For each of these Portrait Playing Cards I first prepped each card by painting what would be the "face" of the card with a parchment colored acrylic paint. Next I hand sketched each portrait on a sheet of graph paper (I used the grid method to ensure I didn't mess up the face too much😂) using between 2B and 4B graphite. Once the sketches were done, I transferred each sketch from the paper to the painted card using a gel plate. For most of them I didn't require any additional paint when transferring them to the cards, but, for a few I used the same parchment colored acrylic paint over top the print on the gel plate to transfer the pencil sketch to the card.
Each of these cartoons, movies andor characters have influenced, inspired or affected my life in some way or other. Either through the individual stories or the portrayal of certain events, real or imaginary. There are countless more, but I limited myself to these 13😂. And all of them were made using primarily Gelly Role gel pens, but I also used Crayola's Colors of the World makers, Posca paint markers and Derwent's Inktense Washes. I've never held the position that some do where fictional characters should be looked at andor treated as role models for real people, however, being a child of the 1990's, I know that many people are given no choice but to learn their ideals, morals, ethics and overall life lessons but through watching or reading fictional characters. This is a sad failure on behalf of the human race, honestly, but at least some (like me!) learn valuable lessons and abilities, like empathy, through these fictional beings and are able to later take them into the real world. Now, if only we forced this requirement onto real people (not celebrities that play fictional people), maybe things would be alot different.😂
From the left, the Ace is played by a random model while the King is played by the wicked Invader Zim duo. The Queen is played by the adorable Rugrats gang and the Jack is played by the crazy Taz and Gossamer from Looney Tunes. Gossamer was more of an after thought because I thought he'd be cute as a heart.😂
The 10 is played by the classic Snorks while the 9 is played by the playful CatDog. The 8 shows of the quirky Donnie and Nigel Thornberry from the awesome series The Wild Thornberrys. And the 7 is played by Ickis, Oblina, and Krumm from the scary series Aaahh!!! Real Monsters.
Both 6 and 5 are my favorite designs of this suit, they just impress me that much.😂 6 is of Stripe and Gizmo from the classic film Gremlins, and 5 is of the ADORABLE Wishbone from the AWESOME series Wishbone. 4 is a dual feature with Carmen Sandiego (Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? 1990's version) on the left and Ms. Frizzle (The Magic School Bus 1990's version) on the right. And the 3 is played by a trio - Garurumon on top, Flamedramon in the middle, and Guilmon on the bottom- from the long running series Digimon.
And, of course, the 2 is played by the grotesque yet absolutely adorable pair, Rocko and Spunky from the hit series Rocko's Modern Life.
Well MMP Fans, that is the entire suit of Hearts in my
Portrait Playing Cards deck. I hope you liked them! They're not perfect and, of course, there are some that just got away from me 😂, but, overall, I'm quite happy with my goofy characters. Each was a challenge to draw, transfer, color and protect. But now they are all snug in plastic protective card sleeves and always happy to be whipped out and be shown off! If you ever decide to commit the lengthy commitment of customizing YOUR OWN playing cards, tag me on social media so I can see YOUR creations! And please feel free to let me know YOUR thoughts on these tiny portrait playing cards. If you would like to
challenge me, please check out my
Contact Me page, or, if you'd like to purchase one of my works or a work of your own design, check out my
Commission page.
Till next time MMP Fans!
