Fans of hyper-detailed Magic art rejoice. A new Kickstarter by Richard Kane Ferguson, an iconic Magic artist who has contributed to the game for over 30 years, has just launched. The aim is to bring his art to a new range of limited-edition playmats and prints. Launched just yesterday, the campaign has already smashed its initial goal and raised a whopping $75,000. It’s also set to run for a further 28 days, which gives you plenty of time to lock in a playmat or print of your choice if you so wish.
This new campaign follows a string of successful Kickstarter projects by Original Magic Art. Those were dedicated to the work of Magali Villeneuve, Nils Hamm, and Johannes Voss. Each offered players the chance to snag exclusive playmats and tokens by the artists in question. And while those Kickstarters were exciting in their own way, none carried quite the same weight as this new campaign. Such is Richard Kane Ferguson’s stature in the Magic art world.
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A New Campaign
So what exactly does the Richard Kane Ferguson Kickstarter campaign have to offer? As with most Kickstarters, there are various tiers of rewards available, each more expensive than the last. If you choose to pledge, you can grab a combination of playmats and prints, all featuring some of Kane Ferguson’s most recognizable art.
The art in question is, in a sense, brand new as well. The original pieces were oriented vertically and therefore didn’t match up well with the horizontal nature of a playmat. For this project, Kane Ferguson has extended each piece through a combination of physical and digital techniques. With this new treatment, each piece should fit its new home much better.
But which art, specifically, has been chosen for this project? A few choice pieces have been revealed so far, largely drawn from Kane Ferguson’s recent work on sets like Dominaria Remastered and Double Masters 2022. You’ll find Elenda, the Dusk Rose, Force of Will, and the entire Dominaria Remastered Tutor cycle here, from Enlightened to Worldly. There’s also a wild card in the form of Misinformation, which is a classic from way back in Alliances.
These cards are only a starting point. More pieces are promised if more of the campaign’s stretch goals are met. Given that the campaign has raised over $75,000 of its initial $12,368 goal at the time of writing, you can expect to see a few of those soon.
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A Worthy Cause
These new extended pieces will be exclusive to this Kickstarter campaign, and won’t be available anywhere else afterward. Each playmat and print will also be signed and numbered by Kane Ferguson himself. This will undoubtedly add a lot of collectability to an already highly collectible product. It goes without saying that any fan of Richard Kane Ferguson’s work should check this campaign out, but there’s actually another layer of value here.
In addition to funding the playmats and prints themselves, this Kickstarter campaign is also raising funds for The Lost Book of Kings. This is a graphic novel project that Kane Ferguson has been working on “for years.” It’s set to bring his distinct art style to the creation of a brand-new fantasy world. 50 pages of the graphic novel were previewed in an edition of Heavy Metal Magazine, but the final version will weigh in at over 200 pages. It’s rare for Kickstarter campaigns to support external projects as well, but they can be welcome surprises. Especially when they’re as enticing as a full-on fantasy epic from one of Magic’s most renowned artists.
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A Lasting Legacy
While it is Richard Kane Ferguson’s first, this isn’t the first Kickstarter campaign by a popular Magic artist. The last few years alone have seen campaigns for playmats and tokens by Nils Hamm, playmats by Magali Villeneuve and Johannes Voss, and sparkly tokens by Voss also. Each of these has been incredibly successful. The Villeneuve campaign, in particular, raised over $576,000 despite an initial goal of just $12,562.
These campaigns have all been run by Original Magic Art. This is a site dedicated to selling and promoting the original pieces Magic art is drawn from. In this regard, Kane Ferguson’s campaign stands alone since he’s running it himself, independent of a larger company or website. What this will do for the success of the campaign remains to be seen.
What’s undeniable, however, is Kane Ferguson’s pedigree in the Magic art world. The artists mentioned above have been contributing since 2007 at the earliest. Richard Kane Ferguson, on the other hand, has been producing art for Magic since 1994’s Legends. From the legendary Dakkon Blackblade to Thunder Junction’s Pitiless Carnage, he has consistently brought a unique flair to the game through art that feels hyper-detailed and abstract all at once. There’s really no one other than Rebecca Guay who can likely claim the same amount of fame in the Magic art world as Kane Ferguson can. For that reason, the Richard Kane Ferguson Kickstarter campaign is a very exciting prospect indeed.
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