Happiness lies in small things

You probably noticed that I've been quiet in the last month, but nothing bad happened (luckily!) I just needed a frame to collect my thoughts and, above all, I took advantage of last weeks to visit my parents in Liguria (with the lockdown mess, I didn't see them since January!).

Last months have been really hard for everyone, and I suddenly found myself in a weird and unexpected apathy, it's hard to explain but it was like my brain realized that there were so many things to do and manage and my body answered to this kind of anxiety with a classic opossum strategy: in case of troubles, pretend to be dead.

I think it's normal, especially for those like me that work in the creative market: at least for me, everyday life is just a line between self-glorification (you know, you start to create new things, you see things growing up, you plan future releases and you fell like being at the top of this world) and a voracious sense of insecurity (when the real world knocks at your door, basically).

Moreover, the politic/social news made me question a lot of what I'm doing (I'll talk about that in a proper blog post, but the Zorn Uzul Police projects, as you may imagine, suddenly became a bit difficult to handle).

It was in that scenario that I decided to take a breath and don't let me drift in this becalmed sea of depression, I wanted to create something small and playful, I wanted to reconnect myself with those little things that make me happy. So the Little Summoner was designed!

I wanted to design a child character since forever, they are an interesting subject to design because they can easily connect with everyday life scenes. The vast majority of tabletop miniatures is about war, and it's normal because the vast majority of miniatures are designed to fit in wargame and skirmish game where war and battles, in general, are the main theme. Into the Quest is no exception, and also our characters are mostly designed to represent warrior/soldiers/aggressive characters. However, despite I'm a huge fan of "...there is only war" environments, since the beginning I wanted to give a look at Inneath not only with proud adventurers and fierce warriors, but also with less belligerent characters and a more relaxed approach. With the Little Summoner, in fact, I wanted to give a look at a cute, playful slice of the everyday life of an Elf, so I imagined this little girl, an apprentice summoner, playing with her funny companions (chubby mandrakes!).

The design is pretty simple, I dare to say minimalistic, because we wanted the scene itself and its vibe to get the main focus: it's all about feelings and how they are able to catch your eyes, in my opinion.

I'm pretty happy with how Valerio managed to put every detail in their place: the Elf pose is playful and carefree and the mandrakes are marching with her like a funny marching band, I think that the scene composition gives the right feel!

Of course, with this character the fairy vibes of our Elf range reach their summit, catapulting the whole scene in a kind of The Dark Crystal stage.

I think that this girl is another piece perfectly crafted by Valerio to complete the puzzle of our Elf range, I like how dark tones and more lighthearted ones are mixing in this range, I think that despite there is a solid link between all the Elf characters designed, there is plenty of variations on the theme that managed to build a complex aesthetic.

The range is now almost finished, I can't wait to see it complete and to see how they will behave in their KS campaign, in September! I hope to see many of you aboard!