My Ko-Fi and Patreon Pages Are Re-Mastered

Experiments have been done. Thoughts have been explored. And now, I’m here to announce: that my Ko-Fi and Patreon pages are getting new facelifts. Or…re-masters, if you will.

screencap of Kelci D Crawford's Ko-Fi Comics Club.

Moving forward, Ko-Fi is now home to the Kelci D Crawford Ko-Fi Comics Club. (Or KDC-KCC, because I’m a dork who loves initialisms).

The Ko-Fi Comics Club is now home to:

  • comic scripts that can’t be read elsewhere,
  • sneak peeks at the making of comics pages, from sketch to lettering,
  • early access to webcomic updates,
  • Ko-Fi exclusive webcomics,
  • access to sketchbook pages for my webcomic projects,
  • members-only shop items,
  • and commissions discounts.

These Ko-Fi rewards are available for Members only. To become a Member, just give any amount per month and you get ALL the listed rewards.

That said, Ko-Fi has rewards for folks who make a one-time donation or purchase. Those folks who give just once will get access to shop discounts and sketchbook pages only.

To become a member, head on over to the Ko-Fi Comics Club and pledge what works for you. Even $1/month gets you these rewards. As a heads up – the date you pledge becomes the date you pledge, i.e. signing up on the 15th of this month means your pledge charges again on the 15th of the next month.

a screencap of Kelci D Crawford's Patron Art Club. In it, we see a blue cat with dragon scales down its back sleeping on a hoard of paper balls.

Meanwhile, I have revived my Patreon page. By popular vote, Patreon is now home to the Kelci Crawford Art Club.

The Patreon Art Club is now home to:

  • voting rights on new sticker designs,
  • coloring book page downloads,
  • hi-resolution image downloads (so you can get new desktop images, or print at home),
  • a new sticker shipped each month,
  • and commission rewards – from black-and-white to full-color, from half-body to full-figure. These are already discounted for Patrons.

Patreon has membership tiers that are more segmented than Ko-Fi. So be sure to plan ahead for the rewards you want. Certain rewards, like commissions, are available for folks who pledge more each month. So the more you pledge, the bigger your rewards get.

To join, head on over to the Art Club and pledge what works for you. You can cancel anytime. As a heads up – the club takes the first month’s charge once you sign up. After that, your pledge will process on the 1st of each month.

Folks who join one or the other (or both, I won’t stop you!) also get access to my Tiny Dinos Discord Server. They also get Ko-Fi shop discounts.

You might be wondering, “Kelci, why are you separating these into two separate clubs? Why not just make 1 and be done with it?”

Well, I listened to my current members on both platforms. My Ko-Fi buddies don’t want membership tiers as Patreon has. And my Patreon peeps want art and stickers, but no comics.

And I don’t mind running the two separately! It actually makes it easier for me to know who gets what rewards.

If you can pledge to Ko-Fi or Patreon (or both!), please do! Your support helps support me (and BreeBree, my 16-year-old cat) and keeps the lights on.

Broke? Then be sure to share my webcomic, The Legend of Jamie Roberts, as well as my YouTube and Twitch channels. Sharing these pages helps grow the audience, yo. You can also follow both the Ko-Fi and Patreon pages to catch any and all future public posts.

That’s all for now. Thank you for your support.

You. Are. Awesome.

LIVE STREAM – MerMay Commissions

Tuesday, May 3rd, at 2 pm EST, you can lurk while I work on mermaids for MerMay! I’m offering to draw mermaids this month at a discounted commission rate. For more info, check out my Ko-Fi commissions.

Got questions? I’ll answer them LIVE! Go to YouTube or Twitch to post them.

ROXIE is available for pre-order UNTIL MAY 7 at 11:59 pm EST. Buy a copy here.

Leave a Tip!

Read my webcomic, The Legend of Jamie Roberts.

Sign up for my email newsletter.

For more, check out My Ko-Fi Shop, or My Patreon.

TOOLS USED:
Drawing – Clip Studio Paint
Streaming – StreamYard

*

Thank you for watching.
You. Are. Awesome.

Roxie, the Comics, Now Available for Pre-Order on Ko-Fi

She’s bold. She’s brassy. She’s one-of-a-kind. She’s ROXIE!

The roller derby girl from Validation has starred in her own adventures before. Now, this new book collects all of them in one place!

In this book, all 30 original-run comic strips will be reprinted in full color (with retouched artwork as needed). Plus bonus content like character art and original scripts… and a preface by CB, the creator of Validation who has a WHOLE bunch of credits to her name!

