Hey backers!

Here’s our update for this month, featuring an Artist Spotlight from the goblin kingmaker himself, Ralph Horsley! Check it out!

Rewards Progress

• Production is occurring for the Cubeamajigs themselves, as well as the Podamajigs, lifepads and playmats
• Dragon Shield sleeves and pencils have completed production and are en route to our warehouse! They're looking pretty good, we can't wait to get them into your hands!

The current estimate for production to be completed on all rewards is end of March, with an estimate of sometime in May to begin fulfillment of this project.

Artist Spotlight - Ralph Horsley

Twitter: @ralphhorsley

Instagram: ralph_horsley

Website: www.ralphhorsley.co.uk

“I was excited to receive the brief for this piece. A Goblin King paraded aloft on his palanquin throne in a coliseum full of an enthusiastic Goblin horde. It contained a lot of elements I really enjoy working with. Crowd scenes, an interesting technical spec, and Goblins. Lots of Goblins!

The technical aspect came from the requirement to work in multiple ways, e.g. wrap around the cube, crop to be a playmat, and other functions. I was provided with a clear template of how this would work, and that was my starting point. I drew out my own, approximately 33% scaled, template onto toned board. This would be the basis for my composition studies.

The first study places the King close-up and central. We are looking up slightly to help make him appear more powerful and the curve of the arena helps keep the focus on him. The subsequent studies try out different ideas. In the second he is framed by the crowd, where we are placed as the viewer. The last has a strong tramline perspective drawing our eye to him, whilst also placing him in the middle distance to get a greater sense of the scale of the crowd and arena. The studies allow me to take the key elements, and mess around with them in different configurations. All the time checking how they work within the template. The studies are created using brushpen, sepia ink and acrylic paint. Working against the toned background, these tools allow me to focus on the value range and lighting.

The first study was chosen to go forward and I then worked this up into a full scale graphite drawing on the same toned board. Brian, the art director on the project, observed that he’d like a bit more chaos and action amongst the goblins. In the revised sketch you can see how I brought in these additional elements, pushing the anarchic humour that we all love about Goblins.

With the revised sketch approved I printed out a scaled down version. This laser print was glued onto board and primed with acrylic matte medium. I then applied acrylic paint to make a colour study. In this instance I had a clear idea of how I wanted to approach the image, and was happy to settle on my palette choices after this first iteration.

Having a colour study makes approaching the oil painting a lot easier as a large number of the decisions have been made, and I can focus on the rendering. The final sketch is prepared by inking the linework using a brushpen, then applying several coats of clear gesso. The inking helps maintain the integrity of the sketch as I paint over it.

My approach is to do a first pass blocking in all colours using a medium mix of walnut oil and drying linseed oil. I like using this combination with oils as it gives a nice fluidity to the paint as it’s applied. Leaving this overnight I then go in for a second and subsequent passes refining the blending and adding more detail. I now use Liquin as a medium. This is to accelerate the drying, which allows me to do some glazing tweaks to the colour and value range at the end.

I really enjoyed working on this piece, and I like to think it shows.. All hail the Goblin King! Or at least lob a fizzing bomb his way…"

Have questions? Check out the FAQ here!

Have a question that isn’t answered in the FAQ? Leave a comment, e-mail us at kickstarter@hitpointpress.com or join the Discord!

Cheers,

The Hit Point Press Team