Lawn Display Gnomes

   Here is a project that was put on hold after I started working on he Gnomes of New Hope. 
I'm thinking of doing our Gnome Artwork in this same fashion as 

Flat Lawn Displays. 
We have a ton of gnomes drawn for the Illustrated Book Series and 
producing those Gnomes as flat lawn displays 

would be easy to do and work very well. 

So I will be building a collection of 

"Lawn Display Gnomes" 

a variation on Garden Gnomes

and posting the progress here.

   Here's the link to

 "Santa and His Elves Lawn Display" 

Posted on the IMS Virtual Studio.

The image below is for a promotional card.

Inventory

FROM BOOK FIVE
Young Bezaliel is christened to become A Master Gnome by the Elder Gnomes

Just a note to say we will be building inventory of finished books. I will start with 100 of each book, in order to to get them on the shelf, establish the production line and other business details to manage production and distribution. I expect, as I mentioned before, that Limited Editions will be produced at Image of the Mind Studios, however, if as I expect, the new manufacturing process produces the results I hope for, then even higher production will maintain the Hand-Stitched Covers (both in-house & jobbed out) . This new assembly method brings hand-Stitching into competition with machine binding in terms of efficiency. Depending on demand, I will either set-up assembly in-house or job it out. I say all this because we are moving at a good pace to finish the Illustrations for Book Five, which I was concerned about, because that book has a number of of other stories that comprise The Gnomic Tales. As it turns out, we are adjusting nicely to crafting a different look for those books, due to the strylines taking place in the History of Gnomanity.  So far, so good.  I do want to build "The Elder Gnomes Joint Venture to produce and manage this project. So if you are interested as an investor/Board Member, let me know. AG

Updating our Approach

Garden Gnomes/Figurines

I am redressing the Garden Gnome Project.

The First Sculpture (shown below) is Constable Warren.

The first batch of castings were in concrete, 

a material that I am no longer enthused about.

Shipping concrete Garden Gnomes has it's problems,  concrete is heavy.

But more than that, I find that concrete sculptures are too fragile.

We have sculpted Ferny Reading.  It was created using Sculpty.

We are debating about firing Sculpty and I am trying to determine 

how to proceed with creating a mold.

I bought materials, but still need to think this through more.

I am looking to acquire a Kiln and expand what I already have 

in the Sculpting/Puppetry Studio.  

In the meanwhile, I am looking into what needs to be done to set up for 

casting resin (as opposed to concrete).

I have concluded that a resin product, filled with sand would be best. 

I would ship the hollow  Garden Gnome and the end user would 

fill it with sand to give it weight. 

Doing this will avoid breakage.

So, having made that determination, I am furthering discussions 

and actions to set up the CGI workstation 

to develop 3D characters from our existing artwork 

and thus be able to use 3D Printing to create; figurines, puppet heads, molds 

and limited run items for other projects 

(such as the Cyclorama Show).

I am still open to Partnerships for the Ancillary Markets, 

including the Garden Gnomes.

Along those lines, I may job out the casting, 

since the concentration must remain with Publishing the Books.

Above; early work on puppet heads

Below: Ferny Reading in process 

I am still moving forward with plans to build 

a Green Screen/Sound Stage in the Studio, 

to be used with the developing puppetry and other projects.

I have upgraded the video equipment to a three-camera HDV set-up 

along with improving the A/V Editing Suite 

(which still maintains our linear and multi-format options).

I expect to address the Music Composition/Production capabilities 

with an upgrade of Digital Performer and 

to look at recording some samples of additional music.

We expect to begin setting up a CGI workstation, 

mainly to aid with the 3D printing for the figurines 

and to apply it to developing a walk-thru Cyclorama.

And... I am working to integrate MIDI with DMX 

for stage instruments & practical control

associated with the Music Files

(when recorded music is used)

AG

 

IMS Publishing

Here is a link to posts that were made on another blog;

IMS Publishing

On that blog there are significant thoughts that never made it onto The Gnomes of New Hope blog.

This is a composite sketch 

before it was painted with watercolor

titled 

"Ferny Reading to the Little Ones"

If you look below, you will find some photos of 

the sculpture that is underway of Ferny Reading. 

These Sculptures are part of our Garden Gnome Project,

which is also tied to the smaller figurines, puppets, stop-action film work

and 

Cyclorama Project.

The Cyclorama Project will be directly tied to the model work on

 Set-Design and Animatronics.

