A special brand of Vorpahlsword merch featuring a dice pack and enamel pins!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Virtual Wrap Party! Last Day Tomorrow! Celebrate with Me!
over 2 years ago
– Wed, Sep 22, 2021 at 09:34:12 PM
photo by @anetherealfire, gown by @chadhatter, HMU by @redrighthanded
What's better than one Amy?
*Two* Amys!
What's better than two Amys?
A happy, successful Amy who's totally confident in who she is as a human and an artist!
Not to get all weepy on you all, but seriously, you should know how big of a deal this whole campaign has been for me. My album is getting produced thanks to you, and this marks the first time a creative project of my own isn't coming out of my own pocket. Plus, pretty wizard pictures!
I couldn't be happier!
Kickstarter Wrap Party!
So, tomorrow being the last day (the Kickstarter officially ends Thursday Sept 23 at 7pm PT), I've planned a very special 5-hour-long twitch stream (from 2pm-7pm PT)! I want to spend time with you all, the collaborators on the project, and my friends and family. I just want everyone involved in a huge hours-long hug of my own making. You're welcome to attend.
For those of you who may not be familiar with streaming content, it's 100% free, and you can log in to add your voice and thoughts to chat or not! You can interact with me as much or as little as you like! Happy to have you any way you'd like to show up (and I'm secretly hoping to meet my final two stretch goals)!
In light of being a Boss, this will be streamed on my very own twitch channel, which, if you haven't been paying attention, has a lot of big Boss Mode + "Behold Her Dreams" Energy.
Details below.
You can follow my twitch channel and view tomorrow's stream here: twitch.tv/vorpahlsword!
**I can't in good faith recommend you *subscribe* to the channel, however, as I don't have plans yet to make streams a regular thing I do. But following is free and low stakes and makes me feel pretty!
Shoutout to a friend!
My pal, David Crennen is launching his own Kickstarter for Skinny Minis for TTRPGs. It's a cheaper and easier way to play TTRPGs in a visual, tactile way, and I love them to death. He's technically doing this under the umbrella of his company, Dungeon in a Box, but to me, it's all David. He's such an inspiration to me as a fellow creative entrepreneur in the gaming space. Even though they're already a bajillion-percent funded, you'll probably just want to get your hands on the product--I'm especially stoked for the skinny mini *terrain*. Brilliant. You might even see a friend Vorpahl face on the page if you scroll just a little!
Final Week! Weird Al as Inspiration and the Pin & Dice Artist!
over 2 years ago
– Wed, Sep 22, 2021 at 09:04:37 PM
We are in the final week of this thing, and I couldn't be more excited and proud of myself! Thank you to everyone who is helping to make my dreams a reality! I'm really hoping to get to the next stretch goal of directing a music video for one of the songs, so I'm not going to stop promoting anytime soon.
I officially end the Kickstarter on Thursday, Sept 23 at 7pm PT, and I've got a stream planned (on my own channel)!
I was going to write a whole blog about the number one inspiration for my music, Weird Al, but I thought I'd give myself (and you) a break, and give you a short video to watch. I just want to tell you that he is my favorite, and since I was seven years old, his music has helped me in so many ways including making friends and introducing me to comedy, music, and creativity in general. This video sums it up pretty nicely!
(Get you a girl who looks at you the way I look at Weird Al)
And I also want to shout out another collaborator for this campaign: Jordan Chow (@modernchow), the artist behind the dice and the enamel pins! He is a fantastic artist and friend I met through streaming, and he has supported so many streamers with his art.
He loves portraiture and character art in various forms of expressions, in fantasy garb or modern day looks and beyond. By day, Jordan is a concept artist and photo retoucher, often listening to or watching TTRPGs as he works. He is inspired by the players' and GM's creative characters, NPCs, and their collective storytelling, filling his head with new ideas to bring to life. He also dabbles in some basic animation, since some ideas need that extra bit to really make the idea sing.
When I was attempting to become a Twitch partner (a goal that I eventually let go), Jordan designed all of my emotes. I also commissioned him a few other times to provide a logo for my writer's group, Chef's Fist, and for D&D character art for a Christmas present for my all-woman home game. He takes my weird whimsical ideas and turns them into visual masterpieces. I have loved working with him over the years, and for those of you who have ordered pins and dice, you'll get your very own @modernchow designs to hold in your hands!
You can support Jordan for free by following him on Twitter: @modernchow
You can also reach out to him there for commission requests!
