Copyright Notice

This is to proclaim that all materials posted on this blog are property of and copyrighted by Image of the Mind Studios/Arthur Greisiger .
These materials may not be reproduced or copied without permission. They are posted here for you personal review only.

.

Friday, December 13, 2024

The Elder Gnomes Joint Venture

   
   The following Business Structure applies to The Gnomes of New Hope, or any other project owned or developed under the umbrella of Image of the Mind Studios

    I will be moving forward to establish The Elder Gnomes Joint Venture as a legal entity and I will be selling 48% of the Gnomes of New Hope, along with all Management and Ancillary Rights to the Joint Venture. The Joint Venture will be responsible for Licensing, Contracts, Establishing and Overseeing primary operations of each division, Distribution, Marketing and Upper Management. The Board of Directors consists of twelve individuals who have bought onto the board and are hands-on Management Individuals, responsible for Implementation, Delegation and Supervision. The Joint Venture has the first option to buy Image of the Mind Studios when the time is right for that to happen.

    In addition to that, at the appropriate time, after all board positions are filled, we will be establishing  The Gnomes of New Hope Limited Partnership to fund operations. 

   Simultaneous to, but shortly after the Joint Venture board positions are filled, IMS Management, Incorporated will be formed as the management arm of Image of the Mind Studios, to oversee Logistics of Production Management and Finance. It will be funded, in part, by the Limited Partnership.

     

    The Gnomes of New Hope Productions, Incorporated will be formed using the proceeds of the GNH/LP and that division is specifically responsible for production activities and scheduling of the project that shares it's name.  This entity may be involved in all markets, in particular; supervising all Audio/Visual mediums; Theatre, Feature Film, Television, e-Storybook, including Merchandizing. All contract and Licensing will remain with the Joint Venture and personnel must be reviewed and approved by the same.

   Image of the Mind Studios as a whole, is the source of and responsible for Design, Development and  (Prototype & Limited Edition) Production of all Creative Materials : Storybooks (Publishing; hardcopy, Audio/Visual & e-Storybooks), Music Composition & Production, Graphics, Advertising Copy, Film & Video concepts, Animatronics/Puppetry, Festival Production Activity and Prototypes for Ancillary Merchandizing.  Mass Production for Merchandizing, First Run Feature Presentation (theatre, Film & Television) and the Distribution of such, is under the purview of the Joint Venture and it's licensees.  Image of the Mind Studios will at all times maintain ownership of The Gnomes of New Hope and all the iterations or variations thereof.  

   At some point, Board members of each division have the option to buy shares in IMS, leading to the entity being a closely held Corporation and eventually a Public Corporation.

IMS Producing Partners;

    These subjects will be (and are being) addressed on other blogs that pertain to each division and they will  be linked here if and when it is appropriate to do so.

    Direct inquiries are Welcomed - AG

Tuesday, November 19, 2024

Producing Partners

From the booth at
The Mitchell Performing Arts Centre
Bryn Athyn Orchestra Rehearsal
( I'm a Board Member and the Technical Director )

    The time is coming for more activity on the Producing Partners aspect of this project. With the Publishing Layout nearing completion and production of the Illustrated Storybooks moving forward, we have a viable product that needs managing. The whole point of the Storybooks has been to build an audience for the stage show and now that those tools are about to be used, it is appropriate to build the management team and to seriously address the Ancillary Markets.

As I have mentioned, the primary mechanism for managing this project is The Elder Gnomes Joint Venture, which consists of a Board of Directors, which has yet to be built. Without the completed books, it has not been either practical or possible to build a management team. Even now there is more to be done to lock in the Illustrated Storybooks, but the business structure for the larger project can start to be properly and legally established.

As you may know, Licensing plays a role in financing operations and establishing those markets can begin to take place, with the publishing and active production line of the Storybooks. 

The Libretto and Score For the Stage Musical


As it stands now, we are nearing the end of the Illustration process and I still need to install quite a few paintings into books five, six and seven. Sometimes ago, I concluded upon a different path of creating the artwork, that of sketch, line drawing, watercolor printout, and then painting. This, of course has been the process, but I focused on that, without inserting the finished work into the books, until all the paintings were finished and ready to be inserted. In this way the energy could be more pointedly focused on completion of the paintings, because that process was dragging on and this was my method of rectifying that problem. 

