Upgraded Paper Achieved! Slipcase revealed!
almost 2 years ago
– Wed, Jun 01, 2022 at 05:24:03 AM
Good Morning, everyone! And welcome to our new backers :)
Overnight we hit the $43,000 stretch goal, and will now be able to place the order for make sure we have the 150gsm paper for our print run later this year. Thank you all so much for helping us get to this point.
Our next stretch goal to be revealed (following Seyni's free-to-backers PDF tutorial) is the much coveted slipcase for all three of the volumes (4-6). These slipcases are all hand-assembled by a printing partner and are fantastic quality. This hand-assembly and quality do not come free, so we do need to charge for them. To ensure we make it as clear as possible when we unlock this goal, we will create TWO new pledge levels that you can upgrade to here in Kickstarter and not have to worry about selecting it once we get to the pledge manager.
These pledge levels will be:
• All three physical Volumes + Slipcase - $95
• All three physical Volumes + Slipcase + PDFs - $125
THE ART OF... teammate and friend Christof Keil put this video together that shows the slipcase and a look through his book (Volume 2) to give you an idea of the quality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNl1VbioWEI
And if you'd like to hear more about the work and book from Seyni N'diaye, you can do so here on a podcast from Simon Berman of the Brush Wielders Union.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/66257961
Thank you all again. Please continue to share the campaign with your painting friends and groups, wherever they may be, and have a wonderful weekend!
Cheers
Dave
An introduction to Tommie Soule and Volume 5.
almost 2 years ago
– Wed, Jun 01, 2022 at 05:23:48 AM
Good morning/afternoon/evening!
Hi there, everyone! I have always planned to do a brief bio for each artist, talking about their work and what the focus of their books will be (above and beyond the text on the campaign page), and with Tommie getting ready for his conversation with Vincent Venturella this evening, I thought it would be a great time to highlight him :)
Tommie started painting miniatures sometime in the late '80s, and would go on to work for Games Workshop (starting in 1996, just two years after me). It was with GW that he started teaching people how to paint minis – an integral part of the work of a staffer in retails stores back in the day. By the time he became a freelance painter in 2010, Tommie knew that his real passion lay in helping others unlock their full potential. From those early days of running events with folks like Mike and Ali McVey, Tommie has been developing and evolving his thoughts about observation and execution of the mechanics of painting so that we can more easily achieve the styles that we want to.
This information has become his "Fundamentals" course that he has taught to painters all around the world (including Christof Keil, author of Volume 2), and it is the thing he is most passionate about when it comes to miniatures painting. That's why Volume 5 will differ considerably from many of the other books (past, present, and future) at is includes a lot of instructional/educational material that works to demystify painting jargon, and give us all a shared language that we can use to build and grow our own understanding of HOW other artists paint their minis.
Volume 5 will therefore focus on the three essential and unavoidable skills/areas of miniatures painting:
• The ability to set the paint consistency for what you want to achieve
• The ability to load and shape your brush to deliver the paint to your model
• The ability to apply the brush to your model in deliberate ways
Here's a quick excerpt from the early stages of the book:
"This book is NOT designed to have you creating a masterpiece by the end, but to give you an insight into what counts towards creating your masterpiece and how to avoid the things that frustrate you and hold you back. This process will require you to be open and observant of yourself and actions while painting and simultaneously treating it as fun, with a childlike curiosity towards finding out what might be possible with just a brush, a palette, some water, and a model.
I aim to get you to think and to develop your AWARENESS AND CHOICE as the first priority with each and every part of miniature painting. Keep aspiring, observing and adjusting towards your goals. It’s much better than practice. You are encouraged to be playful while developing your skills as play is unstructured time that has no outcome other than your own enjoyment. Play opens channels creativity, joy and allows you to be within a flow state. It is also a powerful message to your sense of growth as an artist that we are allowed be light-hearted and enjoy the hobby rather than just producing, completing, hitting certain standards or even competing. Play allows you to learn and develop faster and fuller in a more enjoyable way."