Here are his art samples that I will be using to order the pin and dice:
The Photographer @anetherealfire (IG) and The Hair and Makeup Artist @redrighthanded (IG)!
over 2 years ago
– Wed, Sep 22, 2021 at 11:20:38 AM
photo by @anetherealfire (IG), gown by @chadhatter (IG), HMU by @redrighthanded (IG)
The Doubleclicks Gen Con Show was fabulous last night! I'll definitely keep you all posted on where you can see the whole thing. The guests were all amazing, and The Doubleclicks' new musical, "Teaching a Robot to Love," was soooo freaking good and funny!
Today, I want to tell you all about the photographer and the hair and makeup artist who are responsible for my wizard character in all ten of these "Behold Her Dreams" pictures/art! Most of this update is progress pictures that show you how we got from the interior of my weird brain to where we are today! I hope you enjoy this behind-the-scenes look at all the art and planning that went into the whole Kickstarter plan!
I believe he had under 100 followers at that time (early June). Fast forward to now, and he's at a well-earned and still growing 5k+ followers.
I saw this picture, and I knew he was the artist to capture the @chadhatter wizard gown. His attention to detail and poses and expressions, and of course, the magic he could do with putting a real life model into a painting. I contacted him immediately, and from what I could tell, so did everyone else.
Our initial conversation was delightful because, as fate would have it, he was a nerd as well, and understood both my wizard/D&D language *and* what I wanted to achieve with my Kickstarter. Contract signed, excitement built, and things were well underway.
Like the gown, I wanted to communicate ideas for each of the 10 photos, and I took it upon myself to create a 'lookbook' pdf to show him what I had in mind. He loved every idea, so we used the pdf as a script, and we worked with the hair and makeup artist, Diana Knudsen, to get the looks right, and in a shootable efficient order. We divided the printed pages into four stacks: 1) Hair by itself, 2) Hair with crown, 3) Hair with hat, 4) Bonus makeup!
Diana has been a friend for years, and she's also Jason Charles Miller's partner, so we've been in each other's lives for a long time. She was the go-to artist for hair and makeup on Geek and Sundry shows including the ones I was on! I was so lucky to have her in my corner for this shoot.
Here are two pages from my lookbook I sent to her, and what she was able to achieve. Check out the accent braids!
hair and makeup by Diana Knudsen, @redrighthanded (IG)
And then here's the chart she sent based on what she wanted to add for *bonus* hair and makeup! Y'all will have to wait until next week to see this 'wizard tarot card' look!
hair and makeup by Diana Knudsen, @redrighthanded (IG)
And finally, I want to give you a taste of the lookbook pages I sent Chris, and how he was able to produce exactly what I wanted (and somehow go above and beyond and make me cry when I saw them)! My mom, who knows me very well, said the images look like they came directly out of my imagination, and that is a testament to every single artist who worked with me. It's also a testament to how good of a creative boss I was able to be in communicating my visions! Even if some of them were strange, almost stick-figure drawings of myself with ballpoint pen!
photos by @anetherealfire, gown by @chadhatter, HMU by @redrighthanded
*The mirror/admiring herself picture was such a happy accident. There happened to be a mirror in the studio, but it had writing on it and was incredibly large. Diana was a trooper and held the mirror up, and then Chris edited the mirror to change it into what you see in the final product!
Finally, to provide at least a little suspense... I want to show you the page on the lookbook that seemed absolutely impossible to achieve! But somehow, Chris and Diana nailed it, and I can't wait to show you this upcoming Wednesday. It is divine! Can you imagine what it's going to look like?
"Summoning!" "Summoning what, Amy?" "I'm not sure... maybe summoning herself?"
The Man Behind the Dress: @ChadHatter (IG)
over 2 years ago
– Fri, Sep 17, 2021 at 08:01:04 AM
photo by @anetherealfire (IG,) gown by @chadhatter (IG), HMU by @redrighthanded (IG)
Everyone! I'm so excited! On Sandeep's livestream earlier this week, his audience pushed me over the edge to reach my most recent stretch goal: giving all physical rewards-backers their very own print of "Behold Her Dreams" album art! Wooooo! Congrats to me, and also congrats to you!
Onto the music video stretch goal! I think I can do it!
I also played many "Behold Her Dreams" songs on Jason Charles Miller's show this past Monday, if you want to see/hear some of the acoustic tracks that Maxi will be producing for the album.
And finally, tomorrow, Friday, September 17 at 5pm PT, I will be performing an acoustic set for the (virtual) Gen Con Doubleclicks show! Click here to get your free (virtual) ticket!
Now, on to the next collaborator I want to introduce you to for Collaborator Week!
The Man Behind the Dress!
Chad Hatter is the gown designer and builder for my wizard-princess-shaman-fairy character.
Chad is a mega-super-talented costume designer in Los Angeles, and when I went to *nerd twitter* with this project idea, he was the only person that everyone referred me to, specifically a fellow bard, Bonnie Gordon of The Library Bards. If you look at Chad's instagram, you'll see several wonderful nerds and cosplayers sporting Chad Hatter originals and replications, including Chad himself! Costuming is so clearly his passion, and it's his favorite way to tell stories!
