Chapter 5, Milestone 4 reached!

Today I've reached the 80% mark of the Chapter 5 final artwork production. I feel happy to have reached that mark and I'm looking forward to the last 20% which will include some very challenging artwork for me. I'm super pumped about finishing this chapter now! The editing process for the German and English version is nearly finished and I've already done some important steps towards a new website design for wormworldsaga.com. At the side, my wife, my brother in law and I are busy doing the finishing touches on the new Wormworld Shop which we now plan to launch together with Chapter 5. There's a release date forming which I can't announce officially yet (there are still some uncertainties about it) but currently it's pretty save to say that we will see the release of everything this month. It's about time!

And here's the preview artwork of this milestone:

As you can see, our adventurers make camp and, sitting at the sunstone bowl, they find some time to talk. I always love these "campfire talks" in adventure stories. They give the characters great opportunites to express their believes and mental conditions (remember the campfire scene of "Indiana Jonas and the Temple of Doom"?). And there's a LOT for Jonas and Raya to talk about after everything that happend in Chapter 4. As a positive side effect, this milestone was about 20 hours less work than the preceding ones because in dialog scenes I can reuse a lot of artwork in the backgrounds as the camera switches back and forth between the characters.

Well, it looks like the next milestone update will happen at the finish line. Can't wait to reach that!

Chapter 5, Milestone 3 reached!

Slowly the finishing line for the Chapter 5 production comes into sight. A bit over 60% of the illustration work is done now. Before I start with the fourth milestone I'm going to work over the prelim and prepare an English version that I can hand over to the translators so that they have enough time to work on the core translations (English, Spanish and French) that will be published simultaniously as soon as the chapter is ready.

Well, not much more to say so we might just as well head over to the preview images of this milestone:

The journey continues on the river.

That's much more convenient than climbing giant trees! 

I enjoyed the work on the chapter tremendously so far. There's so much extraordinary artwork that I can't show you just yet because it would spoil a lot of the special events and locations of Chapter 5. But I'm also enjoying the more mundane little scenes like the ones above. I love travel shots and I wished I could do much more of them. I guess I could paint a whole chapter without a single word balloon - just impressions from the journey. Well, of course that would bore a lot of readers to death so I try to find a good  measure for incorporating these scenes.

Alright, on to the next milestone!

Chapter 5, Milestone 2 reached!

It's time for the next milestone update! A little bit over 40% of Chapter 5 is now illustrated. Originally I planned to reach that point last Friday so I'm 4.5 days behind schedule right now. While that's not so good news it's noteworthy that the delay of the second milestone is not due to the extaordinary length of this chapter. It started one day short into this milestone because January 1st was a Holiday. Another day was lost because I visited the publisher Tokyopop in Hamburg. I consider that day a good investment into the future of the project though because I spent endless hours with the CEO of Tokyopop developing new ideas to bring the Wormworld Saga forward. Then I experienced a super frustrating Photoshop crash which destroyed the work of another full day. And last but not least I spent about a day to figure out a nasty problem whith Adobe's Creative Cloud service which inexplicably switched all the software I'm subscribed to into trial mode. So, while the delay is annoying, there's a good chance that the next milestones will be reached within the timeframes I scheduled for them (two weeks each). Well, if life doesn't continue to put obstacles in my way that is...

In the illlustration above you can see that I replaced the Christmas tree from the last milestone with the Ankal Aasha idol. The second milestone consisted mainly of images from the "Great Celebration". They were a joy to paint and the following preview panels represent only a tiny glimpse of what's waiting for you in Chapter 5:

The sun is setting and the inhabitants of Ankal Aasha prepare for the Great Celebration.

Jonas and Raya join the crowd on the townsquare.

Ok, let's hope that the next milestone runs a little bit more smoothly. I'm looking forward to it because it will lead our heroes out of the ancient city of Ankal Aasha and into ... the unknown. :)

Chapter 1 Available in 24 Languages!

