I had the opportunity to meet and film Claire Wendling on April 19, 2015. In these two videos she completes four sketches in these two videos in her new book Iguana Bay 2.0 at the Big Wow ComicFest in San Jose, California. Stuart Ng Books sponsored her appearance at the show and published this new edition of her popular art book. Visit Stuart Ng Books to order signing copies.
Watch the Spectrum 22 nominations for the eight categories. The Gold and Silver award winners will be announced during the Spectrum 22 Awards Ceremony held at the Folly Theater in Kansas City, Missouri on May 23, 2015. Visit spectrumfantasticartlive.com for more details.
It’s time for some Spectrum Fantastic Art Live 4 news!
The show will be in Kansas City, MO in the Bartle Hall Grand Ballroom running May 22-24, 2015. The five special guests of the show are Karla Ortiz, Tim Kirk, Scott Gustafson, Donato Giancola and Julie Dillon.
In addition, the Flesk/Spectrum booth will be hosting a group of thirteen more artists: Daren Bader, Brom, Bill Carman, Frank Cho, Craig Elliott, Gary Gianni, Jim and Ruth Keegan, Aaron Lopresti, Iain McCaig, Victo Ngai, Steve Rude, Mark Schultz, plus SFAL guest Karla Ortiz.
Furthermore, there will be over 200 artists exhibiting at the show. We’re also organizing far more workshops than before. We want everyone to have the opportunity to grow, learn and to be inspired. We have top artists in the industry giving extended live presentations. These are at no additional cost to the already affordable entry cost.
Here is a map showing where the artists can be found a the show and some information and sample art by those artists who will be at the Flesk booth. (The five special show guests are already highlighted on the SFAL site.)
Daren Bader. For the past 20 years, Daren Bader has been an art director for the video game and entertainment industry, working with a large variety of companies, including Disney, Nintendo, and Capcom. Currently he is the Senior Art Director for Rockstar San Diego and is best known for his work on the critically acclaimed Red Dead Redemption, which won over 150 Game of the Year awards in 2010. On the weekends, Daren is a freelance illustrator for various trading card games such as Magic: The Gathering and World of Warcraft, amassing well over 200 cards in the field. He has also done the occasional book cover, including a series of covers for fan-favorite R.A. Salvatore. Daren’s work can also be seen in 14 of the 21 Spectrum Annuals, as well as in his monographs “The Art of Daren Bader” and “one hundred drawings.”
Bill CarmanArt by Bill Carman
Bill Carman has worked as a designer, illustrator, and art director at universities, ad agencies, publishing houses and for large corporations. Since graduating with a BFA in visual communication/illustration and an MFA in painting he has always free-lanced and exhibited. Bill is currently a professor teaching illustration at Boise State University. He has been featured in many exhibits and publications including Society of Illustrators New York Annuals (gold medal, silver medal), 3×3 Magazine professional annual, American Illustration and Spectrum (silver medal). He is the recipient of the bronze, silver and gold medals from CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education). Bill authored and illustrated a children’s book, What’s That Noise?, published in 2002 by Random House Books. Painting for exhibitions and commissions continues to be where most of Bill’s time is spent when he is not fishing.
Frank Cho never had any formal training in art but taught himself to write and draw by reading art books and comics. He launched the comic strip Liberty Meadows on March 31, 1997, distributed worldwide by Creators Syndicate. From day one, the strip was a critical success, hailed for its hilarious writing and superb art. In 2002, Cho moved the hugely successful strip to Image Comics.
Impressed by his comic’s writing and art, Cho was recruited by Axel Alonso, editor-in-chief at Marvel Entertainment. Since then, he has worked on many top-tier books at Marvel, including Spider-Man, The Mighty Avengers, Hulk, X-Men, Shanna the She-Devil and Savage Wolverine.
