Wintry Wonderland of Woof!
Added 2018-02-02 01:56:12 +0000 UTCDear Insane Children,
It's been a long, cold week heading into the start of February. Here in Shanghai we're seeing the first signs of the coming Chinese New Year holiday season: Internet slowdowns, factory closings, and people abandoning the big cities for their distant hometowns. This time of year brings the single largest annual human migration on earth - where 2.9 billion people make journeys for the holiday over a period of 2~3 weeks.
What's all this mean for us and progress on our various projects? Well, if you order anything from Mysterious in the month of February you can expect fulfillment and delivery delays of 1~3 weeks (depending on item). We'll also see art output from our China-based artists (Joey and Sonny) slowing while they spend time with their families. And I'll be out sailing for a few weeks this month - but will continue to post updates and vlogs here and over on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
We're not doing a live stream this week - and might not do another until March 2nd - but I will record and upload videos (at least once per week) in which I share new art, answer your questions/comments, and take you along on a sailing adventure where I head to the northernmost border of Thailand - eventually arriving at Ko Phayam near Burma.
Martin is staying in Shanghai and taking care of Lulu. Thank you, Uncle Martin!
(Don't ask how Lulu got a pancake on her face. We live in a strange home).
Two new images from Joey this morning. Color version of the sketches she previously shared. I'm really loving these pieces and anxious to see more environment pieces like this done. Sending out instructions to her this morning for next steps.
Alex continues his work on layout and design for Out of the Woods. Once he's finished with that (next week?) he'll start on layout and design for the Asylum license presentation (and the inmate certificates - more on that below). Bringing Alex onto the Asylum project full-time means we'll see more focus on production design, UI, icons, and other graphic-arty type elements to the project and presentation. Exciting stuff!
Here's an almost-final instruction sheet from the OOTW card game...
Avast mateys!
This week has been especially busy with planning and prep for Pirate Jam 2018. Who knew it would take so much effort to organize transportation, legal docs, and finances for 30 developers, 6 boats, 12 crew, and 6 shore-side event locations? On the bright side... everything is coming together really nicely - our sponsors are great, attendees look fantastic, and all the event stuff is lining up nicely. We're even doing event recruiting in China!
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In terms of Patreon housekeeping items... now that we've made it to month's end I'll start work with Alex and Martin on prep for the Inmate Certificates.
A GIANT THANK YOU to everyone who helped us reach our goal. Looks like there were 621 Patrons at the end of January and 583 of those which have successfully processed payments.
If your pledge isn't going through for some reason you'll want to resolve that issue ASAP so you get processed and can receive a certificate. For the 11 of you at the $1 level we'll send out a request for mailing address via Survey Monkey - keep an eye out for that.
We are looking at next goals - bringing on another illustrator and improving our live-stream setup. Expect details on those items in the coming weeks.
OH! One last thing... Ella Purnell as Alice!
Another fantastic photo manipulation from Omri. There are three other fan-requested actresses in the illustration pipeline. I'll share those as soon as they come through.
Questions? Comments? Feedback? Excited for The Year of the Dog!?
Woof!
Share your thoughts in the comments below. I'll go through everything in the next video update and try to have that uploaded by end of next week.
Now... I have a ton of packing and prep to do! Thailand here we come!
From Shanghai with Love,
-American
Comments
Wow
Gabriele Gambucci
2020-11-26 15:12:24 +0000 UTCHaha, Martin. :D
sumblinker
2018-08-30 13:30:25 +0000 UTCNice super
sandeep
2018-02-15 15:49:57 +0000 UTCEverything I've seen so far is looking great! 💙 I am really looking forward to all projects coming from Spicy especially OOTW and more psychological Alice Madness for the gamers... I pondered today and thought that a graphic novel would be cool to do somewhere as the art is always so good (like a teaser promo for the game maybe?). Keep up all the great work guys and gals 💙🌹
2018-02-13 00:03:36 +0000 UTCElla Purnell looks amazing. I kinda hoped that pirate jam also hosted coding lessins or such.
Saleh Abu-Rashid
2018-02-08 17:28:23 +0000 UTCI like the idea of following the school of fish. I think you could also do a part where you follow a group of origami birds. The instruction sheet for OoTW looks sick.