The latest addition to the translations of the first chapter of the Wormworld Saga is the Arabic version. You might have noticed that I've stopped announcing each and every new translation here on the blog. I only do it  in special cases. Now, this translation No. 24 is special in that way that its flag is now filling the last empty spot for translations of the first chapter on the wormworldsaga.com homepage. There literally don't fit any more translations than that into that space. Ok, maybe I could squeeze a forth row of flags into there but it already looks very cluttered so I'm not going to do that. No, with the upcoming Chapter 5 I'm going to give wormworldsaga.com the redesign that it desperately needs. Not only because of the many translations but also because of the growing number of chapters. I won't spoil anything for you now but let me just say that in the future there can be an unlimited number of languages and the chapters will be presented much more prominently.

The Arabic translation is also special because it is the first translation for which we mirrored the layout of the Wormworld Saga:

It gives me a complete headache when I look at my work that way and you might just check the Arabic version out for this wonky effect.

So, my thanks you out to Khaled Al Sabouni for his translation work and once again to Ivan Berov who did a wonderful job solving this puzzle and providing the layout for the Arabic version of the Wormworld Saga.

2013 Kick-Off

I wish everyone a happy new year 2013! I hope you all enjoyed the Holidays and those special days between the years where one starts to think about the events lying behind and the challenges waiting ahead. Just like last year, I'd like to kick this year off with a comprehensive overview of the Wormworld Saga project, where it stands and where it's heading.

First of all, the most amazing thing for me is, that during 2012 I was able to dedicate my whole time to the Wormworld Saga. I didn't have to take on any commissions in order to fill financial gaps. The only commissioned work I did last year was the variant cover illustration for the first issue of 'Finding Gossamyr' and that I honestly did for the pure enjoyment of it. Being able to invest all my time into the Wormworld Saga resulted in some great progress of the project. 2012 saw the publishing of Chapter 3 and 4, and the first images of Chapter 5. And I was by far not the only one working hard to bring the Wormworld Saga forward. It starts right of with my wife who dedicated most of her free time to develop the products for the Wormworld Saga Treasure Chest kickstarter campaign which was successfully funded just a few months ago. The good guys at Robot Media brought the Wormworld Saga App to the Android platform and a feature on Google Play attracted nearly 150.000 new users for the app in only one week. And then there's the incredible people of Tokyopop Germany who did a wonderful job converting the German version of the first three chapters of the Wormworld Saga into a beautiful hardcover book which had a great debut on last year's Frankfurt Bookfair. All these achievements wouldn't have been possible without the support of all those fans out there that were spreading the word, giving encouraging feedback, and supported the project financially by donating, buying prints, and supporting the Wormworld Saga on kickstarter. A very special 'thank you' goes out to the voluteering translators who have translated the first chapter of the Wormworld Saga into over 25 languages now and are continuing their work to make more and more chapters available in all these different languages. The very fact that most of these translations are already layoutet and published is due to the staggering efforts of a single man: my volunteering layout assistant Ivan Berov, who did the layout on ALL translations that were published in 2012. I can't even say how many translations that were and how thankful I am for his help. I'd like every single person addressed in this paragraph to know that your support means the world to me and that I'm seriously not able to express the level of gratefulness I'm feeling towards you all.

Being able to write these lines helps me tremendously to prepare for the challenges of this new year. My goal is to keep working full-time on the Wormworld Saga and to present you the chapters 5, 6 and 7 before the end of 2013. Together with Robot Media I'm going to offer an HD version of the story inside the Wormworld Saga App. And together with Tokyopop I'm going to approach publishers all around the world to make the book version of the Wormworld Saga available to you in as many languages as possible. These are the major goals for 2013.

The biggest challenge in reaching these goals will be to secure the funds for the whole year. I've never talked much about the financial situation of the project since its start two years ago. The last thing followers of the project might remember, was my pitch video for the Wormworld Saga App kickstarter campaign in early 2011. There I explained that my plan was to live from the earnings of the app as soon as it would be published. As far as that goes a lot of the fans are likely to think that the finances of the project are secured since the release of the app in October 2011. Well, that's not at all the case. Funding the last year was a pure adventure with a lot of luck and modesty involved. I won't go into the details just now because the first months of 2013 are already funded and I don't want to raise an issue before there actually is one. The app is generating money and so are the books. Foreign book deals might add to that. This month my wife and I will open up the Wormworld Saga Shop in which the fans will find lots of opportunities to support the project by buying merchandise and collector's items. It will be very exciting for us to find out how all these sources of income will develop and how far they will carry the Wormworld Saga. If there should arise a problem I will address it early enough in order to find a solution together with the fans of the project.

