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Cardboard Warriors forum :: BIG JIM Miniatures :: BIG JIM'S PROJECTS :: Breaks over...back in the game.
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Big Jim
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Breaks over...back in the game.
« Thread Started on Apr 15, 2012, 8:59pm »
Hey guys.

I'm back at the drawing table. For now, lots and lots of thumbs so I can get my muscle memory back. I really have a clear idea of what I want to do now, and hopefully you guys will like it.

I think I now have all the info I need to pursue the paper miniatures as a potential full time job, in time. The plan is to do them as fully printed and cut figure sets sold direct through my own store. I think I have figured out all the production issues involved, and have started acquiring materials and equipment to get this ball rolling.

I will be going into business under the Fantacraft trade name. The goal for now is to get sets produced part time as I build up a fresh catalog of designs. For now I will stick with what I know best ,fantasy and sci-fi, but in the future I'll be doing historical figures, naval ships, starships, and lots more. In the grand scheme of things I also want to do foam core board models, but I have to work my way up to those...

I will not be sharing too much about how I'm doing this because I plan to have some propitiatory production techniques and want to hold on to those ideas as long as I can. I will be previewing my progress to get some samples made for cut testing, die testing, packaging, and how to price all this stuff.

For now, I am really just throwing myself all over the thumbnail sketches. I really need to do this for a while to get a handle on my style again after so long, but already you can see I'm starting to get the posing and anatomy balance worked out. I will be doing this with a variety of races, aliens, mutant and all sorts of monsters.

This is just a SMALL sampling, I have over 100 pages done so far! As you can see some are quite crude, I'll get better as a different things and get used to the anatomy again.

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Edit for spelling!
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #1 on Apr 15, 2012, 10:14pm »
They look great and it is good to hear that you are back in the game. I hope that you are doing well and that the break was as good for you as you had hoped.
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #2 on Apr 15, 2012, 11:20pm »
Awesome news ;D
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #3 on Apr 15, 2012, 11:33pm »
Welcome back! Congrats on the health improvements, and good luck with the plans ahead.

:)

Big Jim *and* Dryw wander back on the same day = an EXCELLENT day.

- Pb
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #4 on Apr 16, 2012, 12:53am »
Great news! I can finally retire in peace. ;D

I'd like to put in my vote for fighters, fighters, and fighters. :)
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #5 on Apr 16, 2012, 3:01am »
Excellent, congratulations on the health and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas :)
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #6 on Apr 16, 2012, 4:25am »
Welcome back!

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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #7 on Apr 16, 2012, 5:52am »
Are you moving away from PDF completely?
If so, will you be doing 15mm :)
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #8 on Apr 16, 2012, 6:18am »
Sweet news!!!!

Great stuff - welcome back Jim. Take my PayPal details now


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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #9 on Apr 16, 2012, 7:36am »
Super news! Thanks for coming back, man.
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #10 on Apr 16, 2012, 7:56am »
It is great to see you're back on minis! I'm very happy to see that you have beaten the "bads" :)

I'm a bit worried for your new market (only about myself, not at you selling model in general).... while i'm eager to have pre-cut paper things, i'm a bit worried about the shipping costs to bring them here. Sure, it's only paper, so i can hold and buy a big batch of products, but being a commercial thing it may hit the customs fees also..... oh well, we will see. for now, i'm just happy to have you here again.
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #11 on Apr 16, 2012, 10:13am »
HEY JIM! Great news! Very excited to see you back at the grind stone!
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #12 on Apr 16, 2012, 11:49am »
Truly excellent news. I wish you the best with the business endevour
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #13 on Apr 16, 2012, 2:05pm »
Glad to have ya back Jim! Defintily looking forward to all your creations! ;D
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #14 on Apr 16, 2012, 3:15pm »
Good to hear from you, and great that it is good news!
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #15 on Apr 16, 2012, 9:29pm »
It's good to have you back, Jim! I'm glad you've recovered sufficiently to return to the activities you love. You've pioneered the standard for cardstock miniatures to this point. It will be interesting to see where you go from here!

Have fun!
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #16 on Apr 16, 2012, 11:06pm »
Thanks guys! It's nice to feel welcomed back.

The only plans for now are to design more figures and develop the production myself. I want to try to do as much of the actual production in house with only outsourcing what I cannot do.

I should have some samples produced by next month, so it should be interesting to see how they turn out.

I have all sorts of ideas about what I can do. 15mm is in the plans eventually, especially DBA and HOTT style warband sets. I have some really cool ideas for models, I can't wait to share them in time.

For now though, lots of drawing and designing. First will be more generic fantasy and sci-fi stuff. I want to cover the basics, then figure out what sells so this can make some money, and I can invest that back into the business and grow it to make more things.

