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:

 Arthur Greisiger on YouTube

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.

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

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

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

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;

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

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

AG

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;

Image of the Mind Studios: Santa and his Elves: 

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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.