When we started working on this project, Tommie ran me through the first stages of the process, to challenge my preconceptions – not necessarily misconceptions – of painting to help refine the language I use to describe various mechanical actions in a more clear and concise and repeatable manner. We are both very excited to see the reaction to this excellent and innovative approach to understanding what we do when we paint.
If you would like to know more about Tommie and his work, both teaching and on his book, please check out Vincent Venturella's YouTube channel later today (5pm EST, 10pm GMT) and join in the chat!
You can find Vince's channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/c/VinceVenturella/
You can also ask Tommie more on Instagram at:
https://www.instagram.com/the_miniature_painting_tutor/
Cheers
Dave and THE ART OF... team
Another great day!
almost 2 years ago
– Thu, May 12, 2022 at 05:43:35 AM
Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening!
We've had a great second day, with everything continuing to move forward with the campaign. We now have over 500 supporters, and have knocked off another stretch goal! The Tommie Soule art cards are now listed in the Add-ons section, for $8. You can add these to your pledge by adjusting your pledge total through the "Manage your pledge" feature of Kickstarter. These cards are great for sending to friends and family as postcards, or for framing and hanging near you painting area!
The next stretch goal we can reveal is a new freebie! Seyni N'diaye has agreed to work on a tutorial PDF describing the conversion and painting of a new member for his Deathwatch Space Marines Kill Team (current members pictured above). Everyone who has pledge for $20 and above will get this PDF for free, distributed as we get close to fulfillment of the books.
I can also let you know that the next stretch goal after that is one that a lot of you will be very interested in. I think you'll be keen to see it "slip" into an update ;)
Thank you all for your support thus far. Please get out there and share the campaign far and wide with your painting friends around the world. Every share helps us out immensely!
Cheers
Dave and THE ART OF... team.
Good Morning! And welcome...
almost 2 years ago
– Wed, May 11, 2022 at 07:22:45 AM
Overnight we passed another stretch goal as we were joined by more wonderful supporters! Thank you and welcome :)
That's right, We can now let you know that Chris Suhre will be producing a short tutorial PDF on how he decorates the frames seen on some of his diorama pieces. Sometimes they're inspired by Celtic or tribal designs, sometimes they aren't, but we'll all learn more when we read Chris's PDF in the future!
And now we can reveal the next stretch goal (after we reach the Add-on goal of Tommie's artcards) – an upgrade on the quality of the internal paper. It's not an exciting "art" goal, but it will improve the feel for everyone.
We are currently costing everything on the use of a particular 130gsm paper – which is a wonderful paper with a lovely finish – but I'm hoping that we can overcome some of the recent inflation of prices globally without passing that cost directly on to you all. With this stretch goal we can upgrade to the particular 150gsm paper that I've been able to use in all of my previous publications, that many of you are familiar with. By bringing on 80 more supporters we can defray the costs across the entire print run, so everyone wins :)
Thanks for your support, and don't forget that Tommie and I will be chatting on Instagram Live this afternoon/evening at 8pm GMT/3pm EDT, here: https://www.instagram.com/the_miniature_painting_tutor/
Cheers
Dave, and THE ART OF... team
Welcome to all our new backers!
almost 2 years ago
– Tue, May 10, 2022 at 07:08:11 PM
After a frantic day in front of my keyboard, I took a break to go for a walk, have dinner, and spend a bit of quality time with the family, only to return to the campaign to find that we've not only passed the second stretch goal, but have more than 400 supporters onboard!
Welcome, everyone, and thank you all for your support!
By reaching the second stretch goal, we can now ensure that all books will have a ribbon bookmark in them. And we can reveal that the next stretch goal (after the Chris Suhre free PDF, which we are well on the way to) will be a set of artcards from Tommie Soule as an Add-On.
If you would like to hear a bit more about the books, you can listen to:
• Chris Suhre talking on The Miniature Podcast with Ryan Meigs HERE,
• or myself rambling on Listening to Paint Dry with Mike and Dan HERE.
• and if you would like to see Tommie talking with me on Instagram Live, you can do so on Wednesday, May 11th, at 8pm British time/3pm Eastern US time on Tommie's Instagram HERE.
Cheers
Dave, and THE ART OF... team.
