Kickstarter: 5 Things You Should Know About GAIA Playing Cards by Forge Arts

GAIA Playing Cards from Forge Arts is a hand-drawn deck of playing cards featuring rich artwork of animals and the biomes they encompass. Currently seeking funds on Kickstarter, this colorful deck is designed by Ben Sinclair.

The deck features an earthly tone on the back design which incorporate patterns that meant to convey life. The earthy colors contrast the bright colors from the rest of the face cards, beautifully tying the deck together. Here are 5 things you should know about GAIA Playing Cards:

1. The entire deck is hand drawn by 17-year-old artist Ben Sinclair. UK illustrator Ben was inspired by Wylie Beckert while designing the deck. Interestingly, while creating the designs he never thought of having them produced into real playing cards, they were instead a personal art project. The designs took hundreds of hours to produce using Sketchbook Pro and a Cintiq 13HD to create them digitally. Eventually Ben wanted to share these designs by offering them in an actual deck of cards. That’s when Forge Arts linked up with Ben to prepare the designs and offer them in a limited edition release of the deck which was named ‘GAIA’.

2. The tuck box is wrap-around, fully panoramic design featuring a lush landscape with animals. The GAIA tuck serves as a teaser for nature and wildlife contained inside. The foreground elements are embossed to give depth and create a truly stunning and special look. On the back, eagles soar over the land, while elephants stroll along a river with a waterfall crashing behind them.

3. The theme of the deck is based around 12 animals from 4 distinct ecological biomes. Ben Sinclair truly designed a unique deck like no other. Each suit in the deck is based off a real world biome. The Clubs represent the tropical rainforest, the Hearts portray the savanna grasslands, the Spades characterize the high-altitude alpines, and the Diamonds represent the freezing tundra. The jacks, queens, and kings are made up of awe-inspiring illustrations of the wildlife which inhabit these biomes. The aces are also crafted to fit into their environment.

4. Limited edition signed and numbered prints by Ben. Forge Arts wanted a way to show off the incredible detail in the court card illustrations. As a Kickstarter exclusive release, they decided to offer individually signed and numbered prints of all 12 animals featured in the deck. The prints measure 11 x 17 inches and are perfect for framing on the wall. You can grab one of these exclusive prints by going to the add-ons section on the Kickstarter page.

5. Printed by the United States Playing Card Company on an air-cushion finish. While appealing to collectors, Forge Arts also wanted to create a deck that could handle well. This is why they decided to print with the USPCC on their embossed, air cushion finish for superior handling. If the campaign hits the stretch goal at $20,000, they plan to upgrade to a casino Bee stock for the cards.

Pledge starts from $14 and limited edition signed art-print, dealer coin, uncut sheets are available as add-ons. Check out the Kickstarter campaign here!