THE ART OF... Volumes 10-12

Stretch Goals, and the sculpting process behind our Halfling Rogue
7 months ago – Fri, May 31, 2024 at 09:58:19 AM

Hello, everyone!

Thank you all for your continued support. Things have calmed down a bit in the campaign, as typically happens in the middle of Kickstarters, but we're about to head into the final week and we'd all love to finish with as much strength and passion as we started!

To that end, we thought we'd consolidate the Stretch Goal information here, to see how far we've come. Nine Stretch Goals have been achieved, with another soon to be passed (at the time of writing). We have three Upgrades that improve the quality of the books for everyone, three Freebies, PDF tutorials, that go out to everyone who has pledged $30 or more, AND three Add-Ons (and a bonus Add-on from our friends at Big Child Creatives!)

Future Goals

Our next three goals are all about adding more pages to each book in the set. These goals don't cost you anything extra and they mean that each author will be able to cram more information into their book! 

The easiest way to reach these goals is to remind your friends about the campaign and tell them about all the cool stuff already unlocked!

Following these three, we'll have another Stretch Goal from the team as a whole, but more on that later.

Big Child Creatives!

Our friends at Big Child Creatives surprised us yesterday, with this photo of our Halfling Rogue bust painted by the wonderfully talented Miguel Matias! Beautiful work, particularly in exploring the various textures across the model. Bravo, Miguel!

Additionally, the Big Child team put together a cool PDF that talks about the process for creating the bust itself. David Karpaccio and Sara Glez let us know the things they were thinking as they working through the process. you can download this PDF HERE.

Shows! 

This weekend, Sam and Josua are out and about. Sam is in Wisconsin at TMX, the Tabletop Minions Expo, and Josua is in Warsaw, Poland, at the Kontrast miniature painting competition!

If you are at either show, please track them down and ask them a bit more about their books!

We'll no doubt have another couple of updates in the coming week, so keep an eye out for those, and THANK YOU ALL for your amazing support!

Cheers
Dave (and Roman and Sam and Josua)

Add-Ons! How do they work?.
7 months ago – Tue, May 28, 2024 at 10:46:42 AM

Hello, everyone!

Thanks for your patience, I was away from my computer this weekend visiting the new home of AdeptiCon in Milwaukee, Wisconson. Everything is looking good for next year's event!

Over the weekend I had some great questions from folks asking about how they add the Add-Ons to their pledges. There are two methods. 

The first is to click on the "Manage your pledge" button in the top right corner of the campaign page. Then click on the "Change your pledge" button. From there you should see an area called "Bonus Support". Click there and add the value of the Add-Ons you would like to, well, add. Then click "Confirm". Once the BackerKit pledge manager opens up (about two weeks after the campaign ends), that money will be in there as a credit and you'll be able to allocate it specifically.

The second method is to wait until the BackerKit pledge manager is ready, then simply add the Add-Ons and pay for them then. 

Whilst the second method is a little more straightforward, the second means we're working more swiftly towards the next stretch goals!

Speaking of stretch goals...

Over the weekend we passed the latest stretch goal, and now everyone pledging $30 or more will receive (for FREE) a PDF tutorial from Sam Lenz on some wicked freehand.

Following that, we are well on the way to our next Upgrade stretch goal, the opportunity to increase the size of Volume 10 - Roman Lappat by eight pages!

So, jump in and add some lovely artcards, a very cool bust, and an additional copy of the books, physical or digital. We're already almost halfway to the next goal!

And thank you for reminding your friends and fellow miniatures enthusiasts about the campaign, it is very important to us all.

Cheers
Dave (and Roman And Sam and Josua!)

Our Collaboration with Big Child Creatives!
7 months ago – Fri, May 24, 2024 at 09:02:12 AM

We are very excited to be working with the wonderful team at Big Child Creatives (check out their amazing busts and miniatures HERE).

Not only are we both focused on helping and inspiring artists to create amazing pieces of art, but quality is an incredibly important part of what we all do!

At AdeptiCon this year I had the opportunity to grab a coffee with Jose from Big Child, and we talked about some fun things we could possibly do together. We hit upon the idea of creating a fun academic bust that is perfect for practicing textures on, and fit with the personalities of our artists. 