   So now the watercolor components are largely finished, with a few of the more complex illustration panels needing to be refined. Meaning that we decided to approach the panels by breaking them into components, which allows my to compose the panels as I see fit; sizing and placing the characters into a background that can be trimmed, enlarged or reduced as needed. I discovered early on that having complete control over the final illustration also gave me greater control over the composition of the page. This will be quite apparent to those who buy the books, which, by the way, will be made to order. Details of selling the books will be discussed elsewhere.

Suffice it to say that; the management mechanisms are being put into place for our Producing Partners using The Elder Gnomes Joint Venture, The Gnomes of New Hope Productions and The Gnomes of New Hope Limited Partnership.

An Early Design for the e-Storybook Packaging
   Once these business organizations are established, that is the direction this project must follow through on. If any other scenario may be lingering outside of Image of the Mind Studios, that needs to be revealed, before we lock in our modus operandi in this regard. AG

Friday, November 15, 2024

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Zachary the Great

    We are beginning to see the end of the Art Creation process (relatively speaking). I have a binder of many paintings, which need to be inserted in the book layout. But we also have many binders of Completed Artwork, drawings and watercolors.  All told, we have over two thousand finished paintings (that is my guess, it may be more).  As I said, the full collection consists of 786 Pages. Many of those pages have Illustrations that are composed of multiple paintings, hence increasing the number of paintings required to complete this work.

   My focus of attention now, is on printing the watercolor drawings out so that they can be painted.  After that, I need to process the scanned watercolors so they fit into the page layout. Some Illustration panels are composed of numerous watercolors like the one above. This is what takes so long to prepare. But thankfully, we are close enough to the end of the process, that I can begin building inventory of the books.

   I have determined to separate the drawing from the painting, so all the artwork is both B&W line drawings and full color watercolors. This will allow us to create coloring books for kids (big & small). After the Illustrated Storybooks are finished, we will consider doing a collection of Coloring Books.

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Music

Here is the upcoming Bryn Athyn Orchestra Concert.  

I sit on the Board of Directors of the Orchestra
and the design/publishing of these materials and the Playbill is one of my jobs.
Feel free to print this out and distribute it to your friends.

This is linked to the Orchestra's Home page, but it can be printed out.

This is linked to the Ticket Sales page, but you can also print it to order tickets

Regarding The Gnomes of New Hope Music;


    Some time ago, years actually, I was working on scoring the music, which by-the-way was diverted in lieu of publishing the Illustrated Storybooks, and the hard disc in the Mac I was using completely failed. Talk about utter anxiety ! 

   Well, at the time I was working on Time & Key signatures, and the SATB Divisi for the singers, as this is absolutely needed for a workable score.  When the hard disc failed I lost six months worth of work, work that cannot be reproduced. Yes I can do it again, but it won't be the same as what I had done.

   Recently I sent that hard disc out to have the data recovered. This week I got my answer; "No data can be recovered". it only cost me $500 to find that out. But there is good news here, not about the disc, but about the fact that I found my backup files of all the music and I duplicated them again to another backup disc. It's still a bummer that I lost all that work, but at least we didn't loose all our music.

   There are 33 songs in Act One and 29 songs in Act Two for a total of 62 songs in the show. Whew !

   So I will be setting up a few workstations for music. One for Scoring/Publishing,  a Second for Digital Performer Five with Reason for the voices on a G4 (which we used to compose the music) and a Third for Digital Performer Nine, with Mach Five on a Mac Pro for updated arranging (which may be upgraded),  and a Fourth on my Laptop for remote work with scoring.

   As you can see, the advancement with Publishing the Illustrated Storybooks has allowed me to begin focusing somewhat on moving the music forward. As it is, I am working  toward recording "The Stone of Wisdom" and I have a few people reviewing the scores, piano and orchestra, so that we can have a viable piano reduction. Although, Graeme Bier, who has consented to singing that song for us, has indicated that we should do it using the MIDI orchestrations. I hesitate to use my main workstation to do any work on the music until the Illustrated Storybook is finished being published. The last thing I need is to have a failure of my main disc again. so for safeties sake I am not engaging with music on that computer. I do have three other machines I could use. So now that I am relieved to have found ALL the music, I think I can wrap my head around setting up the G5 Quad to serve as an interim machine and record the music with that. 