But all of these concepts are contingent upon 

finishing, distributing & selling

 the

Illustrated Storybook Series

We are discussing producing some of the individual musical pieces, 

which have catchy themes

starting with;

The Stone of Wisdom

sung to Zach & Zebby by

The Master Gnome

Cover of Volume Three/Book Five

Cycloramas

   Interestingly enough, I realized that I need to be building models for the different set designs, so they will be integrated into the art exhibition and represent rather miniature Cycloramas. Start small and grow from there. (ie: "It's a Small World After All) Gno pun intended.

I like the idea of Animatronics Cycloramas, but if we get to that point, the puppets will be somewhere around two feet tall, making it a much bigger presentation.

Little by little, we'll get there. AG

Cycloramas

A Gnome Home

I've decided that we will build 

"The Gnomes of New Hope; 
Zach and Zebby's Grand Adventure"

as a walk-through cyclorama. 

I have been thinking about this type of show for years. 

That being said I will be looking for model makers.

send me an email.

    As you might have seen in other posts, I have been working (sporadically) on the puppetry aspect of the project. I have been him'n and haw'n about how to approach this. There are at least a half a dozen approaches, which amount to as many different shows. Each of these shows can (effectively) be promotional for the full (live) musical. Of course, all based on the Illustrated Storybooks.

   What it gets down to is this; I need to build the show that can be done most effectively in my studio, with the resources available to me. Doing that will also allow us to do a documentary film about the process.

   Yes, I am working toward setting up a sound stage with a green screen. I have the HDV, for a three camera shoot, to go with the sound stage. It has been my intention to build the puppets on a three foot chassis and for them to be both stick puppets or marionettes. I figure the stick puppets would be used for shooting against the green screen, but we could also do that with marionettes. I do have more that one bridge.

   So now I am working out a smaller representation of the show as cycloramas that can travel. I'm thinking of puppets that are 6-8 inches in height. Doing that can also turn into figurines that can be sold.

   That is the direction if things right now. I would be interested in discussing this with anyone who is a model-maker and may like some employment, working out of our shop in Southampton. We have 20 scenes (at least) to create.

An Invitation

 Here is an Invitation I found in my files. 
It was composed years ago 

when I was working on Business Structure

and I didn't realize just how much energy 

the Illustrated Storybooks would involve.

I see that I will be returning to the Business Documentation, 

as the publishing is nearing completion.

So, I updated this some and figured 

I might as well Post it here.

I can send it to you as an attachment,

without the decor.

PRODUCTION BREAKDOWN: Act One - Musical Numbers

 Here is my analysis of the 
Act One: Timing and Musical Numbers

I'll add more later, 

AG

Status Report

   We are making progress in completing the artwork. I am focusing on completing Book Four, while Jency continues to watercolor and refine the sketches into line drawings. Some of the material needs to be done over again, because the drawings do not actually match the requirements of the text. But that's just part of the process. It's rather like the way I needed to create backstory to reach the objective of the current storyline. There's a divergence of conception that naturally occurs, so in order to reach the right balance some material is created in order to get to the right place. It costs more to have to do that, but that's the price that needs to be paid.

   I'm somewhat stunned by just how much work is required to complete this project and I am anxious to be finished with the publishing stage of things, but it cannot be pushed beyond it's natural flow. I supposed that if I had more funds to work with, we could hire more people to work on it, but I'm not really set up yet to be distracted by trying to supervise other operations. As it is, I need to set up the book binding in a more productive fashion. I'm looking at manufacturing from a new perspective and if things work out the way I hope, the Hand-Stitched binding will become viable with the changes in the production line.

 

 I'm working on the Gallery Exhibition of the Artwork for the Storybook Collection.  This panel setup needs to be finished to accommodate a presentation of the material. I've decided to use wall paper to cover the panels. You can see from this one panel (in the front) that staining the panel looks rather mediocre. I wanted to apply cork to the panels, but the cost is prohibitive, more so because for that cost, I can't achieve the effect I want. But, after putting wall paper in my kitchen, I find that the old barn wood design I used works very well on these exhibition panels. So I will be looking into other wallpaper designs.