@ Parduz, I wouldn't worry too much about potential shipping costs just yet. The figure layouts are very small, only ten foot or 4 mounted per half page size sheet. I will be able to sell these as printed materials to Europe so you can avoid the VAT tax. Books are not taxed ,so I just need to figure out how to classify my products as printed materials. I'll also be sure to have some free shipping options for large quantities as well, but it;s WAY too early to worry about this ,I still need to produce the first set!
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #17 on Apr 17, 2012, 7:59am »
That's good news, scratch that, GREAT news! To have you back on your feet and back in the game. We were relieved every time you made an update, just to tell us that you where doing fine, but this is awesome!

My concerns are the same of Parduz, Brazil doesn't tax books too, so I hope your products pass unscathed by customs here. Anyway I'm eager to see these minis fully realized. The Unicorn and the Hidra both seem promising. New monsters, whooo!
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #18 on Apr 18, 2012, 12:26am »
Fantastic! :) Competition is good for every industry. It may be just the spark I need to get me going, and hopefully it will bring out the best in all of us as modelers, and bring buyers and interest up to new levels.

Nice thumbs! The dwarves look particularly interesting to me. You sure know how to crank out volume, that's for sure.

Good luck with everything.

Hmm. I have some drawing to do. ;) Laterz.
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #19 on Apr 18, 2012, 1:06am »

Apr 18, 2012, 12:26am, labrat wrote:
Fantastic!

Seems to me that you could open a very similar topic :) ;)
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #20 on Apr 18, 2012, 4:09pm »
This is the best news I have heard in ... EVER! (Well, aside from my wife agreeing to marry me, and when I found out we were going to be parents...a few times... but this is up there)! :P

Seriously, I am glad to hear that your health is improving, and you are back!
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #21 on Apr 19, 2012, 5:25am »
Welcome back Jim and looking good and forward to them :)
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #22 on Apr 21, 2012, 10:09am »
This is GREAT news!!!
I'm looking forward to the sets. ;D
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #23 on May 6, 2012, 12:49pm »
Wicked glad to see you back!

Make sure you keep your health up, you were looking a heck of a lot better in your videos as you got your body back into shape, so, keep it up! :)

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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #24 on May 7, 2012, 8:11pm »
Things are coming along fine. I'm still trying to find a good work, hobby, exercise balance, but I am still making good progress. I have about 30 more pages of thumbnails. This will really help later when I'm looking to make full sheets of very specific things.

I am just about finished with fantasy heroes, and will be moving on to fantasy villains now, pretty much monsters and evil races that use armor and weapons, monsters are classified as just tooth and claw style beasts.

Preview of Druid thumbs.
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #25 on May 8, 2012, 8:35am »
Jim,
I am so glad your health has improved. To quote count Rugen: "If you haven't got your health, you haven't got anything".

And I'm glad you're back at the drawing table. I hope You're able to make a go of it with the new business model.

Cheers,
Afet
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #26 on May 9, 2012, 4:27pm »
I second that! (But then again, how can you go wrong with quotes from "THE PRINCESS BRIDE," the GREATEST movie ever made?) :P

Seriously, I love your sketches better than some people's actual figures! 8-)
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #27 on May 10, 2012, 8:30pm »
All of the human character class sketches are done, I'm on to the different races, Elves, Halflings, Gnomes, Dragon-kind, Half-Orcs, etc. A couple pages of each should give me a decent selection to turn into finished figures.

I have some vacation time coming up, then I'll start finishing some figures to make a sample page and test mounting the chipboard, and laser cutting the figures. I really want to see how tight of a tolerance I can hold for the registration. Ideally I'd like no more than 1mm of black outline around the figure, and to keep the profile cutout very detailed.

I will be trying to different formats for packaging. One is a shrink wrap complete half size sheets with wrapping cover. The other format is actually punching out the figures, and shipping them blister or clam shell packed, I have samples of both to try. Photos when I have something that looks good.

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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #28 on May 11, 2012, 2:00am »
I think you will like the tolerances you get. There are multiple cutters aimed at the home market that can handle chipboard. (I think there was a review linked somewhere on these boards, actually.) Laser cutters should be at least as good.

Looking forward to seeing what results you end up with.

- Pb
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Re: Breaks over...back in the game.
« Reply #29 on May 12, 2012, 9:40am »
This looks excellent, as always, Jim :)
My only concern with the new business model of selling pre-printed figures, as apposed to pdfs, is the loss of the ability to print multiples of a given figure or set.

Was the decision to go with pre-printed largely due to piracy concerns?
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