Interview with the Makers of Zombie Pin-Up Poker Cards

Time for some light-hearted and morbid fun. Not every Kickstarter needs a hundred quid or more to get you a new game. Sometimes Kickstarter is a great place just to pick up some fun things that break the mould. Some unique dice perhaps. Or Zombie-Pin-Up-themed Poker Cards!

Seeing the latter on Kickstarter at the moment – a combination too gross cool to pass up – I had a quick chat with Justin, the Zombie-Overlord behind the ZOM-B-Girls Playing Cards currently looking for support on Kickstarter.

Zweischneid: Hello Justin. Many thanks for taking the time for this interview about your Zom-B-Pin-Up Girls Kickstarter.

The obvious question out of the way first… why Zombies? When and where did you become interested in Zombies? What do Zombies mean to you?

Justin: Hello. Thank you for talking to me about this project.

Why Zombies?

Well, for one my love of the genre: I’ve watched tons of the movies, I read the Walking Dead religiously and love the TV show of the same name, and I’ve participated in a few Zombie walks in the past couple of years. So yeah I’m a fan!

Beyond that, I’d say because for whatever reasons Zombies just seem to be at the forefront of pop-culture now, even more than sparkling vampires are, which I’m glad of personally.

Zweischneid: For your Zom-B-Pin-Up cards, you’re drawing not only Zombies, but sexy Pin-Up Zombies! That seems to be a contradiction, no?

Why not .. say .. seductive Vampire-Babe Pin-Ups?

Justin: Well seductive Vampire-babe pin-ups would be fun too, and probably something we’d consider for another project another time. The real reason we went with zombies is that it’s a fun juxtaposition. We wanted to incorporate some humour into the deck. So while our girls are still pretty attractive, being zombies just makes their appeal a bit ludicrous, which the team finds fun.

Zweischneid: What is your favourite piece of Zombie-Art so far?

Justin: Personally I’d say the Ice cream Girl. It’s such a silly piece, but looks so great. I love the bright pastel sunny Californian look (great digital art by a German there) contrasting with the fact that they’re dead and she is chewing on a finger.

Zweischneid: More seriously, you assembled an impressive group of artists for this project! How did you reach out to all these talented graphic designers and artists? Have you previously worked in graphic design, digital art or a similar field? If not, how did you get started?

Justin: Well, I have never done a project like this before. It is a very fun experience.

I put out adverts online and in my local area asking to meet talented artists. I also travelled to meet many of them to get to know them and see their samples. While it was important to see their past work, I also paid to have some samples made to get a real feel for their work and to see if they would fit this project.

I wanted to get an artist specialized in each different area (sketch to ink, digital painting, etc…), rather than one artist for the whole project. That way, each artists role would play to their strengths. The project may have overwhelmed a single artist. Yet having multiple artists making cards by themselves wouldn’t have led to the deck having the consistency of vision that it has.

Zweischneid: One thing I noticed about your Kickstarter is that you expect to turn this around very quickly. The campaign ends September 5th, and you hope to deliver in the same month!

What makes you so confident you can deliver the cards to backers so quickly?

Justin: Ah well unfortunately we made a slight snafu there. We should have posted October for delivery! September was of course when we would have the campaign wrapped up and the bulk of the work done, even though our artists are working on the cards as we speak.

By the time we had noticed this oversight, many of the rewards had already been claimed and we could no longer alter them. We have posted a statement about this on the campaign page and in the updates to let our backers know that October is the month that they can expect delivery. However,if we can get everything done and sent out earlier, we will.

Zweischneid: Do you play Poker yourself? (Will the cards be good for regular card-gaming?)

Justin: The cards will be excellent for poker for regular gaming; I have been playing poker since my teens. A good game I love to play with my friends.

 Zweischneid: Many thanks for the interview!”

 Justin: Thank you! It was a pleasure.

Let me know what you think about these cards… or about mixing Zombies and Pin-Ups!

Leave a comment!

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