In the last few months I often wished that there were a point of security to reach. A point from which on I would not longer have to worry about the financial aspects of the project for at least some time. I guess I have a pretty naive image of the life of comic creators in my mind. I slowly start to accept that insecurity is part of the concept of an author's life. Something has to balance the advantages, right?

Alright, so let's get this year going! I didn't expect to make it through last year and it somehow worked out anyway. Why should it be any better this time? It's an adventure after all!

It's comforting to know that I'm not on my own on this one.

Chapter 5, Milestone 1 reached!

I'm happy to announce that my plan to reach the first milestone of the Chapter 5 final artwork production worked out smoothly. And without further ado - here are the preview panels from the first milestone for you:

Hey, how did I get HERE?

Why do I get the feeling that this is a girl's place?

For those who bother about my technique I'd like to share the fact that Chapter 5 is going to be a bit different from the preceding chapters. The old chapters were painted in triple resolution which means that panels like the ones above, with a final resolution of 640x240 pixels, would be painted in 1920x720 pixels. However, Chapter 5 is painted in quadruple resolution so the panels above were actually painted in 2560x960 pixels. The reason for that is that I'm preparing to offer an HD version of the Wormworld Saga inside the Wormworld Saga App in 2013. Fortunately, the added resolution does not slow down my progress but has a cosiderable effect on detail crispness. I really like the new workflow and I think that it will enhance the look of the Wormworld Saga further.

It really is a good feeling to have set the foot into the production and reaching the first milestone before the end of the year. The last few months were really exhausting and I'm looking forward to at least a few downshifted days next week. I just realized that this will be the first Christmas since the launch of the Wormworld Saga that will not bring a new chapter. I'm feeling a bit sorry about that but on the other hand I'm also feeling releaved that I don't have to worry about launch issues over the Christmas dinner this year.

I'm off now. I wish everyone a merry Chrismas and a happy new year!

12-12-2012

I just want to drop you all a short notice that today is the 12th December 2012. This means that all prints ordered from the Wormworld Saga Print Shop today will be dated "12-12-2012". It's noteworthy that this is the LAST occasion in this century to get a triple date on your print. O_o

And to make this extra attractive to you I'd like to announce that you can now also order the three posters from the last kickstarter campaign for 15€ (worldwide shipping included!):

So, head over to the print shop and get yourself a special treat for Christmas!

Chapter 5, Title Announcement

Just like you, I've been waiting for this update for a long time now. Over 3 months have passed since the release of Chapter 4 and I fear that a lot of you are already waiting for the next chapter being released at the end of this month. Well, that's not going to happen. What I can announce today is, that Chapter 5 is written and illustrated in its preliminary version and that I have decided on a title for it:

Chapter 5 - The Call of the Worm Mountain

I can give you a couple of reasons for the delay of Chapter 5. September started with three weeks of vacation during which I maintained the Wormworld Saga Treasure Chest kickstarter campaign. Right after returning home I headed to Frankfurt Bookfair to promote the release of the first Wormworld Saga book. In the following weeks my work was frequently interrupted by interviews concerning the book release and my wife and I started the production of all the fan items that were successfully financed through kickstarter. Just have a look at this:

  

Currently we're right in the middle of sending out this sweet stuff to the incredible backers of the kickstarter campaign. In January we're going to open up the Wormworld Shop in which then everyone will be able to get these items and more. Rest assured that this will be properly announced when the time comes.

But it would only be half the truth to say that these things alone caused the delay of Chapter 5. A major reason for the long time it took me to finish the writing of this chapter is, that it was a very hard chapter to write. Ironically, I started my work on Chapter 5 thinking that it would be a very easy chapter to write. I got over all the complicated legends and myths stuff in Chapter 4 and now I would only have to send Jonas out into the Wormworld, right? 

WRONG!

