V4 Freelancers Spotlight

UBERQUEST KICKSTARTER

We've reached a milestone.  To date Vivid has published only our work, Dreamkeepers.  But now our first new title has arrived.  If you like color, humor, and high-octane fantasy, strap yourself in.

Introducing Uberquest!   Stretch goals have just been posted on their Kickstarter:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/839048152/uberquest-volume-1-journey-into-evyr

This is the first crowdfunding campaign by Skidd and Phuufy, and their first book release together.

As artists, it would have been easier for them to kick back and focus on commissions, the most direct route to getting paid.  But instead they decided to take a risk, push themselves into new territory, reach higher.  They pursued that imaginative spark, and after pages upon pages of art, we all have a chance to turn it into something magical-

A book.

I love books, and I love it when talented artists choose to make them.  Independent content lives on the support of people who care about it.

https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/30078-uberquest-kickstarter-mayhem?locale=en

That's a link to our Thunderclap.  It doesn't cost anyone anything- just sends out a scheduled announcement with anyone who joins in the campaign.   Please join us on this quest, and let's launch a new, vibrant series together!

Uberquest Kickstarter Coming!

It's official- Vivid is publishing our first new series. 


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/839048152/1582409793?token=2c13b690  

The Uberquest Kickstarter goes live on Saturday- check out the campaign preview here!

Update #18: Status Report

Hello everyone!  I've been bustling behind the scenes, and wanted to drop an update to keep everyone in the loop regarding What the Hell Has Dave Been Up To Is He In The Neighbor's Garden Again.

Of course, no.  I want nothing to do with a garden devoid of cookies.  Plus Liz won't let me in there.

Anthrocon was earlier this month- wow!  Spectacular weekend, thank you to everyone we got to meet- and condolences to readers who couldn't make it this year, our thoughts were with you.  A bit.

Thanks to a quick print run from http://ka-blam.com/main/ and permission from the Kickstarter backers, ( https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2083757038/dreamkeepers-volume-4-descent-to-the-archives/posts/1278987 ) we had a preliminary batch of Volume 4 at Anthrocon!

I was so busy selling books, I didn't have the time to sit down and finish my pencil commissions.  It took a few days of nonstop drawing at home to get them done.

With Anthrocon officially completed, I have a pile of e-mails and customer service waiting for attention.  I haven't addressed it yet, because the Kickstarter funds cleared- meaning the only thing holding up the offset printing of Kickstarted merchandise was me.

I decided to get everything printing first, and then tackle the inbox.

The past week I've been illustrating the new tidbits for the Volume 1 Backer's Edition- and now it's done!  After wrangling files, assigning color profiles, and catching default image compression settings, everything was dolled up in CMYK for a big offset print run.

And now the ball is rolling.

Volume 4, Prelude Collection 1, and the Volume 1 Backer's Edition are with the printer, we're just waiting on proofs.  I would guess two weeks for proofing, and perhaps another three or four to have the books manufactured and shipped to us, then our mailing campaign begins.
Between now and then- I have a few weeks of calm.

I have plans for those weeks.

First off, a Prelude update is coming this Friday- which needs to be drawn and colored.  Then I want to sit down and restore a buffer, so Prelude can be removed from the 'causes deadlines' shelf.

Then, of course, I'll be getting on customer service e-mails, Kickstarter backer messages, regular e-mails unrelated to purchases, heck probably even trying to get caught up on art account and social media messages.

FYI- If I'm ever unresponsive online, it's not deliberate.  There's just a lot to stay on top of, and if I spent all my time staying caught up, drawing would never happen.

After Prelude and customer service, I can finally jump into my longstanding commission que and get caught up to present- I'd like to nail ten or more in the next month.    I also need to tackle Vivid accounting for the 2015 second quarter, pay our freelancers for that time period, put together the video update featuring the V4 freelancers and their work, post a new writing tutorial video on youtube, (finally!) get Volumes 1-3 back in stock on Amazon, create an illustration for the upcoming Uberquest book release, do some cover art for a novel featuring medieval vampires for funzies, upgrade the computer hard drive before Volume 4 kills it, write out feedback for some books and comics that were sent to us, update the VividPub.com website, update the Dreamkeepers website and refresh myself on PHP so I can finally fix the Prelude archives,  finish the final edits on the QuickXyk novella I've been writing for Xyk to go with his commission series, finalize the next round of tweaks for the overall Dreamkeepers storyline, get rolling on the Volume 5 script, and if time, add to the Mace run cycle- need improved jump animation, I'd like to add a duck /roll / ledge pullup animation- what I really need to do is finish the spreadsheet and prioritize which animation sets are really critical for testing purposes.

So- plenty to play with.

Sorry for the rambling text-only post.  Pictures will accompany the next update!  We've been working on the resin figurines, casting up a storm, and painting 'em up- that will make for something fun to show, as well as the boxed merchandise coming in.

