Creating a card game!

I have always been drawing, for as long as I had memories. I have always seen the world through an artist’s lens. Looking back, I am thankful for my dad for transferring his interest in art to me as soon as I picked up a writing instrument. Art was a part of me.

Nature is my biggest inspiration. The immense knowledge and most unthinkable insight comes from spending time in the wild. I would doodle plants, flowers and little animals as a child. Before I know it, this side hobby became a lifestyle as I tried several art mediums. But what I couldn’t believe is that this time last year I finally gathered enough courage and was able to make it into a small business!

I am a strong believer that Science and Art go hand-in-hand. And one would not complete without the other. Without sketchers of early naturalists, we simply could not start documenting nature in all its beautiful intricacies! This idea inspired my passion towards pursuing wildlife realism art.

Having chosen a style of art, I regularly practiced it and shared my journey on Instagram (@yenwildlifeart). And this allowed me to communicate with other artists and collaborate with science educators.

In July last year, I met Nathan Roberts from WhyConserve.com at an exhibition booth during the International Congress on Conservation Biology (ICCB) 2019. It was the largest international gathering of conservation scientists and enthusiastic game changers in the field. He was distributing playing card decks with European wild animals with prompts of topics to discuss their conservation importance. An idea then hit me, ‘why don’t we make a Southeast Asian version?’

That’s how this project started. We exchanged emails and discussed our ideas and finally came to a verdict that I will produce 13 artworks, consisting of the 13 Southeast Asian national animals! Hey, this is me on their website! :D

Then, after talking to more people, including the conservation education and game design specialist, Cedric Tan, we upgraded the card game from a normal deck of poker cards to an all-new card game! We also recruited my dear friend and fellow artist, Melissa Kam, to design the cards! The instruction video on how to play will be up really soon. Here's the full team:

I am very excited, and I could hardly contain myself! So I have started leaking some behind-the-scenes footage of some of these drawings in my Instagram account. Right now I’m still in the process of producing all the artwork pieces, and I am happy to report I am halfway through!

The best part is, we have started a Kickstarter project just for this. And it is due to go live soon! If you pledge to buy some soon, you will receive special perks so don't miss out on this cool opportunity!

And guess what? If you are under 19 and have a hidden talent waiting to be realized, you can get involved in our card game! A bonus component is that we are holding a special art and poem competition for the wildcards in this game. The winner will be selected based on votes. You have a month left to enter! Read more about the competition here.

For now, I shall go back to drawing and listening to the beautiful sounds of nature...

WhyConserve

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