80 ideas

Playing Cards Drawing Ideas for Designing Your Own Deck

One card to design per press: a court figure, an ace, a joker, a suit or a back.

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Drawn: King of diamonds as a jeweller with a loupeKing of diamonds as a jeweller with a loupeOne eye is magnified behind the lens. A cut diamond sits in his other hand.

Next step Roll an outfit for a court figure

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Court cards 22

A court card in three flat colours Red, black and one yellow, with no shading. Let bare paper be the fourth colour.
A court card mirrored top and bottom Court cards are reversible. Draw the figure to the waist, turn the paper round and draw it again.
A court figure as a stained-glass window Thick black lines between every colour, and no line ends without meeting another.
A court robe made of checks, stripes and dots Divide the robe into panels and give each its own pattern, as thin as you can draw.
A jack on a skateboard Bend the knees and tilt the board. The board runs across the middle where the two halves meet.
A jack with the suit sign as a balloon One hand up holding a string. The balloon is a heart, a spade, a club or a diamond.
A king and a queen sharing one card The king at one end, the queen at the other, joined at the waist by one patterned band.
A king drawn as a cat in a crown Whiskers, pointed ears and a crown that sits between them. Both halves the same cat.

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Court cards, continued

A pet as a court card Head and shoulders only, a small crown, and a collar tag cut in the shape of the suit.
A pirate jack with a parrot Striped shirt, a scarf on the head and a parrot on the shoulder. The parrot keeps the jack's feather.
A queen as a gardener with a trowel Sun hat for a crown, a trowel held like a sceptre, and the suit sign on her glove.
A robot king with a crown of bolts Boxes for the head and chest, a dial for the suit, and five bolts standing up as the crown.
A winter king in a fur collar and mittens Wide soft collar, mittens round the sceptre, and one snowflake for the suit.
An astronaut queen with the suit on her helmet Draw the visor as one curve with a highlight. The crown is painted on the helmet.
Jack of hearts in profile with a feather in his cap The other side-on jack. Let the feather break out past the card's border.
Jack of spades in profile, one eye showing He is one of the two jacks drawn side on. One eye, one ear, and the nose as the outline.
King of diamonds as a jeweller with a loupe One eye is magnified behind the lens. A cut diamond sits in his other hand.
King of hearts as a baker in an apron Keep the crown and swap the robe for an apron. Draw him to the waist, then again upside down below.
Queen of clubs holding a flower you pick In many decks this queen holds a flower. Choose a real one and draw its leaves properly.
Queen of hearts with hair in heart curls Each curl is one side of a heart. Count them so both halves of the card match.
Queen of spades as an astronomer A telescope in place of a sceptre and stars sewn on her robe. Keep the sky inside the card frame.
Yourself as a jack Your own hair and one thing you always carry. Put your initial where the J goes.

Aces and jokers 18

A joker as a fox in a ruff collar A zigzag circle for the collar, a pointed face above it, and a bell on the tip of each ear.
A joker as a jack-in-the-box A box with its lid open, a zigzag spring, and a grinning head on top.
A joker as a jester in a belled hat By convention a joker is a jester. Three floppy points on the hat, each ending in a small round bell.
A joker juggling the four suits Four signs on an arc above two open hands, the top one highest.
A joker on a unicycle One wheel, a tall post and arms held out for balance. Tilt the whole figure a little.
A joker's hat on its own Three curved horns of cloth in two colours, bells at the ends, a band across the brow.
Ace of clubs as a three-leaf plant Three round leaves on one stem, with a vein down each leaf.
Ace of diamonds as a cut gem Rule a diamond, then a smaller flat top inside it, and join the corners with straight facet lines.
Ace of hearts as a hot air balloon One large heart with a small basket hung from its point on four lines.
Ace of spades as a tree The spade is the crown of leaves and its stem the trunk. Add roots in place of the base.
Ace of spades as one giant spade full of scrolls Draw the big outline first. Fill it with curls that all grow from the stem.
Ace of spades in negative Fill the card black and leave the spade as white paper. Add corner marks in white pen.
Ace of spades with your initials in the ornament Card makers once had to put their mark on this ace. Hide two letters in the scrollwork round the spade.
An ace from a fifth suit you invent Pick one simple shape, such as a moon or a leaf. Draw it large, with a small one in two corners.
An ace with a banner across it A ribbon curls across the middle of the pip with both ends folded back. Letter your name on it.
An ace wreathed in leaves Two curved branches meet under the pip and open at the top. Alternate the leaves left and right.
One big pip made of many tiny pips Lightly outline the large shape, then pack it with small copies of itself and rub the outline out.
Two jokers that do not match Decks usually carry two, often different. Draw one in full colour and one in black line only.

