Imbrian Arts Kickstarter - Latest Update: Death Knight sculpted, working on casting

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**Alpharius**

Oh boy...

Creator Jody Siegel about 12 hours ago

The Lich and zombies are sculpted. I'm currently casting up liches and working on getting a batch ready for release while I'm sculpting. As far as zombies go, I don't want to release them until the special models for the undead are done. Models like the lich, death knight, and piper would be much more in demand as resin figures than three zombies so for me it makes the most sense to spend my casting and sculpting time on getting them done so we can earn money for nicer packaging, cards, breast pumps, prams, etc.

...

**Azazelx**

**Undead_Love-Machine**

Jody's logic seems to be a tad flawed; surely he would have more money for breast pumps and prams if he released miniatures for sale as quickly as possible, rather than focusing solely on sculpting?

Unless, of course, it's just another empty, meaningless excuse for yet another month of no tangible progress.

**Azazelx**

I think at this stage we can safely say that Jody isn't one that's much for planning ahead properly or having any kind of effective long-term (or even medium-term) plan.

Sculpting miniatures requires more time (and he's not fast) and probably gets him a nice paycheck pretty quickly ($1k a figure or however much it is for sculpting) while finishing this project would require him to sculpt, cast, send out models before he can then open them to retail and make $10-20 a pop on the models.

As a short-term thing, some sculpting for hire is a much better way to bring in some cash. The problem is that he hasn't done much of a job on the long-term of setting himself up his own business. And frankly, he seems the type that really shouldn't be doing so, since he's clearly not really up to it.

**Alpharius**

I agree with just about everything you've written there...

Also:

Jody Siegel 2 days ago

Yes the death knight is currently in progress. I can't say when I'll be done with resin casting yet zoroaster. Since offering trades on people's pledges I've been hit with a bunch of requests so I've had to spend my casting time working on getting enough bones made to fulfil orders and it's slowed down the release of the Lich. This week I'm going to make some extra bone molds so I can produce them a bit faster and have some left over just in case more backers decide they want to change their pledge.

**Joyboozer**

So, he's had to actually cast the stuff required for pledges that should have already been cast quite some time ago?

**Alpharius**

Creator Jody Siegel about 19 hours ago

Once we have enough masters done to go on a single master mould then we'll have them mastered in metal. Usually you don't waste an entire mould just to get one mini made. You either share a mould with other people so you can fit as many miniatures on it as possible (saving costs) or you put everything you need mastered onto the mould. I don't like sharing mould space because you have zero control over how many times your master mould gets used. So once we have enough undead figures to fill up a mould we'll try to fit the ifrit in there and get them all mastered and then have production moulds made off the masters.

**Azazelx**

Chinese New Year?

**Alpharius**

I'm not sure Jody's aware of such a thing - so the good news is it shouldn't affect deliveries here.

The bad news is, of course, that Jody marches to the beat of a drum that only he can hear.

And even then, I don't think it is beating now...

**Alpharius**

I've got to be honest here - I thought The Baby had already arrived...

Update #57

Nov 23 2014

Post move update
Comment
2 likes

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to update you on how things are going now that we've moved and it's been a couple of months and we're all settled in. Casting is all set up and running normally though the focus right now is getting miniatures sculpted.

I'm currently working on the Death Knight as well as a couple of commissions. I figured I'd be done with commissions for a while but as the due date for our baby closes in we've had to pick up LOTS of baby stuff. You guys who have little ones know, it's not something you usually budget for and it's ALL necessary. So I'm less than three weeks away from having a new little boy. Once mom is ready to go back to work I'll be able to devote more of my time towards sculpting for myself and less time toward covering our bills. Being the sole provider for the last few months has really slowed things down and I'm very sorry that this got in the way of working on our miniatures.

With all that said, I'm very happy to be working on the Death Knight again and also very excited to be a father.

Also, if you've recently moved be sure to let me know. I've gotten a few emails lately and people are wondering if it's going to mess anything up or be a pain. Don't worry! Updating your address is easy and only takes a minute.

Thanks very much for your support, and all of the baby advice I've received from your comments and messages.

Jody

This campaign certainly looks to be at least two years late...