Here are some specs about the book:

  • This book measures 5.5 inches tall and 8.5 inches wide.
  • Printed in full color.
  • Saddle-stapled.
  • Roughly 25 pages.

You might have some questions for me. Let’s address them here.

“Why aren’t you running this on Kickstarter?”

I actually wrote a lengthy blog post about my disagreement with one of Kickstarter’s most recent decisions. On the one hand, I COULD run a campaign on the platform while still posting that their decision is a bad one. (After all, other creators have posted similar sentiments right on their campaign’s front pages. Pressure like this HAS gotten KickStarter to change their minds on other issues in the past.)

Or, I can use ko-fi as a platform and run a book pre-order. I LOVE ko-fi, ever since I switched to the platform a couple of years ago. Ko-fi has only gotten better and more robust since I joined. I believe in it and I want it to succeed! To that end, I want to run this pre-order on ko-fi to test out some features that Kickstarter may not have. (Also, keeping track of add-ons is WAY easier to do on Ko-Fi!)

“Do I need to read Validation before reading this comic?”

I like to think it’s a perk, not a requirement. You can totes read this as a standalone story.

“Who wrote and drew this book?”

I did! I get the confusion, though – Validation was written by CB and drawn by me. Roxie is set in the same universe. But CB let me have free reign to write and draw this story.

“Your book is $10?”

Because it’s free shipping for US backers! Shipping costs are already factored into the price. (Sorry, UK and Canada, but shipping is a little extra for you to cover the difference.)

“I FOR SURE want the book! What else can I get?”

You have options!

  • You can get just the book for $10.
  • OR, you can get the book and a Roxie sticker for $15 (free shipping again for US backers).
  • OR, you can get the book, the Roxie sticker, AND a Macho Mujeres keychain for $20 (once again, free shipping for US backers).

You can also browse the rest of my ko-fi shop for any cool add-ons you would like to add! I’ll ship them all together for you. I also have a commission section, though I think that needs to be rung up as a separate transaction.

“What if I want a PDF?”

That will have to be a separate store listing. Sorry, but ko-fi is specific about individual item listings in their shop feature. Also, the PDF is, like, 80% done for printer purposes. Formatting it for digital sales is a different process.

“Oh, this is a pre-order! When will my order arrive?”

After May 1, but before June 15. I’m leaving a few weeks’ buffers just in case something happens at my comic book printers’ HQ.

“Why should I support you?”

Do you mean, OTHER than the fact that I have 10 other successful crowdfunding campaigns under my belt? Because I’m a genderqueer comic artist who REALLY loves making comics and sharing them with the world! I’ve been at it non-stop since 2013.

Also, I’ll just throw this out there: by purchasing this pre-order, you become a sidekick on my ko-fi! That means that, no matter what you pledge, you get access to ko-fi supporter-only content. Things like exclusive webcomics, podcasts, and other goodies.

“Great! How long are you accepting pre-orders?”

UNTIL APRIL 30 at 11:59 pm EST. After that, the listing will switch to “Draft.” That way, I can fulfill orders without fear of last-minute purchases that would throw off my numbers.

Can you support this book? Marvelous! Are you broke? Share this! Use tinyurl.com/roxie-book to share with your peeps.

Thank you so much for your support.

You. Are. Awesome.

A Ko-Fi Shop Update

Normally I write about projects, but today I’m giving a ko-fi shop update. Because there’s new stuff, clearance stuff, and stuff coming soon.

Wait…New Stuff?

Yes! New stuff! I have new mini-prints, yo.

These are all now available on ko-fi.

By the way, there are only 3 Dragon Baby keychains left as of this writing.

But I Still Have Clearance Stuff?

Yes, I do! I did remove the things that are sold out, so those things I removed are gone forever. BUT…I still have mystery bags. Plus I will be making more mystery bags soon. Also, they’re now $1 (and shipping is $5 for USA shoppers).

What’s Coming Soon?

The Case of the Wendigo! Unfortunately, I sold out of copies of this book at Free Comic Book Day on Saturday, so I’ll need to re-order those. I also need to order more copies of Witches: A Sketchbook and Gods & Spirits: A Sketchbook. Those 3 were the most popular things on my table on Saturday. (Them, and the Dragon Baby Pins.)

It also occurred to me that I haven’t posted the other Charlie & Clow books OR my other stickers up on ko-fi yet. So that’s going to get fixed this week.

And MAYBE there will be original art soon? Who knows? There’s still a gallery show I need to prepare for. But I’ll go into that next time.

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

You. Are. Awesome.

What’s Next for Fantasyville?

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:

NeverEnding

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.

Livestreams

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.

The Switch from Patreon to Ko-Fi

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.

What’s Next, Though?

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.