My merchant of Venice cards arrived already! Published by @FlipsCoCards with words from @mssfax. This was a great text to illustrate: Venice, renaissance outfits, Jewish history, complex and ambiguous characters, and absolutely no horses. Thread of stuff I found interesting.

The first reference point was my sketches of Venice from 2015 (back when travelling was a thing). The picture on the wider reading card has a very very tiny self-portrait of me sketching the view from the Doge’s palace.

Then I had a look at medieval maps of Venice. Look at this panorama (basically the same as today): https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Map_of_Venice%2C_15th_century.jpg, and this tourist’s impression from the wonderfully named Niccolò da Poggibonsi (1346): https://www.apollo-magazine.com/oldest-drawing-venice-niccolo-da-poggibonsi/

I also played a game of trying to find character models in renaissance art, like these crowd scenes from Belllini: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Gentile_Bellini_-_Procession_in_St._Mark%27s_Square_%28Galleria_dell%27Accademia%2C_Venice%29.jpg, and https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Accademia_-_Miracolo_della_reliquia_della_Croce_al_ponte_di_San_Lorenzo_-_Gentile_Bellini_-_cat.568.jpg. Also, I’m very suspicious that this young man might be Portia in disguise: https://www.meisterdrucke.uk/fine-art-prints/Jan-van-Scorel/169109/Portrait-of-a-Young-Man-.html

Then I remembered I had the perfect book for this job – “clothes ancient and modern” by Cesare Vecellio (a cousin of Titian). This is an amazing book, which depicts costumes and customs from all around the renaissance world, from China to Mexico, including some remarkable hats!

Vecellio's section on Venice is huge (since that’s where he's from), and gave me lots of good ideas for the characters' outfits.

Vecellio didn’t draw Venetian Jews, though he describes them wearing distinguishing yellow caps. But I did find this book which gives a more cheerful depiction of Jewish life in Venice than the play – I love the bread baking scene: https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/jewish-book-of-customs

Of course, it wouldn’t be Merchant of Venice if it didn’t feature a pound of flesh. @mssfax (who wrote the cards) was kind enough to say of my picture “I think your dripping lump is phenomenal” – this is the nicest thing that anyone has ever said about my art!

Finally, here are some process-pictures of the cover – from rough sketch to the last-minute addition of digital gold leaf!

You can get all the revision cards from here: https://flipscocards.com  Why not collect the whole set? @FlipsCoCards