Mirthful Mike Makes Monday Meetings More Metal…

Monday Meeting, News

Hi Everybody!

Mirthful Mike here.

Since Rich is away this week, I’ll be taking over the Monday Meeting.

Since I’ve committed to making things “More Metal”, here is me in my King Diamond costume waaay back in 2001. As you can see, I went with classic 80s King Diamond rather than the later versions. Justin was dressed up as Morrissey and I think Chad went as Fred Durst…

On a sidenote, I’ll be taking my wife to see King Diamond and Exodus for our anniversary this year. I missed Exodus last year as some stupid horse circus backed up traffic and made me an hour late for the show.

Okay, enough shenanigans… time to get to it.

Over the last couple of months, we’ve had a number of commenters asking about the various things that Art Direction entails as it pertains to my weekly bulleted list. So, I figure why not give everyone brief overview of what exactly goes into the Art Direction phase (or why stuff stays in that phase so long).

Keep in mind is that Art Direction covers several points in the process rather than just one. These points break down into the following:

Art Notes – As you can probably tell, this is the various art requests from a developer. Art notes can take various forms as sometimes I get a bulleted list of specific scenes while other times I get the unedited text with underlined passages. I will read through the notes, and then decide if the bulleted scene or underlined text works as far making for an exciting scene. If it doesn’t, I’ll modify as needed… usually only means tweaking the scene a little or selecting a more interesting neighboring passage. I very rarely have had to rewrite artnotes completely from scratch or send them back to the developer.

– As you can probably tell, this is the various art requests from a developer. Art notes can take various forms as sometimes I get a bulleted list of specific scenes while other times I get the unedited text with underlined passages. I will read through the notes, and then decide if the bulleted scene or underlined text works as far making for an exciting scene. If it doesn’t, I’ll modify as needed… usually only means tweaking the scene a little or selecting a more interesting neighboring passage. I very rarely have had to rewrite artnotes completely from scratch or send them back to the developer. Art Budget and Breakdown – Once I have the word counts for each chapter in a book, I will run our equation and figure out how many half page pcs of artwork a chapter requires. Many times I will even take the unedited text and do a roughed in layout to make sure that I buy enough artwork and that it’s properly spread apart so there isn’t a glut at one end and nothing at the other.

– Once I have the word counts for each chapter in a book, I will run our equation and figure out how many half page pcs of artwork a chapter requires. Many times I will even take the unedited text and do a roughed in layout to make sure that I buy enough artwork and that it’s properly spread apart so there isn’t a glut at one end and nothing at the other. Contracting – This is when I contact various artists, divide up art notes, put together contracts and tax forms, and email that out. This step tends to overlap the previous one as I’ll fire off emails to three or four artists that usually work on a line while I’m still figuring out how much I’ll need.

– This is when I contact various artists, divide up art notes, put together contracts and tax forms, and email that out. This step tends to overlap the previous one as I’ll fire off emails to three or four artists that usually work on a line while I’m still figuring out how much I’ll need. Production Time – The actual time the artist is working on the piece. As a rule, I try to give an artist a minimum of four weeks for an assignment. I will grant additional time if an artist is working on large number of fulls or is illustrating a large number of splats.

– The actual time the artist is working on the piece. As a rule, I try to give an artist a minimum of four weeks for an assignment. I will grant additional time if an artist is working on large number of fulls or is illustrating a large number of splats. Sketch Approval – About ten days before artwork is due, sketches are due. This is the latest drop dead date that artists can get the sketches in and still have time finish the artwork by final deadline. Most artists turn in sketches no later than two weeks into the project and those are usually approved with only minor tweaks. Once they have approval from me, they are clear to commence work on the finals.

Assamite Ghoul by Kieran Yanner

Finals and Approval – Once the final deadline rolls around, the artist will send me their finished artwork… generally as a .tif or .psd file. I will then review the piece and either reqest changes or approve the artwork.

M20 How Did You Do That? – Missile Deflection by Michael Gaydos

CCP Approval – For licensed game lines such as Vampire or Exalted, the artwork must go onto an additional approval process by CCP. They will decide whether or not the artwork passes muster and if not will request changes be made. Most of the time artwork goes through without a hitch, however there will always be exceptions and changes must be made.

By the time all of this has been done… about a month and a half or more has passed. At this point the project proceeds onto the layout and design phase which we will cover in another blog post in the future.

And now the project Round Up

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM ROLLICKING ROSE:

First Draft

Cavaliers of Mars

BtP Anthology

BtP RMCs

VtM RMCs

WtA Kinfolk

C20

VtM Lore of the Bloodlines

Dark Eras Companion

Pugmire Early Access

MtC Anthology

CtL anthology

Ex Novel (Forbeck)

MtAs Book of Secrets

Redlines WtF The Pack

CtL 2e

Beckett’s Jyhad Diary

MtC Rio

WtO Wr20 core

Second Draft

Dark Eras expansions

Ex Realm

Ex Dragon-Blooded

Ex Arms of the Chosen

VtR Secrets of the Covenants

Development MtAs M20 Anthology

WoD Hurt Locker

WtA Changing Ways

Scarred Lands Player’s Guide: Ghelspad

WtA Employee Indoctrination Handbook

Sardonyx/Storypath

Editing

MtAw 2e core

PtC 2e core

DtD Storyteller’s Guide

WtA Shattered Dreams

VtM Tal’Mahe’Ra/Black Hand

VtM Ghouls

Post-Editing Development

WoD nWoD 2e core