Kickstarter: 7 Questions with Jackson Robinson of Kings Wild Project

Earlier this month, Jackson Robinson of Kings Wild Project released The Independence, a playing card series inspired by the American Revolution, featuring both a Continentals Deck and a British deck. Within 10 hours, the project was fully funded and is now trending towards 244% of the funding goal! Incredible! Considering that this is a little project that Jackson has been working on for a while but had to be bumped up the schedule due to production issues with the scheduled Army Deck.

Between his busy schedule, we were able to catch-up with Jackson for a quick Q&A on the future of Kings Wild Project, the inspiration behind the Independence and his thoughts on Kickstarter.

2013 was a great year for Kings Wild Project. Can you tell us what you have been up to since the last project?
Yes, 2013 was a crazy awesome year. I never imagined that Kings Wild would take off the way that it did. And 2014 has been following that same crazy wild ride. This year, my family and my business moved to Memphis, TN. We’ve launched our own fulfillment branch. Cards have to be shipped so carefully to protect their 'collectibility' - and I have learned so much through my previous projects about shipping cards, I wanted to put that knowledge to use by shipping my own cards as well as helping other card projects get their decks out in the best possible conditions.

We’ve also got some other things planned for this year, including The Hive. It will be our first deck that I haven’t actually done the artwork for. I really have connected with the community of deck designers out there and I want Kings Wild to be a place where other artists can be mentored and see their projects come to life.

We’ve got other things planned that I can’t share just yet but trust me when I say - it’s gonna be awesome!

What is your inspiration behind The Independence? How did you come up with the idea?
When I first started Kings Wild Project last year, I would write down all kinds of ideas for decks. I love history and especially American History and early American art, so it was a no-brainer to have a deck from American roots - the revolution.

Can you briefly go through the design evolution of one of your unique card design?
First, I start out with tons of research and reference. Then I do a rough concept, and I keep refining and refining until I get what’s in my head to appear on the card.

The Independence was funded in 10 hours and according to our data provider- Kickspy, the project is trending towards 244%. What are your thoughts in terms of support received, the successful funding of your project and what’s next?
Each kickstarter continues to blow me away. The support is unbelievable. I love the Kickstarter platform because it allows people to be so involved in the process. My crew has been so awesome. I’m developing a plan to take that same environment and community and transfer it to my website as we move towards that direction. It will include a pre-order system and funding goals similar to Kickstarter.

That sounds awesome! What are your thoughts about the continuous strong growth of playing card projects on Kickstarter?
Some people might see all this growth as competition but I think it just elevates the art of playing cards and the world of card collecting, which is beneficial for everyone. But with more card project out there, it gives backers more choices of what they want to support. That means the designs and art has to be top notch. A project that would have been easily funded last year may not be successfully funded this year. Backers are looking for the best of the best of the projects to see those come to life.

You have previously launched 3 successful playing cards projects on Kickstarter. Are there any takeaway lessons from your previous projects you would like to share?
 + Bring your A game. As I said above, people will not support a project that is not a well thought out idea with stellar artwork. Don’t expect to get funded with something you threw together over the weekend.
+ Do your research on all your costs. Getting funded is only half the story. There is no faster way to get into financial trouble than to get funded and not have a solid plan of what you are doing.
+ Backers Beware. I encourage backers to be careful also. If your project creator is not in constant contact with you - something is wrong. A few backers might get annoyed with the number of updates I send out, but the majority of them feel secure because they know I am not scamming them out of money. It’s unfortunate because this happened to a really big deck recently.  

Finally, what are your favourite playing card decks and why?
Tiger #101 - This is my favorite vintage deck. It was the first deck produced by USPCC and it was the beginning of the era of modern cards. I love them.
New Era #46 - Another vintage favorite. The court cards were revolutionary and non-standard. I am a big fan of doing non standard court cards, as fans can see.

Right now, I am really liking Whispering Imps by Chris Chelko as a modern deck. I think they have a great design and I’m a big fan of the tuck case.

Thank you for your awesome insights Jackson! I can't wait to see what Kings Wild has in store for us next!

The Independence will be available in two sets- The Continental and The Crown deck. Two editions available: Standard and Limited Edition (LE).The LE decks feature the new Kings Wild Exclusive custom fold over tuck case and the set will come wrapped in a vintage style vellum paper and have a removable 2-inch-wide belly band that is also foiled and embossed.

Printed by the USPCC, pledge starts from $12 and there are multiple add-ons available such as screen printed posters, dealer coin, uncut sheets and collector's boxes.

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