**RiTides**

That sculpt seems rather rough, and it's the one he's been working on for a long time. Time to cash out!

That said, I've just built my fungiens and they are soooo awesome. Jody has talent, when he decides to put it to use.

**Alpharius**

I think the Death Knight is very much a WIP at this point, so I'm not worried about it eventually turning out great...

Now what I am actually worried about it is when it will ever get finished!

**Azazelx**

After his kid graduates college and gets a job. Jody needs to do some more commission work for all of the life events in between, but he's really set on finishing up the KS before the next turn of the century.

**BobtheInquisitor**

He will have to hand down his ancient sculpting techniques to his scion. This will be a legacy kickstarter.

I can just see the family crest now... An armature lion rampant on a field barwise split with blue over yellow and the motto "Commit Thy Work to the Backers."

**Alpharius**

At least we can all still have a laugh about it...

**c0un7_z3r0**

Does anyone know anything new? I have been quite positive (not without effort though) about this spectacle but after the last update it's hard to find something to be positive about. Sure it's nice he managed to propagate and all but given the pace of this project this far, I'd be surprised if he vill be finished in 2016... This must surely be some kind of record. Does anyone actually believe all miniatures plus the game itself will be a reality?

**Alpharius**

Miniatures?

Yes - 'eventually'. Could easily stretch into late 2015 though...

Game?

Unlikely.

But wait!

From the comments section!

Creator Jody Siegel 3 days ago

The only thing that's changed since the last update is that we had a baby last week. Mom is recovering and we're spending most of our time feeding and changing and doing the laundry and not very much of it sleeping. Until she's back on her feet and able to get work, It's only me working to take care of the three of us.
I've found out that having a baby is like playing 40k. You drop a ton of money on an army initially and then you realise your army would be better with xyz instead of abc. With a baby you prepare as best you can and then you realise he pisses himself 6 times a day and they don't coincide with his bowel movements so you buy more cloth diapers, more wipes, diaper rash cream, thermometers, hand sanitiser, etc.
But all of that will pass. Mom will get better and get to work, and I won't have to cover all our expenses forever. But I can't put a time on that. She'll be ready when she's ready. I can't tell you how long it will take for her to be healthy enough for work or when she'll get a job offer. As it is, I count myself lucky that there is enough demand for sculptors to allow me to support three people. We take it one day at a time right now, but we will finish the project.

Ecthelion 3 days ago

Which basically means I don't care about the fact I took your money 2 years ago as my life is just more important than yours right now...Amazing.

I have no idea what is finished & what is still coming, only that my 153 dollars pledge is by far not fulfilled. I think I have 4 miniatures at home right now.

Creator Jody Siegel 3 days ago

I do care about finishing this project, but please understand that loosing half our combined income means not having enough money to pay rent, utilities, and food for three. There's really no way for us to get around that. How many employers out there want to hire a pregnant woman? That's what we've been dealing with for the past 7 months. If I don't get the bills paid we don't have a home. Please do not think that I don't care about this project. This is my dream and I'd much rather be sculpting what i love rather than working on someone else's project.

**BobtheInquisitor**

Cloth diapers? No wonder he has no time to sculpt.

**Alpharius**

It is a bit annoying that Jody ignores the whole 'near two years late' thing.

I'm not sure why he couldn't get more done before the birth of his baby a few weeks ago, but it certainly doesn't seem like he won't be getting much done here for quite some time now...

**RiTides**

It's pretty clear the funds have been used up on Jody's life - his spouse hasn't been working for months already, and I see no reason for that to change with a baby to take care of. And he wonders why people were upset about his "Beer and D6s" project early in the year...

For the past 6 months, he's been using preparing for the baby as an excuse, and there's no way there's going to be forward progress now. The funds are so totally gone here... he'll probably try to stretch things out, and as he's doing casting himself now it's basically free except for time, but I just can't see this project ever fully "finishing". People were crazy not to cash out on what they could, imo... it's different to me when creators are behind but diligently working on their project. That is obviously not the case here.

What is really grating is seeing things from him months ago about working "for free" on this project to keep his reputation. There's nothing free about it, he was paid very well and upfront! But, that does not work well as a motivator for some people, and clearly Jody is one of them.

