5th Anniversary Christmas Special

I proudly present the 5th Anniversary Christmas Special of the Wormworld Saga Digital Graphic Novel!

Go read it on wormworldsaga.com!

So, it's been five years since Chapter 1 of the Wormworld Saga has been released. That's quite some time! First I thought I might launch this episode accompanied by a complete reminiscence of the last five years. A LOT happened during that time but, to be honest, I just don't feel like it. I don't want to look back just now. I feel as if I have only just started on this adventure. There's so much left to do, so much still to accomplish. One of my big goals for the next five years is to create chapters faster and maybe even finishing the First Journey during that timeframe. Considering the circumstances of the production right now, this actually seems to be an achievable goal.

But even if I'm already eager to publish the next chapter, I had a total blast creating the Christmas special. It's been a lot of fun to revisit some old characters and places. And even if 5 years is not really a lot of time, I felt a bit of nostalgia painting Jonas' room and the cobwebs in the attic. It's where everything started and it felt nice to stop by Grannie's living room and rest a little bit before the adventure continues with Chapter 8 in a few months and we'll be thrown right to the center of the Wormworld again.

I hope everyone enjoys the special episode and I'd like to thank everyone who has supported me in the past five years. Nothing of what you can see of the Wormworld Saga today would have been possible without the interest and support of you, my readers. And I would not dare to continue on this adventure without knowing that you are there.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

-DanieL  

Announcing the 5th Anniversary Christmas Special

I'm very happy and proud to announce that this Christmas you won't be left without an update of the Wormworld Saga!

On Christmas 2010, Chapter 1 was released. So, THIS Christmas marks the 5th anniversary of the Wormworld Saga. And of course I won't let that go by without a proper celebration!

I took some time off the production of Chapter 8 (Ha, and you've thought I'd just be slacking!) and invested about 100 hours into the Christmas Special. Of course I wasn't able to create something of the size of a full chapter in such a short time but I think you will enjoy it anyway. I had a great time creating the Christmas Special and I can't wait to release it.

The Christmas Special will be released on Christmas Eve at 10:00pm German time. You'll find a countdown on the Wormworld Saga Website that will help you to figure out when exactly the release happens according to your timezone.

See you then!

New Wormworld Saga Goodies!

I've been busy with fulfilling the last kickstarter campaign during the last few weeks. We've had a big signing and packing event at the Tokyopop offices in Hamburg and finally it's done - the backers of the "Wormworld Saga Print Edition - Volume 1 campaign" have received their packages. Well at least they've been sent out. Some of the packages might still be on their way.

Now that the backers had their turn it's time to provide the new English Wormworld Saga book to all fans. Today we've updated the Wormworld Shop with new products including the resin figure, the keychain pendant, and the German book 3.

Aaaaand I'd like to introduce you to a new digital edition of the Wormworld Saga. The HD Collector's Edition has been designed with the digital collector in mind. It is an offline, DRM-free, high resolution (2048 pixels wide) version of the graphic novel you know from the website. It looks fantastic on high resolution screens, tablets and phones and you can easily store and display it on any device that runs an ordinary internet browser. You can dowload the HD Collector's Edition on Gumroad. Chapter 1 can be downloaded for free/pay what you want so you can test the new edition on your devices.

Ok, sorry for getting all merchant on you but after all Christmas is coming soon and you might find some of these things worthwhile.

I'm back in the production seat now and right at the moment I'm cooking up something special. I won't tell you what it is but I've got a hint for you: This Christmas we'll be celebrating five years of Wormworld Saga. That's right! The first chapter was released on Christmas 2010. Time flies. Let me asure you that I won't let this anniversary go by unnoticed!

Chapter 8, Milestone 1 reached!

I've reached the first milestone of the Chapter 8 production! 20% of the illustrations are done. Here's this milestone's preview image:

And I'd like to point out that I've started to frequently share concept art and panel illustrations with my patrons on Patreon. For as little as $1/month you can join us: https://www.patreon.com/daniellieske

Chapter 8 Production Kickoff

You'd think that after 7 chapters I've become used to starting a new chapter production. But it's every time the same: I'm scared like hell when I see all the work in front of me. But I'm also excited to create the next chapter of my story and, seeing the finished preliminary version before me, I can't wait to share it with you.

The title of the upcoming chapter is going to be:

Chapter 8 – Ambush in the Mushroom Forest

As always I will keep you updated on my progress as I work my way through the five production milestones and there will be preview images at each milestone. One thing that's new is that I've launched a Patreon page. Patreon is a crowdfunding website where creators look for ongoing support from their fans and in return offer access to all sorts of exclusive content. I'd like to make it a place to hang around and get into touch with people, since most other platforms kind of don't accomplish that for me. I will post additional behind the scenes stuff over there and for as little as a dollar per month, you'll gain full access to it. Please have a look at http://www.patreon.com/daniellieske

Blog Block

It's pretty pathetic that my last blog post is from the middle of the last kickstarter campaign. I'm almost ready to send all the rewards out, that's how long there has been radio silence here on the blog. It's not that there didn't happened anything in the meantime. The kickstarter closed with a whopping $46K of pledges, I attended a comic convention in Paris, which was an awesome experience, and I received the wonderful resin figures that were unlocked on kickstarter, just to point out a few highlights. So, enough material to write several blog posts. The only thing is, that lately I'm just not feeling like writing blog posts.