In his spare time, Frank Cho works on video-game designs, movies and oil paintings for various art-gallery shows. He also works on his creator-owned projects, such as Guns & Dinos, Zombie King, Skyborne and the upcoming World of Payne with famed novelist Thomas Sniegoski.
Frank Cho has won many awards, including the prestigious Emmy, the National Cartoonists Society’s awards for Best Comic Book and Best Book Illustration, the Eagle Award, the Charles M. Schulz Award for Excellence in Cartooning, the Scripps-Howard Award for Best College Cartoonist, the College Media Association award for cartooning, Spain’s Haxtur Award for Best Artist, and the Max & Moritz Prize, Germany’s highest award for an international comic strip. He also was nominated for the coveted Harvey and Eisner awards.
Craig ElliottArt by Craig Elliott
Craig Elliott has worked primarily for Disney and Dreamworks, designing their animated films such as Hercules, Mulan, The Emperor’s New Groove, Treasure Planet, Enchanted, Monsters vs. Aliens, The Princess and the Frog, Rio and The Lorax. Craig has also done fully painted comic book and cover artwork. A multi-faceted artist, he is also an accomplished landscape architect, fine artist, sculptor and most recently, jewelry designer.
Gary Gianni has adapted and illustrated a wide variety of books, including John Henry, Kidnapped, Moby Dick, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, The Complete Conan of Cimmeria, and more recently, Michael Chabon’s Gentlemen of the Road. His comic’s work includes Classics Illustrated, The Shadow, and The MonsterMen. He won an Eisner Award for his illustration of Heroes, a tale included in Batman: Black and White. Gianni served as the illustrator of the Prince Valiant Sunday comic strip for nearly a decade, an endeavor which also served as the subject of his, The Prince Valiant Page.
Jim and Ruth Keegan are the creators of The Adventures of Two-Gun Bob, which appears in every issue of Conan, Solomon Kane, or Kull from Dark Horse Comics. They’ve also illustrated several books for Del Rey including Crimson Shadows and Grim Lands — The Best of Robert E. Howard, Volumes One & Two. Their work has appeared in the Spectrum annual, and has been exhibited at The Society of Illustrators in New York. Aaron Lopresti’s first big break came in 1993 when Publisher Dave Olbrich and Editor-in-Chief Chris Ulm hired Aaron to draw Sludge for Malibu’s new Ultraverse comic line. One thing led to another and soon Aaron had a full blown career in comics. Aaron’s career in commercial and comic art has continued on for more than 12 years. In that time Aaron has worked on a wide variety of characters including: Spiderman The X-men, The Hulk, The Avengers, Batman, Plastic Man, Green Lantern, Superboy, Xena, Star Trek, Gen 13, Mystic, and the self published Atomic Toybox (just to name a few). In 1995 he founded the successful comic art studio, Studiosaurus that lasted until 1998. Aaron lists his art influences in two categories, comic and illustration. His comic fluences are: Frazetta, Berni Wrightson, Neal Adams, Michael Golden, Steranko, Brian Bolland, and anyone else who is good. Illustrators who have influenced Aaron over the years are: Frazetta(again), James Bama, William Stout, JC Leyendecker, Brian Froud, Robert McGinnis and Chuck Jones.
Iain McCaigArt by Iain McCaig
Iain McCaig divides his energies between a lifelong love of storytelling, and a passionate belief that everyone in the world can learn to draw. McCaig is best known for his cover art for Jethro Tull’s Broadsword and the Beast and his Star Wars designs for Queen Amidala and Darth Maul. His other films include Interview with a Vampire, Dracula, Terminator 2, Hook, Peter Pan, Charlotte’s Web, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Disney’s John Carter. He is also a Chesley nominated illustrator, having illustrated books ranging from Fighting Fantasy to J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Hobbit. Shadowline: The Art of Iain McCaig, a 28 year retrospective of his film and publishing work came out in 2008. Currently, McCaig is developing an original live-action feature film, Book of Secrets.
