Tag: art books

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I’m Discontinuing Art Books (For Now) – Here’s Why

a zine opens to two illustrations. On the left is a dragon in a vest, holding a magic staff. On the right is a dragon man, wielding a dagger and shield. Fingers from a white hand hold the spread open.

I’m discontinuing the print runs for my art books, including Witches, Gods & Spirits, and Dragons. Here’s why.

First, the cost of printing has gone up. Since 2021, the cost of printing books has increased across all the printers I work with. This is especially true for the printer who runs Witches, Gods & Spirits, and Dragons. (Stars of Fantasyville and CATS got printed with a different company.)

Second, when I looked at my sales stats across the decade, the numbers shocked me. I ran my numbers to account for which books earned the most from crowdfunding AND convention sales.   Dragons and Gods & Spirits barely made it in the top 10 overall earners list and the top 10 earned per year list. Neither title made it to the top 5 in either. Witches only made one list (top earners overall). 

And that’s if I took out Johnson & Sir from the stats. If I left that title in, the outlook for those art books looked worse.

Third, and this is the big one for me – I’m feeling called not to make any more art books. My energy wants to make more comics, and any art that’s not comics wants to be stickers and prints. Not art books.

I also want to work on and grow The Legend of Jamie Roberts. It’s hard to do that when time and energy are being put into art books that cost more and more to print but sell less and less. So I’m taking art books out of the equation, so more time and sweat can go where it wants to go – making comics.

So what does this mean?

Well, there are some shops I sell on consignment with who are carrying the last of my art books. Last week I dropped off the final copies of Witches and Gods & Spirits at Handmade Toledo. Quimby’s in Chicago and Indie Northern KY are also options if those are closer to you.

This also means no Junicorn or Inktober art books for the foreseeable future. My energy is not called to participate in those challenges anymore. So I’m going to honor that. I would rather pursue things out of joy and curiosity, not obligation. And Inktober doesn’t inspire me the way it used to.

The good news is – if you want art, prints and stickers are still happening! In fact, I’m hoping to do a flash sale soon to get two new sticker designs in print. If you saw this livestream replay, you may know which designs I’m talking about. Hint: Godzilla be thicc.

Here’s the difference – prints and stickers are happening when I want to make them. Not out of a viral art challenge or out of a sense of obligation. I’m making the art I want to make, that I feel called to make, that I think would bring joy to others. I want that to be my driving force moving forward.

Having said that, there are two exceptions (ish) to the final-run art books: Stars of Fantasyville, and CATS. Stars have a ton of extra copies left – like, over 60. I’m not doing another print run because the first print run is still in stock. But I won’t do a second print run of it either. 

CATS, on the other hand, will get reprinted as soon as possible. It was only released less than a year ago! It hasn’t had the chance to expand its reach yet. Also, it brings joy to me and many others.

As for the other books? It’s time their runs come to an end.

Don’t get me wrong – the art books did bring me joy at the time. But for reasons including the cost of printing, slumped sales, and discontinued interest, I’m letting the concept go.

Thank you, art books! You brought joy to me and a lot of others. I think it’s time to let you rest so new stuff can be made.

Stay tuned for more of that new stuff – including that flash sale I mentioned.

Thank you for your understanding and your support.

You. Are. Awesome.

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Witches: The Sketchbook Looking for KickStarter Funding

“Hold on a second,” you might be thinking. “You just had a KickStarter campaign, and you’re running another one so soon?”

Yes – the previous KickStarter was to get funding for Validation buttons, to have something for sale at conventions. That KickStarter ran in June for a week and raised just a little over $800 (holy banana pants!). Since that campaign was so short, the rewards were not super hard to fulfill. In fact, all the rewards for the backers are taken care of for that campaign.

I like to make sure loose ends are tied up before moving to the next KickStarter, thank you.

So, with previous campaigns taken care of, I’ve launched a new one: Witches: The Sketchbook is looking for $500 to get its first print-run going.

Witches: The Sketchbook is a compilation of sketches I made during Inktober, featuring nothing but witches. Why? Well, in promotional posts on KickStarter I say “because I love witches” and leave it at that. But there’s a little more to it than that.

The reason I drew witches is not just out of a fascination for them, but because as a Pagan person, I like seeing witches of all stripes and backgrounds. There’s not much representation of witches, Wiccas, neo-pagans, or the other branches of Paganism in art unless they’re super-sexy or the Macbeth variety of wrinkled cautionary witches.

I wanted to see something different – witches rooted in the old Gaelic traditions, witches of African descent, witches that could spring from old lore, modern-day witches, and witches of other backgrounds. And my method is usually, “Huh. I can’t seem to find anything like that. Time to draw it myself!”

There was also the desire to have a book of character designs and concept art, because I love those types of books and wanted to make one of my own. And a book of witch concepts is a good place to start, I think.

The KickStarter is still running – in fact, it has 11 days left in the campaign and ends on November 21st. Check it out and see what you would like. (Also there’s a ton of original sketches left to claim and they’re priced reasonably well, so be sure to get those before they run out).

If you can pledge, that’s fantastic! If you’re broke, please share the link with your friends. Every bit helps.

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

You. Are. Awesome.