Suits of Life is a Poker-size playing card deck with 54 fully illustrated cards hand draw by Stefan Große Halbuer aka Plastic Pen.
- 4 suits = 4 themes: Each suit in the deck represents a theme in life [Love / Nostalgia / Food / Nature].
- Every card tells a small story: With the Transformation Number Cards with the full-length two-way illustrated Courts, there is a narrative twist on each illustration.
- A playable deck + a pocket-size isometric art collection: the deck can be used for card games OR as a small gallery of Stefan's beautiful illustrations of isometric art.
Loving the process of making a custom illustrated deck, Stefan began the project of this deck in 2014. Using a deck of playing cards as a medium, he creates beautiful isometric art illustrations. The deck is produced by WJPC on 310gsm German Black Core stock with Linen Finish with Butter Varnish.
The Tuck Box features matte stock with soft-touch finish and the artworks are finished with Spot UV Varnish. It also comes with an interior pattern print of repeating items pattern.
Each suit has a theme that shaped Stefan's life. Each of the 13 cards reflects objects, moods, and little stories connected to the theme of each suit. The artworks are all based on an isometric grid, so they are visually connected to each others. The Number Cards feature Transformation design, while the Aces and Courts feature full-length isometric art illustrations with interconnecting elements.
- Clubs - Pixel Pleasures; it's all about tech & gaming nostalgia. The 90s bring some of the retro gaming consoles, such as the classic grey Game Boy brick, along with LAN and BNC cables. It is a love letter to the era.
- Hearts - Magical Love; love and relationships - an obvious choice for the suit. It adds up a dark and mysterious twist: dark romance meets fantasy. There is a small (and slightly tragic) love story waiting to be discovered.
- Diamonds - Tasty Treats; Chocolate bars, ice-cold lemonade, craft beer, cheesy pizza... all the guilty pleasures of the taste. It celebrates the tasty side of life with lots of sugar, fat, and joy. Bon Appetit!
- Spades - Campfire Tales; Nothing calms for being outside. Sitting by a lake, hiking up a mountain, or just breathing fresh air gives the mind the break it needs to come up with new ideas - it's for the nature lovers.
The Jokers feature two distinctive full-length illustrations. The red star Joker is "The Romantic Gamer", a red-haired woman sitting on a retro game console while holding a sword surrounded with roses and gold coins - a combo theme of "Pixel Pleasure" and "Magical Love". The black star Joker is "The Resting Hiker", a heavy-bearded man hiker resting beside a cup of instant noodles while snacking onto a string of the noodle - a combo theme of "Tasty Treats" and "Campfire Tales".
The Kickstarter Limited Edition is the special alternate form of the deck. The Back design features beautifully illustrated two-way bordered artwork of plants arrangements with strings of noodles, with some strings of noodles breaks out from the borders, making a beautiful card fanning visual. The box has a lighter color scheme: front shows boxes of matches under lush trees with a hot bowl of ramen surrounded with noodles - back shows the chest bust of a female warrior with rain of playing cards and a pair of ocarinas and heart-shaped keys with pile of leaves. The deck is ONLY AVAILABLE from the campaign.