    I could also set up my linear A/V workstation again if I had to, but that is connected to the construction of the Recording Studio that I am beginning to plan out. I do not expect that to manifest for a few years, as I need to clear out the space for that construction and that is also tied to reducing the machine shop down in size to free up floor space. Just to give you an idea of other factors that come into play.

   Enough for now.  AG

Friday, October 4, 2024

Story-Telling Sessions

A sample of the Trading Card Design.
I've moved this post up, because today I decided to publish 
every one of our characters 
as a trading card, in this format.

We have over two thousand pieces of artwork,
because our illustrations are broken into many different paintings.

The back of the cards will be different, because 
I intend on using them as Two-fers & Free Passes to the stage shows,
but there will be other applications for publicity
and collectability, of which I am not certain at this time.

I expect that I will include a packet of these cards with every book purchase 
that is made directly with IMS via our Shopping cart, once that is set up.


ARCHIVE;
Here's a link to a post on Story-Telling Sessions on

The Gnomes of New Hope was designed as a Read-Out-Loud Book and as we work to release the Book One of the Series "The Gnomes of New Hope; an Introduction" part of the plan includes reading sessions at local libraries and bookstores. This link discusses some of the work needed for that program and suggests us bringing sponsors into the process. I will be pursuing that by crafting a budget and Production Approach Summary (outline) for that aspect of the project. If you would like to be involved, as a sponsor, reader or manager, let me know; 
If you have ideas about this program, I'm happy to discuss it via email, in person, or over the phone. AG

Just to make it interesting:
Some of the Collectible Trading Cards

Printing

Ferny Reading to the young'ns

   We have this Gnomette (Ferny) sculpted as a Garden Gnome (below). We haven't made the molds for the casting, but we did scan her into a 3D image, which we will use for a 3d Printing test.

We used Sculpty. This image was taken when she was under construction.
The sculpture needs to be fired before we can make molds.
I bought a kiln, which is being set-up to do that.

As you can see, she is not yet holding a book.
That book will be made separately.
She is intended for use as a display in bookstores.

Regarding Printing;

    As we progress to completing the Illustrations for the book series, publishing methods come into play. Bringing the wholesale cost down to the lowest possible amount, allows for discounting the MSRP. this gives the retailers and distributors more latitude on the selling price.  But for the sake of registrations, the MSRP is set based on jobbing the components out, which basically means there is a mark-up at every step along the way. If I keep the publishing in-house I can eliminate that markup, or at least reduce it. In-house that markup is not an immediate outlay and I have more control over that expenditure.

   If I receive orders for large quantities, it might be practical to explore a printer who uses a web press. but that would only come after some distribution contracts are in place and demand is increasing, along with income..

   The biggest issue, other than cost is quality. I have found that different printing presses produce different results. And those result are not always acceptable.  This leads me to believe that we need a printing press in house, so that we can maintain consistent results. But beyond that consistency, an in-house press will allow us to print only the quantities that match the orders for product.  Jobbing the product out means printing quantities that give us the best price on the job.  That also means excessive inventory on the shelves. If we have the press in-house, those costs remain consistent and we can print on-demand. The only variable there being that if the press sits idle for too long, that is costing us money.

   So I am up-in-the-air in regard to outlay on one against the other.  Jobbing it out, the outlay sits on the shelf, while setting up a print shop gives us a much more extensive and wide range of capabilities for other product lines and services.  It seems pretty clear what the correct route is to take.  But that won't happen right away.  

   There are other issues at hand; production line practicalities, wholesale distribution, On-line Sales, shipping/receiving, supply inventories, ancillary markets, retail display... it goes on... and on.  So we are approaching it cautiously, but there are "things" in the works that will allow a shift of resources toward crafting the operation to produce these products in-house. In large part it will be an issue of personnel, because certainly, we have the product lines and equipment to do the job. We only need competent and experienced people to implement the plan as fully as possible and proper management and acquisition of the resources, both available and needed.

   That could happen through a partnership with an organization already in place, so long as IMS profit margin remains set on a per item basis and a reasonable percentage is pre-paid, but  that's a discussion for another time within contract negotiations.