Victo Ngai: Forbes 30 Under (Art and Style) honoree and Society of Illustrators NY Gold Medalist Victo Ngai is a NY based illustrator from Hong Kong, graduated from Rhode Island School of Design. “Victo” is not a boy nor a typo, but a nickname derived from Victoria – a leftover from the British colonization.
Victo creates art for newspaper and magazines such as the New York Times and the New Yorker; makes books for publishers such as the Folio Society, Abrams and Tor Forge; and works on advertisement campaigns with companies like the McDonald’s, IMAX, MTA Art for Transit (New York subway), Lufthansa Airline and General Electric.
Apart from drawing, Victo’s biggest passions are traveling and eating. She’s hoping that one day she will save up enough to travel around the world and sample all kinds of cuisine.
Steve RudeArt by Steve Rude
Steve Rude’s career began in 1981 with his and co-creator Mike Baron’s groundbreaking Nexus comic series. This space saga catapulted Rude into the field of comics, where he became highly sought after by major publishers. During his first few years in the industry, Rude’s efforts led to numerous awards, such as the 1984 Russ Manning Newcomer Award, the Kirby Award for best artist in 1986, and numerous Eisner’s for artistic achievement. For over two decades, Rude has drawn hundreds of comic’s greatest iconic heroes, and has galvanized the art world as a comic magazine artist and illustrator.
Mark SchultzArt by Mark Schultz
Mark Schultz is a storyteller by nature as well as by profession. He could always draw and his storytelling tends to lean toward the visual, although he can cobble his ideas into words as necessary. His interests in adventure fiction and the sciences led him to create his award-winning Xenozoic Tales comic series. He has illustrated a collection of Robert E. Howard’s Conan of Cimmeria and written the science primer graphic novel The Stuff of Life: A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA. Between scripting the weekly newspaper adventures of Prince Valiant and producing images for his art series collection, Carbon, he continues to chip away at the illustrations for his novella Storms at Sea.
I’ll have a few more artists announced who will be appearing at our booth as we get closer to the show date.
Running a book publishing business could not happen without the help of a hard working group of people. I like those who are fun to be around, are smart and have a good work ethic. The day to day tasks can be demanding, but we share the enthusiasm for what we do and can feel proud of what we accomplish.
There are three core elements to what goes on here at Flesk Publications. The first is Flesk, where our focus is making beautiful art books. The second aspect is focused on the yearly Spectrum annual. And the third area is the Spectrum Fantastic Art Live event. (I wrote a separate Spectrum Fantastic Art Live post which goes into the details of that crew.) Each of the following individuals represent the Flesk crew who assist in all three of these areas.
Keith Silva is my full duty assistant. He manages the office, orders and emails. He also edits and puts together almost all of the videos that we post each week. He’s been going through all of our film archives that run back approximately 10 years, as well as taking new footage to make clips out of. He also serves as a secondary camera man when needed. Keith also helps me with book production by scanning art and by doing the first pass on the color correcting. He maps out books by following my blueprints, helps to review books for quality control prior to printing and just about anything else that I ask him to do throughout the day. He pays attention to details and works with pride.
Josh Ford is both an old-time Flesk crew member and a new one. Josh has been helping at shows for years where he has proven himself friendly and hard working. He also helps with orders, emails and the general office odds and ends needs to help keep things flowing.
James Walker has been with us since starting in 2002 by helping at the Flesk booth at events. He serves as the lead at events by setting up the booth and making sure things go smoothly.
Heather Chang, Veronica Otto, Rachel Silva and Gary Velo come in on occasion when work piles up. Good examples of this are when a new book comes out, or we are doing Kickstarter fulfillment. At times we may have hundreds of boxes to pack and ship and I always want pre-orders out the door as soon as possible so as many people get them at the same time as possible. Also, Laura West helps on occasion at Comic-Con and we are always glad to have her there.
Martin Timins is our chief copy editor. He is instrumental in raising the standard of the text within our entire line. He works with all of the artists and writers to improve their manuscripts.
