I wanted to pass along info about a new deck i've been working on since last year with Mark Stutzman called the Whispering Imps™. I drew my inspiration from Harry Kellar's original Imps poster from 1894. It's been a lot of work, especially since it's only been during my free time, but i'm very proud with how it's developed.
Below is a screenshot from my Kickstarter video of a near complete back design for the Whispering Imps™ Playing Cards. Mark and I already have short list of things to tweak and modify but I would love your initial thoughts. A few notes, the smoke behind the center imps in the final design will be more delicate as well as the star pattern. What you see in this photograph is drawn with pen and sharpie by Mark. The final will be far more detailed.
I'm a long time card collector and enthusiast and I'm very happy to be a part of this community. I welcome any thoughts, concerns or ideas you think would make this project better.
I wonder if we could do a petition to get USPCC to change their standard border thickness, ie make it thinner? I would start one if I knew how. Is it just a matter of making one on a petition website and then showing it to USPCC, or is there something more substantial we can do?
Yes there is going to be a gimmicked card that is designed to have multiple card reveals built in. I'm not using the standard faces that the USPCC provides, but rather the faces from the older squeezer decks. They are classier and fit the overall theme of the deck. I looked for a very long time for the face cards from decks in the late 1800's but was unsuccessful, these faces are as close as I was able to get.
I think you can take the "K" a bit up more for thinner borders...Just trying to show the imaginary cut border for USPCC.
"For the border width – if you could stay half way between the cut line and the dotted line on the die that would be ok for a thinner border all around. Watch the top and bottom art though because I noticed like on your spades the spade is past that top and bottom."
Attachments
Screen Shot 2013-06-01 at 8.03.09 AM.png (23.12 KiB) Viewed 3612 times
Sprouts you need to stop promoting your own "deck" on other peoples threads, and honestly i think the indices being within the pips make it hard to read and plain confusing, especially for games that goes fast.
see_squared - Just saw your Kickstarter video. Nice. You have all the elements: You explaining the cards, the designer drawing a card and you showing some symbolism within the cards. I just have to know what are the Imp's smokin' Just curious, how did you get to your KIckstart goal? I saw on your "Risks and challenges" these will be printed by the USPCC. That info needs to be in your "Short Blurb"
Good note about including the USPCC in my blurb. Those are the kind of things I can miss after building and staring at the page for weeks. I do mention it all through out the page and in the video, but perhaps just not directly.
Perhaps the goal is set a little higher than some playing card Kickstarters. This particular deck is a very limited run with premium paper and foil for the tuck box. I wanted this to be an opportunity to create, what I think, is a dream deck. The artwork is hand drawn by Mark, one of the premier illustrators in the country and someone who is familiar with playing cards. A lot of graphics and designs these days are all created on the computer first, Mark is traditional and only uses the computer at the end to vectorize the artwork for the USPCC to print. The best part about this is that there is a very real and very original one-of-a-kind piece of artwork when all is complete.
With artwork, printing and shipping, i'm actually selling these decks at near cost. I just want people all over the world to be able to have them.
hikeeba wrote:The jump from $8 (early bird) to $11 for a deck is a bit much for me, but I hope it goes well .
Get 2 decks for $20 and it's only $10 a piece, sell the second deck on ebay for $12 plus shipping and BANG! Right back to 8 bucks
But some extra work required. Got one at $8. Wanted two decks, but $20 for two means I'm paying $12 for the second deck. Would love to see an option to add more decks for a flat $8-10 shipped.
Good luck selling them for $12 on Ebay.
If these get sold to wholesale you will be able to sell them for $8 to $10
If they don't then they will sell for $10
Derren Brown
LOVELY playing cards proposed on kickstarter page. Used the imps on my EOWonders poster. Beautiful, do get involved: http://t.co/vy33V97Miu" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Thank you everyone for your contributions to this thread regarding my playing cards. I certainly understand everyone has a preference and a choice regarding the playing cards they use or add to their collections and I'm very grateful to those that have shown interest and/or contributed to the project. I'm overwhelmed with the response so far.
A few things to note:
This is simply a vision that I had for one deck of many other decks already out in the world. On my Kickstarter I share with you the story and inspiration behind this deck...and the reason for it's design choices. @Twix, i'm sorry this deck doesn't speak to you as a card enthusiast, but in my opinion it's far from a standard deck of Bicycles. Every detail of the back design was created from scratch, by hand and illustrated by Mark Stutzman in the most traditional form...pen and ink....just like it was done back in 1885 when Bicycle cards were first created...not with a computer like many of the designs today.
The $8 pledge level was something that was created (and limited to 50) to generate interest for early backers. I took a financial loss on this pledge level because I wanted people to be excited about the opportunity to back this project, be rewarded, and end up with a deck.
Yes, I do believe I will be able to add individual decks to current pledge levels at some point in the campaign. This is my first deck, and my first Kickstarter, so i've been working long hours keeping up with emails, forums and posts regarding the project but will address this in a future post in the campaign.
Lastly, this is a very limited, very high quality deck of playing cards. The tuck box alone is very expensive to produce in this limited quantity with the USPCC, but I wouldn't allow myself to produce a deck of lesser quality. My goal from the beginning was to produce a deck of playing cards with a story, inspiration, traditional artwork, and of the highest quality materials but remain affordable to anyone who would want one. I tried to price it affordably in an already very competitive market.
As always, very happy to address any questions or concerns you may have. I know it's impossible to please everyone, but quality and customer satisfaction is very important to me.
Chris - You're never going to please everyone. These guys talking about selling your deck on E-bay is crap... I don't think they saw your video http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/see ... s?ref=card" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
You may have to come clean and say what is the limited run is. Everyone knows the USPCC does a minimum run of 2,500. People like limited runs; they are more valuable. What are the Imps smoking?
see_squared wrote:@Twix, i'm sorry this deck doesn't speak to you as a card enthusiast, but in my opinion it's far from a standard deck of Bicycles. Every detail of the back design was created from scratch, by hand and illustrated by Mark Stutzman in the most traditional form...pen and ink....just like it was done back in 1885 when Bicycle cards were first created...not with a computer like many of the designs today.
I guess @Twix is saying that the back design has a fairly traditional look - which you confirm with the details on Mark's illustration style. I, however, prefer ornate backs that one could imagine a craftsman at the turn of the last century making in a very slow and deliberate process. (See Fournier 505/605's - or my personal fav, Bicycle Tangent backs, for other examples). So each to their own.
see_squared wrote: As always, very happy to address any questions or concerns you may have.
Well, as you offer... Can you tell me why a single $8 Early Bird deck cost an additional $8 for postage internationally, but with the normal single deck pledges have $9 difference?
Just curious, how did you get to your KIckstart goal? I saw on your "Risks and challenges" these will be printed by the USPCC. That info needs to be in your "Short Blurb"