   I think a Print Shop is in the cards, as they say.  AG

Thursday, September 19, 2024

Recovery

An older CD Label Design

    I sent out the main hard disc that was in use when we were writing the music, to recover the data. That disc crashed when I was in the middle of working on the book and I was forced to re-craft the publishing designs (multiple times).  But the music was also on that disc and when it crashed I lost six months of arranging work that was being done, along with the scoring. So I am hoping to recover that work, because as soon as the publishing work is finished I will be addressing the music. It's likely that Shawn will jump back in once the books are finished.

   We are working on one of the songs titled;

  "The Stone of Wisdom"  

Here is the link to that and another song a few on SoundCloud. 

Monday, September 9, 2024

IMS Technologies

 
  
    My focus of attention has been completing the Illustrated Storybooks, and in that regard, I am expecting to install a Digital Press into the production line.

   But another significant aspect of this project is Animatronics. I am looking at expanding Image of the Mind Studios to include IMS Technologies, a mechanical design and manufacturing operation, focusing on prototype development of Animatronics and Robotics, for The Gnomes and beyond.

   That being said, I will be looking for personnel familiar with electronics, nuematics, hydraulics, CNC setup & operation and computer programming. We have discussed methods of implementation, but in my mind MIDI is the most practical, because that syncs with the control tracks of the music for "The Gnomes of New Hope; Zach and Zebby's Grand Adventure".  I'm also looking at DMX to sync with staging controls and other protocols that are connected to 3D CGI.

    These are the directions we need to go into and we will need personnel who are familiar with this kind of knowledge.

   Above and beyond the hands-on personnel we are going to build the management team for this as well. That means, by and large, more than one Board of Directors.

   My approach is to encourage these arenas to grow in a natural flow as we complete our tasks in other arenas, but it is important and indeed, essential, that a larger organization begin to grow out of the foundation that has been established. That larger organization is already defined in the Business Plan. But, of course, will need to be refined as we progress.

  Truth be told, I have maybe ten to fifteen years left in me, so we need to shake a leg on this.

AG

Sunday, August 25, 2024

Artwork, Illustrations & Animation

 
As you may have read, we are closing in on finishing the Illustrations.

But that puts us in another situation 
because we are moving toward Animation. 
The demand on creating drawings increases substantially 
with this new level of activity.

That being said, I am looking for 
as many as three additional artists and sculptors,
to emulate the existing artwork and to create new artwork.

As it seems to me, we need a Line Drawing Artist 
who can reproduce our existing characters 
in an array of body positions (as above). 

We also need a Colorist, who can work with watercolors, 
to do finishing work.

But then, since we are moving to animate this story, 
we need an DigitalArtist 
who can create 3D renderings of our artwork and or skins.

We are working with Poser 11 right now. 
 We will need to create skins for the chassis 
and move to setup the scenes, as per the Libretto.

We intend on inserting GIFs into the e-storybook
 for the Subscription Service.

At the very least, we need to recreate this style 
and have more people who can do it.

So if you are an artist 
capable of reproducing the drawings you see here, 
 or sculpting them in clay...

please contact Arthur Greisiger at;

Tuesday, August 6, 2024

Animation

A Proposed Lithograph

    We are now working to get a grip on Poser Pro and to create scenes from the Libretto using Animation. We expect to do this in conjunction with the Green Screen Sound Stage (which is under construction),  possibly using puppetry and other theatrical techniques.  

   If there is anyone who has worked with Poser and knows how to create skins from two dimensional artwork, we would like to hear from you. We are seeking to convert our watercolor artwork into workable Poser 3D characters.  This is our next mission, after the publishing work of the Storybooks is finished. Of course we will be using this primarily to pitch the project to Industry Professionals, but if it turns out well enough, that might be another product line, which we would market directly.

   Certainly, we will be using these animations in the e-Storybook. The expanded concept for the e-Storybook, which will be a Subscription, uses animations and GIFs in the Illustration panels, in conjunction with an Audio book to create a new concept for storytelling.

Arthur Greisiger

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

Sunday, July 21, 2024

Discussions

 Here is a Video discussion regarding The Gnomes of New Hope.


I expect that I will start discussing what is going on with the process via video.
This as a way of experimenting with uploading videos, 
so when we start making animations
we can post some of them here.