Arpad Terek is new with Flesk. He is a book designer who is helping us to get caught up on the backlog of thirty books in development. Between Arpad and myself we are chipping away at the pile.
Tracy, Vineeta and Jocelyn are my secret money task force. They handle the Flesk accounting, bookkeeping and banking needs. You cannot run a business without having good people looking out for you and the money end of things.
That brings me to myself. In general I prefer praising others and pointing out their achievements. For the sake of this blog post, I’ll touch briefly upon some of the things that I do. On most days I split my attention between Flesk and Spectrum. The first thing that I do once I arrive at the office is sit down with the crew and discuss our goals for the day. I share any news that is helpful to keep them updated on what is going on in the business. I’m fairly open about everything that is going on. These are good people who I enjoy spending the day with.
Once they have their tasks and are busy working I turn my attention on what I need to do. I usually start with emails and phone calls to update or answer questions relating to books or events to make sure everyone who needs something is taken care of. This can keep me busy until lunchtime or take the full day depending on what’s going on.
On a good day I’ll get to work on whatever book project I am working on late in the day. Three that are hot on my plate are Spectrum 22, Art of Elfquest and a new Harvey Dunn book for the South Dakota Art Museum. All three are in a good place as they are being tightened up and prepared for the final design stage
It takes hundreds of hours each week to run these three aspects of the business. And with your support we will keep at it!
Each year, after we wrap up Spectrum Fantastic Art Live (SFAL), we like to send out a well-deserved thanks to all of the attendees, exhibitors, Spectrum 22 nominees and awards winners, speakers and special guests for making the show a success. But who is “we?” I’d like to fill you in on who the hardworking individuals are that make up the SFAL team. With the show just three weeks away I think it’s a good time to highlight the special people who are currently active in bringing you this amazing art show.
I’d like to start with Shena Wolf, who seems to be exactly where she is most needed at all times. We haven’t been able to figure out how she does this yet. As Event Organizer, Shena is in charge of guest relations, the tiny emails that keep us all up to date (yes, even all of us here), and logistics relating to a variety of important matters. She even plays a large role in organizing the panels and workshops. Shena makes sure we all show up where we need to be. She generally makes us look good. That’s not all that she does, but it gives you an idea.
Amanda Banion runs registration and makes sure everyone is armed with an SFAL badge. This guarantees that everyone who is a guest or attendee has access to all places that matter most. She also coordinates and manages the volunteers for the show. Amanda’s background in film has made her our go-to person for AV advice and an invaluable asset behind-the-scenes during the awards ceremony.
Lazuras Potter manages the show website, works on regional event promotion with galleries, radio, and TV stations, and runs the infrastructure for the Spectrum 22 awards ceremony at the Folly Theater. The awards involve weeks of preparation and is no small task; it requires meticulous planning and close work with the theater staff, the presenters, Arlo Burnett (who creates the videos for the memorials and Grand Masters), and Helpful Bear Productions (who puts together the videos of the award finalists and winners). Most people don’t see Laz, but we are all grateful to have him.
Carl Anderson and Jeff Smith are grouped together since they make quite the team in assisting with panels. Whatever the speakers need to during their panel, Carl and Jeff make sure they have it. They also write and post news items on the SFAL website and elsewhere, visit with regional schools and colleges, and network with booksellers, comic shops, and RPG retailers, all in an effort to help spread the word about the show. They are always enthusiastic and have a ready smile to great and help anyone who asks.
The volunteers! Running an event requires the help of dozens of people who can handle the many tasks to make SFAL run smoothly. No matter how small the task that they assist with, each pair of extra hands is greatly appreciated. They play a large part in making sure we all have fun!
