Drop + The Lord of the Rings The One Ring Artisan Keycap
$65
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Drop + The Lord of the Rings The One Ring Artisan Keycap
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AlexPk
6864
Community
Nov 18, 2021
Stickied
On a personal level, gotta say I'm pretty excited that we got to work with Dwarf Factory and Middle Earth on this one. The One I should say. Ash nazg durbatulûk.
I was lucky enough to be amongst those who grew up reading these books and then enjoyed the experience of being able to see the midnight releases of the movies as they came out(just a couple years ago right?). Needless to say, the Lord of the Rings will always have a special place in my mind and memories.
And of course, as usual Dwarf Factory has made another beautiful piece of art that I think looks amazing. Not sure if the crew over there is into the lore as well, but the detail of the caps would imply as much. I especially appreciate the little details like the inscription only being visible in the presence of fire and (what I assume are) the broken shards of Narsil.
Trying to keep this one short, but big bonus points if someone can tell me what the inscription on the Stream Forest cap says.
(Edited)
AlexPk
6864
Community
Dec 2, 2021
Hahah sorry, I'm still here. This is just more difficult than I thought :|
edit: I think I got it
(Edited)
lexzboy
37
Dec 1, 2021
Them white squiggles sap any cool factor and are in fact a deal-breaker.
Who approved that? What a shame.
Ennead
13
Nov 29, 2021
Please either get rid of the eye of Sauron white symbol or at least rotate it 90 degrees so it would actually look like an eye instead of a vagina.
bobalover
57
Nov 19, 2021
The biggest suggestion I have here is remove the white glyphs from the Lava and Stream styles.
Sometimes less is more. The overall vibe of these artisan keycaps feels cheapened by their implementation.
Even if the eye was turned sideways to be more accurate, I still think the Lava cap would look nicer without it. Capture the moment, and focus on making the lava/magma pop (I've seen other artisan makers do 'lava'/'fire' a little bit better than what I can see in these photos).
Similarly with the Stream, it would be far better without the sword. It would capture the tranquil beauty of nature/water, juxtaposed by the dangerous ring awaiting in the stream, waiting to be found. Bonus if you make the grey rock look a bit closer to the top half of a grey skull, to hint at the death that surrounds the rings' lore/power.
The forest ring is the only style I feel that is acceptable with the white script. I do wish there was a touch more organic detail in the scene (not too much, like a bit more green, like a fallen leaf or shroom/flower) to add a bit more vitality, because all I see is wood and moss. The way the branches end also seems incomplete (hollow and washed out), making them resemble look more like coral than branches/roots. Perhaps this can be masked a bit better, and with less colour loss. I guess you could partly rationalise that the ring cause decay around it or something, but I do feel darker brown wood tones would make the whole artisan look a bit more 'natural'.
bobalover
57
Nov 19, 2021
That's fair enough, thanks for the other perspective. Yes I agree, there are likely significant restraints/restrictions behind the scenes on how creative the creator can get with licensed products (i.e. S-Craft Studio who does licensed Pokemon artisans has expressed how the rules under licensing significantly hamper their vision/details they want to include). But I guess the general community won't really ever know how much in each case, how much the influence the license holder has on the final vision (and/or the technical restrictions/limits of the medium the creator is working in). So we can only just express our general thoughts, and hope if there's a a future round, things are tweaked (After all, removing the white glyph would actually be quite easy here).
I honestly don't expect the product here to change at all at this stage, given that its now for purchase, with product photos/official approval.
I know that many of these products are kept under tight wraps for various reasons during development, but one of the great things I've loved about the MK community, are how many projects spend a fair bit of time gather feedback, and seeing the creation evolve to a better product. I do wonder if the Marvel sets were developed with wider community feedback in the process, if it would have made a difference? Perhaps the IP holders could be convinced to allow some further refinement, if they could see how many people were disappointed with the current implementation not reaching the full potential that fans felt could be achieved. However cynically, I guess it's hard to expect license holders who aren't familiar with the medium to have the same expectation/knowledge that an enthusiast would. Although it's great to see Drop have more licensed products of fan favourite IPs, it has sort of led to quite few misses that would've been hits. Perhaps this is a growing pain/necessary evil in the development of more 'corporate' products, versus the typical traditional keycap projects that enthusiasts are more familiar with, where there is much more feedback and communication between the designer and the community in the 'interest check' stage. I know you gather plenty of feedback within your discord server on your current projects. I do wonder if Drop (and associated creators) would consider showcasing an upcoming product to gather feedback/interest, instead of just immediately popping up for pre-order, leaving no room for changes.
MiTo
13502
MiTo
Nov 19, 2021
I agree 100% with you and all your points, thanks for sharing your perspective with such elaborate and well written, considerate reply.
tsnieman
55
Nov 18, 2021
These are pretty sick. Don't love the white 'glyphs', but the rest is super dope.
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