A thousand years ago, the Demon King and his armies marched across the lands, terrorizing the people who crossed their paths. Only one man stood up to the Demon King, and his name…was Richard.
At least, this is the history Vanita grew up with her whole life.
Her story takes place in the present day. But one morning, on her usual jog in the park, she comes across the legendary Demon King himself – heavily beaten and close to exhaustion in the bushes.
And so begins this domestic story of a trans girl trying to make sense of the fabled Demon King passing out on her couch.
Also…Vanita and the Demon King takes place roughly one year after the events of The Case of the Wendigo. That’s right – we’re coming back to the Charlie and Clow universe!
I need your help to cover some costs before production starts. A full breakdown is available on the Crowdfundr page, but here’s the TL;DR: help cover web hosting and domain costs, and all funding beyond that will cover producing pages for Vanita and the Demon King.
Almost all rewards are digital, with a handful of physical rewards. All of these will be easy to fulfill.
Rewards include early access to finished pages, commissions, and downloadable comic scripts!
If you’re able to pledge support to this cozy odd couple story, head over to Crowdfundr now and make your own reward bundles!
If you’re broke, share this campaign far and wide. Shares help more than you know.
Today at 2 pm EST, I’m chatting in today’s live stream with CM Clemence and Kelly Swann. We’re discussing their new short story, Just Your Garden Variety Adventure, made for What the Gnomes Know: A Comics Anthology.
What the Gnomes Know is currently on KickStarter! Be sure to back the campaign if you want to get a copy of the first printing of this book.
This anthology collects a variety of gnome-themed short comics, all drawn by up-and-coming indie cartoonists, comic artists, and writers.
Plus, not only am I interviewing creators – I edited the anthology! So it was my job to look at submissions and give feedback to make each story shine. (If you’re looking for a comics editor, here are more details on what I do).
So be sure to tune in today on my YouTube, Twitch, or Twitter channels. 2 pm EST. We’ll also have a Q&A section at the end if you want to ask CM and Kelly questions live.
That’s all for now. Thank you for reading and watching!
This is it. We’re in the final hours for The Stars of Fantasyville on KickStarter.
The Stars of Fantasyville: A Sketchbook collects all of my Inktober sketches from last month, and puts them in one book. The theme? The stars of comics, roleplaying games, and other stories from Fantasyville Productions. Or at least…a sampling of characters.
I want to inspire folks with these character designs. As an artist and storyteller, I know how influential art books can be to the creative process. Heck, these characters came to be because I flipped through other art books and went, “AHA! I like this and that,” and “What if…” My hope is that this book can do the same thing for anyone who needs that creative light bulb to ping on.
At the very least, my hope is that these characters get you excited for the stories they feature in. Because some of these stories are out, and more are coming out very soon!
In fact, if we reach $900 in funding before midnight tomorrow, every backer will get The Uthers Detective Notebook PDF. It collects concept art, sketches, AND scripts for an upcoming graphic novel, The Uthers (the story of a half human, half-Uther detective tasked with finding a teenage wunderkind and the cyborg she built).
We’re already on our way to $800 in funding! If we reach that before midnight tomorrow, then backers with physical rewards will get a SLAY pin, and all backers get The Legend of Jamie Roberts Captain’s Log PDF, full of concept art, outline notes, and other behind-the-scenes goods!
Again – less than 36 hours, yo. The campaign ends AT 11:59 PM EST TOMORROW (Nov 19).
My new art book, The Stars of Fantasyville: A Sketchbook, is on KickStarter now – until November 18!
WHAT IS STARS OF FANTASYVILLE: A SKETCHBOOK?
Let’s answer your question with another question: do you know about Inktober?
Inktober is the artists’ challenge to draw in ink every day in October. It’s an art challenge I have done every year since 2017. And when I do, I often collect the Inktober sketches of that year and gather them into a new book!
In the past, I’ve drawn Witches, Gods & Spirits, Dragons, and even a webcomic called PuzzleSpell.
For Inktober this year, I drew the characters that feature in my comics, roleplaying games, novels, and other stories! Every sketch is drawn with Copic markers, Zebra brush pens, and Strathmore paper, and adjusted for printing in Clip Studio Paint. I have gathered all the sketches from Inktober this year and put them into Stars of Fantasyville: A Sketchbook.
To make this book happen, I’m asking for $700 by November 18. As of this post, we’ve raised $485, and we have 8 days left.
What will that money be used for? Well, I broke it down in this pie chart I drew:
Why do I want to print 100 copies?
Ok. I mentioned this in my post about Aistear Con 3, but I’ll state it here, as well: books are my best category when I go to conventions. So to prepare for conventions next year, I would LOVE it if I had as many copies as possible in my inventory. Nothing sucks worse than getting ready for a show and realizing, “Oh dang, I forgot to re-order books and now I only have 2 copies of this title left.”
What Can You Get for Backing This Campaign?
I kept the rewards list simple: digital and physical copies of The Stars of Fantasyville: A Sketchbook, and PDF copies of all the Inktober sketchbooks of years past.
Because here’s the secret: I have a LOT of add-ons you can include with your rewards!
Add-on options include (but are not limited to)…
If you’re able, back this KickStarter BEFORE NOVEMBER 18, yo.
If you’re broke, share this post! Every share helps.
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.
