Kickstarter: Bicycle Calaveras Reaches Goal; Goes Behind the Scenes Of Video Shoot

Launched last week on June 12, the Bicycle Calaveras Kickstarter project reached the project goal of $15,000 just four days later. With 500+ backers, the project still has over 36 days to go in funding which will most likely put this project well passed the original goal. This will make time for the multiple stretch goals that are lined up for this project.

Click here to view the Bicycle Calaveras Kickstarter Project.

The Bicycle Calaveras playing card project was created by Ohio based designer Chris Ovdiyenko and features Day Of The Dead inspired art that pays homage to the work of José Posada. José Posada, a Mexican illustrator, is most known for his artistic representation of skulls called calaveras, specifially a piece called La Calavera Catrina.  

La Calavera Catrina courtesy of Wikipedia:



With any Kickstarter project, a huge reason why projects are successful is because of the amount of work and preparation that goes into the project. In the case of the Bicycle Calaveras project, Chris decided to use Smudgeline Studios to put together an intro video. The well produced video at the top of the project highlights the artwork, inspiration, passion and personality of the Bicycle Calaveras. Videos are a great way to give potential backers an inside look into the creator's vision and seriousness. Chris was gracious enough to share some behind the scenes photos of the video shoot with Smudgeline. The photos below really give you a small glimpse at the amount of work and people involved in such a production.

Chris works with his cat on his back and skull on the table....inspiration.



A good portion of the video is an interview with Chris on his couch. You can't buy that equipment at Best Buy.



Making the lighting just right....



It is all about the close ups...



Click on the video screenshot to view the video on Kickstarter....

Kickstarter: Jackson Robinson Launches Federal 52 Part II

Jackson Robinson, creator of the Federal 52 playing card project, launched part II of the Federal 52 Playing Card Series today (12pm pacific time) on Kickstarter after a month of teasers. At launch the funding instantly took off and successfully reached goal after being live for less than 20 minutes (18min 42sec to be exact).  Federal 52 Part II includes the Silver Certificate deck (Bicycle Branded and Unbranded) and the Reserve Note deck (Bicycle branded and Unbranded) that was first introduced during part I of the project but never released. The project also includes the Limited Edition Reserve Note deck which was unveiled shortly after plans for Part II were released. There are various add-ons available that include t-shirts, uncut sheets, posters and an interesting add-on that allows you to buy custom serial numbers and plate IDs to appear on a number of decks.

Click Here To View, Back and Follow Federal 52 Part II On Kickstarter

Project Background: Federal 52 Playing Card Project Part I finished funding on April 22, 2013. The project, which features bank note playing card designs, included the original Federal 52 (Bicycle branded and Unbranded) along with an additional Gold Certificate deck. The decks from Project I are supposed to appear in September 2013 to backers. Quickly after the funding of Part I, Tuck Case posted a story about how Jackson revealed plans for Part II of the project to be launched on Kickstarter in mid-June.

The Goal: With any Kickstarter project, in order for the creator to receive funding for the project the goal must be met. In this case, the goal was set at $16,000, which is just about double the goal of the original project. However, backers blew through the goal and funds are only growing.



For what this project is offering and what is known about USPCC deck production, Jackson could be asking for a lot more. Fortunately, it is being offered at a great goal level that could be reachable 10x to 20x over. At this rate, these rewards may go quick so act sooner rather than later if you plan to back.

The Timeline: The project will last a total of 40 days and will cease taking backer funds on July 25, 2013. The deck is scheduled to be in your hands in December 2013.

The Decks: At the start of the project, the unlimited playing card decks will be printed on standard Bicycle stock. The Limited Edition Reserve Note will be printed on Casino Bee Stock and will be limited to 1000 decks.

All decks are pictured below with card designs for both decks. Note that not all card designs have been released at this time.

Limited Edition

Limited Edition Reserve Note tuck case



Silver Certificate Playing Cards

Bicycle-branded Silver Certificate tuck case

Unbranded Silver Certificate tuck case

Preview of the card design

Reserve Note Playing Cards

Bicycle-branded Reserve Note tuck case

Unbranded Reserve Note tuck case

Preview of the card design

Although not posted on the final project page, this King of Clubs (below design) was posted on an update for the previous project as the Reserve Note King of Clubs.

To check out this project on Kickstarter and to see more card designs, please visit the project page here.

Check out Jackson's Kings Wild Project website.

Check out this interview we did with Jackson last month regarding the Federal 52 Part II Playing Card Project.

Card Radar: Paris designer Alix d'Anselme's Jeu de cartes Card Design

Paris designer Alix d'Anselme posted on her Behance.net profile a classy playing card design inspired by the Igor Stravinsky's  ballet, Jeu de cartes, which means "card game" in English. The design, which is named after the ballet, features ballet dancing court cards in a style that is similar to the current ROYAL OPTIK playing card Kickstarter project.

A card deck compliments the idea behind the ballet as it is about an evil Joker who has the ability to shape-shift or turn into any other card in a deck of cards.

There are currently no plans for this to be turned into an actual "playable" deck of cards.

Courtesy of Behance.net here is the design:

News: Bicycle Truth Garden 04 White Playing Cards Release

Today, June 14th, Aloys Studio are to release the highly anticipated Bicycle Truth Garden 04 White Playing Cards by Xiao Wo Chang at 8pm EST on their website, aloysstudio.com. There are only a total of 832 decks available.

The previous a "Garden" decks, Cage Garden 01 and 02, are extremely rare and are currently on Ebay for $300. The Bicycle Truth Garden 03 Black Playing Cards were released in March through Aloys Studio as well and sold out in 2 1/2 hours.

Aloys Studio's website explains:

The greatest difference between Bicycle TRUTH Garden Black deck and Cage Garden black deck (01) is that the second edition adds a white edge, which is more conducive to performing magic, as well as two soul magic Gaff Cards. Compared with cage garden deck, the v2 Truth garden is [better quality].

Three years ago Xiao Wo Chang released Bicycle Cage Garden just [in the Chinese] market. Now it is very expensive [on] Ebay. Now Aloys' store will help Xiao Wo Chang release Bicycle Truth Garden Deck 04 in the international market, which will provide more convenient service to satisfy the international collectors.