In this project, I created a custom deck of ACME playing cards, specifically designed to play a game like War. The cards feature different pictures of Wile E. Coyote as he springs traps and rides vehicles of varying size and power, in accordance with the “power” of the card.
Below are examples of three different cards from the set:
The small box on the lower right of the card contains the basic card information, with the suit of the card being the larger icon (there were four in all) and the smaller dynamite icons representing the card’s number or power. These had three steps of three powers, for a total of 9 per suit.
The large area in the center of each card contains an image of Wile E. Coyote utilizing equipment relevant to the suit and power of the card. With each step of power (1-3, 4-6, and 5-9) a new piece of equipment was introduced and shown in varying degrees of strength. Each drawing was a combination of hand-drawn art (colored in Photoshop) and 3D elements rendered in trueSpace, a 3D rendering program. Final card art was assembled in Photoshop.
As you might have guessed, much of the art I drew for these cards was inspired by actual gadgets / ideas used by Wile E. Coyote in the old Road Runner cartoons. I loved those old cartoons as a kid, and I still enjoy watching them from time to time as an adult.
Each card, of course, also had a back which matched all the others. The art for the back looked like this:
The inspiration for the parachuting ACME crate also came from the old Road Runner cartoons, where Coyote would order supplies from ACME catalogs and they would quickly arrive as air-dropped crates with parachutes attached. You have to wonder if the guys flying those airplanes ever wondered why they were dropping so many random pieces of technology over the barren desert!
Anyway, the artwork for the box which contained these cards was appropriately similar to the backs of the cards. Road Runner also makes his sole appearance on the back of the box.
This was one of the few projects I ended up pulling an all-nighter to complete while in college, but it was worth the effort. Someday I’d love to dig up the old artwork files and get a proper deck printed, just for fun.