Arnie and Cathy Fenner do everything else! The countless details needed to run a show are identified and handled by our Spectrum founders. A three day show takes months of preparation as they manage hotel and convention hall arrangements, coordinate and arrange the exhibitor booths, outline the core tasks that need to be assigned and managed, select locations, arrange for after-event happenings, secure event guests and speakers, set schedules and implement their forty years of experience in the industry to inspire and motivate us all. It would take a few thousand words to touch upon the full range of details that they coordinate. Trust me when I say it is impressive what Cathy and Arnie continue to accomplish. We learn and are inspired by them with each new day. Also, they write a lot of checks!
This brings me to myself. I spend much of my time planning out the next year for Flesk, Spectrum and SFAL. For example, the task that happens today is oftentimes something that I initially conceived of anywhere from one to three years ago, or maybe more. I plan far into the future and have more patience than most when it comes to achieving the goals that I most want to hit. I place great importance on the creative side, future growth, team and business dynamics, core infrastructure for a sound and sustainable future, working toward an improved workplace for our employees with a mindful eye on how to incorporate better pay and benefits, a sound environment to help artists and the community, plus communicating with the artists, our crew and associates on a daily basis–these are some of the areas where much of my attention goes. Oh, and I want to make sure we have a new book or two and some bonus goodies to premiere at SFAL. I also like to invite artists to fill up our booth at the show. I don’t write as many checks as the Fenner’s, but the stripe on my credit card gets a little worn out.
No single individual runs SFAL. It’s a cumulative team effort by a dynamic, passionate and energetic group who understands that what we do here is not for praise, but for the benefit of the art community. We focus on our mission of being inclusive, welcoming of all and focusing on a positive experience where people can grow and leave knowing that they have created fresh connections that will result in new lifelong friends in the industry and beyond. We take great pride in what we do. We trust that our fourth SFAL will be as enjoyable for you as we know it will be for us.
Spectrum Fantastic Art Live runs from May 22-24, 2015 in Kansas City, Missouri. Click here for details.
Spectrum Fantastic Art is proud to announce the introduction of the Rising Star Award to the Spectrum 22 Awards Ceremony. This award will recognize and acknowledge an emerging artist who demonstrates exceptional abilities and dedication in the fantastic art arena.
The origins of this new award began with the arrival of Colin and Kristine Poole at the 2014 Spectrum Fantastic Art Live (SFAL) event. “Last year, at our first SFAL, we had the pleasure of spending hours perusing the artists’ creations,” begins Colin and Kristine. “Not surprisingly, we found the work of the big name artists inspiring and beautiful. What we also found notably impressive and particularly striking was the work in the ‘Artists Alley.’ These emerging artists are producing works of truly remarkable merit, creating their own ways of putting the fantastic into ‘Fantastic Art.’
Colin and Kristine Poole.
“The energy, spirit, creativity, talent and determination we experienced in our interactions with these emerging artists were so inspiring that we wished for their accomplishments and contributions to be recognized as are those of the more established artists. After a conversation with Spectrum director John Fleskes, this wish was to become a reality. We are very grateful to him for both being receptive to our thoughts and ideas and, in particular, for refining them into a much more effective form that led to the creation of the Rising Star Award.”
“When Colin and Kristine approached me about the possibility of a Rising Star award to recognize a young artist in our industry my immediate answer was a resounding ‘yes!'” shares John Fleskes. “Each year at SFAL we walk the show floor and marvel at the new artists who have just begun to work professionally. These are our future stars. To open the Spectrum award ceremonies by highlighting the efforts of a unique and fresh voice is something that I am looking forward to with great anticipation; for our youth work tirelessly to break new ground and forge the future. Let’s show them how important they are at the Spectrum awards ceremony!”
Kristine Poole working on one of her latest works.
The Rising Star Award also intends to encourage all newcomers to stay focused on their work and persevere through the challenges they will face in building a career in the creative arts.
