We’re green! We’re still grainy, but I hatched a daring plan to fix that. Full details on that adventure will be in this week’s newsletter in lieu of our regular shenanigans. Said newsletter will go out Monday even if I have to beat the pc up to get it out.   We’re very sorry this version is six days late. We had almost insurmountable computer issues. We only managed to get this one to work through a fluke in the system.   So, we’re green. Probably too green, well I am anyway. Papa might be okay green-wise.   I’m supposed … Continue reading Green and Grainy, anyone?

Hi Readers, We hope our previous adventure landed in your inbox last week. If it didn’t, click here to catch up now. We’ll plot our next move while you do that. 😉 Why might our awesome adventure have gone astray? Well, because our newsletter host is continuing to have problems. We’ve sent messages asking our Newsletter-Dragon to kindly stop burning the servers, but she hasn’t replied. Please note: we don’t know if she’s causing the problem or clearing it out. The Newsletter-Dragon doesn’t tell us what she’s doing. That’s why we’re searching for an emissary who’s durable enough to withstand her … Continue reading Mystical Prisms and Button-Stealing Dragons

Hi Readers, We’re back with another cover test. This is test render # ???? What’s new in this one: < Brighter, warmer lights < Slightly different pose for me and Papa. That’s about it. Though, we must have nudged the camera because we’re not in focus. Our scribe is researching how to get us back into focus. We’re standing right where we should be, but the camera is not cooperating. What do you think? Are we close? Should we make any other changes? Does anything look off to you? As always, my inquiring mind wants to know. 😉   –Ran, … Continue reading Are we closer to a cover?

Hi Readers,   We’re back with another version. Just look at our pose in this one and us, of course. Something happened to the lighting. We had a nice warm light off to the left but it’s not showing for some reason.   Maybe we accidentally turned it off?   We’re investigating.   So what do you think of my face and pose?   My foot and Papa’s aren’t touching even though they look like they are. We tried shifting me, but then we couldn’t get Papa’s arm where it needed to be, and I couldn’t reach the staff. I’m … Continue reading Blue light special, anyone?

Hi Readers! Our newsletter host had some issues last week. We hope our adventure arrived safe and sound in your inbox, but if it didn’t, you can catch up here. We’ll wait. 😉 We can neither confirm nor deny whether our Newsletter-Dragon had anything to with those issues because we can’t find her. She was moving her horde (our precious list!) around to safeguard it when this all went down. So we’re not sure exactly where she is in cyberspace right now. Worry not, wherever she is, you can count on her. Your email address is safe in her claws. … Continue reading Adventures in Fantasy and Cyberspace

Hi Readers! We’re back with another version. What’s new? < Softer lighting with shadows! We’re not floating, which is cool, and the light isn’t attacking us. Bonus points! 🙂 < Papa has a new face. We didn’t buy the plugin to do the faces ourselves. We did some research about that and uncovered many facts which deterred us for now. Namely, and this is my chief concern, it could take weeks for our scribe to get it to look right and find a good face. So, I went to the 3D store and ogled characters. One of them had to … Continue reading Back in the 3D Habit

Hi Readers! We have a new version of the cover! What’s new: – we have shadows! So we no longer look like we’re floating. – We have dramatic lighting! It might be too dramatic. We’ve tried to move the lights so the shadows it casts aren’t obscuring or otherwise cutting up our faces, but the app keeps crashing. 😦 Is it something we said? We’re thinking of doing two versions with two different lighting set-ups so we get the nice shadows from the dramatic lighting set-up and the nice softer light on our faces you saw in the last version. … Continue reading We get Chiascuro’d!

Here it is, Readers!   We bring you cover test # I’ve lost track. I think this is our strongest composition yet. Ignore our faces for now. We haven’t worked on them, same for our too clean clothes. We will rip them up in the final, but right now we want to know about: 1. the composition 2. the lighting 3. the pose (do we look natural?) Once we have the above three locked in, we’ll unleash our scribe to do the fine details.   So let us know what you think.   — Ran, son of Sarn, the inquiring … Continue reading Are we epic, or are we EPIC?

Hi readers! We took all of your advice and battled it out with our digital doubles. It was a long, drawn-out affair and after much fiddling and befuddlement and general frustration, we went back to the store where we bought them. We looked through hundreds of poses and my scribe finally gave up and surrendered the almighty credit card. I wielded that shiny rectangle with all the skill of a kid from a fantasy realm and bought us some epic poses. Papa is amazed by the sheer awesomeness of them. We couldn’t use the really cool ones because they require … Continue reading Battle for the Light

Hi Readers, We hope you had a great week, and you find our updates entertaining and maybe even a tiny bit inspiring. We’re proof of what you can do with just a few hours a week. (Well, our books do since they’re corporeal, and we’re not. We’re cuter though. At least I am. This is Ran, by the way. Papa concurs on the cuteness thing, but I am the apple of his eye.) We hope as we put out more books and learn how to sell them better, our scribe can spend less time working for other people and more … Continue reading Free-Falling Fathers and Scribes

Thank you all. While trying to fix the issues you raised, this image came together. What do you think? We did two versions–a close-up and a zoomed out.   What’s new? (Other than the pose and colors)   – rips in Sarn’s clothes and his face is dirty. My cloak is torn. We’re still considering how to dirty our clothes.   What do you think? We’re still tweaking the previous one but we’re having technical difficulties with it. My 3D double doesn’t want to cooperate in that one. I think we broke his shoulder. Melinda is researching a solution.   … Continue reading Are we Sundered Yet?

Hi Readers, We hope you enjoyed our special presentation last week. Before we return to Papa’s dramatic fall and what I hope will be an equally dramatic rescue by J.C. and myself, I want to give you a quick update. (Psst! If you missed an episode, all our back issues are conveniently listed in reverse chronological order here. If you’re looking for our books, they’re all here, and they’re chock full of magical mayhem.) Now back to our update. 🙂 Our scribe created a first draft of the cover for book 5, Sundered, starring our 3d doubles.  We debuted it … Continue reading When scribes fall, stories collapse

Hi Readers!   Your good thoughts, well-wishes, and crossed fingers helped! The first draft of a cover for Sundered using our 3d doubles is here! Ignore our faces. Our scribe has not been able to afford the plugin to fix our faces yet.   For Sundered, we wanted a more symbolic cover. Papa has no magic in this book, (that’s why he’s wearing black. I’m mourning its loss and lobbying for its return.) So we went with an image that we hope captures the everyday hero, the father who’ll do anything to protect his son (me). And, I like sky … Continue reading Sundered in 3d