  On another front; I have been thinking about the sound-stage. I can't set that up so soon. I have a number of vehicles that need to be completed and parked inside Building Four for the winter. I will need to secure another facility in order to remove machinery from the space (which I want to set up as the sound stage). So there will be a delay, until I find a solution, or finish putting those vehicles back together. It's a drag, but working on "The Gnomes of New Hope" has distracted me from other things that have needed tending. Now it's getting out of hand and I need to shift my attention to other things, as soon as it is possible. That being said, I would like to pass off certain Gnome projects, so I can be free to address other matters.

That's all for now. AG

The Libretto/Score

I guess I have to prove that we actual do have a Libretto and a Score,
so here's a shot of those materials.

Both the Libretto and Score are divided into 

Act One & Act Two

Even though Act One Score looks pretty beefy there,

that doesn't include the score for individual Instruments.

It is designed for a 24 piece Pit Orchestra

and what you see there are drafts of the final score

and not all numbers are printed out there.

Below is a long shot of the Production breakdown 

that outlines the timing of the show,

including production numbers and set changes,

assuming the sets are along the lines of the ones I have designed,

which may not be the case, since things have expanded since then.

It doesn't really tell you much, except that 

this degree of Production Breakdown 

is done and hanging on the back of my door.

It's really only a timing document,

 outlining the musical numbers, their timing, length of dialogue, 

scene timing, bridges and set change timing.

Oh, and there is some blocking in there too.

The Libretto has Technical, Operational and Directorial notes included.

In the larger scheme of things, there's way more work to do. 

For now I'm focused on publishing the Illustrated Storybooks.

After that I will publish the Libretto and continue working on the score.

There's still more Arrangements that need to be done,

but there's a lot of numbers that I can do the final score on.

I have to go back and redo the Divisi and the time signatures

(that I lost due to a hard drive failure)

as well as other aspects of the score that need to be addressed.

But I'm not going to touch the music until 

the Illustrated Storybooks are finished and are being published.

Mainly, because I don't want to overburden my computer 

and end up with more hard drive failures.

Truth be told, 

I lost ten years worth of work with numerous hard drive failures, 

work that I had to rebuild or recreate.

That is why it has taken me so long to do this.

Gadzooks!

"Never Been So Near"

 Well, while I'm at it I guess I'll post this song again.
This is the First Song in the show
(other than the Overture)

"Never Been So Near"

I made this as a animation almost ten years ago

using the Artwork we had at the time.

We have not recorded anyone singing it yet,

so I just put the lyrics up as a scroll up the screen.

I think you can get the gist of it.

I don't think I need a bouncing ball.

The email at the end if this film is no longer valid. 

use the gmail one on the sidebar.

AG

A Promotional Powerpoint

 A Sample of the e-Storybook Format

As I was working on posting the "Talking head" video below,

I found this sample powerpoint presentation I made

as a test for how the e-Storybook might look.

I was experimenting with what I could do with PowerPoint.

It's a little stiff, the narration,

 because I was worried about slurring the words

and I tried to narrate it at a reasonable speed 

that one might casually read the material.

I did not want to read it too fast.

You know how it is,

 sometimes you just take things too seriously.

The narration from this is published in

 Volume/Book: One Introduction to 

Oh well, take it for what it is.

I am about to actively seek Agency Representation, 

so this might help.

Also, I hope to locate Theatre & Film Producers 

who may like to be involved as well.

I expect that this gives a good picture of the project.

I think I probably posted this years ago when I made it.

I've been totally engaged in the publishing end of things

and I didn't realize that finishing that would take years.

AG

The Elder Gnomes Joint Venture

"Bezaliel becomes a Master Gnome "

The Elder Gnomes Joint Venture

Advancement into the First Class Theatre & First Run Cinema Productions,

in addition to the numerous other Ancillary Markets, including Television,

is contingent upon establishment of the Joint Venture.

Advancement in the Limited Edition Publishing Arena is the Purview of 

Image of the Mind Studios

while the Unlimited Editions will belong to the Joint Venture.

The Secondary Markets: Festival & Environmental Theatre, 

Independent Animated Film,

Puppetry, Animatronics,  

and Garden Gnomes & Figurines

are the purview of Image of the Mind Studios

All the rights to this project, 

with the exception of those retained by Image of the Mind Studios,

 will be turned over to the Joint Venture 

once the Structure is firmly established 

and the appropriate number of Board Members 

buys into the project.

There is a fixed number of shares in the project

47% of which will be sold to

active members of the JointVenture,

the Balance of which belong to Image of the Mind Studios

ad infinitum.

The ratio of shares will always remain the same in the event of a stock split.