Suits and number cards 22

A club from three circles and a stem One circle on top, two below and touching, and the same flared stem as the spade.
A diamond stretched tall, then squashed wide Draw the same four-sided shape five times, from needle-thin to nearly flat. Pick the one that looks right.
A four-colour deck, one colour per suit Some packs give each suit its own colour. Choose four that are easy to tell apart at a glance.
A heart pip drawn in one stroke Start at the dip, loop left down to the point, then up and round the right side, without lifting the pen.
A number drawn out of its own pips Build a large figure 4 from four hearts, or an 8 from eight clubs, lined up along its strokes.
A scene that uses every pip where it sits Leave the pips in their usual places and draw a picture round them, so each becomes part of it.
A spade as an upside-down heart on a stem Turn the heart over and add a short stem that flares at the foot.
A ten with its pips in a spiral Start in the middle and wind outward, each pip slightly larger than the last.
Corner marks lettered by hand A number over a small suit sign in two opposite corners, the second pair upside down.
Five of spades as five birds in flight Turn each spade on its side, point forward, and add a small wing line.
Four new suits of your own Four simple shapes that look nothing like each other, two in one colour and two in another.
German suits: acorns, leaves, hearts and bells German packs use these four signs. Draw one of each the same height in a row.
Nine of clubs as paw prints Tilt each club so the three lobes are toes. Walk them across the card in a wavy line.
One suit from ace to king as a growing plant Thirteen small cards in a row: a seed on the ace, a taller plant on each card, a tree on the king.
Pips with faces Two dots and a curve on every sign. Make one of them look the wrong way.
Seasonal suits: blossoms, suns, leaves and snowflakes One sign per season. Keep all four to the same height and line weight.
Seven of hearts, each heart a different pattern Set out the seven lightly first. Fill them with stripes, dots, checks, waves, scales, zigzags and plain.
Six of diamonds as window panes Two columns of three diamonds joined by thin bars, with one curtain drawn behind.
Suit signs built with a compass and ruler Circles and straight lines only. Leave the construction lines in, drawn lightly.
Ten of diamonds as a kite and its tail One large diamond for the kite, then nine small ones as bows down a curling string.
Three of clubs as three trees on a hill Each club sign is a tree with its stem as the trunk. Put one line of ground under them.
Two of hearts as two balloons Tie the strings together at the bottom of the card and let the hearts lean apart.

Backs, boxes and whole decks 18

A back built on your mirrored monogram Your initials in the top half and the same again turned round below. Ring them with a frame.
A back in one colour and white Pick one colour. The pattern is whatever you leave as bare paper.
A back of interlocking diamonds in two colours Rule slanted lines both ways across the card and colour alternate diamonds.
A back of overlapping scales Rows of half circles, each row sitting in the gaps of the one below.
A back of tiny repeated suit signs Rows of the four signs in turn. Start each new row one sign along.
A back of woven ribbon lines Bands that pass over and under each other. Break each line where another crosses on top.
A back with a border and a centre medallion A plain margin, a patterned frame inside it, and one round ornament in the middle.
A back with a moon in each half A night sky that flips across the middle: one crescent the right way up, one upside down.
A card back that reads the same upside down Draw one half, turn the paper round and repeat it exactly. Check it by spinning the card.
A card being turned over Two fingers lift one edge. Half the face shows, and the back is seen as a thin slanted shape.
A card bending in mid-air Draw it as a curved strip. The face shows at one end and the back at the other.
A deck cut into two piles, seen from above Two rounded rectangles side by side, the thicker one with a few edge lines down its side.
A fan of five cards Overlap them so only the corner mark of each shows, apart from the last. Draw the top card first.
A giant card as a doorway A small figure stands in front of a card as tall as a house, with its shadow falling toward us.
A house of cards three storeys high Pairs of cards lean into triangles with a flat card across each pair. Keep every slope the same.
Cards scattered on a table, some face down Turn every card to a different angle and let a few overlap. Only three show their faces.
The front of the tuck box The deck's name in your own lettering, one large suit sign and a border to match the backs.
Rounded corners drawn round a coin Rule the rectangle, then trace a small coin into each corner and rub out the points.

How this list was compiled: Original list written for Draw This Next on 2026-09-30: 80 ideas for drawing and designing playing cards, in four topics (court cards, aces and jokers, suits and number cards, backs, boxes and whole decks). The easy, medium and hard levels are our own estimates for someone with a pencil and a ruler. It is a drawing list: nothing here is about playing any game. Card facts were checked against Wikipedia on 2026-09-30: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_52-card_deck (four suits of 13 ranks, reversible court cards, index labels in opposite corners, the two jacks in profile, the queen of clubs and her flower, four-colour packs), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ace_of_spades (the maker's insignia on the ornate ace), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joker_(playing_card) (usually two, drawn as jesters), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_card and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playing_card (German suits, identical backs, rounded corners, tuck boxes). No item repeats a title from any other list on the site. Licence: own work

How it works

These playing cards drawing ideas are for designing a deck of your own, one card at a time. Court cards, aces and jokers, suits and backs each have a group, and you can filter them by easy, medium or hard.

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Start with a court card

A king, queen or jack is drawn to the waist and then repeated upside down, so the card reads the same either way up. Court cards holds 22, from A king drawn as a cat in a crown to Queen of spades as an astronomer.

Ace card drawing ideas

The ace of spades is the ornate one: card makers once had to put their mark on it. Aces and jokers has eleven aces, such as Ace of diamonds as a cut gem, and seven jokers, which by convention are jesters.

Rule the card at twice its real size. Small faces are hard; you can shrink the drawing afterwards.
Put a number and a small suit sign in two opposite corners, one pair upside down.

Questions and answers

What are easy playing card drawing ideas?

Under More filters, Easy holds 32. A club from three circles and a stem and Two of hearts as two balloons need only simple shapes. Pips with faces is two dots and a curve on every sign.

How do I draw the four suits?

A spade is an upside-down heart on a stem. A club is three circles and the same stem. A diamond is a four-sided shape stretched tall. Suits and number cards has all three as separate ideas.

Why is the ace of spades so decorated?

In England the ace of spades once had to carry the printing house's insignia, and it was later tied to the duty paid on each pack. Makers kept the ornate design afterwards.