I ended up doing four of these videos as part of one conversation
so if you want to see the other ones you will need to do so from:


Here is #2 of four;
 (#1 was a test)
https://youtu.be/2OAsEm4Rlf8?si=ZTN_qmtmxb5Hs-dY

I also posted them on my Facebook Home page. I expect to expand on these video conversations, when it is appropriate to do so.

Eventually I will post more films there, on my YouTube channel.

"You're Not Getting The Point"
an expressionistic documentary film about the Point Pleasant Pumping Station
 (I need to add some audio to the intro first)

I have a few music videos, 
other documentaries and short films 
to add as well, whenever I get around to making them presentable.


Wednesday, July 17, 2024

Beginning to Design

 
   The Illustrated Storybooks represent the foundational design of the piece. Since I am in the process of building the Studio, I believe that designing the show to fit on the 20' x 18' green screen stage that I am installing is the best approach. This was always the plan, but I wavered a bit, wishing to be working with an actual theatre. That being said, I am looking to buy a theatre and transfer my studio into a building that has a stage which can handle a real audience when the time is right. I'm not sure how that would happen, but it's good dream.

   Although I'd like to see the show presented for a live audience, we will have to settle for producing it for the cameras as part of the development process. That means it may be a blending of puppetry, animation and live performance, designed primarily as a proposal tool, but maybe also part of the e-Storybook.  I'm almost set up for HDV, having the cameras and editing suite, but needing to isolate and set up a separate processor for FCP and another one for a rack mount booth setup. I also need to rig the stage and install the electrics, battens and tormentors & teasers. I have sufficient conventional quartz instruments, but I expect that I will have to upgrade to LED.

   I am examining the situation with frequency interference from the lighting, so that needs to be resolved. 


   For the most part, I expect to stay focused on The Gnomes of New Hope and continue with other projects as secondary goals. Once the published Storybooks get into gear, I will be taking a break and work on other "shop" projects, until returning to the Gnomes becomes clear due to demand.

AG

Thursday, July 11, 2024

Set Design

 Check out this link as a possibility for 

Set Design

An early model of "The Squirrel's Nest"

This design is implemented by Peter Yordanov ... 
you can find him on Facebook & LinkedIn.


I'm liking these designs for the stage musical, maybe even the film.
The only thing about it is the scene changes.
Using a 3D stage props poses difficulties, 
if there are numerous set changes, on a stage.

Unless of course, you have The Met available to you!

It could work if properly planned.
We'll probably end up with drops & flats.

AG


Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Watercolors

an early Point of Purchase Display for 
The Gnome-sized Books
 
   We are moving pretty well in completing the artwork. I have been creating a good binder filing system for the original artwork. It took me a while to realize that this is the best approach, filing the art by page number instead of subject matter.

  We have both made a commitment to dedicate more time to finishing the work (even though virtually all my time is taken up on finishing the layout and publishing the books).

   I might have mentioned this, but I am very much interested in putting a printing press in my shop. It becomes cost effective to create an on-demand scenario. Putting a press in the shop brings me up to speed without needing to inventory semi-finished product and it will simplify the binding process.

   I also expect to publish the Libretto and the Music Score and may make those items available to collectors and sponsors of the project. I will post that here after the Illustrations are completed.

   I expect to be expanding the square footage of my studio, which will free me up in a number of areas, specifically in that I will be installing a recording studio that is big enough for the 24 piece orchestra, which we will need for this show, but it may be big enough for the Bryn Athyn Orchestra and other musicians to rehearse in as well.

I will add more to this later. AG

Saturday, June 15, 2024

Video Discussions on the Project

       
   This is a shot of the exhibition panels I was working on. I'm still trying to come up with the right covering for the panels, in order to create the correct mood for the exhibition. I found a great wall paper, but it's too expensive. I may have to go for it anyway though.

   Well, I did some videos last year (2023) as a test to see if I could use this method of communicating and it worked out pretty well.  So. I posted them on my YouTube page. For a long time I've been resistant to posting my films on YouTube. But using it for this type of work is a good idea. Here's the links to few videos. They are sequential. 

  Things have advanced since I made these videos and we are closing in on having all the Illustrations finished and the full collection published. I'm debating about setting up a print shop in-house, so we can publish on-demand without giving away all the profits. We'll see what happens there.