2018-02-08 01:28:14 +0000 UTCA lot of awesome art!!!! All of the art from Joey is more than "good enough" to be art prints, just need to let the high tier people choose which one to put out for the month. Can't wait to see these environment illustrations rendered into the game levels. I don't like how you put an image of a video with the play button, made me click on it thinking it was an actual video. *crosses arms* Hmph!
2018-02-04 01:19:39 +0000 UTCI love Joey's illustrations, they're absolutely gorgeous and I love Omri's photo manips. Keep up the good work <3
2018-02-03 23:44:47 +0000 UTCI love the colour schemes in both the illustrations, especially the vibrancy of the school (flock?) of fish!
2018-02-02 21:17:23 +0000 UTCThat frozen caterpillar image, with the northern lights <3 You should really make that one of the artprints, it is amazing. I'm guessing the other one is inside the Queens castle. It looks really awesome. There's a wonderfull contrast between the dusty castle and the colourfull fish and stained windows. Are the fish supposed to be stationary or moving? Because, if there's supposed to be moving, maybe they shouldn't have wires that attach them to the ceiling? Omg, Lulu! :D <3 The Ella Purnell image looks pretty damn good! She might be a pretty good match, though I'm still waiting eagerly for see what Omri can do with Fiona Dourif (hoping she's on the list of Alice contenders - if not, she REALLY should be!). Have a great trip to Thailand! Very much looking forward to new vlogs! (:
2018-02-02 15:06:51 +0000 UTCLove your illustration! And don't take the roasting to heart. I think they just took a piss because we mocked the Alice picture 😂
2018-02-02 12:37:59 +0000 UTCWow I really like her as Alice! She has those huge eyes. Thank you for sharing
2018-02-02 12:35:38 +0000 UTCI love these environment pics, especially the Fish hallway? Church? would love to see that in print :)
2018-02-02 10:02:20 +0000 UTCOh my, those illustrations are amazing! I really want the fish hallway as a print! Gorgeous! And I like Rachel's idea about putting everything into an art book. I'd buy it. <3 I'm liking the photo manipulation actresses by Omri a lot too. I forgot to submit it in the Survey Monkey, but I would LOVE to see Ashley Greene as our Alice! (She played Alice Cullen in the Twilight series.) Everything is looking amazing as always. I can't wait for more news about the Inmate Certificates and upcoming videos! Safe travels to you American and Martin and Lulu, try to stay warm and try not to get fat. ;) Woof! P.S. I made another illustration of my own that I wanted to share. :) It's a half & half of regular Alice and my own rendition of a Fire-like Alice. <a href="https://asteriavisual.deviantart.com/art/Alice-Asylum-Two-Halves-728636030" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://asteriavisual.deviantart.com/art/Alice-Asylum-Two-Halves-728636030</a> (Please enjoy, and don't jokingly roast me this time. Haha.) (*˃ᆺ˂)
2018-02-02 08:49:32 +0000 UTCI love all of the art, Joey has such a good grasp on creating concepts with a lot of depth and appeal. I really like the idea of Caterpillar being frozen, because it means that he's unable to guide Alice while she's in her most vulnerable and directionless state. If Caterpillar represents Alice's voice of reason and clarity, putting him just out of reach is perfect. At the last stream, I noticed that a few people mentioned possibly having the Skool Daze level be reimagined with the floating fish art involved - so I made a little fanart that's a mix of a bunch of influences, this art, the first game, the second game, the books and Ken Wong's art, in which Alice meets the Mock Turtle's old teacher, Tortoise. <a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVBGNX1VMAI4Muy.jpg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVBGNX1VMAI4Muy.jpg</a>
2018-02-02 08:40:45 +0000 UTCLovely illustrations! i think its really amazing you try to offer high quality items/content to everyone no matter what tier they are on an put such hard work into everything you do, much respect for that. the out of the woods game an book look like they are gonna be the bees knees, cant wait.
2018-02-02 08:17:25 +0000 UTCI don't comment much, but I just love the feeling and atmosphere of these images. It reminds me so much of the first game: a sense of incredible wonder (duh) but mixed with dread. It takes me right back to the feeling I have while playing the first game. Keep up the good work American, Martin and Lulu!
Malaika
2018-02-02 08:04:44 +0000 UTC
