Showing posts with label catholic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label catholic. Show all posts

Reviews and drawing update

 I've finished all the writing and thumbnails for all 5 issues of Mary Boys: All Stitched Up, so it might be time to actually tell people what it's about. But first I'm enjoying knocking out a few pages of pencils. This time round I thought I'd give digital pencils a go, mainly because I tried Clip studio and liked the perspective tools. It saves a lot of time and mess getting the rules out, especially for small awkward panels, like this one:


Yes, I am extremely late to the party, but that's fine since I did everything traditionally before so this all feels like a real doddle, provided that the plan of printing it all out in blue and then inking it traditionally works out. I still need to buy an A3 printer and give it a go.



Mary Boys : Beefheads got a mention and review on Awesome Comics Podcast today. Give it a listen here:  https://open.spotify.com/episode/2rIarUc4dgdgP3y1xYOJYX?si=pvYoW4MlSoOmyPDtU0epQg They're a fun bunch, so give their other content a listen too. I really enjoyed their discussion on the Bojeffries Saga, a little-known gem from Steve Parkhouse and some northerner called Alan something. 

We're at 114 sign-ups to the mailing list. I'd like about 800 before we launch AND we only launch when the campaign book has been drawn. Still a slog, but things are happening. If you haven't signed up yet, then now would be as good a time as any: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/--2802154/coming_soon#smallpress






How to crowdfund comics

The title is a little misleading because it implies that "I" have an idea on how to run a successful comic book campaign, which I don't. Not really. I don't have a specific formula that would work of anyone reading this. I've run two campaigns before that have done quite well for an unknown creator, but I couldn't tell you what to do apart from 1) put in the best work you possibly can 2) network absolutely everywhere and 3) try not to be a prick.

I'm conscious that funding has become more challenging of late due in part to crowdfunding being becoming more mainstream. More and more comic professionals are now crowdfunding their own IPs and many traditional publishers crowdfunding projects which hey would ordinarily just have released through the direct market.

Of course, getting more mainstream is good for crowdfunding. Often half the challenge is selling the concept of crowdfunding to someone unfamiliar to it, so having bigger players familiarise their customer base to it is helpful to smaller creators. The more known it becomes the greater the pool of would be supporters. A fan of Sean Gordon Murphy might hang around a little while longer on Kickstarter after backing his project to se if anything else is of interest.

It also has the effect of raising the bar. Art, story and production values need to be able to compete with the best in the business or they have no chance of getting funded. This is all good for backers, but less good for creators trying to wing it with a sub-standard book. The art and writing need to be competitive. If they aren't, don't your waste time marketing it because even if you fund, your backers will be more wary of coming back after receiving something substandard.

I'm no guru, but I've seen projects fail for issues that are quite avoidable. A poor (or just mediocre) is actually less common than the following:  

1. Lack of clarity

Sometimes I look at campaigns and I'm not quite sure what it's about. I have a fairly short attention span and generally don't like wading through a lot of text to try and figure out what the comic is really about. If the the fist thing I see on the campaign page (if I'm enticed to click on the link) is a lot exposition and world building then you've lost me. Personally, but this is probably true for most people. I want the shortest, most succinct description of what the book is about as possible. Paint in broad strokes. Dumb it up for me. You can do your world building and go into detail about the expansive cast of characters later when we've crossed this first hurdle. Keep it simple, then build in the complexity once you've got people reading.

Summarise your whole concept in one punchy sentence designed to entice the reader. Better yet if it's in the title. 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' is the best example I can think of. It delivers a hook with maximum economy that keeps people reading.

2) Not marketing the comic beforehand 

I did this on my first project. I was very green and had no idea there was more to marketing than plonking your concept and a few pages on the internet. I was lucky enough for bigger channels talking about it to their audience. Without that it would have failed without a doubt.

Get a mailing list up today and market the hell out of that at least 6 months before launching the campaign. Hit forums, comic podcasts and dedicated Youtube shows with your links.

When asking for help from other people, be gracious. Never be pushy or annoying. It never ends well. Regardless of your project's merit, it's still their time and their platform and you are not entitled to it. If you get turned down, don't go on a public tirade. Even if no-one reacts to it, loads of people would have read it and made their own assumptions about you as a person.

2) Starting a new campaign before fulfilling the previous one

It casts doubt over your commitment in delivering the first one. I think this is the case even in the case of seasoned crowdfunders. Your reputation is only as good as your last fulfilled campaign and many backers have been burned in the past by creators simply not fulfilling.

Same goes for being very late. People who regularly back crowdfunders are a special breed of customer and are generally very understanding where it comes to delays, yet even they have their limits when a book is late and the creator fails to post updates.

The last point is why I've decided not to launch out new campaign until the book is done. We weren't all that late, just a couple of months. No-one expressed concern or complained. This was probably because we made a point of posting regular updates. Still, it's a situation best avoided, which is why we'll only be launching the next campaign when we're ready to go to print.

Speaking of which, I have today launched the mailing list for Mary Boys: All Stitched Up (part 1). Please be sure to sign up to be notified when we go live. This is the first full length Mary Boys adventure and a story I've been wanting to tell for a long time.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/--2802154/coming_soon#smallpress