   Book Five was the real hang-up, but that's almost finished. So take that into account when watching these videos.

   Strangely enough, I can't seem to post the videos in-line here. So you will have to view them on YouTube. Hence, the links;




   I'll make more after I'm finished publishing the books for as needed. 

AG

Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Another Style of Garden Gnomes

 I have come up with another possibility for Garden Gnomes.
As you may see on another post, I have a Lawn Display project, 
of which the subject matter is
Santa & His Elves
I have posted this in a number of places here's one;

My point here is that this project will be joined by a
 collection of 2D Garden Gnomes.
I found a method of creating the products 
that are in keeping with the hand painted originals
allowing me to retain the texture and aesthetics I desire.

The 2D Garden Gnomes solves a big problem with shipping cement
and it's being fragile.  I like the cement Garden Gnomes, 
but until I come up with hollow resin
(filled with sand after they are shipped)
the 3D Garden Gnomes will have to wait.

I'm in the process of building Prototypes and if all works out, as I think it will,
I will be adding those items to my Product Line Catalogue,
which is in the works.

These are some of the first Gnomes from the collection 
that I will be producing in this format..
Realize that we have almost two thousand watercolor paintings 
that have been created for the Illustrated Storybooks.
So there's a lot we could do.

So if someone wanted to do it, they could reproduce Gnomeville in their garden.
The Master Gnome
Sitting in a Honored place in your garden.

Billybob, Zebby Cousin
I can picture him standing there looking at a flower.

One of the Gnomen of the Yard
he would look cool standing in your garden.


It's actually pretty tricky figuring out what people may want, 
so I will make these to order. If I can get the pricing to work.
Send me an email if you are interested in any degree.

AG

Monday, May 6, 2024

The Remaining Artwork

We have been working on this artwork for well over a decade
Probably closer to fifteen years, give or take,
and we are closing in on the final drawings/paintings
that are needed to complete this collection of books.

We could, in fact expand this collection by four or five more stories, 
the way it turned out with the backstory and character development.

As it stands we have close to a thousand paintings 
like the ones shown here.

As you can see the final artwork is all watercolor;

An Older Zachary "The Great"
(Zach's Great, great, great Grandfather)
 
Maybe "closing in " isn't the right phrase, because there is still much to be done.
It seems like we are closing in because relatively speaking, 
there is much less to do, compared to what has been done. 
But it's still a lot.

Many of the sketches we came up with need to be redrawn 
in order to get the aesthetic quality you see in what is shown here.  
Some artwork has had to have been redrawn 
multiple times to get the right feel.

This particular image turned out pretty cool. It could be refined further,
but i like it fine the way it is. It does the job.

We are almost out of Book Five, which was the real hang-up.
Most of Books Six & Seven are done, so it will be easier from here on out.

Contact me if you are interested in participating in any aspect of this project.

AG


Monday, April 15, 2024

Character Art


    I am moving forward with work on creating a collection of figurines. We have, literally, hundreds of drawings and paintings of the characters used in the Illustrated Storybooks. I purchased a Kiln, to fire the sculptures that originate in clay and I am setting up to do casting of those characters that are already sculpted. But in addition to that there is an expectation that we will advance into 3D printing of the characters. Part of that is creating the 3D files of the characters and once that is done, we can look at CGI animation as well. So, all this seems to be in front of the stage show, since the music needs more work.

   In that regard, the music, I somehow was remiss from engaging in work on the music, while the book publishing was being finished. Duh! I just realized that I have multiple Mac workstations and the last Mac I was using is more than sufficient to do the music. I had been avoiding the music because my main workstation is set up for publishing and I didn't want to disturb anything. You see, I had multiple hard disc failures while I was doing this layout and I lost, quite literally, ten years worth of work because of that. I had to redo the layout, I will say, multiple times. Embarrassingly, as many as four times.It was driving me to the brink. So after I got the layout rebuilt, I simplified it, backed up the layouts in numerous locations and swore I would not overload the computer by doing other burdensome tasks on it.

