We Promote Artists By Making Puzzles Based On Their Art Works

By day we run a cleaning company, by night we work towards fulfilling our dream: to promote artists by turning the art that we love into beautiful jigsaw puzzles. My husband and I have always loved jigsaw puzzles, in fact, that is exactly what we did on our very first date over 17 years ago. It’s one of our favorite pastimes. But we also enjoy watching anime, reading manga and comics, and playing video games. What we really enjoy about any of these forms of entertainment is the art. So, in May 2013, after toying with the idea for so many years, we decided to combine our love of art and jigsaw puzzles and start our own puzzle company called Playing Grounded.

We then spent the next two years researching and contracting immensely talented artists and photographers from around the world. To date, we have a very diverse collection of puzzle art, and it continues to grow.

We chose five artworks to introduce in our first line of puzzles. We feel very fortunate to be working with such amazing and dedicated artists.

More info: kickstarter.com

Fuzichoco, is an illustrator from Chiba, Japan. She is well known for her art in manga, anime, light novels, product packages and trading cards. A young and extremely talented artist, she has already published two full color art books. With a talent for utilizing a rainbow of colors in each of her art works, Fuzichoco creates magical worlds that are so beautiful and captivating; we just had to include her art in our puzzle line.

Daniel Lieske is an independent graphic novelist and illustrator from Germany. He is the creator, writer and illustrator of the ever popular web comic and graphic novel “Wormworld Saga.” Daniel has been writing and illustrating comics since he was a young boy. We first fell in love with the “Wormworld Saga” web comic and we continue to follow Jonas (the main character) on his adventure. Last year, Daniel ran a Kickstarter to publish the English translation of this wonderfully told, gorgeously illustrated story in book form. Daniel is currently working on the English publication of Book 2, which we eagerly await. We are so excited to present “The Journey Begins” in our first line of puzzles

Anna (“Anuk”) Baratashvili is a concept artist and illustrator from Tbilisi, Georgia. She graduated from the Tbilisi Fine Arts Academy where she earned a degree in Animation Art. Anuk’s art style is very unique, and the immense detail in her work is a testament of her love of drawing. She is well known throughout Georgia for her work in commercials and advertisements. “Forgotten Kingdom” is a beautiful, whimsical work of Anuk’s fantasy art.

Sarah Webb, originally from Alaska, is a freelance illustrator and visual development artist currently studying at the Maryland Institute College of Art. She has done commissioned worked for professional companies, as well as personal projects. Diligently working to hone her already exceptional skills, Sarah demonstrates her unique perspective of the world around her. Each piece of Sarah’s art tells its own story as you can see here in “Illusions”.

Brett Brooks, is a freelance artist/illustrator and graphic novelist. Originally from Alabama, Brett graduate from SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) in 2009. He is the writer and illustrator of the graphic novel “Dust Bunny,” the cleverly funny “not-for-children book” “How to Kill a Spider,” and the web comic and soon to be graphic novel “Deuces Wild.” He is currently working on his “Art-o-biography.” We are featuring the cover art to “Dust Bunny” in our puzzle line-up. Not only do we love this brilliant graphic novel, including Brett’s incredible artwork, but we think this monochromatic piece would make a wonderfully challenging puzzle.