Kickstarter: 7 Questions with Dylan Prescott of Undeath Playing Cards

Undeath is a meticulously hand-illustrated deck inspired by Life and Death. With its first foray into Kickstarter, KardKraken has launched its fully custom deck on Kickstarter on December 6th. The project is seeking a total of $5,000 for a period of 30 days to bring the Undeath deck from prototype to reality.

All aspects of these cards are customized! From the unique cars backs, Ace of Spades, to the pips, indices and court cards. One unique thing about the deck is how the designer ties the life and death theme together. On one side of the cards is the portrayal of life, while the other side is death: portrays how the person lived on one side and how they died on the other.

We were able to catch-up with Dylan Prescott, founder of KardKraken for a quick Q&A on his design background, the inspiration & design evolution behind the Undeath deck.

For those of us who don’t know, tell us a little about yourself?
Hello, everyone! I am a graphic designer from San Jose, California, and I have worked in the freelance community for about 2 years. I have always had a passion for playing cards because of the unique element they give to artists. This element is the hands-on experience people get to have when experiencing my art. That is why I began my own playing card company known as KardKraken! Ever since I have been finding new and exciting ways to design a range of unique decks.

What do you love most about being a designer? And what are some favorite projects you’ve worked on?
The best thing about being a designer is the flow of creativity. Every day I find myself seeing inspiration all around me. The ideas begin bouncing around in my head and I get energized to bring them together into something real. It is truly something special when your project begins to come alive! This has been true for all of my projects, so they are all favorites of mine. My stained glass deck holds a special place because it was my first deck and my Geometry series is special because it brought together three unique ideas into one. Lastly, my 1st edition KardKraken decks were incredibly special because the fan support blew me away.

Can you describe the Undeath Playing Cards? and why you’re passionate about it?
These cards are like no other I have done before and they truly are the most ambitious cards I have taken on. The theme for this deck is Life and Death, so I had to think of about 100 different ways to portray this idea. In the end, I came up with a special way to tie the two together. On one side of the cards is the portrayal of life, while the other side is death.

What makes it even more unique is the side of life portrays how the person lived, while the side of death shows how they died. Whether it be from old age, battle or turning on their own faith. That is one reason these cards are bound to leave their mark on the playing card community. The other reason is the level of detail used in each card. Everything has been hand drawn with incredible attention to detail and USPCC will be printing these cards to make sure it is all captured. All aspects of these cards are customized from the suits, card back, lettering, and court cards, which makes me incredibly excited and passionate about this deck.

Talk to us a bit about going from the first draft to the final version. How did you get to this finished product?
At first, I was thinking of a deck about light and dark, but it was too general. I began to refine the idea into Life and Death by exploring all the ideas of light and dark. Soon enough, I had chosen the theme and the real work began. I knew the only way to do this project justice was to sink everything I had into it. Each card needed to be original and drawn with a level of detail that would leave audiences in shock and awe. The finished product became two decks that live together as one.

What was your most brilliant breakthrough when designing the deck?
Easily, the biggest breakthrough was the marriage between how each card lived and how it died. This concept created vast amounts of inspiration to give each card its own personality. Because of this breakthrough, you can now flip the deck and experience the deck in two entirely different ways. Without this element, then the deck would not be such an original and groundbreaking addition to the world of playing cards.

From the project page, what are a few of your favorite reward levels and why?
My favorite reward levels are the 12 decks because it is such a great deal and the 1 deck because everyone should have at least 1 deck!

Finally, what are your favorite playing cards?
I have to say Virts are my favorite Cardistry playing cards because I think they really nailed the flow of movement in conjunction with the design. Next, I believe Midgard playing cards are fantastic because of the detailed illustrations and the connection to Norse mythology. Lastly, one of my all time favorites to this day is Dia de Muertos by Steve Minty because of how technically sound and clean the design is, and the white and gold goes so well together.

Thank you for your time and all the best! At the time of writing the Undeath Playing Cards is only 47% funded with 26 days to go. If you like what you've read here and want to support Christian, you can find it on Kickstarter Here! 

Pledge starts from $20, the deck will be printed by USPCC.

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