Today is June 7th. Technically, today this campaign should start, but it won't. I'm still waiting for an answer from KS staff, to understand why they are holding in check my project since May 30th without giving me a reason or even sending me communication about it. I won't' be able to start this campaign 'till KS decides to solve their problems, so please be patient and don't forget about me!
Said so, not being able to do anything to fix this situation by myself, I think that the only thing I can do is to stop eating my liver about this ridiculous limbo and focus on other things to keep a positive and motivated mindset.
Today's KS Focus is on my favorite kit ever, "Lunchtime"!
If you are a creative person, you surely know that one of the rarest things that may happen is to be completely happy with your creation.
When I imagine and design a new character, I always try to do my best and make something remarkable (at least to my taste!), but rarely the final result completely satisfies me, there is always a minor detail I would like to modify or that I think I could design better.
"Lunchtime" is just perfect.
Don't misunderstand me: I'm not saying that it is something objectively perfect, it's ok if you don't like it! What I'm trying to say is that this kit came out exactly as I imagined it and that expresses exactly the vibe and feeling that I wanted to portray.
I love relaxed and daily-life scenes, I think that they help us to better understand and "live" a fictional fantasy world.
I love to see adventurers in action, fighting monsters and escaping dangers, but what about their average day? I have always been fascinated by this kind of subject, I think that it's so interesting to portray slices of normal life and discover the subtle magic that lies in simple things.
The average fantasy miniatures have a classicism approach to characters, think about for example "Warden", one of the kits designed for this range: it's the portrayal of a majestic warrior, captured in a heroic pose, the character looks like a statue of perfection. There is a lot of symbolism in it, I'd dare to say it is propaganda art at its finest.
With "Lunchtime", on the other hand, I wanted a more impressionistic approach, I wanted to portray a slice of life of this colorful duo of adventurers committed to probably the most normal activity in a day: enjoy a lunch!
I grew up in Bordighera, a small Ligurian town at the border with France, which is deeply linked with Impressionism: Monet, in fact, painted more than 50 canvas during his stay in Bordighera!
Maybe I inherited the spirit of old Impressionists or maybe the Ligurians' way of life (very similar to Hobbits') deeply influenced my approach to life, but indeed I love to portray the magic of daily life.
"Adventurers of Inneath" (this is the official name of this range!) gave me the chance to design this kind of scene, and I confess that it has been the most rewarding moment of my career!
From the beginning, I wanted to focus on the interaction between a young adventurer and some kind of companion. Initially, I thought to portray a classic human/pet scene, but I thought that it could be a bit too "already seen".
So I decided to choose, as this adventurer's companion, a Mechanical Familiar. I think that it works better than a normal pet, because it is cute and funny like a little dog or cat, but it has also a human shape and vibe, so it helps more to create a nice interaction and storytelling with the main character.
I wanted to humanize, in a cute way, the little robot so I thought: why not portray them during lunchtime? The idea of a little robot that pretends to drink his can of oil, mimicking the girl with her soup, looked so funny to me.
It's not a secret that this scene has been designed to achieve a kind of "awww!" reaction, but I had a lot of fun working on the many details of this duo, to make them not simple fantasy characters, but proper inhabitants of Inneath!
The most obvious detail is the "Giotto Inc." logo on the oil can, the same logo you can see on "Quicksilver": Giotto inc, is an important element of our story (think about that as a kind of "Capsule corp." of Inneath), you will see more and more of it in the future releases, including the first starter set of my boardgame!
The girl's coat looks like a Bluecoat/Redcoat one and suggests a hidden backstory of this adventurer that I want you to explore (is it a jacket she inherited from a parent? Is it a stolen item?) and there is even a Flonzo necklace that would be the perfect gift for your girlfriend!
I had a lot of fun pouring all these little details and curious items in this scene and I can't wait to see how you will paint this kit!
Talking about that, I think that this kit is perfect for any painter. I tried to design something that might inspire you and act as a good gym for your painting skills and, indeed, there is plenty of different clean surfaces that would fit many different interpretations!
The robot is basically a blank canvas that you can paint in every way: you can make it rusty and weathered, or you can paint it super shine and with a vibrant color scheme. You can freehand personal logos on it or you can even sculpt extra decorations and details, to make it a unique exemplar!
You can set this scene in the morning or even in the evening, a choice that will dramatically change the way you paint it.
I think that "Lunchtime" will give you plenty of hobby fun!
I hope you will be able, someday, to grab this kit (and all the other ones!) in my next KS campaign, while I'm waiting for KS to allow me to keep going with my projects, what about sharing this new range with your friends, and help me with an old, trusty, "mouth-to-mouth"?
Thank you for all your support and care!