**Alpharius**

RiTides wrote:

What is really grating is seeing things from him months ago about working "for free" on this project to keep his reputation. There's nothing free about it, he was paid very well and upfront! But, that does not work well as a motivator for some people, and clearly Jody is one of them.

Exactly!

The fact that he continues to ignore the fact that he already made $60K on this project and then failed to deliver on it while using up all that money is...fething annoying.

**plastictrees**

It's a joke really. I assume he's still getting commission work or just has another job, anyone seen his name referenced as a sculptor on any recent projects?
I'm guessing that many sculptors would be overjoyed to be paid 60k for a years work. To blow that time and goodwill is crazy to me.
Also, at least have the courtesy to send out updates with information to ALL your backers. Comments are ridiculous 2 years in to a project.

**c0un7_z3r0**

Having a one year old myself I'm quite sceptical about this "hobby project" of his (it seems to me that is how Jody view things and not as work, which it's actually is) ever being finished, especially considering the pace he kept this far along with all the excuses.

I'm afraid that what we have seen this far is all we will see for a long long time.

RiTides wrote:
For the past 6 months, he's been using preparing for the baby as an excuse, and there's no way there's going to be forward progress now. The funds are so totally gone here... he'll probably try to stretch things out, and as he's doing casting himself now it's basically free except for time, but I just can't see this project ever fully "finishing". People were crazy not to cash out on what they could, imo... it's different to me when creators are behind but diligently working on their project.

This is just how I feel! And as a side note, sure preparing for baby is a long process but it does not take 6 months of full time work! I'd like an honest answer from him what he actually have been doing all this time! But as you wrote RiTides, if he couldn't work on the project for six months due to preparations for the baby, when will he ever have time to work on the project now? When the bills piles up, this will be the last thing he'll spend time on.

Unfotunately I had too much trust in Jody (I have "too much" trust in most people, which usually works just fine) so I didn't cash out when I was given the opportunity which is something I bitterly regret by now!

**Mymearan**

The time-consuming part of preparing for a baby imo is supporting your partner who is carrying the baby. Most of the other stuff comes after. Of course it's too late anyway since he won't get anything done with a newborn!

**Alpharius**

The latest, from the KS comments section:

Creator Jody Siegel 3 days ago

Markus there are definitely several areas I could have done better in hindsight. I can only imagine how things would have turned out if I had waited two months to run the campaign. For starters the issues RBG was having with Troll Forged didn't come about until after my campaign was done. I initially chose Troll forged based on the recommendation of Tre at RBG. He couldn't speak highly enough of Ed and he sent me samples of the plastics which were great. Now if I had waited a month or two longer, I would have gotten a completely different report from Tre, but there's really nothing I can do about it except say "what if" I can't go back in time and change that and at the time it seemed like such a great opportunity that I'm sure most people in my shoes would have done the same thing.
The end result though was where it really hurt. As you know, I based the goals off of the initial estimates I was given for plastic figures. When I started working with Valiant the metal turned out to be much more expensive, which dug into living expenses. If I use KS funds to do things like pay the rent, move, or buy ANYTHING for my child (because no single guy ever budgets for a kid and a fiance he doesn't have yet) then there wouldn't be enough to pay for the more costly material and shipping, which is why I find myself doing commission work now. Conversely, If I spent my time sculpting to finish the project sooner, I would have a whole bunch of finished miniatures to ship but how would I pay the rent? Being able to sculpt, and having the money to produce a range, but being evicted before I can finish is not going to make for a successful project under any circumstance. So I am TEMPORARILY doing commissions, until my fiance is back on her feet. In this scenario, nobody is homeless, and my kid's needs are met.
Again, in hindsight it might have been better to produce just the initial miniatures from the kickstarter, reassess the costs, refund and relaunch. But at the time, we were already a few months into production and I had several figures done and in progress and my focus was on getting EVERY completed piece off to Valiant so that we could all see progress being made.
We also saw a lot of delays in the production because of the back and forth of masters between Valiant and I. I spoke before about how I delayed in sharing that information because I didn't want to give backers the idea that Valiant wasn't doing a stellar job. After my issues with Troll Forged, I don't ever want to have to talk badly about, or give the impression that I was criticising another company in the miniature industry. That of course was a mistake. The guys at Valiant are totally understanding and they agreed, you have to keep your backers filled in, even when there's problems. Valiant of course, will fix it until it's good. It just took a lot of time.
--
Kara, back when I sent out surveys I offered to ship miniatures out as they came, or on demand and I still do. I frequently get requests to change orders and have available minis shipped and it's never a problem. So this is a happy reminder for anyone who wants to switch, or get some minis shipped out to them, send me a message!
--
Markus, I'd love to do more updates but they really should be meaningful and pertain to progress with the project. If I spend two weeks on a commission for someone's top secret project so that I can afford a new transmission or more baby stuff, it would be an awfully depressing thing to read, and frustrating because most clients want their work kept hush hush until they're ready to unveil it themselves. Progress wise on at a personal level. Mom is doing ok but she's still bleeding after the birth. She can get up and walk around but it's painful. I wouldn't want her out and about doing busy work for at least another month and an okay from a doctor. I'll have a week or two in January to work on the Death knight, and then I'll have to get another commission done in Feb.
--
Sorry for the long post. Have a great New Year and DRINK! but don't drive

