When it comes to designing beautiful playing cards that tell a story, Illustrator/Designer Kelly McMahon has it mastered. Whether through her work on Ikoni Studios mobile solitaire game Soulitaire or her own Imperium card set, Kelly combines exquisite design with colorful illustrations that jump off the cards. Her newest set, Bad Blood reflects the “roaring 20’s” with a murder mystery blended in for good measure. This courtesy of her writing collaborator, comic veteran Mat Groom.
Kelly’s Bad Blood Card Set is now on Kickstarter, and recently, we were fortunate to sit down with not only Kelly but Mat as well to discuss their exciting collaboration. But seeing how this was our first visit with Kelly, we started there.
Artistic Beginnings
GVN: Thank you for sharing a bit of your time with us Kelly. Since this is the first opportunity we have had to chat, let us start with a bit of your artistic design beginnings. When did you first take an interest in art and design and whose work inspired you to consider that profession?
KM: I can’t remember a time when art and design weren’t apart of my life, it has always been something I’ve gravitated to. My childhood was filled with picture books and animations, my fascination grew beyond the characters on the screen and towards the people who brought them to life. Disney’s Mid-Century era was the first to truly capture my attention— the 60’s in general has been huge influence on my artistic expression from the music to the furniture, graphic design and story board animation. But it was Mary Blair’s bold and colorful forms that had me dreaming about a bigger career. Her color palettes have been an influence on my latest project; Bad Blood.
Talent and Hard Work
GVN: Looking over your portfolio, I admire how beautiful your designs are while embracing strong and seemingly simple forms with brilliant usage of color. Were these gifts that came naturally to you or were they the result of extensive hard work and study?
KM: I’ve always had a knack for art and design related tasks. But I feel as though I really refined my skills through study and practical application. I graduated university with a Diploma in Graphic Design and a Degree in Visual Communication, both courses allowed me to better understand the talent I had. With that understanding I’ve found better approaches and techniques— my color theory and shape language in particular, it’s something I’m forever developing and refining.
Designing Playing Cards
GVN: As we are discussing your upcoming card set Bad Blood, this is by no means your first. Developing face card illustrations for Soulitaire, a mobile solitaire game by Ikoni Studio and your own set Imperium, playing cards. Inspired by a fantasy realm ruled by powerful women from four nations. What is it about designing card set illustration that captures your imagination?
KM: I’ve had a bit of practice now with playing card design! I find playing cards are a perfect marriage between my design and illustration skills. I love the challenge of the mirrored face cards as well as building out a concept across not only the character illustrations but the pips and the packaging too. Bad Blood in particular was really exciting to build out, working alongside Mat’s narrative gave me the opportunity to really embrace the world and the mystery.
The Inspiration for ‘Bad Blood’
GVN: So, as I mentioned, you are bringing a new set of cards reflecting the 1920’s mystique. How did this idea come about and was it something you have contemplated for some time?
KM: The concept for Bad Blood has been on my mind since finishing Imperium. I wanted to find a way for the story to have a stronger link to my next concept. Growing up I had a stunning picture book called “The Eleventh Hour”— the story invites readers to look for clues in the illustrations and work out who devoured the banquet before the dinner party. Thinking back on this inspired the concept of a whodunit narrative that has players searching for clues in the deck.
The 1920’s have an intrigue, an era of sin and elicit happenings, prohibition, speakeasies, luxurious parties and high stakes poker— decadent in design and narrative it felt like the perfect fit to a murder mystery setting.
Working with Mat
GVN: As you had mentioned, you are collaborating with talented writer Mat Groom and added a murder mystery element to the cards. How did this collaboration come about and whose idea was it to marry your cards to Mat’s story?
KM: I am! I was stoked to collaborate with Mat on this. I came to him with the concept of a deck of playing cards centered around a 1920s murder mystery and a rough draft of the world I envisioned building out and he had the brilliant idea to link the two with Joseph’s Journal and everything developed from there.
Back on Kickstarter
GVN: Bad Blood is now on Kickstarter. However, this is neither you nor Mat’s first go around with Kickstarter campaigns. Mat with his and Erica D’Urso’s Inferno Girl Red, Books 1 and 2 and your, Imperium set. What will fans find when they visit the Bad Blood campaign? Did you learn anything in your previous campaign that you have applied to this new one?
KM: Definitely not our first go at this, so hopefully we have grown since our last campaigns! I have taken on board all the feedback from Imperium and I’m now shipping from the US rathe than Australia, which will be a big relief on shipping costs all round.
Bad Blood has not only the deck of cards as a reward but a physical journal & art book as well as a collectors edition enamel pin. We will also be aiming for stretch goals that unlock limited edition art prints as well as embellished finishes to both the deck and journal.
Upcoming Events
GVN: Sounds like another great card collection. Thank you again for spending some time with us, Kelly. Before I let you go, I want to give you an opportunity to promote any other projects or shows you might have upcoming and where can our readers follow you either on social media or the web?
KM: Thank you for chatting Bad Blood with me! I’m delighted to be back in New York this October for NYCC, but for those who will miss me there all my latest pieces are available from kellymcmahondesign.com . I’m also on Instagram, FB, Twitter, TikTok etc as @kmmcmdraws. And for those of you who enjoy the occasional letter, subscribe to my newsletter; Telegram 12:01 for all my big updates and the thoughts in-between!