Acquisition of 100% of the project

can only be achieved by purchase of 

Image of the Mind Studios

The Industry Review Package 

makes reference to this Joint Venture

and the Business Plan outlines the basic terms.

The Business Plan

is developing and takes into account a larger operation than just

"The Gnomes of New Hope; Zach & Zebby's Grand Adventure"

this Business Plan defines an Operating Structure 

that incorporates multiple divisions

that in current terms, represents separate business entities,

but are linked to effect the production

of this and other projects of a similar nature.

This multi-faceted Business Operation is to be Founded and Supervised by 

The Elder Gnomes Joint Venture

and

Image of the Mind Studios.

Accommodation is also made 

for the outright Sale of 

The Gnomes of New Hope Franchise

along with 

Image of the Mind Studios

and other projects in various stages of development.

AG

Producing/Selling the Books

 

The Hand-Stitched Binding affects the appeal of the books at first glance.

Yes, the artwork is phenomenal as well and the fact that 

the books are based on

A Stage Musical

makes the project unique and, if we are lucky, enduring. 

Hand-stitched Books will be produced exclusively by

 Image of the Mind Studios

in our own shop, 

as oppose to being jobbed out to a third party printer/binder.

That means that inventory (of Hand-stitched Books) will be limited 

to whatever we decide to, or can,  keep on the shelf. 

Production time for Hand-Stitched Books is considerably longer 

than Machine Bound Books.

So availability of the Hand-Stitched Books 

will depend upon current inventory.

That being said, 

there may be a wait if inventory is depleted.

DIRECT SALES

Individual books can be ordered, at MSRP, directly from our sales office.

There will be an additional $15 charge for signed and numbered editions.

There will be no discount for books 

(not purchased under the wholesale terms for retailers).

The Story of 

spans a collection of Seven Books, also published as Three Volumes.

All Hand-Stitched Books, One thru Seven, have an MSRP of $34.95.

Some books have more pages than others.

The Three Volume Set is not being released at this time. 

WHOLESALE

For retailers, we have a wholesale structure. 

Minimum purchase for wholesale pricing is 36 books.

However, a full keystone on the Hand-Stitched Books will not be achieved 

on any less than 1k quantity purchases, per book.

The Wholesale pricing schedule for 

both Hand-Stitched and Machine Bound books,

 will be released after 

IMS Inventory of Hand-Stitched Books is built up

and after the first production run 

of Machine Bound Books takes place.

MSRP of Machine Bound books is likely to be $24.95.

Exclusive Distribution Rights of Machine Bound Books is available.

More Later... AG

Watercolors

    So, we have begun transferring the sketches over to watercolor paper. In the previous artwork, I would take the scanned B&W line drawings, which are enhanced sketches, and process them in Photoshop.  Once I cleaned the line drawings up, I would print them out on watercolor paper.  Well, this time around, I have concluded that it is more cost effective just to have the sketches transferred directly to watercolor paper via pencil. The time I had to spend preparing and printing the watercolor line drawings actually cost me more than paying Jency to redraw the artwork onto watercolor paper.  

   The other advantage of drawing, as opposed to printing, is that corrections and adjustments can be made before applying the watercolor.  I like the time to consider whether or not a drawing needs adjustment and having the pencil drawings rather than a printed blank makes corrections possible. At this stage,  corrections are a very good option to have.

   I'm inclined to proceed with animation using classic methods, simply because I can't see how CGI can maintain the aesthetics that we have achieved with these watercolors. I could be wrong, but I was trained in early techniques using 16mm and I find the early animation work to be enthralling. I do have sufficient computer technology and programs to pursue CGI, but I am not certain about the best way to proceed. I'm inclined to do some sample animations and to see how it all can be merged. We are looking at puppetry as an element and with the green-screen, we can do live action and convert that into animation using various techniques.

    I guess we'll see how it pans out. I'm always open to discussing this with other producers experienced in these arenas, as well as distribution.

AG

Very Close

 We're getting close to publishing Volume Three 
of 
The Three Volume Set.

    This set will only be for Registrations and Industry Review  
allowing the material to be available  to 
Literary/Theatrical Agencies

The Gnomes View of New Hope/Lambertville
from atop the Plateau on the other side of
The Great River
just across from
Gnomeville

     The work of finishing Volume Three has reached the stage where; we have sketches completed for all the pages where artwork was missing.  Publishing this version of the Book collection will allow me to register the work with the numerous agencies and permit distribution to Industry Professionals.

