Botanica and Verdana Playing Cards

Last year, James Morrison of Curio Playing Cards collaborated with Argentinian artist Amal Nur Karim to produced a deck series based on human biology, Anatomica and Alterna Playing Cards. This year, she is back with another blast collaboration with Curio Playing Cards on Kickstarter, Botanica and Verdana Playing Cards.

The series comes in two main editions: Botanica and Verdana. Both features tuckboxes made with premium stock with two-level embossing with metallic foiling and diptych artwork of a blossoming tree. For Botanica, it features a dark pink hot foil, while Verdana features bright green hot foil. Combining the two boxes side-by-side, and you formed the beautiful image of a tree. The decks will come with a numbered seal located on the bottom of the tuckboxes.

There is an extra Special Edition, acting as a standalone deck in the series. This edition features premium stock with embossing and purple with teal hot foil on the exterior along with teal hot foil in the interior. The box shows an illustration of a branching tree with blossoming flowers shaped like a pair of lungs with a hopping bird and a pair of butterflies. There will be a mini deck called Sprout edition to be added if the stretch goal has been reached.

Both Botanica and Verdana Playing Cards feature the same beautiful illustrations of the astonished world of plants. The color scheme are based on each edition: Botanica will use metallic silver and dark pink color, while Verdana will use metallic silver and green color. Both have a unique back design, yet they are bordered all the same – featuring different plants. The court cards for Botanica and Verdana are two-way courts with detailed artworks.

The Special Edition feature a few ugrades from the base editions. It features purple hot foil artworks of flowers and leaves with the Botanica initial. The court cards for Special Edition is a full-lenght court showing the entire artwork of the character over a purple colored background and it will be gilded with purple metallic foil. The Sprout Edition also features a one-way court, yet with a completely different set of artworks altogether.

All of the artworks for this series are completely customized with beautiful artworks done by the artist. The pips are customized, with each symbol is fashioned to looked like a natural plant life, and a few of the pips will have a cutout to show the inside.

The Aces features bigger pips composed of plantlife. The court cards and jokers featured characters adorned with vibrant costumes and lively plants – like its predecessor, the characters are shown to have a half-cutout of plants inside them.

Each suits represents four unique and beautiful cultures and their associated plantlife along with the four seasons: Spades represent South American and Summer; Hearts represent Polynesian and Spring; Clubs represent Scandinavian and Winter; Diamonds represent Native American and Autumn.

Also, the series comes with a walnut display box with acrylic lid that can showcase both Botanica and Verdana along with it’s custom coin. There is a very special hand-painted deck sleeve specially designed for the Special Edition – hand crafted and painted to align with the artwork of the deck.

The decks will be printed by Legends Playing Cards on Viper Finish and pledge starts from $16 on Kickstarter.

5 More Days on Kickstarter, Ink Beast Playing Cards

Less than 5 days on Kickstarter, Ink Beast Playing Cards are produced by Curio and designed by Korean tattoo artist, One Young. This interesting fully custom deck features incredible illustrations that showcase the animal kingdom in a way you have never seen before. Three decks are on offer during the campaign- Gold, Collector, and the recently announced, limited Dark edition.

The Gold edition (pictured above) features a card back with a repeated design with gold metallic ink borders. The face cards. The face cards come with custom pips and courts with gold metallic ink. The deck is packaged in a gold foil embossed tuck box. 

Meanwhile, the collector edition (pictured above) is truly eye-catching. the deck features a borderless two-way card back with holographic cold foil. The face cards have similar artwork to the Gold edition printed with silver metallic ink and holo gold foil. Packaged in a holographic mylar foil debossed tuck box.

The recently announced limited Dark edition (above)  comes with a silver hot foil on card backs and silver and red metallic ink on card faces. The dark background of the cards makes the artwork stand out with these metallic inks. The deck is also gilded with a silver mirror edge. Limited to 200 decks.

The Gold and Collector editions are printed by Legends Playing Card Co. and Dark edition is printed by WJPC. Pledge starts at $12 on Kickstarter.

