Review: Wonderland and Looking-glass flip-book decks (Stephen W. Brandt)

[EndersGame]

Wonderland and Looking-glass Flip-Book decks

As the name already indicates, for his  Wonderland and Looking-glass flip-book decks, Stephen turned to Lewis Carroll's famous Alice in Wonderland for inspiration.  This pair of decks - also printed by USPCC - were only recently produced, and the Looking Glass deck is already out of print.

For the tuck box covers and the artwork on the backs of the cards, Stephen created his own homage to these timeless classics, and so the result is a composition that reflects his own personal style.



While thematically this deck is a departure from the Clockwork theme, artistically Stephen hasn't abandoned his real passion and skill: flip-board animation.  And it's on the faces of these cards that things come to life. 

Both decks features animated artwork based on John Tenniel's well-known illustrations.  For the animations, in the first deck Alice grows and shrinks, while in the second deck she gesticulates to Humpty Dumpty as he falls off the wall.  See the effect of both decks in this animated gif.  Meanwhile the court cards feature key characters from the tales.



Final thoughts

Stephen's unique skill-set make him uniquely placed to create custom playing cards unlike anything we've seen before.  The flip-book animation in these custom decks offers intriguing novelty, and these are certainly very beautiful decks that will delight playing card enthusiasts and collectors alike.

In terms of how he creates his decks, Stephen rightly doesn't want to give away his secrets by showing exactly how he does his work.  But he has stated that he first comes up with the entire design and animation in his head, and then designs and animates the deck simultaneously, using Adobe After Effects for making both the design and animation.  Each deck presents a different technical challenge - and the remarkable results speak for themselves. 

Where to get them? These animated playing cards are available from the creator Stephen W. Brandt, at his website fig23.com.
● Clockwork Empire City deck
● Clockwork La Ville Lumiere deck
● Clockwork Quackington deck
● Clockwork Montana Mustache Manufacturing Co deck (currently on Kickstarter)
● Wonderland and Looking-glass flip-book decks

This product is also available from your favorite Murphy's Magic retailer .