Peter Pan

Kings Wild Project’s Peter Pan was published in 2021, illustrated by Jackson Robinson and printed by the United States Playing Card Company. It was released as the October deck in the Kings Wild Shorts series, a monthly subscription programme for collectors of Kings Wild decks.

Above: the Peter Pan tuck case, designed as a small storybook, with patterned endpapers, wood-grain panels and decorative borders.

Launched in 2018, Kings Wild Shorts had by 2021 become an established part of Kings Wild Project’s publishing model. Alongside earlier crowdfunding projects and direct sales, the monthly subscription gave Robinson a regular format for releasing themed decks to collectors, separate from the single-campaign model of Kickstarter.

Above: Robinson’s digital working file for Peter Pan, with the rough sketch shown beside the finished card artwork. His Kings Wild projects are often developed through live-streamed drawing sessions, giving subscribers a view of the deck as it is being made.

Robinson’s digital working file for Peter Pan, showing the rough sketch beside the finished card artwork. The image illustrates his working process for Kings Wild Project decks, where drawing, colouring and refinement are often shared through project live streams.

Above: screen grab from one of Robinson’s Peter Pan project live streams, showing the Lost Boys artwork in progress. For this deck, Kings Wild Shorts subscribers were invited to submit photographs of their children, with selected images used as visual references for the characters.

Screen grab from one of Robinson’s Peter Pan project live streams, showing the Lost Boys artwork in progress with subscriber-submitted reference photographs arranged around the drawing. The image documents one of the more distinctive features of the deck’s creation, in which Kings Wild Shorts members helped provide visual source material for the characters.

The deck is based on J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan and belongs with Robinson’s other literary, including Robin Hood, Arthurian and Beowulf. As Robinson has said, “A lot of my decks are based on classic literature.”

One distinctive feature of Peter Pan is the way the Lost Boys were developed. Kings Wild Shorts subscribers were invited to submit photographs of their children, and Robinson used selected submissions as visual references for the characters. The drawing process can also be seen in his project live streams, where Robinson demonstrates his digital illustration technique and gives commentary on the deck as it develops.

The tuck case is designed to look like an old storybook or adventure chest, using wood grain, metal fittings, aged paper and decorative scrollwork. The court cards show the main characters from Peter Pan, including Peter Pan, Wendy Darling, Captain Hook and the Darling family. The title card, scenic diptych showing the Jolly Roger and Neverland, Ace of Spades and back design continue the storybook treatment.