Making it Happen

The world is changing, and a lot of that is due to small businesses and how we run those businesses.  Funding has always been an important part of growing a business, and for years that funding was up to the local bank to start with, and eventually investors if you got lucky.  Today, however, funding can be a lot more personal, and a lot more interactive.  Yes, I am asking for financial assistance; at the same time, though, I want to give something back (cool prizes!), and, just as important, bring you the reader, and me the creator, closer together.

I'm not looking for a hand out... I am looking for people who believe in me, and enjoy my work, to come together to show that support, and have some fun while doing it.  I would like it if this Kickstarter of mine can be like a virtual party, where I can talk to old friends, and be introduced to new ones, and I can share my work with you and ideas for growth.

Let me be honest here...publishing is a difficult and expensive business, even for those with a line-up of marketing professionals and a string of best selling authors.  When one person, me, is running that business, well... the business runs you... ragged! :0)  Think about this;  I am the business, which means all products come from me, and it can take about three years to create a book.  Three years in which I need to rely on my previous books to finance things.  Fortunately, for me, I was able to build up a freelance illustration career which, while keeping me away from the comics, provided me a way to make an income while doing what I love... art.

When cartoonists ( or many other people) start out, it's necessary to build up experience.  I did a lot of work for free, and then for very cheap.  Luckily, my passion for my work came through here and there, and I was able to sell some of my cartoons, which then lead to bigger work. As a creator, though, creating characters that you hope will one day become icons requires more sacrifice.  I've practically given away a lot of my stuff just to get my name out there, but that can only last so long.  To stay in business as a cartoonist, the business must grow, and become more self-reliant.  Otherwise, I need to turn to freelancing full time, just to pay the bills.

In this day and age, a lot of us must reinvent ourselves.  I've given a lot of thought to what I want to be when I grow up, and the answer is, and always was, a storyteller.  Even in my illustration work, I try to bring life to each image, and have that image tell a story, and I love that.  However, I love even more drawing a black box and looking through it as if it were a window into another world... which it is!

That comic panel to me is a portal to adventure, where all those silly things in my head come out to play, and I love that.  More than anything.  So please help me to continue that dream. If you like my work, then please get involved.

The Ghost Pirate Skeletons of Three Craters Lake can be a last hurrah, or a new beginning.  It really is up to you, because frankly, the stories are here for us to share.  As much as I love creating them, they're a heck of a lot more fun when I can share them with someone.

Thanks for reading!  I'll post the link to the kickstarter below.  Please take a peek at it, and feel free to ask questions or just chat in general.  I look forward to seeing you there!

We are live!  And here's the link:   

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/happyglyphs/the-ghost-pirate-skeletons-of-three-craters-lake

JOHN :0)

These cool postcards and fridge magnet are just the beginning of the rewards
I've come up with to thank you for your support. :0)

Ghost Pirates Update



I really should write a blog about priorities, since you may be wondering how I choose what to work on and when. For instance, it's been a while since I've mentioned the Ghost Pirate Skeletons of Three Craters Lake, and with good reason.  I've been quite busy with other projects, and although I've been working on Ghost Pirates, I'm witholding the new material so that it doesn't spoil the ending.  Most of the story has been free online, but now that I'm putting together the final comic book, we don't want spoilers.

Also, as some of you may recall, Ghost Pirates started out as part of The Inquiring Minds comic strip, and so was not in comic book format.  You'd think I would have learned from 3 Knights in India, but no, I didn't.  More about that in my upcoming post about priorities.

Anyway, much of the early material from Ghost Pirates has been reformatted, digitally remastered, and in some cases redrawn.  I've also added new material to enhance the story or improve the layout, and have created my own 'handwriting' font to make the text consistent throughout.  Quite a lot of work, I must say, which explains the lack of recent updates.

I now have about 26 pages completely finished and am working on completing the book.  Originally it was to be 32 pages, with advertisements, a letters page, and a page for Fan Art, but it now looks like it could run longer than that.  I'm wondering if I should make it a two part series, or a larger comic book?  What do you think?  Any opinions?

As for the letters page and Fan Art pages, I already have one nice piece from a fellow artist.  I'll have to dig through my fan mail to see what applies to The Inquiring Minds, but meanwhile, take a chance to read through the archives, and send a letter in. Who knows, it may get published? :0)

And any cartoonists out there who'd like to have a shot at the Fan Art page, send me a small drawing of The Inquiring Minds, doing something pirate ride related.   Of course, how and what gets published are completely at my discretion, and the only compensation would be a copy of the comic book when published, and depends on space left in the final issue.
I'm really proud and excited to have another long term project coming close to completion!  Of course, that's just the art and writing... lots more to go, including some exciting news, I hope. :0)

Thanks,    JOHN :0)