"a female Fizban"
In fact, storytelling is how we communicated together about what I was looking for. The gown started off being a practical wizard's gown based on my idea of being a female Fizban, ready for adventure. That involved some tweed and other materials that seemed a little more matronly and less princess-y. So quickly, we landed on the actual story: that I was a wizard who magicked herself into a fancy gown and then went traipsing through the forest, accruing moss and rocks as she went along. The shorthand phrase we agreed on was "Earthy Glinda." You can see above that we were still able to achieve the female Fizban, which delights me to no end!
The next steps were all about getting specific, so I created a detailed pdf about gowns and garments I liked. It was 14 pages, but here are some examples of what I included.
He then turned around and pretty much drew the dress in both of our heads on the spot! Here's the original sketch!
sketch prototype by @chadhatter (IG)
Then, Chad worked his magic and built the dress and the staff!
Fun fact: the wizard hat is Chad's hat that he simply gave to me, right off his wizard head!
The ins and outs of what is involved in building a dress are elusive to me, so I'll just share some of the progress pics!
"Behold Her Dreams" gown progress pics
Look at the size of that bed*... *I mean, *skirt*!
Chad kept me posted the entire way through, and I felt like I had a lot of hands-on control of the product. I've never built a garment, so I was overwhelmed at first, but Chad's confidence helped me to understand the process in bite-size, easy-to-digest steps.
Chad was passionate about helping me achieve my vision, he understood my nerdy references, and he gave me my dream dress on deadline at a fair price. There's nothing more a Boss Lady like me could ask!
I hope you enjoyed the walk through this journey with me! If you'd like to support Chad, the best way would be to:
-hire him for your next cosplay or original costume idea!
Introducing Maxi Morales, the Album's Producer!
over 2 years ago
– Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 08:23:24 AM
photo by @anetherealfire (IG) gown by @chadhatter (IG) HMU by @redrighthanded (IG)
It's the beginning of Week Three, and I am so close to adding an art print to all physical rewards--only $400 away! I can't wait!
I'm calling this week 'Collaborator Week' for the album because all three of my updates are going to center around the artists who are helping me make this project possible.
Maxi Morales, "Behold Her Dreams" producer
First up, we have Maxi Morales, the album's producer and the number one reason I will be able to deliver a finished product to your hands. He takes my acoustic ukulele musings and turns them into orchestrated masterpieces. Watch the Kickstarter video to see an example of what he does! I am not exaggerating when I say this could not be done without him. I am also not exaggerating when I say he is the most talented person I know, and I don't give that superlative out lightly.
Maxi is an Argentinian musician and singer who taught himself to speak English through watching the internet. He is an expert not only in English, but in English memes, and he can understand the most obscure reference to pretty much anything and then WhatsApp you the strangest meme to go along with it.
If he's ever in a room with you, you might need to plug your ears when he scream-laughs because... boy got PIPES--he is so loud even when he's just talking! His singing range is unbeatable (he can hit both extremely low and high notes with ease), which is not fair because he also taught himself how to sing. He can play myriad instruments but really shreds on the guitar. His day job is making house music, but his favorite thing to do is to help artists like me produce their album in the most creative way possible.
Every album he's made sounds so different, and he's in the middle of remixing some old songs for his band, Eléctrico Limón. My favorite Eléctrico Limón song is Sí a Todo, which means "yes to everything" in English. It's about moving from the country to the city, where your senses are being assaulted and you're addicted to all the excitement and life. It's a great example of what Maxi can do musically and vocally, and it's just a dang slappin' bop! Listen here:
Maxi is also an improviser and comedian, and he combines all of his performance skills on his Twitch gaming channel under his persona, Batata Biónica ("bionic sweet potato" in English). He streams in Spanish, but if you want to get a vibe, go here. You probably won't even need to wait a full 60 seconds before he does one of his explosive scream-laughs. It's pretty delightful. His YouTube is full of comedic bits from his stream (57.7K subs, no joke)!
I know Maxi because he's my sister's partner, and I am so lucky to be able to have him in my sphere and to be able to call him a friend. He produced my first solo album, Songs in the Key of D&D, and he was able to fly to the states and perform all ten songs with me at the album's release at SXSW in 2017, where he also played a solo set of his own music. It was awesome to have him there as a friend, a co-celebrator, and as my accompanist!
I don't know what else to say--Maxi's awesome, and I just love him and his talents so so so much. You're already supporting him by supporting "Behold Her Dreams," but if you have even more to give, here are some extra ways to throw him some love.