“Spectrum began with the goal of providing recognition to the many artists often working in anonymity whose art was overlooked because of subject matter; the intent was to help give a voice to those who weren’t being heard,” offers Arnie and Cathy Fenner. “The awards for the competition are extensions of the desire to both spotlight achievement and to elevate the public’s awareness of our field, of what we do, of who we are and what we love. Spectrum respects the past, celebrates the present, and embraces the future; the Rising Star Award, thanks to the vision and generosity of Kristine and Colin Poole and the enthusiastic leadership of John Fleskes, is a wonderful expression of ’embracing the future’ and will help Spectrum continue its 22-year mission of discovery, recognition, and encouragement.”
Colin Poole painting The Muse.
“We have long enjoyed acknowledging our appreciation of people’s artwork not just verbally, but also by supporting them to make more of it–the idea for the Rising Star Award is an extension of this,” adds Colin and Kristine.
The nominees for the Rising Star Award will be chosen at SFAL on May 21 and 22 by Colin and Kristine Poole, John Fleskes, Arnie and Cathy Fenner. Furthermore, any representative selected by the Fenners and John Fleskes may also participate in the nomination selection. All artists exhibiting at Spectrum Fantastic Art Live in May, and have been working professionally for approximately five years or less, and any artist who demonstrate exceptional imagination, skill and dedication to their art will be considered. From this group of nominees, the final award winner will be selected by Colin and Kristine Poole and announced at the Spectrum 22 Awards ceremony at the Folly Theater in Kansas City, Missouri on May 22. This is a remarkable opportunity for emerging artists to have their work presented to the larger community and to make valuable connections and contacts.
The Spectrum 22 Rising Star Recipient will receive the Rising Star bronze award created by Colin and Kristine Poole, a one page artist feature in Spectrum 22 and a complimentary artist table provided for the next SFAL event. This will be an annual award.
Thanks to everyone who took part in our charity drive for House of Ruth. All direct sales of Drawing Beautiful Women: The Frank Cho Method during the last week of April to May 1st came to $1,000.00 after we rounded it up! We’re sending a check! Follow the link to learn more about House of Ruth.
We will be exhibiting at Big Wow ComicFest this weekend in San Jose, California! Our booth number is 731. We will have our latest books including Drawing Beautiful Women: The Frank Cho Method and Spectrum 21: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, plus a large batch of books with slight scuff marks or bumped corners that we will offer at huge discounts. Free postcards, posters and more are waiting for you.
Two artists who we publish are special guests of the show; Frank Cho (Drawing Beautiful Women) and Jim Silke (Jungle Girls and Jim Silke Sketchbook). We will have our unique publisher’s editions of Cho’s book with us that he can sign for you. On Sunday, Frank will be offering a free figure drawing class from 2:00 to 12:00! This is free to all attendees of the show.
I don’t recall there ever being a time when I felt more passionate about making art books than right now. There’s a good reason for this. A culmination of two years of focus on redeveloping the internal structure here at Flesk, followed by moving into our new office space in the fall of 2014, the addition of more help in the office, while gaining a new book trade distribution partner (Publishers Group West) has put us in an exceptional position for growth. We are equipped with the resources, support and goodwill to make books that we can be proud of, while knowing our partners will get them into the stores worldwide. 2015 is the beginning of a whole new chapter for Flesk. And we have you, our supporters, to thank.
I would like to give you an update on the latest Flesk books that are coming out soon.
The Book of Giants by Petar Meseldzija. This book is being bound and finalized at the printer. Due to the complexity of the deluxe edition the production time is taking a little longer than usual. However, it will be worth the wait. We are still on track for a summer release.
Storms at Sea by Mark Schultz. The trade edition is on the press now. The proofs looked beautiful and I gave an enthusiastic approval to the printer. We will have copies in the summer.
Something to note about Storms at Sea is that we will be producing a deluxe edition in a larger format. Mark and I have already determined all of the extra components that we wish to include. I am currently checking with various printers to find one who can do the specialized work I’m looking for. I have no schedule for this yet, although I’m aiming for the end of this year.
