From Concept to Reality: Explore the Painting Pyramid!

Calling all loyal Wappellians!

For those of you who saw my blog post from late last night, you heard that I had made some creative inroads into the Kickstarter.  Well, here are some images of that process as it played out yesterday and then today!

I now introduce the Painting Pyramid, something that I came across by accident when I was trying to think of a catchy name for the first four videos, which is also the first "Bundle" that we want to create as a goal.

We learned from our painting seminars that without the Shaded Basecoat DVD, a lot of my other techniques don't make as much sense.  So, that is the very first DVD that will be made and released.

Once you have these first four techniques down, it does make learning the rest a bit easier.  Hence the whole pyramid structure!  I was channelling the old "Food Pyramid" that we all grew up with, obviously. :-)

From that initial concept came this sketch.  This is what we hope to turn into T-shirts as rewards for pledges, etc.  We might even do hats, or other items.  I have already worked up a smaller simplified version of the pyramid for dice!

Once the basic idea was solidified, I had to refine all the individual elements into something more polished.

Which eventually led to this!  It will still need to be worked on, but I will need to get my stylus to be able to do that task.  You have no idea how tough it was just to do this image!  It took many hours of struggle with that stupid mouse.

Which brings me to something else I mentioned last night.  It has become apparent to me that I need some more pieces to this puzzle right away in order to make the kickstarter work.  To keep it short, what I would like to do is make a Pre-Kickstarter Beta Test pledge, so that I can bring in enough funds to purchase some sort of editing software.  This would allow me to get working on the videos themselves right away, instead of waiting until after the funding phase of the Kickstarter, which would be late January at the earliest!

For those who do pledge $20 to the Beta Program, you would be getting a copy of the Beta DVD to look at and give me some feedback.  That would be months before the official delivery dates in late April and May.  Once the releases start, a person who contributed $20 to the "Pre start" Beta Program would have their choice of one free DVD title.

Contributors of $30 (or more if you feel like it) would also get a "Beta Tester" version of the Painting Pyramid shirt design shown above.

We are trying to keep this aspect simple for now, hence these two levels.  It might even be limited to a certain number, so that we still have time to actually create the videos! :-)

The idea is to get some kind of rudimentary software in my hands so that I can make the videos much better, and a whole lot faster when it comes time for release dates!!  Also, I think the quality will be much better with all the extra practice.

In addition, Beta Testers will have their names listed in the credits, and as many other places as possible.

This feedback is going to be really important.

If you are not able to contribute in a monetary way, there is still a way to be a Tester.  Using the software purchased with the "Pre Start" funds, I would be able to post small pieces of the videos on the blog.  Anyone with suggestions, or some helpful tidbits will also be listed on the credits.

My contact information... you can e-mail me at jtwart2@aol.com, with a Beta Tester tagline.  Paypal is our method of payment for everything, so once you contact me, I can get you that info.

You can also reach me on facebook at James Wappel!

OK folks, I wish there was more, but we are already late to head out the door.  I will post again when we get back!!!!!