Awesome Illustrations

Unidragon enlisted the illustrators of Japan’s IC4 Design to create detailed images that challenge puzzle builders to participate in a variety of quests. Adding to the design are unique puzzle pieces cut to match the outlines of the illustrations. The first four Quezzle puzzles can be combined to form an even larger world.

Just in time for Halloween, artist Chet Phillips has released a spooktacular deck of cards, each illustrated with a playfully creepy creature. The monstrous deck includes four trick-or-treat inspired Wild cards, including a possessed candy corn, a batty Tootsie Roll, a bad caramel apple, and a cupcake straight out of The Thing.

If you grew up in the ’80s, ’90s, or ’00s you saw the work of artist Gary Ciccarelli. You might not know his name, but the illustrator created airbrushed images for countless products, including action figure packages, toy boxes, board games, movie posters, trading cards, and more. His work is gradually being archived on Instagram.

Montréal tattoo artist Phil Berge creates animated tattoos by inking individual frames then photographing them in sequence. His most incredible work so far is this 76 tattoo scene based on Max and Dave Fleischer’s 1933 classic Betty Boop: Snow White, featuring Cab Calloway. His Simpsons sequence is awesome too.

Blue Monday Press offers this fun take on tarot cards, replacing the traditional imagery with famous rap stars. The deck includes all 22 Major Arcana cards, with illustrations of RZA, MF Doom, 2PAC, Drake, and others to help predict your fortunes.

Bern, Switzerland illustrator Jared Muralt created this wondrous image of a mythical giant octopus for The New York Times’ Kids Edition. Now you can hang a copy of the artwork on your wall. The offset print measures 836mm x 483mm (~32.9″ x 19.0″) and would look fantastic in any nautically-themed space.

Artist Richard McGuire designed this unique deck of playing cards, featuring minimalistic, yet expressive illustrations on every card’s front. When viewed in numeric sequence, each suit’s story plays out, with tales of love, money, work, and war. Comes packed in a metal storage tin.

These playful decks from Elephant Playing Cards are covered with images of tiny people (aka “pipmen”) who live among the cards, like a crew building the Ace of Spades, and an old West gunfight on the 2 of Clubs. Every time you play, you’ll discover some new detail. Available in white-on-black or black-on-white.

Jeff Goldblum is famous for many things, but one of his most iconic appearances was as Dr. Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park, with his unbuttoned shirt pose. Wyatt Edwards and Brady Johnson at Fun.com decided to have a little fun and envisioned the actor striking the same pose while portraying some of his other characters.

Art of Play’s limited edition deck features imagery by illustrator Jenny Gebhardt, who provided each of its 54 cards with a uniquely warped and twisted character or scene. Printed by the U.S. Playing Card Co.

Back when science fiction was considered pulp fiction, art directors and artists had the freedom to run wild with the cover art for sci-fi books. Nerdwriter pays homage to some of these notable people and their work, and reminds us to have a greater appreciation for cover art.

Illustrator Andrew Morgan’s thick-paged kids book is perfect for teaching toddlers their ABCs. But instead of animals and everyday objects, each letter of the alphabet is illustrated with a rock and roll god or goddess. He also makes a version for budding rap stars.

James Raiz aka TheBoxOfficeArtist pays tribute to Tony Stark and his massive collection of armor by illustrating all of his suits in one image. He spent about 24 hours on this masterpiece of Marvel fandom, condensed down to a 14 min time-lapse. You can buy prints on his website.

Japanese artist Takumitoxin drew Thanos and the main heroes of Avengers: Endgame in the style of ukiyo-e or traditional Japanese woodblock printing. He cast Thor as a Buddhist deity, the Hulk as a sumo wrestler, and Ronin as, well, a ninja.

French artist Parse/Error created a machine to produce his rhythmic and undulating line drawings. The designer conceives each image on a computer, while the machine acts as his hands and outputs his work. You can purchase original drawings in the Parse/Error shop.

Pablo Carlos Budassi created this incredible image, which attempts to illustrate the entirety of the observable universe, from our solar system, to distant galaxies and beyond. It’s interesting that that the whole thing also resembles a giant eye. Prints available here.