I had announced that commissions on Ko-Fi would re-open next week, but I must delay re-opening until January 22, 2021.
Why? Because I have a short story comic deadline coming soon. I want to make sure I get it done in time with as little pressure from outside projects as possible.
Once the comic is done, I’ll be available to work on commissions on Jan. 22.
Thank you for your understanding!
“Kelci! You didn’t send an email update last week! What gives?”
Last week was Christmas, silly. I took the week off.
“But what does that mean?!”
That means:
The Storenvy shop (for physical goods) and Ko-Fi shop (for digital goods) will remain open. BE WARNED: there may be delays if you purchase from Storenvy, because plague and backed-up USPS shenanigans.
And another thing:
Every year, I talk about the previous year in review, followed by the goals I have for the following year. I DO still intend on writing those blog posts. They just won’t be live until January 7, 2021.
I’m going to enjoy the time I have off. I hope you’re able to rest and recharge for 2021. May it not suck!
Thank you for your understanding.
You. Are. Awesome.
You read right – Fantasyville Productions (the company I run) is working on a new horror short story collection.
My good friend Sean McGavin wrote these stories last year, and I said to him, “Holy banana pants! These stories are good! Let’s get these printed!”
Couple things:
I’m handling the book cover design because I designed all the covers for my books. It’s one of the skills I’m really good at, to be honest.
For an editor, I hired Melanie D., a friend of mine from college who’s very good at what she does. Shout-out to my readers who backed The Case of the Wendigo on KickStarter. They voted to have the leftover funds from that campaign go towards paying Melanie to edit this anthology. (And also go towards two different charities. More info about that can be found in this KickStarter post).
Where will this book be printed? Well, I’m going for Lulu. Unless you have a different recommendation. But when I did my research, Lulu had what I was looking for. (And I’ll go into THAT in a different post).
When will this book be available? Stay tuned on my email newsletter for updates.
Sorry to cut it short, but that’s really all I have for now. Thank you for reading!
You. Are. Awesome.
To say this year took me by surprise is an understatement.
My original plans – “just keep doing what I’ve been doing, but go to 10 conventions/shows, not 14” – HAD to shift hard to the left.
As it turned out, though, canceling convention season meant I could work on the following things:
I started working with these folks back in February this year. In that 10-month window of time, we’ve run a successful KickStarter, started production on a new app, and got some buzz going with Satine Phoenix, the Sirens, and a LOT of tabletop gaming companies. INCLUDING some folks connected to the Hugo Awards (but I can’t give more details). Like, holy dang.
I’m still working with the crew as the Creative Director, leading the art team while we make art for the app. It’s my first time being in charge of other artists. I’m still getting the hang of it.
In lieu of conventions, I ran livestreams. For a while, I did them every Saturday, until I burned out on the schedule. I stopped for a bit to reassess.
It all started with live-draws, where I streamed myself drawing new stuff in Clip Studio Paint. But the most watched streams have been the most recent ones I’ve done: with guests, talking about some business aspects of comics. Things like how to run a successful KickStarter campaign, and converting KickStarter backers into long-time patrons.
I dragged my feet on this decision for a while, until I couldn’t anymore. Patreon just kept on dropping pledges from patrons – often, from the high-tier patrons. And this had been a problem for OVER A YEAR. A problem where, each month, I had to reach out to patrons individually to ask them to check their information. (I had originally reached out in group messages, but a previous patron stopped pledging because they saw this as “public shaming.”)
And then, in the last month, every time I made a new post, the website would just…shut off. My internet connection worked. I could save a DRAFT of a post. But when I hit “publish,” the Patreon site would just…stop.
In short, Patreon as a system has bugs that aren’t being meaningfully addressed, and it’s aggravating myself and other people.
I made the switch to Ko-Fi recently. While it lacks some things (like scheduling posts ahead of time), it has other things Patreon does NOT have. Like more consistent payment processing. And the ability to leave a tip just once.
I want to continue growing the audience I have on Ko-Fi. It’s a platform with a lot of promise and I want to help it grow. A lot like what I’m doing with NeverEnding, actually.
I also want to keep going with YouTube. Livestreams, yes. But I’m THINKING about dipping my toes back in to making proper, edited videos…I just don’t like editing because I don’t have the right tools for it. So an upgrade to better video editing software is on the table.
Another thing on the table? Better audio recording set-ups. I wrapped up doing vocal tracks for a friend’s punk song and it made me realize…I miss doing audio work.
Other than that? The Legend of Jamie Roberts will keep going. CB and I are remaking some early pages of Tiny Unicorn. We’re also doing more with Tiny Unicorn (and Mr. Dino & Friends) in the near future. BreeBree Bootique is a new project I’m doing with chubby cat art (now on Instagram and RedBubble).
AND…
Keep an eye out for two new book projects that Fantasyville Productions will be releasing in the next few months. One’s a prose anthology, the other is a comics anthology.
I’ll write about those two books in the next update.
That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!
You. Are. Awesome.
The Validation and Mr. Dino Bundle is now on Storenvy!
For $10 you get:
There’s only 2 bundles available, so if you’re interested, jump on it while you still can.
Each miniprint is 4×6 inches, and each button is the size of a quarter.