Talking with Mat Groom
Writer Mat Groom has been a busy fellow. With his own Kickstarter for Inferno Girl Red, Books 1 and 2 with Erica D’Urso and his collaboration with Kelly on Bad Blood. Thus, we felt fortunate to catch up to Mat again to talk about his work on Bad Blood and HIS ongoing Kickstarter.
Ramping Up Inferno Girl Red
GVN: Thank you for sharing a bit of your time Mat. It seems like just a few weeks since we last talked. That’s only because it was. As we promoted your ongoing Kickstarter campaign with Erica D’Urso for Inferno Girl Red, Book 2. I have seen since the beginning of the campaign; you have opened some very exciting new reward tiers. Before we move on to Kelly’s Bad Blood, do you want to share what new things fans can find when supporting your campaign?
MG: Absolutely! We’ve been pulling out all the stops to find or create the coolest incentives for people to back IGR, as well as lure in new readers (as we’re offering BOOK ONE as part of the campaign, too, so anybody can jump in)! I think probably the biggest it the opportunity to “join the Massive-Verse”– have your likeness drawn into all of the Massive-Verse titles (RADIANT BLACK, ROGUE SUN, INFERNO GIRL RED: BOOK TWO, THE DEAD LUCKY, NO/ONE), as well as receiving an illustration from my IGR co-creator Erica of you standing next to the heroes of all these books. We also have script reviews for writers (with Kyle Higgins, Massive-Verse editor Michael Busuttil and myself) and portfolio reviews for artists (with Erica and Kyle).
Of course, those are some big-ticket items, so we’ve also added some small add-ons, to encourage existing backers to up their pledges just a bit– like a behind-the-scenes podcast series, and a gorgeous enamel pin designed by (get ready for this segue) artist Kelly McMahon!
Working with Kelly
GVN: Nice. You act like you have done this before. I had mentioned Kelly McMahon’s upcoming new card set Bad Blood. A beautifully designed set that reflects the 1920’s mystique. In addition to the set, you have collaborated with Kelly by adding a fun murder mystery to coincide with her cards. How did you get involved in this exciting project?
MG: Basically– Kelly reached out and asked! She already had the idea of building the murder mystery into it, and asked if I’d be willing to help craft the narrative aspect of that. I was a little intimidated, because I’ve never done anything like this before, but I love Kelly’s work and I love a story challenge, so I’m so glad Kelly did ask.
Embracing the Differences in Writing
GVN: You have written many stories for comics. How did creating this narrative differ from your normal process and did you have to incorporate story elements that you normally don’t think about to make it work seamlessly with the games the cards might be used for?
MG: It’s surprisingly different, yeah. At least in the early stages, it’s more akin to game design– give players narrative “options” of routes to chase down, setting up the right clues, creating interesting red herrings, all that sort of stuff. It was also something of an exercise in non-linear storytelling, because people can approach the card art and the journal entries at their own pace and in their own order, so we had to make sure it was a satisfying narrative experience no matter where you started.
But characters are characters, so there were some transferrable skills there, thankfully. And Kelly’s art is so evocative and inspirational, it was easy to build on that to bring these characters to life and imagine the community they inhabit and share.
Special Reward for supporting BOTH Campaigns
GVN: Because both Kelly and your campaigns will be intertwining, you and Kelly have set up a special reward for those who support both campaigns. Tell our readers about that.
MG: It’s actually a really cool melding of the two campaigns– a gorgeous, holographic litho print of Inferno Girl Red, as depicted by Kelly… mirrored in a way that is a homage to playing cards. It’s so stylish.
It’s available as a bonus to anyone who backs the IGR campaign at a physical reward tier level, and also backs Bad Blood.
Inferno Girl Red and Bad Blood
GVN: I want to thank you once again Mat for talking to us. Before I let you go, I want to give you one more opportunity to promote both your Inferno Girl Red, Book 1 and 2 campaign and Kelly’s Bad Blood.
MG: Thanks for speaking with me again! INFERNO GIRL RED: BOOKS ONE & TWO are accessible, exciting, and visually stunning superhero graphic novels that I think offer something for everyone– we’re really trying to push the superhero genre forward with them and open the medium of comics up to everybody, so I hope you’ll check out our campaign.
And I think the thread connecting IGR and Bad Blood (besides Kelly and myself) is that same desire to try something new and experiment. Kelly’s idea of pairing the gorgeous playing cards with the murder mystery narrative was so clever, and I really believe it’s such an enticing package– so don’t miss your chance to back Bad Blood!
Kelly McMahon’s Bad Blood campaign has just started and can be found here. Mat and Erica’s Inferno Girl Red Books 1 and 2 is coming down to the wire. Check out all the different exciting reward tiers offered here. Don’t forget the opportunity to support both and get Kelly’s special Inferno Girl Red card homage (as seen above).
Senior Writer at GeekVibesNation – I am a 60 something child of the 70’s who admits to being a Star Trek/Star Wars/Comic Book junkie who once dove headfirst over a cliff (Ok, it was a small hill) to try to rescue his Fantastic Four comic from a watery grave. I am married to a lovely woman who is as crazy as I am and the proud parent of a 21-year-old young man with autism. My wife and son are my real heroes.
