From Roughs To Rad. Josh Cooley & Bill Presing's 54 Intercontinental Cuties.

Both Josh Cooley and Bill Presing are super talented storyboard artists at Pixar Animation Studios who have recently joined forces on this creative project.

Most recently, Josh received lots of blog and press attention for his Movies R Fun/ Inappropriate Golden Book and Emeryville-based Bill Presing is especially known for his pin-up girl-like illustrations.


above: Movies R Fun by Josh Cooley is available for purchase here

Together the two have designed and illustrated a new deck of sexy and sassy playing cards. Their collaboration yielded 54 Intercontinental Cuties, a real playable deck of cards, with a unique pinup girl on each face representing different places.


above: one of my fave pieces by Bill Presing, Ergonomic Delight

The majority of the 54 Intercontinental Cuties deck represents various countries, but they've taken some creative liberties and added unusual locations, some of which are fictional. Eden, Pangea, the Bermuda Triangle, the North Pole, the South Pole, The Forbidden Zone and The International Space Station are represented in the deck, alongside other countries and places.




I've been following the process by both of them on their own blogs as they created the deck, featuring their respective illustrations. Both Cooley and Presing have blogged about their collaborative efforts since early May and the finished deck of cards was just revealed at Comic Con, soon to be available online.

It's more fun to see how they went from sketches to the final art, than just looking at the final cards, so here's a look at the roughs and finished art of some of the cards in the deck.

First, from Bill Presing.
Bill's thumbnails in his sketchbook:

and his process of getting to the final Egypt card:

the final Egypt card:

sketch and final of the Russia Card:

the Vietnam card:

and the Greece card:

and more of his sketches:





and a few of the finished cards from Bill Presing:




Josh Cooley's process actually seems to involve bathing in macaroni and cheese to get inspired, but you can read about that yourself here.

Josh's rough and final of the Cuba Card:


And Josh did not post as many finished cards as did Bill, so you'll have to see those when you buy the deck. For now, here's a bunch of the sketches for the soon to be released cards by Josh Cooley:






(yes, Josh is aware that Texas is not a country)

The deck will sell for $25.00, soon to be available on Josh's online store.


I spoke with Josh on Saturday (he and Bill are both enjoying well-earned vacations) and he says the cards will soon be available for purchase in his online store. I'll be sure to keep you posted!

Josh 's blog, Cooley!
Bill's blog, Daily Peril