Playing Cards

Posted on:  Oct 31, 2023

START CREATING YOUR DECK

• Using Adobe Illustrator and/or Photoshop, create original “face” cards (king, queen, and jack).
• Then, make an Ace and 3, 5, and 9 numbered cards.
• Create a back for your cards.
• Templates for a standard deck of cards (Download Here)

START CREATING YOUR DECK

• Brainstorm. Create thumbnails of possible solutions using pencil & paper.
• Pay attention to face card conventions (vertical orientation, mirror image top & bottom, placement of letter & suit, etc).
• What you choose to draw/illustrate for your king, queen, or jack is pretty wide-open as long as it has a face.
• It could be a person, animal, alien, robot, or something. It could be realistic, highly stylized, graphic, etc.

ATTENTION

• Remember that the card must look the same when held upside-down.
• How are you going to merge the upper half with the lower half?
• Look at actual playing cards to see how they do it.

GUIDELINES

• You must use a standard (western-traditional) suit.
• Since the card needs to be the same when turned upside-down, you may want to drag a guide across the middle of the card.
• The challenge is finding a clever way to unite them.
• The choice of style and techniques is entirely yours. (Well… I must approve it)

Note: Please include a layout for the back of your playing cards.

Examples:

Student Examples