I was trying to be “punny” with this particular illustration. Since I got the 3 of hearts, I thought why not create a “Tree of Hearts” emblem. Hahahaha. In the Lord of the Rings, Gondor one of the great kingdoms of Men had a White Tree as their emblem.

2 elements + 1 spontaneous idea = guardian of 4 spades. Actually, when we thought about 4 spades, the most obvious was to play with 2 elements: spade and number 4. We tried to get answers for the following: How to combine them? How to present them in the most creative way? How to make understandable for player to know which card he take in his hand even within watching in its value.

I choosed 5 Diamonds card and it was confirmed! I would like to play with the idea of building up a Jewel made of abstract clothes fluids full of energy in a sunset light background, where 5 energetic diamonds are the “power supply” to all this surreal machine.

I did a tiny bit of research about the symbolism of playing cards, it’s not the first time I played a bit with illustrating and interpreting cards. I have another series of works inspired by each of the Kings, of Clubs, Spades, Diamonds and Hearts, each with its own meaning, somehow overlapping with the four seasons. This time I illustrated The Seven of Clubs, and I read that the Sevens are the most spiritual cards of the deck, and this one in particular is connected with magic, creativity, spiritual knowledge. I was also inspired by the way the Seven of Wands in the Tarot cards looks like, with the seven sticks with tiny leaves on them. So I agreed to illustrate the Seven of Clubs as some sort of inspired magus, shaman, sitting, inhaling some magical vapors, with his eyes turned inside, surrounded by the seven wands, which in the Tarot card look very robust, very earthly, and in this illustration they bloom into these beautiful flowers. And visually I’m pretty fascinated and inspired by Islamic Art and Indian Miniatures lately, so the character is very reminiscent of that.

The 8 of diamonds represent power and powerful people. It’s also known as the card of fame and fortune. So I decided to represent it with a powerful animal (and one of my favourite) the bear. I like the idea of searching and finding your own “power source”, so this is what I was thinking about when creating this piece, if that makes any sense.

It’s very simple, I have always loved music, so I;m trying to put the music theme on all my works. Here you have a jazz musician, walking and playing music. And the cards associate in my mind with night, stylish bars, where you can sit, drink whiskey and listen to jazz music.

Before i design my card, i search some informations about the signification “Queen of Spades”. Queen of Spades: A malicious, dark woman, generally a widow. An unscrupulous woman. A very dark-haired woman. A cruel woman, one who interferes. For women, a betrayal by a good friend. For men, a woman who will use them for their own gain. Widowed or divorced woman; or a woman with Air predominating in her chart. Dark haired woman, seductive or unscrupulous, treachery, betrayal, malice, widow. Treachery, betrayal, malice; a widow or evil woman and death symbol… The concept was to create a design in the spirit and style of a card to play and represent a dangerous woman symbolizing death and the dark side of some women lend anything to happen to get the one they want. Playing cards and dice represent more or less the uncertainty of the intended.

I think ’King’ has a originally strong character compared to the others, a leader. King of Clubs and my original character, Bluboo, have similar things. Bluboo wore a crown that could be related to King and Clubs represent many things for me, such as energy, happiness, flow, and creativity. I don’t know, i just like it.