Partying Penguins

My sister is a huge board game geek. Her gateway game was Settlers of Catan, but she's since gotten into all manner of Euro-style (aka not Monopoly or Game of Life) strategic games -- of the kind designed so often by Germans (Klaus Teuber, Reiner Knizia, shout out!). Of course, I've been a guinea pig for her playtesting so I've seen my fair share.

A game we both enjoyed was The Penguin Ultimatum, which is about penguins and parties, and kangaroos. The art is very lo-res and pixellated, so I offered to redo the game completely. Here is the first set of cards!

The idea is that these penguins are entertaining their king, so they perform fun routines such as (clockwise from top) acrobatics, juggling, dancing, and music. I really wanted to be playful with the colours, which you think would be hard when the game is set in the snowy Antarctic! But actually, working with white is great because it sets of any other colour so well.

If you're interested in making your own playing cards, definitely check out this Board Game Geek forum post. I used the same materials and got colour laser prints on linen cardstock and they are turning out amazingly.

I'm glad I set up my blog this year, because I can share stuff that wouldn't necessarily go on my portfolio site. Experimenting with all sorts of different kinds of art is inspiring me in my professional work -- I'm so impressed with the playing cards that I think it would be be a terrific way to produce a print promo!