  But the other day, I was trying to transfer "I Am Alpha & Omega" over from a mac 6500 to a G4, looking at my equipment, and I realized that I have a G5 Quad that would serve quite nicely as a machine to do the work needed on the music. So I will be setting that up again, since that machine has nothing to do with the Mac Pro I am using. The music was originally written on a Mac G4 Quicksilver and a G5, So kicking it up to a G5 Quad would work nicely. Of course the problem there is reacclimatizing myself to the programs, and the upgraded version I have. That will be happening for more reasons than just The Gnomes of New Hope. I am beginning to work on "I Am Alpha & Omega" again and that will require music.

That's all for now.  

AG

Saturday, April 13, 2024

March Madness

 

  Well, if you have read any of these posts, you have an idea of how publishing the books has progressed. I am now cataloging all the artwork used in the books and that is a lot of art.

    I'm using the page numbers as the filing structure. At first I was filing the art by subject, Zach, Zebby, Background, etcetera. But the more art we gathered, the more this method became inefficient and difficult to control. So, it dawned on me that just using the book pages, which contains the artwork, was the most direct and efficient way to file the artwork. That is also the easiest way to find the artwork, since the book pages serve as a visual index and that process makes it easy to see what needs to be done to complete the collection of books. So I've been busy with that.

  We are working our way down towards finishing the Illustrations for the rest of the collection. It's very apparent that the next goal in terms of practicality, is to craft the exhibition of the artwork. This exhibition will support the stage show and book sales, but the stage show is contingent upon completing the music, at least the MIDI renditions and the scoring. Neither one of those aspects of this project can take place until the book publication and distribution are complete, or at least on the path to being set in place.

   I am extremely busy with finishing this publication of the Seven Book Series. I am considering putting a printing press in my studio. I will talk about that later.

  That being said, I don't answer my cell phone anymore, unless it is from a number with caller ID. So text or a letter is best, but that's no guarantee I will get back to you unless you seek legitimate business, not solicitation. If you text me with your contact information and if the subject pertains to advancing the Gnomes, I will get back you you. The same goes for a hard copy letter. Email works, but I am deluged with junk mail, so an email might get lost. If you are communicating with me via email about GNOME BUSINESS, use that in the header so I can find it.

   I am most interested in book publication/distribution, gallery exhibition, animatronics & parade presentation and film & theatre production. I seek partnerships, promotion and funding in these arenas.

  Ah, the foibles of modern day business communication.

AG

 

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Regarding the Posts in this blog / Garden Gnomes

Posts 

    I have discussed the progress of this project numerous times over the years. You will find that I have addressed the same subject more than once, often with a slightly different perspective and somewhat divergent opinions as to how I am, or we expect to proceed.  What this means is that this project and our methods are evolving. So you must take into account the date on each post. The older posts still contain important information, but the modus operandi may no longer be valid as circumstances have changed.

  We have an EXTENSIVE collection of artwork and many options for assorted product lines, many of which will include Collectable Editions.

I'm thinking that; If we make Brad the Fiddler & Zebby playing his Flute into Garden Gnomes,
we could make them solar, motion controlled with Music from the Show.
We could do that with a number of characters.
What do you think of that idea?

Garden Gnomes / Figurines


UPDATE ; 2/22/24

   The Garden Gnome project was very exciting as we began to develop the project. We have two sculptures for the Garden Gnomes, but only one mold for "Constable Warren", the other Garden Gnome sculpture is of "Ferny Reading".  You can find photos of these Garden Gnomes and some paperwork posted below. 

   Now we are developing the Figurines. The figurines will be between 4" & 6" and most likely cast with resin. "Zach & Zebby" are underway and we have a very fine artist who is sculpting these figurines. Eventually, I expect to use 3D renderings of the artwork used for the illustrations to print characters that are precise renditions of the Illustrations. But I have to say that sculpted interpretations of the characters have a very enthralling aesthetic quality about them. So both and all interpretations of our characters are entirely valid and will be presented for purchase to our enthusiasts and patrons.

   I tend to believe that we must make the figurines available as souvenirs for the stage show, but we will be developing a catalogue where all these materials will be made available.

   Further, as you can seer below, there was a project under development for Lawn Displays with a Christmas theme called "Santa and his Elves". These are flat lawn displays that people can set up for their Christmas decorations. We will be developing the same type of flat lawn displays for The Gnomes of New Hope. This project is underway and will be another type of Garden Gnome created using the exact same artwork in the Illustrated Storybook. So look for more postings on that project, most likely after the Illustrated Storybook layouts are completely finished.

