The first three volumes of a series of books about wonderful miniatures art.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
What's the status, Dave?
over 2 years ago
– Sat, Oct 30, 2021 at 09:44:01 PM
It's the end of the month, so time for another update. Strap in. It's a long one!
THE ART OF... Volumes 01-03 production progress
I'm very pleased to say that all of the files are now off to the printers. That's the interior of each book, the cover files (including those for the foil elements), AND the slipcase!
Although I've spent many years working on print publications and preparing files for print, there's always something new that pops up, and this project has been no exception. There are a number of different things that I needed to do for the silver foil files that I haven't done before, so thank you all for making that possible.
This was also the first time I have worked with images that are quite dark (deliberately so) and it was important to ensure that everything would print well once it hits the offset printing presses. Our printer has a digital printer that is calibrated incredibly closely to their offset presses, so they were able to run out a few sample sheets for me, one from each book. Please note, these aren't actually spreads from the books, but rather collections of the images I wanted to check most to see what the colors and contrasts would look like. I am super stoked at the results, and they bode very well for the final print runs.
So, the books will be hitting the presses and most likely being bound in November, with the slipcase to follow shortly after. Then everything will be popped into boxes and palletized for shipping.
Shipping and Fulfillment
Pre-pandemic, production was always the biggest unknown when it came to fluctuations in timeline. As many of you probably already know, international shipping is now the bugbear that can create all sorts of issues. We'll be shipping half the books to the UK, and the other half to the US. With the potential delays we face, I'm still going to hold to the possibility that fulfillment will occur in April of 2022. However, I'm working with a seasoned logistics team and I'm really hoping that it can happen earlier.
For our US backers, your pledges will be fulfilled by Ironheart Artisans (and I'll be helping with the physical packing of these). For our backers everywhere else, your pledges will be fulfilled by ShipQuest from their UK warehouse. This is the first time I've used ShipQuest, but they come to us highly recommended, and every step of the process so far has been great. I'm looking forward to a very professional fulfillment period when we get to that stage.
Please note: most of the updates from here on out will be about shipping and fulfillment status, so be prepared for lots of fun news about ports and ships and potential delays.
The Pre-order store is still open
We're going to keep the pre-order store open a little longer, so that your friends who missed out on the Kickstarter can still get in on the KS pricing. If you could share this link with them, we would be eternally grateful!
I am already in discussions with authors for the next three books for the series. I hope to bring you some fantastic artists and their personal takes on what makes miniatures art so important to them. Once I have the next three authors signed up, I'll announce it here! I'm planning on running THE ART OF... Kickstarter in May of 2022.
Additionally, THE ART OF... series will be available through all of the same channels as the other books I've published, and you can see those locations/channels on my website HERE.
What else is coming?
I'm currently working on a new book project with my good friend Jeff Hall. Jeff is a huge fan of roleplaying and building elaborate dungeons to run his players through. He has a huge collection of commercially available dungeon scenery and we're going to take a look at what you can do to personalize your own collection, helping you immerse your players even more into the worlds you are creating.
Above you can seen the first draft of the elaborate logo for the book, from the talented hands of Tim Toolen, who is a wonderful designer and illustrator of growing renown.
While Tim has been playing around with this, I've been painting up a few variations on dungeon environments and Jeff has been writing up information on the most popular of the dungeon systems available. Assuming all goes to plan, we're aiming to have this book go to Kickstarter in late January 2022, and be out to backers in mid-Summer next year.
Thank you all so much for your ongoing support. It really is great to be able to bring these ideas to life in physical form, and see so many people excited and inspired.
Cheers
Dave and THE ART OF... team
Almost there!
over 2 years ago
– Fri, Oct 01, 2021 at 12:09:52 PM
Time for another update on the production end of THE ART OF... project!
I'm very pleased to announce that all of the text has been written, initial layout has been completed, and final edits are well underway. There might be the odd image here or there that we need to switch out, or the placement of a caption we need to shuffle, but things are really getting there.
Last night I took delivery of the hi-res draft printouts of the books so that over the next week I can go through them, checking that all the elements are in the right place, that the images all look good etc. Once this stage and the final editing is complete, I'll be able to send the files off to the printers!
Timeline
Where does this put me on our production timeline? Well, I'm pleased to say we're a little bit ahead of the final deadlines I had set myself. That's a good thing, because the current state of affairs with international shipping (uncertain delays and insanely high prices) means that the timeline for delivery to backers is quite volatile.
My hope is that we'll still be able to deliver before our original projection of April 2022, and everything will be focused on making that happen.
Applause
But now is the time for the first round of applause for our wonderful artists (and their support teams) for writing a book! None of them have ever done that before, and soon they'll be able to add "published author" to their list of accomplishments. A pretty cool milestone, I think.
Next Steps - Finalizing surveys, charging cards, and wrapping up the pre-order store.
I'll keep updating everyone of our production progress along the way, but I also wanted to remind about 90 of you that you are yet to complete the BackerKit survey for this project. If you haven't done so, please check your emails (including Spam folders etc) for your personalized links and help us get all the info on time.
For everyone who has completed their survey, this weekend is when I'll be charging cards used for the shipping and add-ons. It should all go smoothly. but I'll be available for questions etc, should anything go wrong with your charge.
