Bodypaint and body art custom cards

[surrealscapes]

Hey out there,

I'm new to the world of magic and specifically card tricks and cardistry. I'm not a magician or cardist myself but I enjoy watching the performance of card magic and flourishing. I am a visual artist and I've started designing custom card decks. I have a Kickstarter campaign running right now to create a custom deck of playing cards based on my body art and creative photography. You can check it out here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/274810086/surrealscapes-body-art-photography-playing-card-de-0?ref=email

I'd like some feedback on this deck. Would you use a deck like this for any kind of magic? if not, what would need to change so that it might be suitable?

Thanks,

Zaid

 

[Colin]

Hi Zaid

It is very interesting art work but I wouldn't personally use them preforming magic with. The problem I have from a magician's point of view is a deck with 52 different faces is distracting at best, and confusing at its worst for spectators. I would never want to use a deck that would cause people to pause while they figure out which card it was they picked or have their attention focused more on the art work of the cards than on the performance I was giving.

I am not a cardistry expert by any means so these may be better suited to that but it think there may be a similar issue there. Fans are going to look odd with all the different images etc.

I was also a bit confused when the intro video ended with out showing anything card related. As an art object they are interesting but I just don't find them practical from a magic standpoint. I might order a deck or two because I do like the artwork but they would stay home with my card collection not end up in my pocket to use at a gig.

Best of luck on the kickstarter though.

Colin

 

[ii3randonmagic]

I don't like the fat that all of the cards are "different" in a sense I will 100% donate but i'm not quite sure I think fanning wold be difficult from ink.. do you mind if I ask where you got your prototype from if you got one?

 

[surrealscapes]

Colin,

Thanks for the feedback. A handful of backers on the project now are actually magicians and they seem to like the deck specifically for magic, so I wanted to get some more diverse feedback. But it hadn't occurred to me that the artwork on the cards might draw more attention than your act itself! So that's a great point.

Yes, the video was actually left over from a previous Kickstarter project to do a photobook of my art, and I didn't have the resources to redo it for the cards. I wasn't going to put a video up at all but I wanted to have people at least see the process behind the artwork.

I've been thinking about using this particular photographic technique to create a set of images specifically related to cards, but I wanted to see how this first deck would do before I commit to spending the time and money to do that.

Zaid

 

[surrealscapes]

I don't like the fat that all of the cards are "different" in a sense I will 100% donate but i'm not quite sure I think fanning wold be difficult from ink.. do you mind if I ask where you got your prototype from if you got one?

The cards are being made by the United States Playing Card Company, the makers of the Bicycle, Tally Ho, and Bee brands, using their standard Magic Finish, so I'm sure that they will perform as you would expect from a standard deck of cards. The prototype deck came from them also, because I wanted to make sure the art was kosher and everything looked as it should.

Zaid

 

[ii3randonmagic]

I created a deck and tried to make a prototype and I wanted them to feel like Bicycle, Tally Ho, etc.. but I thought you had to buy in bulk so i tried through zazzle and was so disappointed. Would you mind directing me to the page of where you made the order or must I contact somebody?

 

[surrealscapes]

I created a deck and tried to make a prototype and I wanted them to feel like Bicycle, Tally Ho, etc.. but I thought you had to buy in bulk so i tried through zazzle and was so disappointed. Would you mind directing me to the page of where you made the order or must I contact somebody?

Unfortunately, there is no option to make a small number of decks that handle like a genuine Bicycle or Tally Ho deck would. The prototype decks that USPCC makes are done by hand and their printed on a digital press and not on the offset press that are used to make the final product. So they're very fragile and won't survive much handling before they start to fall apart. They're only good for checking out the artwork and design. With USPCC, if you want to make a real deck that handles like a Bicycle or Tally Ho deck, you're pretty much stuck with going for their minimum run of 2500 custom decks, which costs around $6000. That's why pretty much everyone goes to Kickstarter.

You can contact the USPCC custom division here: http://www.bicyclecards.com/products/custom

If you have a good deck idea, then definitely put it up on Kickstarter and see if you can get it funded.

Zaid

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

Definitely digging the artwork. Showed it to my girlfriend, had to back for two decks

Hope it works out for you, I can't wait to see the whole deck.

 

[surrealscapes]

Definitely digging the artwork. Showed it to my girlfriend, had to back for two decks

Hope it works out for you, I can't wait to see the whole deck.

Thank you for your support! This is actually the second time the project is up on Kickstarter, so hopefully it will succeed this time. ;-)

Zaid