With the slow down in Green Rider Soundtrack updates over the Holidays, you might have assumed that Kristina and I took a nice little vacation.

(Insert laughter and a quiet “I wish!”)

While we did enjoy some much needed time with family and a few extra hours of sleep (at least for me!), work did not slow down. The two of us spent much of the “break”, hard at work, which can only mean one thing: we now have some exciting new updates to share with you!

 

First off, Kristina is finished writing the soundtrack!

*Yay! Confetti streamers and all the “Congratulations!” banners!*

 

Which means that while Kristina was in Utah this past month, she met with Chance Thomas, an extremely talented musician and composer (known as one of the fathers of video game music) at HugeSound Post Production Studios in Salt Lake City. During their meeting, Kristina and Chance discussed the recording and post production of the album, making it feel like we are that much closer to this soundtrack being a reality! HugeSound is an amazing studio and our success with Kickstarter will determine our ability to record here!

 

 

 

On my end, I was able to complete several more pieces for the artwork collection and am now focusing my energy on the official cover image mock-up. The cover will of course feature our brave Karigan. Unfortunately, I can’t share it with you yet, but rest assured, it will look every bit as magical as this book and project deserve!

 

Aside from this, Kristina and I have also been working on all things planning. We are now finalizing our rewards tiers line-up for the Kickstarter (we’ll also be sharing some sneak peeks into some of the items we will be offering in the coming weeks), and are VERY thrilled about the options! Kristen herself has even offered to contribute a few items… but that’s all I can say for now!

(And if that’s not enough incentive for you to get involved in this Kickstarter, I don’t know what is!)

Needless to say, Kristina and I (and Kristen!) have worked our hardest to think of prizes and items that we think you guys are really going to love and be excited about, so we can hardly wait to let you guys see what we’ve come up with.

 

Finally, (as if all of this isn’t enough to keep a whole host of Riders busy for a year), Kristina and I have also been planning out our social media and marketing strategy for the Kickstarter campaign. Apart from deciding the frequency, dates, and subject matter of our Kickstarter updates, we’ve also been compiling a list of influencers, who we will be reaching out to in the coming weeks, in hopes of spreading the word even further about this project. So far, this list includes notable bloggers, fantasy book review sites, women’s empowerment podcasts, and sci-fi/fantasy news sites, to name a few!

Which brings me to a request I would ask of you: if you have a favorite blog, podcast, magazine, (or whatever!) that you think Kristina and I may not have thought of, let us know! The longer the list, the more people we can reach out to, and the more people will hear about this!

 

(Because let’s face it. Green Rider is basically the best book ever and everyone needs to know about it. Captain Mapstone can verify this.)

 

And as a final (side)note, if, when we mentioned “Kickstarter,” your curiosity was piqued: we are looking at a tentative late winter for our Kickstarter launch date. But please make sure to keep abreast of the Green Rider Book Soundtrack updates to find out when the official launch date will be. You can get these updates by clicking on any of the below links and liking/following/subscribing at any of the following places:

 

My Mailing List

Kristina’s Facebook Page

Kristina’s Instagram Page

My Facebook Page

My Instagram Page

 

In the meantime, a little treat to reward you for your patience during these past few weeks of relative quiet: an Eletian tiendan!

 

 

(Check out the process of creation by watching the short .gif at the end of this post!)

 

And, with that, Kristina and I will be back with another update in two weeks! Make sure to follow us so you don’t miss it (and other various smaller, yet still exciting, updates and sneak peeks we will be sharing between then and now)!

Until then, fellow Riders!

 

 

For those who are curious, the steps of editing:

  1. Remove distractions in background and edit the pauldrons/bracers to fit her better (they were originally sized for an adult male, so they were quite a bit bigger than my female tiendan model.
  2. Brighten the model to stand out better from the background.
  3. Darken the background for the same reason.
  4. Add the pearlescent sheen to the pauldrons and bracers.
  5. Increase brightness of clothes, as they had begun to fade into the background and disguise the post of the model.
  6. Adjust the color balance to more cooler tones.
  7. Add a bit of shadow and highlight painting to emphasize the model and make her seem more ethereal.