Hello, Adventurers! We are roughly 12 hours away from the Mythical Bards (and Pin Quest overall) wrapping up. Thank you all so much for coming on this journey with me!

Below is the finalized phoenix (pending any minor changes needed by the pin manufacturer) playing crystal chimes:

This entire series continues to be the most complicated designs I've created to date, but what a fulfilling process!

I've made some progress on our stretch goal dragon bard design (below) but, unfortunately, it looks like I will not be able to fully finish the dragon design before this campaign ends. I'm still working to finish it as quickly as possible. If we don't reach our stretch goal today, my goal is to still make it available as a post-campaign add-on that can be unlocked. Doing what we can to bring a dragon your way!

That's all for now, just a short update as we head into the final hours. I'll be back with any additional updates that come up during the day and with next steps when the campaign ends. Thank you all!

Thank you so much, Adventurers! The “Mythical Bards” pin campaign is officially over and our initial three bards funded. These pins are coming to life because of YOU and you have my unending appreciation for your trust and support. Thank you!! 💙💙

So, what’s next?
I have two conventions coming up in the next couple weeks - if you're in Minnesota, I will have a table at CONvergence in Minneapolis July 3-6 and Range FanCon up north July 12-13. I am working to finish the dragon and sticker sheet designs as quickly as possible, with a goal to have designs done, surveys ready to send, and everything else needed to wrap up the campaign ready by early next week ahead of these cons.

All that said, here's what you can expect in the next couple weeks (and beyond):

The campaign is over, but the journey is not! I won’t spam your inboxes with updates every couple of days but WILL continue to keep you regularly updated as we get through each step of the process.

Thank you all so much, and have an excellent weekend!

As of this writing, we have less than 60 hours until the Mythical Bards campaign wraps! Thank you all so much for your support so far!

I've been working hard to finalize pin designs for the first three unlocked pins and start work on our stretch goals, and I'm excited to introduce all of you to our finalized Tree Guardian with a mushroomy sousaphone:

I'm working through finalizing the phoenix as quickly as I can and have started piecing together stretch goal #1, the dragon!

My take on the dragon is a little more studious than the first three. This dragon tends to focus on poetry and writing songs and tales. The pin will feature the dragon perched on a precarious pile of books, writing away, spilling ink, possibly with a nearby lute. Below is an initial layout sketch and the start of the actual design (and I know it looks rough, but hopefully it gives a sense of what to expect with this one).

My process for pin design usually starts with a rough sketch, just to work through what pieces should be present. It's rough blocking, mostly, to get a sense of the piece. For my process, I do actually build a vector file for the pin from scratch rather than finalizing a drawing and vectorizing it from that direction. Every vector design I've ever built starts out where the dragon pin is now, with basic shapes to build out actual placement based on the size constraints I've set for myself. Once that's done, that's when I get to lean into the actual details and bringing the image to life! I am planning to lean more toward blues/purples/blacks with this one to add some variety to the existing pins.

The will-o'-the-wisp (stretch goal #2) is only in the sketch phase now. I'm working through a rough plan to have the wisps playing a sort of bramble-y theremin and using glow-in-the-dark elements, which would be a pin first for me!

I'm hoping to wrap up the phoenix and get the dragon to a more inspiring place before the end of the day today. Stay tuned, Adventurers!

Adventurers, our journey is ending in just over a week already! I've been working hard to finalize pin designs for the first three and start work on our stretch goal pins, and I'm excited to introduce all of you to our finalized Nessie, with her driftwood and kelpie harp!

These are far and away the most complicated pin designs I've ever done, but I'm so pleased with how they're turning out! The pins are looking to be 2" tall when finished and I expect some small pieces of the pins (like the extra thin music swirls) may still need to be simplified to align with manufacturing needs. But the sticker versions should look more or less exactly like this, and at a larger 4" tall!

I have some final tweaks still to make to the Phoenix and Tree Guardian, but also wanted to make sure to note the winners of our stretch goal poll of bards to to add to our existing band!

I already had a design worked out for the dragon that takes the dragon in a slightly more studious bardic direction, but I think it'll be a good addition to the current crew! The will-o'-the-wisp design is a far more ethereal kind of vibe than the first four, but I think there's some opportunities for some great swirls (and maybe glow in the dark??) with this one. And the wolpertinger gives the whole set some grounding that I think will create beautiful harmony with the rest of the bards.

We're well on our way to unlocking the dragon, and I should have sketches and initial designs for these three coming soon!