I've got the feeling that reading blogs generally has become a little bit old-fashioned, or is it just me? I personally stopped using an RSS reader quite a while ago because it just stressed me out to see all the content that I didn't have time to read through. The little time I've got left for reading content from the internet now is occupied with (way too much) Facebook and Twitter. When I'm lying in bed at night I prefer to check my YouTube subscriptions instead of reading blogs.

I  noticed that there has been an ever decreasing amount of comments here on the blog during the last two years so maybe I'm not the only one who has changed his preferences? Or maybe it's just that I'm not particularly asking for reader engagement.

Anyway, I actually don't know how many people are reading the blog nowadays. Different analytics provide me highly divergent figures. I'd just like to pass the information to everyone around that if you're following this blog to receive news about the Wormworld Saga, you might consider to join the Wormworld Saga newsletter to which you can subscribe here and the Wormworld Saga Facebook Page. If you are interested in my digital artwork and like to see some new paintings from time to time you can check out the dedicated Facebook Page that I've started earlier this year. I normally also post Wormworld Saga news and new paintings on Twitter.

Ok, thanks for reading the blog so far. I honestly don't know where I'm going with it. Production of Chapter 8 will start soon and normally I'd have to prepare milestone updates for that but right now I'm really not motivated to do that. If you're willing to give me any feedback on this matter please feel free to do so. I will keep an eye on the comments (that unfortunately had way too much spam lately...).

Final Week on Kickstarter!

Yup, we're already three weeks into the ongoing kickstarter campaign for Volume 2 of the English Wormworld Saga Book Edition. And we've already come a long way, unlocked a pile of free goodies and there's a resin figure - a  R E S I N   F I G U R E - available for a moderate upgrade fee:

It's not that the doors are closing any moment but if you'd join the ranks of the backers now, we would be able to unlock even more free stuff for everyone!

Half-Time at Kickstarter!

Last night we've reached the half-time mark of the current Wormworld Saga Book Edition - Volume 2 kickstarter campaign. And just in time for that turning point I was able to announce an awesome new stretch goal for the campaign. If we reach $30.000 I will produce a resin figure that everyone will be able to add to their rewards for a moderate additional shipping fee. I also plan to offer a "figure only" reward for everyone who isn't interested in the books but who want's to have a figure.

There already have been some nice additions to the reward (a poster, two collector cards) and we've got a little bit over 2 weeks left to reach this next goal. The reward package of this campaign promises to become even more awesome than last year's.

Chapter 7 - Fateful Encounters

I proudly present Chapter 7 of the Wormworld Saga Digital Graphic Novel!

Go read it on wormworldsaga.com!

After I had finished the layout work on Chapter 7, I took some time to read all chapters of the Wormworld Saga in one session. It took me over 1,5 hours to do this and I started thinking about the fact that each panel I glanced over during these 1,5 hours - by the way, 813 in total - took me at least 2 hours to paint. Some took me over 20 hours.

Now there are 7 chapters of the Wormworld Saga and we've already discovered a lot on our journey at Jona's side. However, things only begin to tighten up in this chapter. The cast of characters grows and the contradicting ambitions of these characters take shape. The inevitable encounter with the Dark Minions lurks on the horizon but are they the only danger the Wormworld is facing?

I'm really beginning to enjoy all the implications and ambiguities in the story and I'm looking forward to the turning points they will cause in the story.

I'm already eager to start with Chapter 8 but I don't know yet when this will happen. I'm currently trying to gather funds for the production. If you want to support the Wormworld Saga I'd like to point you at the kickstarter campaign that launched alongside Chapter 7:



Here's the link to the campaign page: http://kck.st/1O53NCm

The goal is to continue the English Wormworld Saga book series with Volume 2. If you are interested but have missed the campaign for Volume 1 you can catch up with the series by pledging for a bundle of Volume 1 and 2 in this campaign.

I hope you enjoy the new chapter and I'm doing my best to continue the Wormworld Saga as soon as possible.

Chapter 7, Final Artwork Completed!

It's done! Another chapter of the Wormworld Saga is completely illustrated! After the shock of the Chapter 6 production - I'm not kidding! It was a real shock for me how long that chapter took me to paint - it's really comforting that I'll be able to keep my original late March/early April schedule with Chapter 7.