   As I have said before, The Libretto has been finished for many years and most of the music has been arranged. All of the melody lines have been composed, but the score is in need of refinement, as most of the songs are in draft form and require Time & Key Signatures, as well as Divisi and publishing into Orchestra Parts. So there is a lot to do on that front. Once the Illustrated Storybooks are fully published and in production, our attention can be turned back to the music. Shawn awaits my word that the energy is shifting back to the music.

Time to offer an Option

For those Industry Professionals who may like to become involved by investing, I suggest reading this post on IMS Management.

The Stage Musical

I found this post saved as a draft, so I'm going to post it and update these thoughts.

I thought I'd address the subject of the Musical. Shawn and I have been discussing the music, on and off for years. We stopped just shy of having  completed it for a few reasons; the stress of our debates over scoring was one reason, scheduling our work sessions was difficult, but on my end, the realization that an Illustrated Storybook needed to be finished and be put in a position to be sold, before any stage musical could go into production. All these reasons are critical elements that must be addressed  Little did I know that it would take over ten years, closer to fifteen (maybe even more) to complete that task. 

Update 4/12/23

The Illustrated Storybooks really do stand on their own, they just happen to be based on the Stage Musical. I am certain that once the publishing layout is finally locked in and finished, completely ready for mass publication (meaning no correction, additions, or modifications) and the printer's files are totally locked in, then, and only then, will I be completely free to do the same with the music compositions and scoring.

I spent six months working on the music. I was doing time signatures and modifying the beats to accommodate vocal delivery, while also crafting divisi, only to have been stalled by having hard disc failure steal my material. I put everything on hold after that. I will need to seek out and implement disc recovery. If I am lucky I can get those files back. But I'm not going to get involved in any of that, until after the publishing files are completely finished. 

Once that has happened and my mind is free to focus on those music issues, then I will build a new music workstation, which will incorporate both the older systems we were using, along with a new processor to run the upgraded programs. I think in that way, we will have the best of both world; the old established methodology running adjacent to the new systems that will tie more effectively into our use of video, but also into the stage control systems. I will address those control systems elsewhere. Suffice it to say, I'm looking into a lighting control panel, but one system I'm very interested in will run off my Mac laptop. I do think we need a hard board that will sync with that as well. I'm looking into that.

So we (Shawn & I) have discussed getting back to the music and it's almost time to do that. However, I am building a sound studio and sound stage stage in the studio with "a green screen".  The stage will be a normal 16' deep by 20' working area. The wings and upstage area are 6'-10'. I think this size stage is sufficient for our in-house development work. I have a few other dramas in addition to the Gnomes musical. Right now, I am upgrading the video capabilities to a three-camera shoot and concentrating on making sure the editing suite is functioning properly.  So, working on the music is not quite happening yet. 

All the computer systems are older, although not too old. I do have work stations that go all the way back to OS9 and I would like to review all the work stations to make sure they work properly and are networked properly. The workstation we originally used to compose the music was OS10.4 and that worked really well. It did develop a problem, so I switched over to OS10.5 and I maintain a 10.5 workstation, even though I'm now up to 10.15. I am working on networking my storage space through numerous systems. It's not an easy task, but it needs to be done so that an array of workstations can service both old and new systems. This is important because I use programs that require different operating systems, but I need to be able to upgrade the files into newer systems where that is required. It's very tricky trying to figure this out.

Basically, in terms of the music, I'm working on setting up a new set of upgraded programs, which will also need to tie into the video editing suite. My problem is that, I am afraid to disturb my current workstation to upgrade, or even open the music and video programs, because I simply cannot afford to have anything infract my publishing layout (ie: hard disc failures). 

I do have other machines available, but frankly, the shift in thinking that is required to set up these other functions (music and video) cannot happen yet. I'm almost finished with the publishing end of things and I need to hang in there until that is all finalized.

But I am endeavoring to upgrade the video equipment (done) and move forward with staging preparations, because doing that will not interject itself into the publishing workstation.

I'll continue with this at another time.

AG

Sculpting Garden Gnomes

    As it turns out, Jency's granddaughter is a very talented young person. She is sculpting Ferny Reading. I don't have a copy of what she is sculpting for us right now, so here is the Constable Warren Garden Gnome. The Garden Gnome line will begin with seven characters being released, one with each book. The initial release will be signed and numbered, although the format is yet to be determined.

