Tag: indie comics

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May’s Massive Moving Sale

may's massive moving sale on kelci d crawford's storenvy store

I had the idea to post this in the Adventures in Moving slot on Tuesday – but I want to make this announcement SOONER. The announcement being: I’m running a MASSIVE Moving Sale for the month of May.

If you’ve been reading Adventures in Moving, you know by now that I’m preparing to move. However, I still have a LOT of my own products sitting around not being sold, because COVID-19 cancelled convention season.

The thing is, I don’t want to pack all of it. Because I’d rather see that a good chunk of this go to new homes. That way, you get comics to read and art to oggle, and I lighten my load for the move. Wins all around!

So I’m running a MASSIVE moving sale over on Storenvy.

You may remember my price changes from the last few weeks – on things like Johnson & Sir, Charlie & Clow: The Bonus Arc, and Dragons: A Sketchbook. Those sales prices will stay (for now).

ALL of the following sales prices are now on Storenvy:

These price are good UNTIL MAY 22.

So be sure to jump on these soon – the things you want may go out of stock sooner rather than later.

After May 22, the Storenvy shop will temporarily pause until I move into my new apartment.

IF YOU ARE BROKE – share this sale with friends who like indie artists! Make sure your friend give you a shout-out in the memo section of their order. That way, the two of you are entered to win a FREE commission from me! Two winners will be picked on May 24.

TL;DR. I’m running a sale on on Storenvy until May 22. If you’re broke, share the sale with your friends. Have your friend say “(Your name) sent me!” in the memo of the order. The both of you will be entered into a giveaway to win a FREE commission! Two winners will be selected May 24.

Questions? Leave them in the comments below.

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

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Throwback Thursday – Phoenix

x-men phoenix marker and ink sketch from 2013

Today’s Throwback Thursday is going to reveal how much of an absolute hipster I am. Because here’s why I drew Phoenix from X-Men:

I’ve never read the comics that featured Phoenix. I only ever saw X-Men 3 for context for who Phoenix is. (And looking back on it, X-Men 3 wasn’t that good).

I drew Phoenix because of the aesthetic.

I wanted to play around with shadows and light on a superhero figure, and this sketch was the result. This was drawn back in 2013, so I’ve improved since then.

But yep – I’m a freakin’ hipster. Only hipsters would draw a character because they looked cool, not because of anything actually pertaining to the character.

So please forgive 2013 me.

Still, I wanted to share this so a) you could learn from my mistake, and b) because I’m actually pretty pleased with how this sketch came out.

If I ever do a redraw of this, I would change the character to someone whom I actually know and like.

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How I’m Preparing to Freelance Full-Time (Again)

preparing to freelance full time image post of author appearance artist alley table setup

If you’re a patron on Patreon, you know this already, but I turned in my two week notice at the local gas station I work at part-time. I’m now preparing to freelance with a more open schedule than ever before.

For the last year or so, this has been the situation: because of the part-time gas station gig (with indeterminate hours from week to week), there were times that making comics had to go from a full-time job to a part-time one. Then right back to full-time. It was a strain on my energy AND the energy of my clients.

Now that I’m leaving that station job, I’m freelancing more fully again.

So what am I doing to prepare myself?

Well, first thing’s first, I turned in my two week notice at the gas station, rather than just walking out or saying, “I QUIT.” This is not just to protect my ass just in case I need to get the job again. It’s also more professional of you to turn in a notice, instead of leaving at the last minute.

For the last week and a half to two weeks, I’ve been analyzing my income streams, which are these:

  1. Patreon (this includes producing The Legend of Jamie Roberts). It’s a weird day when you realize your passion project is paying for your groceries. A weird day, but a GREAT day.
  2. Making comics for clients. I have one dedicated client whom I’ve been working with for years. I have two whom I work with when they have work for me (which is intermittent at times). And I’m hoping to get more clients to draw/write/letter/design for.
  3. Commissions, which encompasses anytime someone wants me to draw their D&D characters or even family members or pets. This is usually through KickStarter, but I get occasional odd requests.
  4. DoorDash and/or other labor. However, I live in the middle of nowhere, so DoorDash isn’t as lucrative as it would be in a major city.
  5. Ko-Fi. This is still new, so I’m not sure how much this will bring in. But I’m keeping it in the income stream lineup.
  6. Consignment Deals. This one I only have to check in once every 3 to 6 months. So the income is not as regular as the other streams. But it pays out once a quarter, so it works.

KickStarters WOULD make the list, but they are exceptionally situational. Also sporadic.

I’m looking into other income streams. I’m considering going back to Gumroad to sell ebooks through (I want to avoid Amazon as much as I can). Otherwise I’m looking for new clients to fill out the gaps.

I’m also looking to launch a new KickStarter campaign. But you should sign up for the (free) email newsletter for more details on that. I’ll talk about it with subscribers in their inboxes tomorrow.

If there’s an idea that you think is worth considering, make a suggestion below. I’ll look into it.

Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

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RathaCon 2019 In Review

I’ve been to RathaCon many a year before. It was one of my first shows as a vendor, and has since become one of my anchor shows. Because of that, I do my best to go every year. I even turned down the offer to go to Awesome Con in Washington, DC again to get to RathaCon instead.

(Mostly because both shows were happening on the same weekend… but RathaCon is physically closer to me and lasts only one day. So I could just drive down, show off, and drive back home without paying for a hotel. Very nice.)

However, this year, RathaCon had a couple of things working against it.

See, Awesome Con wasn’t the only other show happening the same weekend: there was also Gem City Comic Con, and two other shows in West Virginia that I can’t remember the names of. So RathaCon had to work extra hard to get folks to come in.

To my understanding, they ran radio ads, because there were a few attendees who mentioned, “I didn’t know this show was a thing until I heard about it on the radio yesterday! So I HAD to check it out!” So, kudos to the RathaCon staff for getting the word out.

And I’ll humble-brag a bit: I think the print I made for RathaCon helped to draw eyeballs to the show on social media. Especially on Facebook.

That said, the crowd this year was about the same size as last year’s audience, but they thinned out WAY sooner towards the end of the day. Partly because of the rain, I think.

I’m not sure how many attendees were current students of Ohio University, though.

One of the reasons the convention staff picked the day they did was to try and entice the local college crowd to come and attend.

But here is where another factor worked against them: April 27, the day of RathaCon, was a week before finals. No sane college student is leaving campus the day before finals week hits, unless they are Sherlock Holmes’-level of confident about their work.

When I talked about it with the staff, we mentioned the idea of offering discounted attendance to people who brought a valid OU ID. Hopefully they do that next year.

Another thing I hope they do next year: get volunteers who check in with the artists more often throughout the day. I was the only person at my table and, aside from the one or two times I could see another neighbor’s table, I could not leave my spot. I’m glad I packed a lunch.

This is a grievance I’ve already discussed with the staff, and they’re working to resolve the issue for next year. I’m confident they’ll fix it, because RathaCon is VERY good at accepting constructive criticism and working to improve year after year. That is one of the reasons they are my anchor show.

In conclusion: was this the best ever RathaCon so far? No. It wasn’t awful or even bad. But there will be changes next year. Hopefully for the better.

And hey! I booked another appearance before 3 Rivers Comicon!

If you’re in the Saint Clairsville, OH area on May 4, stop at New Dimension Comics in the Ohio Valley Mall. They’re running Free Comic Book Day, and they gave the OK for me to showcase and sell my work. Also, there will be a GhostBusters division there. (I talked to some GhostBusters at RathaCon and they mentioned they were appearing at FCBD at the comic shop.)

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.