It's the nearing the end of the campaign! With just a few hours left I thought I'd make a final update with some new artwork for the Backer's Choice stretch goals, exciting news about a giant dragon pin, and some updated information for the upcoming Pledge Manager stage!
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Foxfire Kitsune 2nd Color Vote Results:
The results are in, and backer's chose the black and green color variant for the second kitsune colorway! As of this moment, only the deluxe pin artwork has been finalized, but the standard pin and mini pins will be taken to a finish in complimentary colors by the time the Pledge Manager arrives.
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Dragon Tide Designs
The Dragon Tide designs are partially available to look over.
In exciting news, the deluxe pin for the Dragon Tide set will be a massive 100mm and will feature a shimmery gradient pearl shift in the water portions of the pin. This extra large size will make the dragon a real show-stopper of a pin for your pin boards and Ita bags.
In even better news, I've spoken with my manufacturer to get a quote for this larger size. While it will cost quite a bit more per unit to produce such a large pin, I'll be able to offer it at the same price as the other deluxe pins for this campaign! Any pledge that has a deluxe pin will have ANY of the deluxe pins as selectable options in the pledge manager stage, including this the extra-large Dragon Tide pin! (Note: after the campaign and pledge manager selection is over, I'll probably need to charge a bit more for this pin if I sell it online or in person, but those who backed the campaign can get it at the same price as the 3" deluxe pins!) At this time, only the mini pin and deluxe pin previews are available. Dragon Tide will have two color variants, the same as the other Elemental Myth pin themes. The final artwork, including the standard pin/pendant and color selection will be available in the Pledge Manager so you'll be able to see exactly what you're getting!
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Pledge Manager Information:
If you've ever backed a Backerkit or Kickstarter campaign before, you may be familiar with the Pledge Manager. If you're not, the Pledge Manager is an easy-to-use tool that allows you to provide your shipping information, specify the exact designs that you would like to receive, add on additional items, and pay any remaining balances for your pledge. (for most people this will be your shipping charge.) It's a great way to review your order and ensure you're getting exactly what you want.
Backer's Choice Designs: The Kitsune Blind, Foxfire Kitsune, Dragon Tide, and Dragon Tide second colorway will all have final artwork at the time of your Pledge Manager selection.
Pledge Manager Timeline: A link to the Pledge Manager should be sent out near the end of February.
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A Learning Experience:
This was my first Pintopia, and I've had a wonderful time participating this year. We reached our funding goal and then some, and all of the pins in this campaign will have their production costs fully covered and be able to be produced! This is truly wonderful to have happen as an artist, and allows me to do something I otherwise wouldn't be able to do. Thank you so much for supporting my campaign.
During this campaign, I've been learned quite a few things I hope to put into effect for future projects. The most relevant of which is stretch goal preparation:
Preparing Stretch Goals: For this campaign, I offered two Backer's Choice stretch goal themes. (you folks were awesome, and met them in short order!) I love that backers were able to voice their preferences for which themes they were enthusiastic to see. The outcome was not what I would have predicted, and I would have chosen different sets if left to my own devices. However, creating pins in response to polls left me with a lot of artwork to create mid-campaign!
My takeaways from this experience are:
The backer's choice stretch goals were a wonderful way to engage with the community and get feedback I could immediately act on.
Doing two complete theme collection stretch goals (4 designs each, 2 colorways each) as Backer's Choice was a bit more than I was prepared for, at least in terms of finishing the artwork before campaign's end.
If I create another pin project in the future, I should only do 1-3 pins as Backer's Choice stretch goals, and have any additional stretch goals that I want to include be prepared in advance with final artwork ready-to-go. A little bit of on-the-spot artwork creation is great! But having most of the stretch goals ready-to-go would have been a boon to both myself and my backers.
Note: You will see the final artwork for Dragon Tide and Kitsune Blind when you make your Pledge Manager selections. I'm just regretful that I wasn't able to finish the final artwork during the campaign itself!
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A Shout-Out to Dragon Hoard Keepers
I've been chatting with my collab partner Dream Vale Studios for the duration of this campaign. They've been a great partner to work with, and it's wonderful that events like this can bring artists together!
Dragon Hoard Keepers is a campaign to create a huggable 7" companion plush designed to safely stow your favorite trinkets, tokens, coins, and other polyhedral treasures! There's even a mini version of this charming plush friend! In addition, hobby-hoarders can celebrate their love of collecting their favorite things through dragon hoard enamel pins. These dragon collectors hoard their favorite dice, yarn, potions, and more! The pins and plush are seriously cute. You should definitely check the out if you're a dragon-fan, or need a unique way to store and transport your dice!
If you haven't already heard, if you back both Elemental Myth and the Dragon Hoard Keepers campaign, you will receive a free cross collaboration reward from both campaigns with the Fire & dIce collaboration pin set. If you back both campaigns, this pin will automatically be added to your pledge in the Pledge Manager stage if you were a backer of both projects. I will send you the dIce gryphon when your awards arrive from Elemental Myth; Dream Vale Studios will send the Fire Keeper when your rewards arrive from Dragon Hoard Keepers!