And finally, I'll be keeping the pre-order store open until the end of October, so if you know someone who would like to jump in and pick up their copies of THE ART OF... at the Kickstarter prices, you can guide them to:
And finally, here are a few spreads from the printouts (please excuse the glare, I was in a rush to get them photographed for the update).
From Aaron Lovejoy's section of the Miniature Monthly book (Volume 01)
The introduction to Elizabeth Beckley's section of the Miniature Monthly book (Volume 01)
A spread from Matt DiPietro's discussion on the Infinite Possibilities of miniatures art in the Miniature Monthly book (Volume 01)
A look at Christof Keil's kitbashing tools from his book (Volume 02)
One of the many cool spreads in Christof Keil's book (Volume 02)
The introduction spread from Ana Polanscak's book (Volume 03)
In addition to the marvelous world-building in her book, Ana also describes her adventures in sculpting miniatures (Volume 03)
Well underway. Thanks for your patience.
over 2 years ago
– Fri, Aug 27, 2021 at 07:56:10 PM
Hello Everyone!
It has been a little while since our last update, and it has been an incredibly hectic and trying summer. Thankfully, our authors have been diligently working away at their text, and providing a steady stream of images of their wonderful miniatures art. As these things have been coming in, I've been diving into the layout and getting everything ready for final editing.
Last time around, we were about 50 pages into the almost 370 pages we need to complete.
Now, eight weeks later, we are close to 300 pages laid out, with final editing work currently being done on 220. We are on track to have all the files to the printers ahead of schedule, but I'm not going to make any promises about early shipping, because we aren't all the way there yet.
The thing I'm most excited about with these books as they stand is that there isn't a formulaic feel to them. Even though the fonts and columns and headers etc. are the same, each artist is really bringing their own take on miniatures art to their book. I'm excited to see this develop across all the future books in the series too.
Pledge Manager and Pre-Orders
We have just over 100 backers who have yet to complete their pledge manager survey. I'll be sending reminders again next week, but if you haven't filled out your survey yet, please do so.
The Pre-Order Store is open too, and if you have friends who missed the campaign, they can jump in and pre-order copies of all the books, as well as trhe various campaign add-ons (like the lovely slipcase). The Pre-Order Store can be found at:
And to round things out, here are two images from the books
HALO Strike Team - Christof Keil
Unicorn Run - Ana Polanscak
Cheers
Dave and THE ART OF... team
Everything is well underway!
almost 3 years ago
– Sat, Jul 03, 2021 at 01:53:51 AM
I wanted to give everyone a quick update on how things are progressing with THE ART OF... project before we got too far into the summer season.
The Pledge Manager
It as been just over two weeks since we launched the BackerKit Pledge Manager and about 85% of you have already jumped in and filled out your surveys, paid for your shipping, and snagged a few of the cool Add-Ons (almost 500 slipcases have been purchased!) That means we only have about another 200 backers who are yet to complete their surveys. If you haven't already done so, I'll ask you to check your email folders (particularly the Spam folder) to find the survey email from BackerKit, and then click on through to complete it all, even if you only ordered digital products. In a couple of weeks time, BackerKit will send out a reminder email to those who haven't filled it out yet, but if you want to get that sorted out earlier and need me to resend your survey, please message me here on Kickstarter.
Our current plan is to charge all the cards at the beginning of October (1st or 2nd) and I'll be sure to send out a reminder update before we do.
The Books
Our artists have been working hard, writing their text and taking new photos, and revising their text, and then uploading it all for me to get started on. I'm currently around the 50-page mark for Christof's book which has some wonderful insights into the way he puts his wonderful kitbashes together, and the way he develops his stories and background for the miniatures too. Although I've been converting miniatures for 30 years, I've already learned a few things from Christof, and have a greater appreciation of how to be more mindful in my approach!
We've started on the first pass of editing too, and will be going hardcore into that by the end of July. Over the next couple of weeks I'll be receiving some more "finished" sections from the artists and July/August will be jammed solid with layout and conversations to help refine ideas and images. This is really my favorite part of the process.
The Pre-Order Store
The Pre-Order store is also now open, so if you have any friends or fellow painters who might have missed the Kickstarter, you can send them this link and they'll be able to join us on the first steps of this excellent journey.
Thank you all, as always, for your support and faith. I'm excited to start showing you more examples in the coming weeks and months.
Cheers
Dave
All surveys have been sent out!
almost 3 years ago
– Mon, Jun 14, 2021 at 10:41:26 AM
Happy Monday, everyone!
Thank you all for your patience. The Smopke Test went very smoothly over the weekend, with no issues being reported, so I have just hit the "Send All Surveys" button.
Although you do have a bit of time to complete them, I would ask that you do so as soon as you get a chance, so that we're not chasing you up further down the line, spamming your inbox with requests.
If yo have any questions at all, please ask them in the comments section here, or send me a message on Kickstarter.
First pages are underway!
I had a great chat this morning with Christof and I've started layout on the first section of his book. Very exciting using the actual text and specific photos to get rolling. In the coming updates I'll post a sample spread or two.
Pre-order store
In addition to having the surveys on their way out to everyone, we have also opened the BackerKit Pre-order Store for late pledges. If you have friends that missed out on the campaign you can guide them towards this link:
