Playing cards (2005) (Patreon)

In 2005 I decided to design a set of Scary Go Round playing cards.

I never printed them - the numbers didn't work, I'd never have sold enough of them to break even. But I mocked them all up for my blog, though I never assigned the suits and values, I suspect because I'd burned through enough of my then-plentiful life force and wasted enough time. While the Scary Go Round comics used templated artwork and occasional reused elements, these are almost all drawn from scratch.

I see, looking in the folder, that I drew all of these in five afternoons. I wish I could still crank things out like I did back then! Also, I'm impressed that there are 54 meaningfully recognisable characters here. The old Bobbins favourites aside, Scary Go Round had only been running for around three years. I increasingly think of this period as "Cambrian" in nature, an explosion that is now unrepeatable. So many hard shells, such a lot of bones.