**JohnHwangDD**

c0un7_z3r0 wrote:
Sure it's nice he managed to propagate and all but given the pace of this project this far, I'd be surprised if he vill be finished in 2016... This must surely be some kind of record. Does anyone actually believe all miniatures plus the game itself will be a reality?

Condolences on you not getting your stuff after 2+ years, but Steve Jackson Games Ogre DE funded in May of 2012, and they have a *TON* of ambitious stretch goals that are going to take at least 2 more years to fulfill.

**Alpharius**

Yeah, off topic and all that but...

I got my copy of OGRE a long while ago.

What is actually left 'to do' there?!?

**Joyboozer**

Wander into random topics and post like an arse?

**JohnHwangDD**

Alpharius wrote:
Yeah, off topic and all that but...

I got my copy of OGRE a long while ago.

What is actually left 'to do' there?!?

That was only Wave 1, and it was a year late.

More than 2 years late, SJG still owes us:
- 30 minutes of music
- Steve's scenarios
- fan scenarios

SJG also promised things to various backer segments:
- Car Wars Kickstarter
- Ogre Miniatures 2nd Ed (print *and PDF versions to be available)
- Ogre expansion
- Ogre computer game

Now maybe you're satisfied with Wave 1, that's great. Some backed for the promise of being able to buy an updated Ogre Miniatures rulebook. Others backed for the promise of a new Car Wars edition. And I'm sure someone backed for the notion of an Ogre game with better than 8-bit graphics.

In my case, I only backed for higher-quality Ogre Miniatures maps. My tokens and overlays are still in shrink, unpunched. I dunno, maybe I'll ebay them or something. I've been waiting a long time for the 2nd Ed Ogre Minis rulebook, and suspect it will be quite a wait further.

There is still quite a lot to do, and when we're talking about delayed delivery, Ogre DE is pretty far out there.

**RiTides**

So, he has gone back to his first excuse - Trollforged. Nevermind that he hasn't sculpted hardly anything lol. Comparing them is like night and day - Ed at TF had to cancel taking Jody's project, sure (and he cancelled, not the other way around!) due to other commitments, including finishing the aforementioned RBG campaign. But he Did finish it, and continues to work like crazy to keep his operation going and to finish his own campaign. It's the exact opposite - late, but regularly updating and doing all he can to work towards completion.

Jody is just rehashing blaming everyone but himself: TF, Valiant, wife, baby, car... and he's blamed all of these for months, so much so that he has cycled back around to the first.

He neglected to mention that by doing resin casting himself, he's saving tons. I think it's obvious he's spent the money on "living expenses" as he calls it, and is just going to continue parading out the same tired excuses for ZERO progress in months. If he wanted to be done, he could sculpt a tiny bit in the darn evenings! I was getting texts from Ed at TF at 11pm last night regarding dreadnought printing/casting. The comparison does Jody no favors, that's for sure, and I'm tired of him using TF (or Valiant, life, etc) a pinata to cover his own laziness.