The Venture Brothers Playing Cards
Overview
A private commission for a Venture Brothers-themed deck of playing cards. This was one of my favorite shows from the old Adult Swim block on Cartoon Network. All custom illustrated characters, pips, typography, and a few other surprises. Go Team Venture!
Planning and Sketching
Since there’s a huge cast of characters in the Venture Brothers and every single card could have been illustrated, the list had to be narrowed down to about 20 favorites for budget and time. Illustrations are used on the court cards, aces, jokers, and a bonus gaff card. The rest of the number cards have custom pips and typography to match the theme.
Spades—Office of Secret Intelligence:
Ace—Brock Samson
Jack—Shoreleave
Queen—Hunter S. Gathers
King—General Treister
Hearts—Monarch & Henchmen
Ace—Monarch Blue Morpho
Jack—Henchman 21
Queen—Dr. Mrs. The Monarch
King—The Monarch
Diamonds—Team Venture
Ace—Jonas Venture Sr.
Jack—Sergeant Hatred (later Hank and Dean)
Queen—Jonas Venture Jr.
King—Dr. Thaddeus “Rusty“ Venture
Clubs—The Guild of Calamitous Intent
Ace—Dr. Henry Killinger
Jack—Red Death and Daisy
Queen—Red Mantle and Dragoon
King—Phantom Limb
The jokers are Brick Frog, Dr. Byron Orpheus, and Sovereign. The box also has a minor character or two.
Some cards will show a full character (aces and jokers), while the court cards will (usually) have the same character twice in a rotated symmetrical arrangement—as seen in my doodle below with science-Rusty and casual-Rusty. The pips incorporate faction logos and other motifs, and the card back combines several other show elements.
I hadn’t seen the show in something like 20 years, so I picked a few characters I knew well enough to establish an initial style, and got busy rewatching all 7+ seasons of the Venture Brothers on the Adult Swim website.
Aces
Each ace features a full illustration of the most prominent character from their faction centered over the pip. Patterned backgrounds are used to fill out the composition.
Brock Samson, Blue Morpho (Monarch), Jonas Venture Sr., and Dr. Henry Killinger with his magic murder bag.
Court Cards
The characters all have alternate looks and costumes so the face cards use two different outfits for the top and bottom symmetry.
Shoreleave, Hunter S. Thompson, and General Treister.
Henchman 21, Dr. Girlfriend/Dr. Mrs. The Monarch, and The Monarch.
Sergeant Hatred, Jonas Venture Jr., and Dr. Thaddeus “Rusty“ Venture.
Red Death and Daisy, Red Mantle and Dragoon, and the Phantom Limb.
The original Team Venture jack of diamonds, Sgt. Hatred, was eventually changed to Rusty’s kids, Hank and Dean, after an initial round of feedback. Because there are so many characters, I have some ideas for future booster packs or replacement cards to swap in for those special poker nights on Gargantua-1 😉🃏.
Sergeant Hatred was replaced with Hank and Dean after an initial round of feedback.
Numbered Cards
Pips were created using the iconography and logos of the various factions. Odd-numbered cards with a central pip have a slightly more detailed mark. Gold lines and strokes were used on nearly everything for future plans to print with foil.
Jokers
Characters that didn’t make one of the main cards got an honorary joker spot.
Sovereign, Dr. Byron Orpheus, and Brick Frog—whose only skills are frog-being and brick-throwing.
Card back
The card back incorporates many of the logos and other elements from the show: Brock’s knife, Gargantua-1, the problem indicator, and more. There was no shortage of color options either…
Tuck box
The tuck box design beckons you to IGNORE ME, and everyone’s favorite personal assistant H.E.L.P.E.R. has a minor cameo. The interior is an on-brand blue lab coat pattern print featuring rivals Rusty and The Monarch.
Wrapping up (and Gaff Card)
Be sure to check out my Cryptids of North America deck design tips for a breakdown of how I approach and design playing card projects. Thanks for reading!
And one other thing…
Spanakopita!
Spanakopita!