Roman, Sam, Josua, and I brainstormed possibilities and settled on a cheeky halfling rogue that would allow for leathers, fabric, skin, and hair to be explored (I still remember learning about painting leather from Roman at an AdeptiCon class a decade ago). I passed my initial sketch (above) on to the Big Child team...

David Karpaccio (@karpaccio) on the Big Child team worked on refining the concept and added a fun otter holding a coin purse, something it has no doubt been trained to steal) which went over incredibly well with THE ART OF... team, particularly Josua!

With the concept approved, Sara Glez (@glezart3d) took on the task of sculpting the bust with just enough detail to ground it in reality, but not so much that painters can't put their own stamp on it. Once again, THE ART OF... team loved it!

Now the Big Child team have printed and cast up a few samples that are on their way to the artists and we'll see those being painted in the coming weeks. In fact, Roman has just sent me a photo of the start of his bust. Just a quick sketching at the moment. We'll see more soon. 

This lovely bust is 50mm from the top of the halfling's head to the bottom of the bust and is  an Add-On for the campaign! It will only be sold during this Kickstarter campaign and the BackerKit pre-oder store afterwards, so make sure you don't miss out. 

The piece in physical format will cost $30, or $20 for those who have chosen a pledge level of $90 or higher, and as an STL, which will be $12. To add these to your pledge, you can simply increase your pledge total by the appropriate amount, and then when we get to the BackerKit pledge manager, you will have that amount of credit to use to select your bust (and Artcards, should you wish to add those too!)

The busts will be delivered at the same time as the books, scheduled for April 2025.

Here's a look at all of the Add-ons available so far!

Thank you so much to Jose and the wonderful Big Child team, and to all of you who have supported us so far. Please continue to share this campaign with your friends. It really does make a difference!

Cheers
Dave (and Roman and Sam and Josua)

SLIPCASES!
7 months ago – Wed, May 22, 2024 at 02:28:27 PM

Since our last update, we've conquered another two stretch goals! Now each backer will receive a FREE PDF tutorial from Josua Lai about how to make a frozen lake base, which will be very cool (pun intended). 

Additionally, you have unlocked the Kickstarter Exclusive slipcase for Volumes 10-12! If you've been collecting these for our previous volumes, NOW is your time to pick these up too! 

These are NOT an Add-on, but are introduced as two new Pledge Levels. In order to secure your copy you'll need to switch from your current level to one of these new levels. 

• $105 - All three Volumes in their Slipcase
• $130 - All three Volumes in their Slipcase + all three PDFs

To do so, go to the top of the page and click on the "Manage your pledge" button. 
On the next page you should click the "Change your pledge" button and then select the new pledge level you would like. 
Finally, click on the "Confirm changes" button.
Easy!

You will have the rest of the campaign to make this change, or you'll be able to do so when starting your BackerKit pledge manager survey, BUT doing it now means you won't forget to do it later AND it means we get closer to the next stretch goal – The set of Artcards from Roman Lappat!

Thank you all!

Cheers
Dave (and Roman and Sam and Josua)

A new Stretch Goal and a livestream!
7 months ago – Sun, May 19, 2024 at 07:31:12 AM

Overnight we passed another stretch goal, and now all of the books will contain the lovely 150gsm Multisilk coated paper that feels so good in the hand as you turn their pages! Thank you all for making this upgrade happen!

Now we are on to stretching for Josua's PDF tutorial, where he'll be teaching us his methods for creating wonderful frozen lake bases! This PDF will be provided FREE to all backers who have pledged $30 or more.

And after that will be the much-anticipated slipcase cover for Volumes 10-12. Due to the way that it is produced and the backend systems of Kickstarter/BackerKit/our fulfillment partners, these will be introduced to two new pledge levels. If you want them you'll need to switch your pledge level, but more on that when the time comes!

Also, I am totally psyched because I've just finished a Build Paint Play livestream with Roman and Josua (and my co-host Jake)! We chatted about various aspects of their work, along with finding out more about their approaches to creating miniatures art. 

You can now check out the bonus episode on the Build Paint Play channel HERE.

Thank you all for sharing this campaign with your friends, and creating the opportunities for more people to discover THE ART OF... series!

Cheers
Dave (and Roman and Sam and Josua)