   You see below the mold that was made from the original Constable Warren, made by Elsa Acton. That mold is a number of years old now, and it's condition leads me to believe that I need to make new molds, out of different materials. I'm thinking that we should create the mold in a digital 3D environment and then we can print out new molds as needed if and when the working molds get destroyed. So I will be working to scan Ferny Reading and go from there for this, the second Garden Gnome.

  Ferny Reading is mainly intended as a display sculpture used to market the books in book stores. But I am thinking along the lines of resin sculptures instead of concrete. We can certainly make concrete, but the distribution of concrete will either have to be pick-up at the studio or delivered to garden centers. Direct mail order of concrete is out, due to the weight and the risk of damage. With resin, my design will include a plug on the bottom, whereby the purchaser can fill the Gnome with sand to give it weight.

Elsa and her little buddy Constable Warren

   As we proceed with this end of the project we will be sculpting at least two collections; The Garden Gnomes (designed for, well, gardens) and Figurines (designed as smaller souvenir items).  I will be updating this post and adding to it as things proceed.

Here is "Ferny Reading" a sculpture by Serena King. It's a work in progress, but it looks great so far!

UPDATE 7/26/23:

   We have acquired the supplies to set up a casting operation. The puppet shop has been used for casting faces (for the puppets) and the first "Constable Warren" Garden Gnome. Having advanced to this next Garden Gnome "Ferny Reading",  it is appropriate to focus on improved mold making, since we will be creating numerous Garden Gnomes and figurines from "The Gnomes of New Hope".  Besides the fact that IMS is principally a prototype shop, setting up for manufacturing, with a kiln, is a good idea, to give us latitude. Clearly, unless we find a supplier to produce the figurines and such at a workable price, our best bet is to set up to do this in-house.  I certainly am willing to discuss these sculpture with an outside agency, so if you do this kind of work, you are welcome to contact me via email. In the meanwhile, we are setting up the sculpture studio to include mold making and casting these figurines in various mediums. 

LINKS to previous posts;

Garden Gnomes, Articulating Figurines & Puppets

2/24/23 UPDATE

 Oaky doaky. Well, we have advanced very near to the completion of the sketches for the entire Book collection. The plan is to complete the sketches, then shift over to refining them into line drawings, which are printed out on watercolor paper for coloring. Then I rescan the watercolors, detail the scans with an array of processing and effects to match the already finished artwork, then replace the sketches with the finished watercolors. There are around 350 illustration panels that need to have this done. Then - It's all finished. YAHOO... in another two years.  It's very slow going, for various reasons, which I can't discuss here. But we are on the right track. We could start working on the stage show or the cinema aspects any time now, because the Illustrated Storybooks will be finished first, absolutely.  But before we can pitch it to investors and producing organizations (presuming we do) all the artwork needs to be done, at least the sketches and then the registrations. That's about it for now. AG

Here's a sketch. More detail on this one, almost ready for watercolor.

Zach thinks about his Ancestor and namesake

Zachary the Great

IMS Design Studio

 A new blog titled

IMS Design Studio

has been established 

to serve as a portal to the IMS Shopping Cart.

This blog will also serve as a gallery of products

which are available for purchase

to both 

Wholesale Buyers

and

Retail Customers

Since this site under construction

I invite you to review it for future reference.

Animation

   Even though the e-Storybook will be accessed via an online subscription, it will also be available as a collection of DVDs (probably as a collectable gift to our crew & investors), since I have a DVD Publisher. Of course there are also SSD drives as well, which may turn out to be the prime method of delivery, due to the size of the files.

   So, I recently acquired another laptop, a Mac Pro, of course. I've need another portable, since all my other ones are basically dead. But the real reason for another computer is that I am building an animation workstation and I will be moving my Mac Mini over to that workstation. I am building a monitor into one of my drafting tables and this will allow my artists to access previous art and also use the built-in screen as a light table. This allows us to craft movement from any of the images, in a conventional fashion using art panels. Of course, we are still introducing digital animation techniques, but I want to make sure we have a foundation in classic animation methodology (albeit, somewhat upgraded by using computer imagery to create underlays)

   Now, I am also constructing a sound stage, with a green screen, so that we might be able to introduce puppetry into the background scenery, which we are creating and using in the Illustrated Storybooks.