Tribes of Kai by Daren Bader and Lance HaunRogue. All of the art and writing is complete. We are currently in the design stages. Thanks to the generosity of our backers who supported our pre-order campaign using Kickstarter we are adding a number of upgrades to the deluxe edition. We plan on turning these in to the printer in early May. We also have a second complementary book Pridelands that will be limited to 500 copies. I’ll have these listed on the Flesk website soon with the full details. These will be available in late summer.
The Art of Elfquest with art by Wendy Pini and text by Richard and Wendy Pini. This is in of the most exciting books that I’ve worked on. Elfquest is one of the first comics that I read in the mid-eighties and helped set the stage for my passion for great independent storytelling. I absolutely adore Richard and Wendy and have put a lot of pressure on myself to get this book right. It’s scheduled for this fall.
Portfolio by Mark Schultz. This large format book is at the printer. It’s a complete collection of the five Various Drawings books, along with some new art. Mark wrote many new captions throughout as well. We ended up reviewing all of the originals and bringing them up to our current standards by doing slight adjustments to all of the art. I’ll be reviewing the proofs on Monday. This is also slated for summer.
Bruce Timm. We are working on a new show book with an increased page count and size compared to the previous three show books. It’s a whole new look that we are having a blast putting together. I’ll show off the cover, title name and details next month.
Imagery from the Bird’s Home: The Art of Bill Carman. I’ve been wanted to work with Bill ever since I first met him when we were both judges for Spectrum 17. Bill is designing this book himself and it looks gorgeous. Our new distributor, PGW, informed us that they love the cover and sample pages so much that they are highlighting it on their catalog cover. Bill is wrapping up the final spreads. We are aiming for a delivery date to the printer in early May.
Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art 22. With Spectrum 21 under my belt I fully realize how much work this is to design and write. (A ton!) July 1st is my due date to have it to the printer. Fortunately, I’ve already written most of the 2014 year in review. (I’ve even written part of the year in review for Spectrum 23.) I’ve learned to write portions each month, rather than write it all at once at the end of the year. I have some news ideas that I will be implementing to the chapter headers.
The Nexus Chronicles by Steve Rude. This book is a hair width away from being done. Steve is providing some commentary and once this goes in the book we will send it off to the printer. We’ve collected a batch of our favorite stories direct from the original art.
Beyond these titles, we are working on the new Harvey Dunn book for the South Dakota Art Museum and I’m already building our list for 2016-2018. (There are roughly 30 books that I have my hands in.)
We are down to our final week of the Tribes of Kai pre-order event on Kickstarter. We’ve just added a fifth stretch goal: We will include a second bonus print if we reach our goal. This 8 x 10 inch print will feature a new Tribes of Kai painting by Daren Bader with every Kickstarter pledge. Visit our campaign page to see all of the bonus items and upgrades that have been added thanks to our supporters. Ends this Friday!
Here’s a list of everything that has been upgraded and offered thanks to our supporters so far!
1. All books shipped to an address in the U.S.A. receive free shipping by USPS Postal Service Media Mail with tracking.
2. Bonus print. We will include an 8 x 10 inch print featuring a painting by Daren Bader with every Kickstarter pledge.
Stretch Goal #1 Unlocked: We will add a slipcase to the Tribes of Kai deluxe edition!
Stretch Goal #2 Unlocked: We will increase the dimensions of the Pridelands collection from 5.5 x 8.5 in. to 8.5 x 11 in.! The cover price will remain the same at only $10.00.
Stretch Goal #3 Unlocked: We will upgrade the binding of the Tribes of Kai deluxe edition to a fancy fabric material, and have an onlaid art plate set onto the center of the cover, as well as special title stamping!
Stretch Goal #4 Unlocked: We will upgrade Pridelands from a saddle-stich (staple) binding to a sewn perfect binding (paperback book with a spine) and add an additional 16 pages with the script and additional notes written by Lance HaunRogue. That makes it a 48-page, 8.5 x 11 inch book for only $10.00!