When I started writing Chapter 5, I noticed that I made very little progress each day. I was really slow. Something was holding me back but I didn't know what it was. I just wanted to continue the adventure after all the talking in Chapter 4 but somehow I couldn't move on. Then I realized that it was Jonas who couldn't just move on. I had devastated him. I confronted him with a mission that in his eyes was absolutely impossible, unthinkable even. How could I expect him to just pick up his stuff and walk on? It was really hard work to cheer the little guy up and give him a reason to go on. When he finally was ready to continue his journey, so was I.

There were more issues like that. Without going into too much detail right now (I'm going to spare that for the 'Making Of') I must say that never before I've spent so much time on writing and rewriting dialogs. After having finished the prelim now I must say that Chapter 5 is a very important chapter. It looked so harmless on first sight but it was a lot of hard work to write.

And it's going to be huge! As you can see in the milestone chart above, it's going to be a lot longer than any chapter before it. It even dwarfs Chapter 3 which is really intimidating for me. I've got a lot of spectacular art in mind for this chapter and now that it's completely written I can't wait to illustrate it.

I'm not going to announce a release date for Chapter 5 just now. As you all know, we're heading into the Holidays and this means at least a few days of caring about other things than work. I hope to reach at least the first milestone before the end of the year though. I'm bracing for working like an ox through January and February and my dream goal would be to release Chapter 5 at the end of February. I don't know yet if this is realistic since the milestones are longer than usual this time. I guess that I will find out over the next two months, at what release date we are heading.

From now on I will keep you updated again about my progress and with every milestone update I will post preview images from Chapter 5. The Worm Mountain calls!  

Frankfurt Bookfair 2012

The magic painting in the illustration was cut out and illuminated with LEDs.

Last weekend I visited the world's largest bookfair in Frankfurt where my publisher Tokyopop and I presented the first Wormworld Saga book. Tokyopop's booth was covered all over in Wormworld Saga artwork and they had prepared these nice displays with the glowing magic painting that you can see in the foto above.

The center of Tokyopop's booth was covered with Wormworld Saga artwork.

I loved watching people - especially children - skip through the pages of the book.

I had signing sessions throughout from Friday to Sunday. When the fair was opened for the general public on Saturday and Sunday the halls got really crowded and many people visited my signing table in order to get a little drawing and a signature into their books. On Saturday we had a short stage presentation where the CEO of Tokyopop, Dr. Joachim Kaps, and I talked about the steps of the Wormworld Saga from a hobby project to a successful webcomic and to a published book.

Many people I met in frankfurt discovered the Wormworld Saga there for the first time.

It was nice to get into personal contact with people.

The brand new Loki plush watched over my signing queue...

... and was also eager for some cuddling to shorten the wait for my younger fans.

Dr. Joachim Kaps and me on our panel about the Wormworld Saga.

Another picture of our panel.

For me the bookfair was a real nice experience. We had wonderful feedback from the people that visited our booth, I met a lot of fans and at the end of the fair we sold out of all the Wormworld Saga books that Tokyopop had brought to the booth. There have been talks with foreign publishers and although there's nothing I can tell you just now, I'm very optimistic that we'll see the book edition of the Wormworld Saga in other countries soon.

Many thanks to the whole Tokyopop team for a wonderful bookfair experience!

SUCCESS!

WE DID IT!

On Sunday we successfully funded the Wormworld Saga Treasure Chest Kickstarter Campaign AND we even reached the second stretchgoal of $20,000 which will provide all backers with a fantastic Paper Toy PDF including Jonas, Raya, and Loki. That actually is something that we didn't dare to hope for 5 days before, when we reached the funding goal.

We're so relieved! Relieved that all the hard work has payed off. Relieved that we've found so many supporters for this project and - to be honest - relieved that these nerve-wracking 30 days are finally over.
You provided us the means to set another leg onto the ground that will help us to carry the Wormworld Saga further into the future. This project is an ungoing adventure for all people involved and you just provided a happy end for the latest chapter of our journey.

And you laid another groundwork for hopefully many more chapters of the Wormworld Saga.

For that we, my wife and I, are deeply thankful!

Daniel Lieske & Cristina Costas