   It's interesting how layers can be applied to this process. For instance; if we create animation of a character (CGI or manually) we can insert that character and it's movements in any background as an upper layer. But here's the beauty of it - that animated character layer can be replaced with Digital Video of the same character portrayed with a puppet, captured on the sound stage in-house. 

   I was amazed to find a copy of Adobe Character Animator on this new laptop. I didn't even know this existed. Here's what I found out; Character Animator uses the car my era in the computer to monitor the movements of my mouth and interpret them in into the animated character. That amazes me. I was even more blown away to discover that the program ties into MIDI. If I understand that correctly, I can then tie the animation into our music midi files.

  The music for the Gnomes of New Hope had been composed using Digital Performer. We have a total of 70 musical numbers. Some of those numbers are bridges, backdrops and instrumentals, so they are not all lyrical songs. But the point is that; if the animation can be tied to a MIDI track, well, then we can sync the action, including the lip sync. Clearly, with Character Animator, I can sing the song and the animated character will react in like kind. I have not explored that program yet, but I believe we can scan our characters (artwork) into the program and build functional files for each character.

    All in all, I'd say we are on the right track for creating not only excellent artwork for the  Illustrated Storybooks, but an Animated e-Storybook as well.

AG

Puppetry

   I woke up thinking about the future of The Gnomes of New Hope after we finish the Illustrations for the books. I said to Jency that we will still need to paint the drops for the "shows".  Well, "shows" means the various kinds of shows that we need to present. Yes, The Gnomes project (overall) is a stage musical and the one difficulty that presents (for me) is the actors. After a spending time crafting the books and doing a production breakdown for the stage show, I came to realize that finding actors that are of the appropriate size to portray gnomes, may pose a difficulty.

   So, that being the case, one version of the show is a puppetry presentation. I am building a green screen/sound stage in the studio, in part for that reason.

   I have been building IMS since 1977. For a time I was making films, using 16mm, which was followed by video, and writing a number screenplays, before or almost at the same time as I was writing for the stage. In addition to this, I spent much time gathering the supplies necessary to build a theatre.

    Without going into depth on this subject here, I now have sufficient warehouse space to install a stage, which is in process. I will discuss this further on the IMS Virtual Studio blog.

   All this leads me to say, I am looking for people who are interested in building and operating puppets. One aspect of this is that I am also in the process of buying a machine shop. My plan is to engage in animatronics and robotics with the machine shop and to apply that to the puppetry of The Gnomes of New Hope. So if you are interested in being involved, send me an email at; image.of.the.mind.studios@gmail.com and we will engage is discussions on this subject. 

  I will address this subject again in the future.

AG 🎬🎶🎭

Main Printing Files - January 2023

Here's a caricature

 (of me back in the day)

 It's the "Never-Ending Journey"

I think I'll write a film with that title. 

   So, the journey to reconstruct the working files of The Gnomes of New Hope has reached a plateau. I just had a conversation with someone, whereby I explained how the process works. It is really very complex and the complexity is founded in the fact that there are seven books (777 pages) that must be coordinated, so that all the elements are the same. I never imagined that doing this would take so much time and effort.

   To someone who does not, or cannot, know what that means, it is this: imagine, if you will, that each page is composed of three primary elements- the background page, the text and the art. That sounds simple enough. However, two of those components are, quite literally, constructed from a hundred or more of layers, with protocols that must be either matched or adjusted to appear to match. You see, just because a setting looks good on one piece of artwork (example; a shadow) does not mean that adjustment will look right on another piece of artwork. Size, shape, color, resolution and proximity effect how any any given protocol effects that particular piece of artwork (for the illustrations). Relativity is not interpreted automatically, it must be set-up in the layout. 

    The background alone took years to design, construct and structure properly. It progressed through minute changes, which were effected by, and because of, other components and processes that came into play. That background has finally settled into, what I now consider to be, the ultimate of what it can be. Although, even now, I have discovered errors that have occurred between files. Just yesterday I found that a portion in one layer of the background in a section of book four had accidentally gotten erased, apparently when the layer I was working on switched in the middle of erasing anomolies in a piece of artwork. The layer switched because I accidentally hit the wrong key on the keyboard. These are the things one must be aware of and correct before going to press. It was very fortunate that I found that, because the error was very subtle. The thing is, now I need to check all the other files to make sure that mistake has not been transferred over to those files as well. I say this because; when a change happens to the background layers, that background file (which contains many layers) needs to replace the previous background in all the files. This layout consists of at least 60, if not 80 files. That is a big part of the complexity.

