The Dapper Menagerie (blue) Playing Cards by Jack Brutus Penny

Description

Two versions – both draped with elegance
56 Hand-illustrated, fully-custom art poker playing cards
Limited Edition print runs
Printed and fulfilled by King Star in partnership with me (Jack Brutus Penny)

Inspired by medieval England (where I am from), Edo period Japan (where I live), often underrepresented world nomadic and/or native peoples such as the Ainu of Japan or Masaai of the African Great Lakes region, and Arabic and Ottoman empire.

The Dapper Menagerie is a deck for shuffle and play evolved from my first ever art deck project – Culturae Animalis. The card artwork is completely redrawn with readability in mind, to become the first in a new stunning series. But, it doesn’t lose the same level of custom, hand-drawn art and grows from the initial characters and stories developed six years ago!

The jokers are very personal. The two jokers represent my two boys – a robin for my Robin, and a tyrannosaurs rex (king of the dinosaurs) for our King Arthur. Two ad cards form a diptych creating the intricate Dapper Menagerie emblem! The back design, developed with extensive feedback from Patreon members, shows our four animal suits hidden not unlike the original Culturae Animalis. The pallet is woven in a shape reminiscent of the Union flag, representing my English roots. The strong colours and divisions produce a brilliant fan!