These comments were taken from the post on the Parade Float
STUDIO UPDATE;
Facility issues are interfering with progress on numerous fronts. These are matters of legal manipulation, which can only be circumvented by succumbing to a payoff and accepting false accounting numbers, as offensive as that is, but it must be resolved.
The best approach to resolving these issues is to buy out the parties causing the problems. To do so, I need to gather a significant amount of working capital. This may happen via The Elder Gnomes Joint Venture, Ancillary Licensing & Merchandizing, Business loans or other vehicles. I make this point to encourage participation in order to gain the freedom to advance more freely. My plan in the future (within ten to fifteen years) is to sell Image of the Mind Studios. The reality is that I need an exit plan. I'm not getting any younger. Contact me if this applies.
There are a number of options available to bringing about a resolution to the facilities issues that are tormenting me. One solution is to bring about a resoultion with the existing facility. The other is to move IMS to another facility and thus absorb the cost in time and money to setup again in a custom designed work space. I am having a strong inclination to build a new studio facility (from the ground up) along the lines of my objectives for the Theatrical Development Centre concept and to have that facility laid out to specifications, rather than adapting to an existing less suitable space. That's a lot of work that would take ten years to implement. I'm pushing 72.
Refer to the Virtual Studio for more discussion on this subject.
ARCHIVE:
As it stands now, the priority is to complete the publishing layout, because clean hands are required to keep the original artwork from being damaged while it is being worked with. Truthfully I believe that there are less than twenty pages that require insertion of artwork. However, those illustrations need to be assembled from multiple paintings. Beyond that, there are numerous pages that were “completed” without backgrounds, which in many instances looks just fine and works well. But overall, the entirety of the collection needs to be reviewed in that regard and backgrounds created (or selected from existing paintings) so that there is an appropriate balance across the board. Our objective is to draw the viewer’s attention in with a diversity of imagery.
AG
As you may well know by now, if you've been following the progress, I've often felt the collection was "almost finished". Some time ago, I decided that Jency should craft the artwork as individual components. That means that, in addition to the prep work I have been doing on the sketches and watercolors, I also need to assemble the illustration panels. This works out for the best, because I can control the size and position of the characters. Have it component paintings done individually puts us in a position to do the character animations, as you can see from the test below.
As it stands now, the priority is to complete the publishing layout, because clean hands are required to keep the original artwork from being damaged while it is being worked with. Truthfully I believe that there are less than twenty pages that require insertion of artwork. However, those illustrations need to be assembled from multiple paintings. Beyond that, there are numerous pages that were “completed” without backgrounds, which in many instances looks just fine and works well. But overall, the entirety of the collection needs to be reviewed in that regard and backgrounds created (or selected from existing paintings) so that there is an appropriate balance across the board. Our objective is to draw the viewer’s attention in with a diversity of imagery.
AG
As you may well know by now, if you've been following the progress, I've often felt the collection was "almost finished". Some time ago, I decided that Jency should craft the artwork as individual components. That means that, in addition to the prep work I have been doing on the sketches and watercolors, I also need to assemble the illustration panels. This works out for the best, because I can control the size and position of the characters. Have it component paintings done individually puts us in a position to do the character animations, as you can see from the test below.
So now assembling the illustration panels adds a level of complexity to the publishing layout, but puts us in a good position for other uses of the artwork.
While this is going on, the gallery exhibition of the artwork is being completed. We have experimented with the lighting and now I have decided the approach to the aesthetics of the panels and finishing elements of the panels. Further, I have decided to add the model stages and, in all likelihood, animatronics to the exhibition.
We have a few new ideas regarding the puppetry, the main thing being that we will focus on sculpting the faces, the rest of the puppet components being (for the most part) generic. This will make it easier to advance in this arena. Jency has expressed interest in trying her hand at sculpting the characters, now that she is "mostly" finished with illustrations.