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5 Things You Should Know About Anatomica Playing Cards

From Curio Playing Cards, Anatomica is a fascinating deck currently funding on Kickstarter. The deck features aspects of anatomy, from the familiar to the absolutely impossible. The deck is fully custom and hand-illustrated with incredible detail by designer Amal Nur Karim Amal (Behance: @amalnkarim), a graphic designer, and illustrator based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The deck provides a bizarre and beautiful experience. From culture to carotid arteries, Anatomica is sure to be a conversation starter and a great fit for any collection. The deck is the first deck by Curio Playing Cards, a creative banner developed by Jamie Morrison, an avid playing card collector based out of the Pacific Northwest, in the state of Washington. 

Here are 5 things you should know about Anatomica Playing Cards:

1. The Theme
Jamie has always been fascinated with anatomy – not in an academic sense, but as an intriguing subject. His original vision was to have a deck portraying completely exposed anatomy in the style of those old anatomical study drawings. The idea would be to take traditional elements of a deck of cards and customize the experience with a focus on anatomy. Jamie explained,

The project would be very academic – very accurate. Early in the design phase, it was clear to see this deck would be much more interesting if the approach to anatomy was more impossible and with more character. Anyone with a background in A&P will see these illustrations and do a double-take. Their first look will be perhaps to admire the illustration. Their double-take will be to say something like Hey, that’s not a normal ribcage… or Where did those extra organs come from?! This deck will be a conversation-starter not only for the beautiful illustrations, but for the unique approach to the classic elements of a deck. 

2. Breaking Down the Systems
As part of the original concept, the team wanted to highlight different systems of the body and that vision has been maintained despite the fantasy approach to human anatomy. The four suits of the deck represent four major systems of the body: Clubs: Skeletal System Hearts: Circulatory System Spades: Nervous System Diamonds: Muscular System You will see these four systems featured on every face, from the pips to the courts. 

3. Worldwide Influences
The idea to highlight different cultures on the court cards came after the club courts were completely finished. Jamie explained,

I wanted to push my artist a bit after seeing just how much she could do and introduce different races where they are seldom seen in a deck of cards. With that in mind, the court cards feature a diverse and stunning cast from Arabic, African, Asian, and British/European royalty. The end-result lends to a beautiful combination of fashion and unique characters, while reminding us we all share this human anatomy.

4. The Perfect Collaboration
After deciding on a concept, Jamie was faced with the daunting task of finding an artist. Jamie said, 

I have the illustration skills of a toddler, so I needed to find someone who could translate my concept into reality. I came across Amal’s profile on Behance after finding one of her projects where she created a custom font that was styled to look like muscle and bone. When I didn’t scare her away at the huge scope of this project, we got started and she began with the Aces.

 

Jamie was blown away by the bizarre result of her artistic style set to the concept of the body’s systems. Jamie continued, 

It was at that point the switch was made from keeping things strait-laced to going bat-shit crazy with these concepts. This was a perfect collaboration because Amal not only has amazing illustration skills, but she also understands how the pieces would need to work together in a cohesive deck of cards. She was quick to respond to feedback and helped enhance this project with her own unique perspective.

5. Small Details are Crucial
One of the things Jamie is most proud of is how all the small details come together to improve the full experience. Like someone reading a story, Jamie's aim was to create a project that would keep people engaged from start to finish – from tuck to pip. 

I think the small details go a long way to add to a cohesive and complete aesthetic.

 

You will notice amazing detail even in the pips, where Jamie and Amal have included two variations: full pips and “peeled” pips that give just a hint of bone, organ, or muscle. The subtle border allows the courts to shine while adding a nice touch. Another crucial aspect of the court designs is the transition between the mirrored characters.

I didn’t want to have a hard break and Amal was brilliant in the way she approached how they meet in the middle. I also wanted to keep the tuck boxes minimal and very clean, though they are anything but plain. My sincere hope is that collectors opt to #freethepip and let these cards out in the wild so they can see the full effect.

Two editions are available during the campaign, the standard edition Anatomica and the limited edition Alterna playing cards. Both decks are printed by the USPCC and pledge starts at $16 on Kickstarter.

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