Foto Grafis live on Kickstarter!!

[pmkane]

Hey all!

So I am really excited to have launched Foto Grafis yesterday on Kickstarter . . . completely blown away by the response - 32% in a little over a day of launching! Have a bunch planned for this deck - including my first update this Friday. I'll be announcing the first "no-obligation" add-on - that basically means free stuff!!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pmkane/foto-grafis-a-photographic-twist-on-playing-cards

This deck's genesis started over at Club 808's "Design-a-Deck" contest, which my card back design won! That gave me the confidence I need to go ahead and delve fully into creating a whole deck. The card faces feature my photography . . . all in black and white to create a visual consistency . . . and I am shooting models for the court cards. The Kickstarter launch give potential backers a peek at my Queen of Spades - she sets the tone of what the rest of the court cards will be.



As a photographer, I strive to transform the ordinary or mundane into the extraordinary and spectacular. My goal is to fill my images with astounding textures and unexpected depth. It's what I am trying to do with these cards - turning an everyday, run of the mill deck of cards into something very special. Pocket sized fine art!



Hope this peek inspires you to take a look and at the campaign . . . Lots more on the Kickstart page . . . having a blast with this!!

Thanks for your consideration!!

-pmk

[pmkane]

Some new add-ons announced today at the Foto Grafis Kickstart project page . . . the first is another "no-obligation" add on . . . a Foto Grafis microfiber  cloth . . . measuring 6"x6" . . . this comes free with every deck backed!!



Then comes the most requested add-on . . . the card guard. Very excited about this as I've never designed a coin before. The cost of the coin is $10 - and that's free shipping for domestic and international backers.



Thanks for your time and consideration . . . we're almost at the half-way point with 28 days left . . . really want to make this happen!!

Check out the Foto Grafis page at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pmkane/foto-grafis-a-photographic-twist-on-playing-cards

Thanks!

-pmk

[sprouts1115]

Wish I could see a close up of the cards and especially the back of the card.  Can't really see them.  The pips he should just make index like the court cards.  Squeezers with a large suit.  Don't know about the all the horizontal suits on the top.  Save some ink; Go green...

[pmkane]

Sprouts . . . thanks for the interest. Here's a look at the back design - It won the Bicycle Club 808's Design-a-Deck competition back in May of 2013.



The horizontal positioning of the pips on the top are designed to give the images more space on the card . . . optimizing the viewing of the photography.

Thanks again for your interest.

-pmk

[Anthony]

Love the photographic details on the edges Paul, the apertures and shutter speeds, the over/under exposure and flash symbol are also a nice touch. Can't wait to see more of your photography/cards.

[CordedTires]

Sure hope this meets its goal. I would think this would be a natural for photography buffs (of whom there must be about a trillion). Anyway, it has my vote ....err, money.

[kdklown]

I don't generally pimp decks but I would really like to see this one funded.  Doesn't look great(3 days left) but with so many new members I thought I'd give this topic a bump.  Thanks.

[pmkane]

I agree it doesn't look good, but no worries . . . Foto Grafis will get made somehow . . . I will be reexamining my options after this campaign runs its course. Let me ask you guys this . . . how important is having the deck printed by the USPCC - to me, this was paramount, but that 2500 deck minimum is what's killing me, I think. I've been contacted by a number of printers with lower minimum runs. But I really had my heart set on going the USPCC route . . . the Bicycle Logo will have to go, but that's not too much of a big deal for me. I plan on relaunching in the new year with the deck 100% done, all court cards shot and ready for production with a lower goal . . . we'll see what happens. I don't consider this a failure . . . just the opposite. As a veterans of many self-published projects, the experience this first campaign gave me will ensure a successful second run . . . all the wonderful feedback and messages . . . just gets me pumped for a second round!

And thanks for the Bump, kdklown . . . and the enthusiam for Foto Grafis . . . very much appreciated!!

