Progress, Picture by Picture...

Greetings!

Progress this past week has been incremental but steady.

Thus far…

- Ian Stead is holding on to the finished Roland image and is having another fellow do some background art on it.

- Geoffrey Butler is working on still more Notables, both ‘Mechs and Vehicles.

- Daniel Cherng is working on the Katana... and making good progress.

- Paul has given the three writing samples I sent a clean bill of health. I am awaiting his decision to tackle more text in the near future.

- No word at all from our layout man. I have been sending an email once a week or so but have received nothing from him since late June. The Curse of 3063 appears to be doing its work – I will contact his understudy to see if anything has been done as a team.

I have pinged Karl Olson, Chris Seymour, Mike Sullivan and DaveCrypt. They are all due for updates.

- Chris ‘Kurbound Seth’ Seymour’s Mongomery II has passed to the secondary sketch stage; there are several issue with perspective but the overall design is promising, as is the level of detail even on the sketch.

- Karl Olson is working on the Panzer X and has submitted a rough draft that looks very good. He has firmly established the scale and will include additional troops and scenery around the tank, which is a very nice design.

- Mike Sullivan has scheduled a rough draft by Monday. However, he is very busy with work and long hours as well as wrapping up other projects and caring for his son. He is one of our more talented artists so the wait should be worth it.

- DaveCrypt has gotten back my version of the Nemera with several suggestions. I have just heard from him and am waiting to see whether he can make the changes that I requested.

- I have located an artist (thank you, Ian) to do the Urugan, an atmospheric fighter. I have not seen his work yet but Ian assures me he is capable and willing. We are in the midst of discussing the commission; I will let you all know if it pans out. Meanwhile, I am looking around for another artist to take the remaining commissions for various vehicles (I believe there are only two left).

[Update: Looks like Karl will step up to do the San-Ku-Chu LMTV and some others...).

- Vlad posted $50 to the PayPal button! Thanks, buddy! I have already sent it to David Dryburgh. Only $120 left to go!

The Evolution of an Illustration...

This is the original submission for the Panzer X.

Note the big black side guard, something I sketched

in to illustrate what I wanted.

This is the first of three prototypes. Note

the cannon is nearly pointed at the viewer.

The second prototype shows a bit of turret

rotation, but the barrel is still foreshortened.

Now we have the barrel with a better side

view, but it is too simple and tapered. Not

what I would expect to see unless I was

looking at something from the 1930s.

Mmm... better. The barrel has lost its

taper and has something of a modern

feel to it with the sleeve.

Now for some scale. Soldiers in a winter setting.

However, the tracks are too smooth...

Here they have been roughed up a bit,

much better for getting through the snow.

This is the feedback I gave to Karl, the final

touches. Extend the track guard back a bit

and move that soldier out of the line of the

main gun to balance the picture. Center the

tank in the frame, delete some space from

the right and add a bit of scenery on the left

and hey! presto.

Airsoft!

Our battle in Seabeck was mixed. I got to use my M-14 in combat (at last!), and scored at least four kills. However, the playing field was very small for twenty people; most of them hunkered down and waited for someone to wander by. My son was quite frustrated. He has a good gun and lots of determination, but the woods were an unending wall of green broken by very few trails. Walking a trail was a great way to catch a pellet. Forging through the woods merely announced to the world where you were. There were a lot of deadfalls and dry branches, blackberry thickets and so on. But our host was very accommodating and overall, we had fun.

My friend Bill had his work cut out for him – his G-36K did not operate and all he had left was a sniper rifle and a pistol. He still had fun, though, which just goes to show how much a good attitude has to do with enjoying the game. He pegged me once – but I nailed him twice! I gotta get some black tape to put over that orange muzzle cap on my rifle….

The organizer held a target-shooting contest – out of a possible score of 50, I got 45, but was beat out at the last moment by a fellow with a 47. However, he used a fence to brace his gun while I fired from a kneeling position, so I don’t feel too bad about getting second place.

Catalyst Games

Not much is happening on the CGL front, at least in a legal sense. It appears they have an extension on the license which will carry them through GenCon (in August, I believe) and allow them to publish a few more books. One of these is the TRO:3085, which has illustrations provided by many of the talented artists you will find in the TRO:3063! That is one reason our art has slowed a bit. I have seen a few of the smaller PDFs they have been selling – a lot of it seems thrown together and not really intended for general use. On the other hand, CGL really has little choice if they are to raise the funds to actually print books for sale.

August 9th they will go back to court. I don’t have high hopes – Coleman is dealing with others of his kind and knows his way around them very well, I’m sure. But who knows?

Rumor has it they have pulled fan writers into working on the new TRO. The results can’t be any worse than what they’ve done in the past. Hope CGL paid them up front!

Thanks for stopping by.

Steve