ARCHIVE

   Particularly, in our approach to producing Garden Gnomes and Figurines, what was intended to be classic cement Garden Gnomes has proven to be less viable than once believed. Not that they are not good or could be produced, but the fragility of cement and shipping weight of cement does not allow us to easily produce these products.  I certainly will pursue cement, if that material is sought after and I can produce those Garden Gnomes in house, but the items will (unexpectedly) need to have metal armatures to prevent breakage and either need to be picked up or delivered via our truck within a reasonable distance. This will make the item more expense than originally thought. Also, the current cost of shipping has made large promotion of the cement items prohibitive. 

   Hence both the Garden Gnomes and Figurines will be made of hollow resin (or blow-mold) . In this way, as a Garden Gnome, the item can be shipped without the weight of cement, but filled with sand by the end user to achieve the weight desired.  We are currently developing the product lines taking this into account.

   As usual, we are opened to Partnerships and Licensing in this and other product lines.

AG

Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Binding...

Here's the Libretto and the drafts of the Score

UPDATE 2/20/24;

   As I have mentioned in numerous other posts, the Illustrated Storybooks will be Hand-Stitched. I've discussed just how much superior this binding is to machine bound books, so I will be striving to keep ALL the books Hand-Stitched. This means I will need to be hiring people to stitch books, It's easy and fun. I will be paying piecework, meaning anyone stitching books will be paid for each book they stitch. If you would like to stitch books, send me an email and we can talk about it. My first goal is to put one thousand collections on the shelf... that amounts to seven thousand books, because the full collection consists of seven books. We already have at least four books ready for production and the other three books are almost ready to begin publishing and binding.  We are setting up and maintaining production facilities in Southampton Pennsylvania. AG


ARCHIVE;

 Since I am engaged in finalizing the core materials and refining the production line (along with other studio activities) I continue to post my thoughts here, where I address subjects directly, as if I were speaking directly to the business partners who are or will be involved in this project.  I find, for myself, that this is the best approach to conveying my positions directly and that by so doing, the people I talk to on any of these subjects, are already appraised of my thinking and what we need to do.  Certainly, I can communicate directly at any time, via email or telephone, so don't hesitate to reach out and be specific if we need to advance our activities or relationship. (text first, I get too many distracting solicitations calls.)

   The other side of it is that; I work out of my studio, so if we need to get down to it, you are invited to visit me to discuss matters.  But please communicate with me first, if you intend , or want, to pay a visit.  Without doing so first, it may be a wasted trip, as I do work on-the-road on a regular basis and I never know when I will be called away.

    I have come up with a method of production that looks to be a viable approach to the Hand-stitched Books.  So the specifications for suppliers of the printed product are now set to accommodate our binding operation. I still need to do time studies to determine turn-around.

   As it stands now, I will be building inventory up to one thousand of each book on the shelf, before we release them for Retail distribution.  That quantity needs to remain as our in-house production number. I can do more if I receive orders from one or more distributors, but as it stands now, we will keep publishing and binding in house, until such time as the quantities become too much to handle.  Given that manufacturing times for larger quantities involve months for turn around, any distributor who may seek to have us deliver higher quantities will need to make that known, so that when we enter into building inventory, we can take that into account.  Books can be ordered directly from the Studio at any time for Direct Sales at the current MSRP of $34.95 plus shipping (with no discounts).  Wholesale pricing begins at One Gross.

   You can see from my last post that I haver other matters to attend to, so delivering books for retail distribution, although important, is not on the top of the list, mainly because meeting retail demands is distracting from film & theatre production. That would be a reason to job out the books,  but, distribution at the wholesale level needs to take place through IMS.  It's all about the numbers and quality control. That subject is open to discussion.

    I would like to avoid delays in being able to deliver product, so a heads up is a good idea. Otherwise I will just settle into distributing quantities that I am comfortable with (as opposed to large scale distribution).  I will not deplete IMS inventory for any one buyer, since I also need to sell individual books connected to the Signed and Numbered Editions. So if you are a buyer who would seek quantities higher than 250 units (of each book), let me know so I can prepare for that. Obviously, larger quantities and other distribution scenarios require discussion.

AG