-pmk

[sprouts1115]

I agree drop the bicycle logo.  That will save you .50 per deck and give you more space for your art.  Just put on the side or bottom of the box "Made by the USPCC", "Bicycle stock with Embossed finish".  As long as you have that you won't scare to many people off.  I looked at your Kickstarter I don't know what stock or finish your using.  Love the back of the card. Very pleasing to the eye.  On the courts and pips I just wish you would use the squeezers on the top left and put a big suit on the top right.  The cards would be function-able and would give you a little more room for your art. Not that long suit thing you got going on.   If all the work it done 100%, I think you will be successful.  Show it!

[nosejam]

I was really close to backing this, only have so much money to go around and there are some amazing decks on KS at the moment and being a Brit that international shipping is a killer.

Personally the printers of the deck aren't that important to me as long as the quality isn't horrible.  With a deck like this I can't imagine the target audience is magicians/performers so handling isn't as big an issue as it could have been.

[Don Boyer]

I'll say this immediately - few other deck companies can meet the quality of a USPC deck, as imperfect as they can be at times.  There are collectors who will buy only USPC decks, and there are a subgroup of those collectors who only collect the Bicycle name brand.

However, it would seem they didn't come out in strong enough numbers to make a difference for you, so too bad for them!

Your deck isn't meant as a magician's deck or a cardist's deck.  It's an art deck, straight up, no chaser.  As such, the quality of the images printed on the cards are far more important than the snappiness of the stock or the glide of the finish.  Find a printer who will give you sharp image reproduction at a reasonable price with a smaller minimum and you'll almost certainly have a successful second try at funding.  If it happens to handle well in addition to that, fantastic - but don't lose too much sleep if it doesn't, as long as your design looks gorgeous.  You can always reprint your deck as a USPC design down the road if it turns out to be that successful, or set USPC printing as a stretch goal if you really want it.

[Anthony]

I'll say this immediately - few other deck companies can meet the quality of a USPC deck, as imperfect as they can be at times.  There are collectors who will buy only USPC decks, and there are a subgroup of those collectors who only collect the Bicycle name brand.

However, it would seem they didn't come out in strong enough numbers to make a difference for you, so too bad for them!

Your deck isn't meant as a magician's deck or a cardist's deck.  It's an art deck, straight up, no chaser.  As such, the quality of the images printed on the cards are far more important than the snappiness of the stock or the glide of the finish.  Find a printer who will give you sharp image reproduction at a reasonable price with a smaller minimum and you'll almost certainly have a successful second try at funding.  If it happens to handle well in addition to that, fantastic - but don't lose too much sleep if it doesn't, as long as your design looks gorgeous.  You can always reprint your deck as a USPC design down the road if it turns out to be that successful, or set USPC printing as a stretch goal if you really want it.

Couldn't agree more!

[pmkane]

Don - Wonderful insight and thanks for sharing. Like Sparkz said, I couldn't agree more . . . I've got samples coming from a couple different printers and looking forward to seeing the quality of the stock and printing. Will keep everyone posted!

-pmk

[Rob Wright]

PMK, have you thought about doing away with the Bicycle branding. That would save you around $0.65 a deck- $1600-$1700 for the 2500 run. That would put you down to a $7,000 goal. Keeping in mind this would only cover the printing. The shipping would be coming out of your pocket.

[pmkane]

First thing I thought of, Rob . . . but it doesn't look like the campaign will generate the $7,000 needed for an unbranded deck, either. Looking at all options to make Foto Grafis happen . . . I'll let you guys know the quality of some of the other printers who are courting me. Turns out, they must watch Kickstarter pretty close - they are coming out of the wood work!

-pmk

[Anthony]

Paul I have a question/comment. I would love to see your deck come to fruition, I've looked at your work and really like it a lot. Looking at your work I noticed, at least on your site, there isn't a lot of portraiture or people. The reason I'm pointing that out is because in my opinion, for what it's worth, the courts seemed out of place with how you were presenting them. I mean no offence what so ever, I'm just wondering if you presented the courts with more abstract/inanimate objects, etc... if it would lend itself to the deck better. Statues of kings, maybe Kings and Queens from a Renascence fair. Just my opinion of course I could be way off base.

