Death Is Life
A handcrafted fantasy card game that combines watercolor illustration, storytelling, and game design to create an immersive journey through the spirit world.
Game Design · Narrative Design · Hand-Illustrated Card Game
Project Overview
Overview
Death is Life is a handcrafted collectible card game inspired by fantasy storytelling. Each card is hand-illustrated in watercolor, building a cast of characters and places that together map a journey through the spirit world.
The Objective
Brief
Create an original card game with a cohesive illustrated system — characters, symbols, and card anatomy that read clearly in play while still feeling like pages from a storybook.
Reflection
Design Statement
Working by hand kept the world of the game warm and imperfect in a way digital illustration would have smoothed away. Balancing narrative depth with the practical constraints of gameplay was the real design challenge, and it shaped every card.