  You know, people have said to me "you could make changes forever, why not just call it finished?" and I did that as best as I could... until, a change was required. Here's the thing, particularly in regard to the background; four primary components. Those four primary components have been created using hundreds of layers that have been shaped and reshaped, with countless EFX and adjustments, to create the final look of those components. There are sub-files that allow me to go back to any component and change the look, but in the main working file those primary components are simplified down to a few layers that can be adjusted as necessary. I say this because I have found that different printing presses produce different results. Hence the need to make adjustments to assure that the final printed product will be consistent if the printing press changes. This would be the reason I am looking into putting a press in the studio. Of course, that will depends on what kind of quantity I can get with orders for the finished books. Also that depend on whether or not the press is leased or purchased. I may be able to shift assets around in order to secure the press and supplies, either way.

   OK, well, the initial layouts have been converted over into a layered scenario that gives me full control over adjusting all the components, as needed for printing, but also design adjustments, because everything now is in PSD, whereas it originated and grew in a DOCX environment. The reason for this is that - the narrative story was originally written in DOC and gradually changed into an Illustrated Storybook, so converting the text over to the present format occurred in DOC with artwork inserted, which became DOCX.  As the artwork came about, going from TIFF, experimenting with JPG, requiring PDF, and creating backup files in PNG, the ultimate editing format for the art has been and remains PSD. But storage is another matter. As well as resolution.  There has been size issues with all the files, issues that have been effected by RAM and processing speed, required lowered resolution storage and caused hard disc failure (multiple times) resulting loss of a great deal of material. I have rebuilt all this material, literally, countless times. Looking back I can say those rebuilds resulted in improvements.

   As insane as it sounds, my working files are up to REV 463. I am now going back to inspect the artwork in the earlier books of this updated edition, being that by the time I reached the end of the series, although I started by simply updating the background, I made improvements to the EFX on the artwork that need to be reflected consistently throughout the series. I am finding that much of the artwork which was satisfactory for (what I now view as ) the preliminary layout, is not acceptable for the finished artwork that has EFX attached to it. I am inspecting the artwork for clarity, but I also am finding a great deal of artifacts that need to be removed. Those artifacts were not apparent without the EFX. So I've actually taken to adding a bright blue stroke which reveal any artifacts and clarifies the edge of the artwork, whereas a black or gray stroke does not isolate the anomalies the way bright blue (or hot pink does), the reason is that those colors are not present in the artwork. So this needs to be another tool for inspecting the artwork in order to gain the maximum resolution, clarity and separation in the layout.

   In the meanwhile, Jency is coming in on a weekly basis to continue with the artwork. We are basically only working one day a week on the artwork, although she is drawing the remaining sketches at home in her own time. It won't be very long before we switch over to refining the sketches into finished line drawing and then begin creating the watercolors. I may be able to entice her to work more often with an increased budget, but that MAY only happen with an external investment.  Possibly a license for the film or theatre production?

   Of course I have a great deal of work to do, in order to prepare the finished watercolors for publication and then insert them into the layout. So I have no real clarity as to how long it will take to actually finish the publishing end of things. But we are closer than ever to the finishing line. In fact, three of the seven books are completely finished and three others are almost finished, while one other book (about 156 pages) has virtually no watercolors, although the illustration panels are approximately two thirds filled with sketches (not even line drawings yet, let alone watercolors).  The "somewhat unfortunate thing" is that - that book is number five, which contains "The Gnomic Tales",  a completely separate set of stories.  That was the reason for the hang-up. We skipped illustrating "The Gnomic Tales" because they were not originally part of the project.

     "The Gnomic Tales" comprise the Back-story of "Zach & Zebby's Grand Adventure. It became clear that a backstory needed to be inserted into the stage play, in order for the characters to advance with justification of their motives, so a version of "The Gnomic Tales" were created as a mechanism for that and, of course, they ended up in the book series.  I say it's unfortunate because being in Book Five they become a roadblock to releasing Books Six & Seven.  But we are working on it, so hopefully we can get it moving faster. 

   There's a lot of other things to talk about, but not now. I welcome any serious inquiries from producers or investors. I am not producing this with Loans, nor with Venture Capitalists.  Industry Professionals,  Theatrical & Cinematic Investors, or Studio Operations only.  We are setting up to produce things at Image of the Mind Studios in Southampton Pennsylvania. In case you are interested.

"That's All Folks".  (as they say)   AG