Again, I mean no disrespect to you or your work, I love your concept and am just relaying my impression on one part of it. I'll be looking for round two when it comes along and I'm sure which ever route you take success will follow.

[pmkane]

Sparkz . . . no offense taken at all. Love your idea and just might shoot them both ways and have backers vote. I've got some wiggle room now to figure it all out. Planning on a January relaunch if a miracle doesn't happen in the next couple days . . . which I am not expecting, but nice to think about . . .  . . . Love the idea of the more abstract representation of the court cards. Certainly lends itself to my style. Thanks so very much for the kind words and the encouragement . . . Narrowing in on a printer - now I just have to see samples.

-pmk

[ronyo_faukx]

Paul I have a question/comment. I would love to see your deck come to fruition, I've looked at your work and really like it a lot. Looking at your work I noticed, at least on your site, there isn't a lot of portraiture or people. The reason I'm pointing that out is because in my opinion, for what it's worth, the courts seemed out of place with how you were presenting them. I mean no offence what so ever, I'm just wondering if you presented the courts with more abstract/inanimate objects, etc... if it would lend itself to the deck better. Statues of kings, maybe Kings and Queens from a Renascence fair. Just my opinion of course I could be way off base.

Again, I mean no disrespect to you or your work, I love your concept and am just relaying my impression on one part of it. I'll be looking for round two when it comes along and I'm sure which ever route you take success will follow.

In addition to Sparkz's point, I was wondering if you had considered taking photos where there are a number of items equal to the pip number, but not the same item increasing in number throughout the suit, e.g. the 5 of Hearts might be a photo of 5 apples in a bowl, while the 6 of Hearts could be 6 roses in a vase. The items wouldn't even need to be all grouped together. There might be a photo of a fairground with X number of balloons throughout the scene. I could imagine people cottoning on to the idea from the more obvious ones, like the apples and roses, then trying to work out what the object is for the others and trying to find them all. 

[pmkane]

Also something I considered doing early on, Ronyo . . . was my first concept, but found I was trying too hard and the image content was suffering. But I like your though process . . . I was right there with you.

47 hours to go!

[Rob Wright]

PMK,
I just read through your updates, and comments on the project. You've updated regularly, answered questions, and stayed positive. I think you have run your project very well. Sometimes it's about timing as well. It's always hard to judge how many other projects are going to be launched at the same time. right now there are 30 live card projects, and 18 are funded or real close. You're also up against some juggernauts. Jackson at 72k, Albino Dragon 44k, Elite 58k, Dale Mathis 115k, Cardicians(former Elite designer) 29k, Chris Ovdiyenko 45k. Counting the rest of the funded cards, total is over $430,0000
You've got 2 days left-Stay the course.

[pmkane]

Thanks so much, Rob . . . very gratifying to see that efforts have been recognized. Being positive is really the only way a creative professional can stay the course. In a month where I've been involved with 3 different publishing projects:

Weird NJ #41 (Contributing Photographer): http://weirdnj.com/weird-news/weird-nj-issue-41/

Weird NJ Home State Hauntings (Designer and Contributing Photographer): http://weirdnj.com/digital-media/home-state-hauntings/

American Movie Palaces (Cover Photo): http://www.amazon.com/American-Movie-Palaces-Shire-USA/dp/0747812829/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383837756&sr=8-1&keywords=American+Movie+Palaces

Plus two gallery shows . . . and the Foto Grafis cards . . . it's been quite a whirlwind. And you are so right about going up against some juggernauts. Heck, I've backed most of the ones you listed myself. Some really cool stuff out there. Very proud that I managed to get as far as i did and that pride is going to fuel the relauch - if as the numbers suggest - I won't make it this time around. Plans are well underway to launch in January 2014 with a lower goal, new printer and a tweaked tuck box . . . Perseverance is how I thrive . . . Foto Grafis will happen!!

Thanks again for all the encouragement and kind words!! More soon!!

-pmk