I've been enjoying Lesley Barnes's ongoing adventure of designing an amazing full pack of playing cards since day one, or should I say card one.

As she puts it: 'something to help me out in my attempt to give up working and become a professional card shark'….

Lesley also told me of her love for kings, queens, horses and heraldry: ‘So doing a set of playing cards gave me the chance to indulge in these pleasures fully as I could create four warring families - the clubs, the hearts, the spades and the diamonds - each with their own creatures, characters and kingdoms.’

Her sense of humour does shine through in the set as each individual card tells a little story which is embellished by her very own unique style. I also love the exclusive sketches she sent me especially to share on this post. Yes, as you might have noticed by now, i do have a slight obsession with other artists sketchbooks, I guess it gives us a great insight on how individuals think visually.

Lesley keeps a flickr set and a blog for the cards and it's ever so nice to see the set progressing weekly. So do keep checking those for updates!

+ I recently collaborated with Lesley Barnes on an animation for small children. You can see it here »