Second-hand examples can be found on the internet priced from £30-£40!  So lucky me. Inside, an artist commissioned to create illustrated playing cards was showing her, admittedly detailed, sketches.  Here it is... The artist, Wylie Beckert, went on to produce the finished work in ink and watercolour.  The card suit symbols and numbers are added at the printed stage.  Here's one of her finished cards... The second thing that got my interest was my Grandson turning up with a pack of cards  illustrated with Tintin drawings... Now the old grey cells start to tell me it must be expensive to have such cards printed, you'd need 52 different images plus 2 jokers.  A quick squint around the internet surprised me.  To have ONE such pack printed would cost about £20, the more packs you buy the price per pack comes down drastically.  Now I'm 85, I like the quiet life, I'm not about to go into business producing cards, I'd just want a few packs for family and friends.  At this price it's doable, and would give me an incentive, a focus, to go on drawing stuff.  I need that. So I find a printer, there are many all around the same price, I load their app onto my desktop.  This allows me to work at my own pace (slow), and I can save what I've done.  It will be a mix of Fantasy and Sci-Fi pics I've done, plus some new stuff...which was the whole point. First, I need to work out the layout, to know how much space I have.  So,  from within the app, I screen printed a blank card...here it is... ...so I have to be aware that the suit symbol and number will cover some of  the art.  But that's not too bad.  Here's what a screen-print of the app looks like... ...I crop this to produce just the card... For the existing art that I'll be using, practically anything done in portrait format will fit.  Here's another screen-print of a recent  painting done with no thought of playing cards... So, I'm up and running.  I'm even thinking of doing a PEN & INK pack.  I like mono art... I realize this subject may not be of any interest.  My enthusiasms are just that, and I can't expect others to be interested.  If there is any interest I'll post some more stuff...I've found the history of cards interesting in itself.

As is my way, when I get interested in something, I tend to look up its history.  Playing cards have a long history full of dizzying variations, so my tilt at it will be in broad strokes.  When we think of playing cards it's this design that comes to mind... ...it has THREE names, the International, the Anglo-American, and, the name by which it's mainly known...the ENGLISH PATTERN.  When something is as familiar as this it's easy to overlook that it's a brilliant piece of Graphic Design.  This format evolved round about 1900.  It's pattern 48, and is the one most widely in use worldwide.  It had been tried earlier but collectors (yes, there were, and still are, card collectors as well as players), didn't like the double headed design, prior to this there were only single figure designs.  (Before I move on, please note that the unknown artist who created this particular design 48, on a whim, no doubt, decided to make the King of Hearts the only one without a moustache. Here is a comparison of early cards to show the difference... ...the top row dates from 1806, and shows the customary full figure rather than the double-headed style below which dates from 1900.   It history there are many types of card games, some requiring less cards, but I'm talking about cards with 4 suits and 52 cards in all. The oldest surviving deck of cards like this dates from the 15th Century... ...oval shaped, it has Kings, Queens and Knaves, but the number card suits have a hunting theme.  What we call the 'ACE' card was just card number 1, and still is I suppose, as there's not a '1' card in a modern pack. Obviously hand made, using inks, watercolour and embellished with gold and silver inlays. Above we see one of the suits, instead of hearts and clubs etc, we have hunting horns.  This pack is owned by MOMA art gallery, and cost a pack of money. (sorry about that) The English Pattern evolved from French playing cards.  England was constantly at war in France and the rest of Europe during the 16th to 18th centuries, our soldiers and sailors brought back the idea of playing cards and the playing cards themselves.  English businessmen jumped into card making as it became popular, especially with the aristocracy.  They took their design ideas from French and Belgian makers. Above is a French design, made by De La Rue, that was in use up to 1865.  You'll see they are still using the single figure concept. Besides the standard pattern there have always been different illustrated cards... ...an historic Shakespeare version. Designers are constantly tweaking the established design... These days you can get illustrated playing cards in just about any form of art. I think they are interesting little treasures.  Along with many other things like Film Posters, Travel Posters and Postcards, they are classed as ephemera...you know, things intended for a specific use and with a limited lifespan...throw-away items.  But they're not.  They have worth.

I'm going the have to give up on this.  I've just spent time making another post here, and it's junked it.  Whatever for?  I'm just talking about cards with pictures on them.

Thanks Paul.  I just don’t understand what it’s objecting to…perhaps the subject matter?

Nope…it was there, it’s gone again.

Double post.

Not really Lynda.  Knowing I'd have to make 52 pictures would put me right off, I intend to use pictures I already have for most of that 52 pics target (54 with jokers).  I'm using a mix of Fantasy and Sci-fi pics, practically anything I've done in portrait format will fit, and sometimes I can use bits of landscape format pictures.  For example here's a pic I made about B movie sci-fi... ...I can take the right half of this pic to make what I consider to be a reasonable card image... It's easy to check how they will look in the app.  I'll have to make about a dozen new pictures.  This was one of the reasons to do this.  54 would put me right off, a dozen is doable and provides an impetus to get some work done.  I always need that, I'm afraid.