Animation and Poser

I'm getting close to having all the Print files completed, so I am now thinking about the remaining illustrations for the books. With the print files locked in, all that will be required, in that regard, is to drag and drop the finished artwork. 

So that brings to question; how to best complete the work in a timely manner? The fact that animation is in the cards, brings the merging of those two goals.

I'm inclined to get the 3D rendering setup before we begin creating the 2D illustrations. In fact, I'm thinking that merging the two operations is the best approach. 

That being said, I am looking for someone who can create the skins for Poser, using our existing art.  I know there are other programs, but for now I am using Poser and setting up a workstation for animation.

So drop me a line if this is something you can do and we can discuss it. AG

Arthur Greisiger

image.of.the.mind.studios@gmail.com

Marketing & Distribution

I'm adding some older pages from the second prototype preface to Book One, just to highlight this post. The actual print layout is greatly improved and sized differently than these pages, which are over five years old.

 An "Industry Review Package" is available, published as a Three Volume Set of the Illustrated Storybook, plus the Two Volume Libretto.

The publishing layouts are nearing completion, I mean, really this time. I suspect, based on past experience, that I might discover a few corrections that will need to be made, but overall, I honestly believe that the books are truly finished.

 I say this knowing that there are missing illustrations in Books Four through Seven, with Book Five needing the most. Book Five contains portions of The Gnomic Tales, which was not illustrated at all, because they were added after we stopped working on the artwork.

Now in that regard; the illustrations that have been done were originally intended for the Libretto, which gradually became an Illustrated Storybook. That Illustrated Storybook gradually became a collection of Seven Books, primarily because the number of pages in each Gnome-Sized book needed to be around 100, for the sake of binding. So the Storybook became a collection.

Now since the title of this post is Marketing & Distribution, let me address that issue. Even though I have a plan for implementing the next stage of operations, Manufacturing and Inventory, I'd like to make it known that I seek to "job out" Marketing & Distribution. 

When I say that the materials are nearing completion, I mean that the publishing layouts are in the fourth prototype run. The essential objective is to be certain that, not only are there no mistakes, but that all the layouts are up to the printing specs, without error. In addition, the working layouts are now setup so that adding the remaining artwork and illustration panels is "drag and drop". 

As is stands now, Books One through Three are finished. Book Four needs fifteen illustration panels. Book Five needs approximately 150 panels, basically having no panels, and Books Six and Seven are mostly illustrated, but all told the collection needs 345 illustration panels. If that sounds like a lot, it is a fraction of what has already been done.

I expect to move into animation and I believe that I will use that process to complete the remaining illustrations. I have been setting up a new workstation for illustrating, albeit in the context of finishing the publishing layouts. But now that the tech specs for the layouts is days away from being complete, I will be focusing more on getting the illustration work station(s) properly set up and working.

 One aspect of that is tying my main workstation to a copy board that I can send digital images to, so that the artist can access my animated layout for use in conventional watercolor panels. The illustations in the Storybooks have all been watercolors and the remaining work needs to remain consistent with that. So, even though I will use Poser to create a scenario for an illustration panel (or animation) that digital sketch will only be used as a guide for the artists to follow in creating the watercolor illustrations. I believe that this method will expedite completion of the artwork required. You might find an older discussion on our method of creating the illustrations somewhere in this blog. Moving into the future though, animation needs to come into play, so that's going to create a new methodology.

All this being said, you can see why I want the Marketing and Distribution of the books to be jobbed out. I have a great deal of other work to do, especially if we are going to move forward with the theatrical aspect of this project. I still need to switch back to working on the music and completing the score. It would be best if these books could be making us the money we need to advance. So I say this in case there may be a future Producing Partner reading this blog. I'll address this subject at another time and on another blog.

That's all for now. AG

Print Files

Constable Warren Garden Gnome in terracotta, before the molds were made for casting him in concrete.

Publishing update:

The print files are almost done. I've been conforming all the materials to match both design and size specifications. I know I've done all this multiple times, but if one change occurs, it negates all the other work, particularly if that change has to be implemented in all the adjacent files, across the entire collection (ie; 900 pages) So what this means is; all the possible changes have taken place... hopefully. 

As I mentioned before, there is a substantial amount of artwork for illustration panels that still needs to be done for the entire collection to be finished. But what I have done, is to complete all the other layout work, and to set up the files so that inserting the finished panels is as easy as dropping them in, without that effecting the publishing layout beyond updating that particular page. I'll post a sample page to exemplify what I am saying.

So now I am building the Gnome-Sized Book Files. Initially, I just reduced the size at the printers, but now I realize that I need the Master Files to be properly sized, so the printers do not have to do any of that. This will eniminate any mistakes, something that has cropped up numerous times in printing previous prototypes. I've made a concerted effort to solve all those problems on the front end, making the printing, practically a plug and play operation. Well, we'll see. AG