Elementals Playing Cards
In creating a deck of playing cards, I chose to employ the four elements of nature: earth, wind, water and fire to challenge the typical anatomy of the suits. The end result, Elementals, depicts the growth and replication process that is inherent to the natural world, crafted with minimal illustration and tonal watercolors.
Role: research, ideation, art direction, painting, photo editing, print design, packaging design, illustration
target audience: card game enthusiasts and nature lovers
timeline: fall 2019
Ideation Phase
I strove to depict simplistic curvilinear forms to represent the organic nature of the four elements. The four natural elements can be well symbolized by motifs of growth and repetition with the result of the expanding illustrations. Here are a few preliminary sketch explorations.
The backgrounds of the cards are essential foundations for the deck and illustrations. I painted tonal watercolor motifs by hand and scanned the images into photoshop to digitally enhance them. These four watercolors act as the backgrounds of the cards, from left to right: earth, wind, water and fire.