Thank you to everyone for making Dreamkeepers such a vibrant project!  

More color on the way.  

Between the Pages: All Geared Up for Anthrocon

So I mentioned acquiring three plastic horses a while ago.

  They rode around in cars -

...and did other stuff.  I guess.  Or something.

And I finished one, but then declared that I was going to be too busy to work on them for a while.  Something about important something somethings.  I was wrong.  

This is the journey of the second horse, the little pinto, with the pretty saddle.

Nothing against pintos, but he had a special purpose waiting for him.

He received a new gray coat and sat in the corner waiting for his time.

With that same party wallpaper.

His brother became an Egyptian God.

The other horse was painted blue.  Reasons are still unknown.

Until finally...

The pinto became a very tan fjord horse.  

This is what a horse party looks like.

But instead of covering up the old spring holes in his sides, 

someone thought it was a good idea to cut additional giant holes in him.

Maybe there was a reason for these holes....

....or somebody was trying to be funny.  Painting the inside green.  

The whole thing looked like an accident.  

What a waste of a perfectly good horse.

But eventually...

 (Ignore the gray one in the background.  He's still working things out.)

Looking a little different didn't seem so different.

He was taken outside and sprayed glossy, like a real carousel horse.

The little formerly pinto was dressed in his new 'steampunk' attire and golden gears.

And with a new solar-panel stand, LED lights and wires,

the little pinto had a new purpose in life.

To be seen in person, in Pittsburgh, at the Anthrocon 2015 Art Show.  Day and night.

Hope to see you there!

THE FINAL DAYS

The Dreamkeepers Volume 4 Kickstarter is in its final days:  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2083757038/dreamkeepers-volume-4-descent-to-the-archives

This campaign has blown away my expectations.  Currently among the top 10 most popular Comics projects, https://www.kickstarter.com/discover/categories/comics?sort=popularity Volume 4 is already among the top 100 most-funded Comic Kickstarters of all time.

Lost in fire, the Prelude Hardcovers have been resurrected- them, and much more, are available now in the stretch goals.

It's even possible we may hit the next goal- the Backer's Edition of Volume 1, manufactured with price parameters that will let us take aim at retailers.  

The next few days will tell the tale.  Thank you to everyone for pushing our work to such heights- if you know anyone that wants to be a part of this, let them know before the campaign ends! 

Between the Pages: American Pharaoh - Trot Like An Egyptian

Actually, the real winner's name is spelled 'oah', but that's a horse of a different color.
Like a brown, not a black with white.  But anyway.

When you’re standing outside with a spray can and a little girl’s voice yells out “Daddy I want to sit on that!” You’re doing something right.

Pharaoh's been done for a while, I've been procrastinating on posting any photos because I was hoping to finish the other two (now three) horses at the same time.

You see.....
I acquired three plastic horses back around March-ish, and the plan was to finish all three before posting this blog.  Show all three at the same time.

This is what I started with.  Pharaoh is the one in brown.  And they needed cleaning.

We call this a rodeo in a garage.  They were repainted, white, gray, and black.  Then given a ride.

This is horses in a car.
HOWEVER.

I’m going to be very busy for a while with painting and casting figurines for the kickstarter.  And with the Triple Crown Winner of 2015 currently in the news, it’s time to drag my personal Egyptian horse out of the stable.  

Here's the starting base coat, this horse is the best sculpted of the three.

My beginning concept was Alexander the Great’s horse, Bucephalus who was a very famous black horse.  I went so far as to order coins with Alexander's face on them to cover the rodeo spots.

The wallpaper tells you this is a pony party.
But Alexander the Great was busy having an Empire and spending quality time in Egypt.  And I was inspired by the colors of the black and white porcelain horses that occupied Japan used to make.
The only answer was to grab a lamp and 'Walk Like An Egyptian'.

Because my base literally quotes the song.  One word per side.  Now I'm fluent in little bird pictures.

The first step is to collect the horse and chosen lamp, then the odds and ends that inspire the horse and have potential colors.  Not all of them work out, like the fan, for example.  Some of these are thrift store, most were Ebay.  Needing a metallic gold color, most of Pharaoh's accessories were bought not sculpted like other horses.  I tried some sculpting on Pharaoh to hide his rodeo ancestry, but temperature changes affected some of his decorations and had to be stripped and repainted.  Occasionally I'll pick up a sculpted horse shoe off the carpet.

Adding the accessories is the very last part of a carousel lamp horse.  

Drilling, painting, finishes come first.  

I allowed some of the original color to come through on this one.

You can see some patchwork on the upper left.

Switched the Alex coins for something more suitable.

Outside for quick touch-ups.

Some patchwork is still evident above.

The entire point of a carousel horse is to put them in places you wouldn't expect.

Confusing little kids in parking lots since 1984.

Now he lights up an entire room.  I mentioned painting figurines for the kickstarter, and those will take 1st priority.  That said...there's a fourth horse...and these are solar powered.