Owlbear Box!
over 2 years ago
– Sun, Oct 24, 2021 at 05:38:40 AM
Hey Caretakers!
Had a few exchanged emails and a phone call with the manufacturer to clarify details, and they've come back with some movement on the box.
The first box design
So for the first design they received from the plant, they sent right back for revisions (just showing off to show the process), The owlbear's head was far too covered and the cutouts on the side were too angular.
first-draft box prototype (WE ARE NOT USING THIS DESIGN)
Current Box Design
So on Tuesday, I got a revised design, which is a lot better! The window is far more open and has smoother lines, and they were able to maintain the drawer as well (which was at risk).
current iteration
What's next
I'm expecting to see a video/results of the rebalancing, and fur length adjustments (the white fur was a tad too long and was really covering the eyes and hiding the nose/feet, esp when compared to OG owlbear.)
I'm working on the Hang Tag design and stuff that goes with it
I'm working on the design that will be applied to the box (Im guessing to have a cave or forest interior), but exterior I'm gonna play with it, which helps now i have a mockup i can apply designs to. I should be getting the dielines soon which will help.
With this box design I should be getting weights soon, so I can get backerkit up and running.
and finally, with the submitted designs for the accessories, I want to see how they look/feel before mass production.
As always, I'll be sharing info as it comes in.
Thank you for your patience, I really didn't expect it would take this long to get everything sorted from the prototype lines to where we are now, but progress is moving!
If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them, and as always
Stay awesome caretakers!
Andreas
And socials plug, We've got a lot of things going on, and we invite you to join us where you like!
Mini Update + Calendars
over 2 years ago
– Tue, Oct 05, 2021 at 11:26:14 PM
Hey Beastmasters!
This is gonna be a mini update as I expect to be doing a longer update later this week, I just got word from the manufacturer that I should expect a detailed update on the 7th at which point I can provide a longer update.
Just to keep everybody on the same page, here are the top points:
Project Status:Working with the Manufacturer: Last thing remaining to start production is the box, weights, and final counts.
Backerkit: not open yet: but I expect it to happen this month.
Fulfillment Estimate: May/June2022: I was guessing we could start fulfilling April, but the manufacturer tells me it's probably best to wait to ship freight until after Chinese New Year (many companies try to get their orders done before that holiday so there's a rush in production and freight) and we'll likely have a better freight rate (which can mean the difference of $10-20k in costs).
Why are we delayed? I wish I had more control with how things are moving, but since the start of this project,it's all been at the speed of the manufacturing partner.I've done my best to respond to all of their feedback and inquiries so they can move as fast as possible, and I am pushing for better timelines.
In this update from the manufacturer that I'm expecting (on the 7th//8th) I'm expecting to see results on
owlbear feet rebalancing: As the owlbear didn't actually sit flat, it was a little off-kilter (even in the original prototype), this should be fixed
Costing estimates for the larger fish: A lot of you asked for it, so I should get some numbers about it.
Box Dieline Design: If I approve of this, then I can start getting the design of the box nailed down.
Stuff that is in my control that's going on
Hang-tag: I've been playing with a few designs of the logo of the Hang Tag, and will have some to show off on this next update.
Subclasses: Design work is done (there are 12 in total), working on getting them cleaned up and illustrated.
Children's Books, for Travis' book, we won't get coloring started until November (he's got a slammed schedule), and I've started writing on the 2nd story.
Owlbear Lorebook: writing has started.
Owlbear Adventure: also writing/design has started
A lot going on, and I hope to show off more soon.
Baby Bestiary: 2022 Calendar
Also! You might have gotten an email about this, but we've just launched our 2022 Baby Bestiary calendar! It's our 8th year doing these calendars and we're super excited to bring Sonya Herar in to illustrate next year's calendar!
This project is completely self-contained and is being run more to get an idea of how many calendars to order, versus actually developing a calendar from scratch. We've done this project quite a few times, and the process pretty much runs itself now.
If you have any questions or concerns feel free to reach out, I do my best to respond to everyone and keeping you all all up-to-date with the information that I have available.
Andreas
Fishy and Cape Designs
over 2 years ago
– Thu, Sep 02, 2021 at 01:52:30 PM
Hey Everyone!
Apologize for the delay in posting, I had my wedding ceremony last Friday (delayed from last year) and its been both, an amazing and very busy month.
anywho, just wanted to fill everyone in with owlbear progress.
TLDR: We have a few designs for the accessories, but due to the resurgence of Delta in China, the manufacturer we've been working with went on lockdown which slowed progress of design and development.
This month was very much deciding how to design the accessories (bowtie, cape, and fishy).
So to start out, the fishy.
I had always thought of doing something with a salmon, however I knew I'd struggle with the art portion of it. This led us to reach out to our fish artist expert Requinoesis.
Who was able to draw over our picture to give us a few ideas.
Presenting Salmon Fishy and Constellation Fishy.
Salmon fishy is the one that will come with all the accessories
Constellation fishy was actually the first design Requineoesis drew, and we absolutely loved it and we wanted to find a way to incorporate it into the project. We're going to be ordering a few of the constellation fishies, and as we go on we hope to tie it into one of the children's stories we're developing. So stay tuned for that.
Other designs that Requinoesis did included was the Skele-fish, and brown pattern fish.
Cape
With the soft material we wanted to do two patterns, the outside to be nice and plain, opting for a nice blue, where with the underside being our new owlbear pattern.
Bowtie
Since the bowtie is a small piece of cloth its two separate pieces (the bow and the 'chord') we're going to try and have both feature the same pattern, which is the blue (same blue as above) with dice outlines.
Production Update
Due to the Delta variant surge in China, there's been a lockdown so things have been a bit slower in getting things back and forth.
The only thing we're really waiting left to see is the dielines (outlines) for the box so we can get that figured out. (and with that we can get a final weight and dimensions so we can roll out backerkit and properly estimate shipping.
Hopefully as things get more under control, we'll have more updates to show off how things are shaping up.
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
Andreas
Prototype Update
almost 3 years ago
– Wed, Jul 28, 2021 at 10:07:18 PM
Hey Owlbear Adopters! (if you don't watch the video that's fine, though I do appreciate the likes and subs, as I would love to do more video updates and get more comfortable in front of the camera).
Anyways, I had a moment to chat with the manufacturer about what they had sent us. The snowy owlbear is perfect so no changes there. The reason for the Light Brown and the Rose owlbears was to be a showcase on the two types of fur that we had a choice of. The rose owlbear matched OG in fur style, but was a little 'scrappy' (though I personally didn't mind that). The light brown, was a bit fluffier, but had much higher quality fur. And after talking and comparing with the manufacturer and our resident plush collector, we decided that the light brown fur would be best (knowing that we would get the right color fur).
As much as a third owlbear design would be cool, I was only really considering it if we couldn't get the brown to match OG owlbear. (I mean, unless yall really really want a third owlbear option, but due to economies of scale, I really want to make sure we have the volume to justify a 6k or more order of more owlbears)
Toe Bean wise, we're gonna leave them the pink as they are (for both owlbears).
Anyways just a quick update,
Hope everyone is doing well!
Andreas
Note: We haven't moved into Backerkit yet (and so we haven't collected addresses yet), I'm waiting for the box design before we make things available (cause then you'll know everything that you're getting).
Note Note: Dont have an update yet on delivery times, but this is the phase where things start getting locked down.
A quick survey (if we should do a third)
almost 3 years ago
– Wed, Jul 28, 2021 at 10:07:17 PM
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