Ok, now there's a  bunch of announcement to make. Here we go:

Chapter 7 will be published in less than a week and I can also finally announce the title of the chapter:

Chapter 7 - Fateful Encounters

Release: Sunday, April 12th 2015, 10pm (German time)

For your conveniance, a counter has been installed at the website so that you can see in what exact minute the launch will happen, no matter what timezone you're in.

Last year's livestream of the launch of Chapter 6 was a lot of fun and I'd like to repeat that for Chapter 7. I invite you to join me in my studio half an hour before the launch and we'll be able to chat a little bit before and after the launch. Here's the link:

The Wormworld Saga Chapter 7 Launch Hangout 

Together with chapter 7 I will launch a new kickstarter campaign for the second volume of the Wormworld Saga Book Edition and I will share more info about that as soon as the campaign is live. For now I just want to warn you that you'll be able to get leftover copies of volume 1 (standard AND deluxe edition) and early birds will even receive all the freebies from the volume 1 campaign. So, keep your eyes open!

That's it for now. It's time to do some layout work and get everything ready for Sunday. I'm really looking forward to the launch and I hope to see you there! 

Chapter 7, Milestone 4 reached!

I'm happy to announce that I've reached the next milestone in the Chapter 7 final illustration production. 80% of the artwork is done now and I'm coming really close to the finish line.

There really isn't anything more to say at this point. I'm working very concentrated on Chapter 7 and my plan is to finish the illustrations in the first week of April. However, text editing is a bit behind schedule so I can't really commit to a release date yet.

The illustrations of this milestone really made me hungry and my preview image will show you why:

That's it for now. See you at the 100% mark!

Chapter 7, Milestone 3 reached!

I'm making steady progress with Chapter 7. Today I've reached the third milestone of the final artwork production and this means that now 60% of the chapter is illustrated.

I really enjoyed this milestone a lot because it happens to contain a lush green garden which really was a joy to paint from all sorts of camera angles. One artwork I particularly enjoyed is an oversized background of which different portions are used in several panels. Here it is:

I really had a lot of fun painting this and all the other backgrounds that make up this location. So, this is a little bonus preview of Chapter 7 but I also owe you a proper preview image with actual panel artwork. There are not a lot of panels I can share from this milestone because there are spoilers in almost all of them. If you are especially eager to see more previews (also without spoilers), please consider to subscribe to The Attic where each milestone update comes with 3 preview images. Yes, there are already 9 preview images of Chapter 7 available in The Attic!

Ok, so here's today's preview image:

And there's another announcement I'm happy to make: As of today you can finally buy the first English Wormworld Saga book at the Wormworld Shop!

Volume 1 of the Wormworld Saga print edition contains the first three chapters of the Wormworld Saga in English language and you'll also find a 'Making Of' section, a sketchbook and a fan art gallery in it. All books shipped from the Wormworld Shop are signed, stamped with the red Wormseal stamp and we put one of the brand new 'Trusted Blade' bookmarks into each package. 

Click here to visit the product page at the Wormworld Shop!

I'm diving back into production mode now. I'm eager to finish the new chapter as soon as possible!   

Chapter 7, Milestone 2 reached!

I'm in full production mode right now, painting away hour after hour and I just reached the 40% mark. I was hoping to reach this point by last Friday but a particularly detailed background demanded some extra work. So I'm 2 days off my schedule right now but I hope to make up for that in the following three milestones.
After all I now have free evenings again because I completed the fulfillment of the last kickstarter campaign yesterday. It's a very good feeling to have wiped this task off my slate. I'll try to enjoy the rest of the Chapter 7 production now without being distracted. Especially since with the launch of Chapter 7 there will start the next kickstarter campaign for the second volume of the English Wormworld Saga book series. That again promises to be a lot of work on the side.

So, here's the preview image of this milestone and I'll directly hurry on to the next one:

Chapter 7, Milestone 1 reached!

Alright, I've finally reached the first milestone of the Chapter 7 final illustration production. I originally expected to arrive here a little bit ealier but what are you gonna do? Fortunately the delay is not due to the amount of work but to the fulfillment of the kickstarter campaign, which really has been (and still is) a LOT of work:

A lot of books to move around!

A lot of books to sign!

A lot of books to pack!

A lot of books ready for shipping!

The great majority of books has now been shipped but I'm still packing rewards in the evenings together with my wife. We hope to send out the last remaining packages next week. By the way, as soon as the books have been shipped for the kickstarter backers, you'll be able to purchase the first English Wormworld Saga book at the Wormworld Shop. I'll keep you updated on that.

Ok, so my plan still is to finish Chapter 7 by the end of March which effectively means 4 more milestones in 2 months. That's two weeks for each milestone and while this isn't completely impossible it will mean a lot of work for me. But I'm eager to share the latest installment of the Wormworld Saga with you and I'm doing my best to present it as soon as possible.

And to raise your anticipation, here's the first preview image from this milestone:

And as always I'd like to remind you that members of the Attic get to see two extra preview images at each milestone!

Alright, so hopefully you'll read again from me in two weeks!