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THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, OcTObER 16, 2021
Trotter: ‘My biggest influence was my grandmother’
continued from Page b1
deck, featuring Portland,
became a hit at the Portland
Saturday Market.
He tried another set — a
collection to celebrate Asto-
ria’s bicentennial. That, too,
was welcomed, and he’d
found his niche.
“By my second year of
selling cards, I had enough
money to fund a trip to
Paris,” said Trotter. “It was
a combination visiting my
French grandmother, long
lost cousins, touring and
sketching. The following
year I pursued more long
lost cousins in Stockholm
and Russia, and from then
on I knew I could work on
my bucket list and visit all
the places I wanted to go.”
Trotter’s colorful decks
not only highlight famous
cities, but also serve as min-
iature maps of the Oregon
and Washington beer trails,
Oregon wineries and secrets
of Seattle. Trotter draws any
place or subject that catches
his interest.
“I’ve always wanted to
be an artist,” said Trotter.
“My biggest influence was
my grandmother in Dela-
ware. I was born back east
and we moved west when
I was small, but we went
back to visit her farm there
every summer. Grandmother
was a potter and I was fas-
cinated with the clay masks
she’d made representing dif-
ferent people from all over
the world. I yearned to go
to those far away places and
meet different people. She
inspired and encouraged me
to keep up with my art.”
Trotter has dedicated
each deck to his grand-
mother. He sketches in ball-
point pen, composing quick
impressions of locations
while making detailed notes
of colors, place names and
any historical or interesting
fact on the reverse side for
indexing. The process gen-
erally takes about an hour.
Back in his studio,
he embellishes the orig-
inal sketches with ink,
cross-hatching and water-
color pencils. From there,
he scans the sketches into
a computer drawing tab-
let and can work with a sty-
lus to digitally correct any-
thing he needs for final edits
before sending the set to his
graphic designer.
Trotter is happy to be
traveling again, recount-
ing that the pandemic was
“really hard.”
“Traveling and drawing
are what I love to do and I
was rather at a loss,” he said.
“I tried selling cards online
or on Instagram and web-
sites, but it was really chal-
lenging. I didn’t connect
with my invisible audience.
Setting up my booth at local
markets and talking to peo-
ple is what inspires me. I
was limited to where I could
go and I didn’t have any idea
what subject or location I
might do next.”
He was once again in his
element this spring and sum-
mer, manning a booth at arti-
san markets in Portland and
Astoria.
Newly motivated and
ready to explore more, Trot-
ter’s newest deck featuring
the Long Beach Peninsula is
now available. His cards can
be found in Astoria at Hotel
Elliott and RiverSea Gallery,
or on his website, illustrat-
edplayingcards.com
RIGHT: Trotter sketches his illustrations based on real scenes along the North Coast.
BELOW: Trotter’s Astoria playing card deck was inspired by the popular scenes downtown and
on the Columbia River.
“We give to help kids experience
the outdoors, music and art
they would otherwise miss in
rural communities.”
— R U BY & C EC I L
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