thoughtful dinosaur Archives - Kelci D Crawford

August 19, 2024August 16, 2024

New Punk Signal AND Fwishi’shi Are NOW LIVE on KickStarter

the kickstarter header image for new punk signal and fwishi'shi. This is split down the middle: on one side are two white boys smiling at the camera in relaxed streetwear. On the right is an anthropomorphic bird man with his back to the viewer, gazing out to the sea

NOW LIVE!

New Punk Signal – two college boys, Mike and Steve, have big dreams to support their friends and their indie music…until the pandemic hits and shuts everything down. Now they have to figure out how to support the people they love when the world is changing its frequency.

Fwishi’shi – Fuloos is a bird-man who lives alone in a home by the sea. By day, he runs a radio show in the small town of Seabank. One day, he meets a fan of his work and her boyfriend – and everything changes.

These two stories are about community, assistance, and platonic love that saves the day. And with your help, I’d love to get these stories into the hands of more readers with the power of KickStarter!

So New Punk Signal is a comic spin-off-slash-sequel to Validation and ROXIE, following resident himbos Mike and Steve. And Fwishi’shi is – for the first time in my book catalog – a written novella. It’s not a comic (gasp)! It’s also set in the same universe as two comic projects I’ve done called Johnson & Sir and Thoughtful Dinosaur.

I like to think that you don’t need to read the other books to understand what’s going on in New Punk Signal and Fwishi’shi. But if you would like to delve more into those worlds, these extra stories are available as add-ons in the campaign! If you’re inclined, there’s also The Radio Tower Tier, where you can get all of these stories in one bundle.

THE HOW

The good news is – a lot of expenses for Fwishi’shi are covered by a grant from the Toledo Arts Commission! Thank you to the commission for covering the cost of the ISBNs, printing 20(ish) copies of the book, and printing bookmarks.

However, New Punk Signal needs a little support to get to print. Also, if Fwishi’shi gets a lot more than 20 orders, I need a little help to cover printing. There’s also the added wrinkle of distributing these books once they’re printed.

For these reasons, I’ve opted to run a KickStarter – not only to help New Punk Signal get printed, but to get BOTH books in the hands of readers with KickStarter’s reach.

So in short – the asking goal is low because some expenses are already covered thanks to the Toledo Arts Commission (yay)! But KickStarter will help get these books out to the masses.

THE WHEN

Because of grant deadlines and printer timelines, this campaign will run UNTIL Aug 31. Once the funding period ends, I can place orders to the printers right away. The goal is to get everything printed and in the hands of backers by September 30.

ally from the webcomic Validation checks her phone to see a text from Steve. This comic is in the upcoming New Punk Signal

THE WHY

New Punk Signal and Frishi’shi are both projects I made during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Both were created to process my feelings and what I had seen work – and not work – during this time. I’ve also come to realize that as time goes on, the more my stories focused on the importance of community and helping friends along the way. And, as a result, both of these stories are my love letter to the importance of platonic love.

We live in a culture that romanticizes individualism, and only allows exception for romantic love. I wanted to challenge both by creating New Punk Signal and Fwishi’shi, stories that focus on the importance of interpersonal connections outside of romance.

So if you can, check out the campaign and choose the reward tier that works best for you! We also have add-ons such as spin-off comics, prints, and even art books!

Broke? Share this campaign far and wide! Shares help more than you know.

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

You. Are. Awesome.

February 7, 2024February 7, 2024

NOW LIVE On KickStarter – Zine Club Pledge Drive!

Now live on KickStarter, it’s the Zine Club Pledge Drive!

I love making zines!

For the first half of my webcomics-making career, I offered zines as rewards for patrons on Patreon…back when I was on the platform. After I left Patreon, I moved to Ko-Fi and offered the Zine Club as a membership tier.

And for this latest KickStarter campaign, I’m opening up for new pledges to my Zine Club!

Right now, our membership is small – less than 13 people. We are a pretty cozy community of creative folks. I love them! AND I would love to grow the club to more members. To get more zines out into the world AND to make more webcomics happen!

Growing the Zine Club would also mean less of a need to hustle so much for income. Less hustling means more time for making rewards, too.

With your help, I would LOVE to grow the Zine club to make these goals happen. KEEP IN MIND, These are set intentionally low so we can hit goals and spread the word faster:

(This is already unlocked!) If we raise our Base Goal of $72, all backers and Zine Club members will get the Deluxe version of my tabletop roleplaying game, Toe Beans & Broomsticks! This game was originally designed for Free RPG Day last year. In it, you play as magic-casting cats, crows, dogs, and owls on a Saturday Morning adventure. The Deluxe edition of the game will have updated character tokens, NPCs, and a homebrewed game setting, The Lost Scroll of Madam Jellybean!

(ALSO UNLOCKED!) If we raise $143, all backers and Zine Club members will get the remastered PDF of Thoughtful Dinosaur!

If we raise $220, all backers and Zine Club members will get the PDF of New Punk Signal (The Signal So Far), the spin-off/sequel to Validation featuring everyone’s favorite himbos, Mike & Steve.

At $385, all backers and Zine Club members will get The Lore of Jamie Roberts, the zine containing SO MUCH RESEARCH that went into The Legend of Jamie Roberts. The zine will also contain concept art and a recipe for the pepper soup that appears in Chapter 3 of The Legend.

We also have stretch goals if we go BEYOND $385! But we’ll unlock those when we get there.

Can you pledge and become a member – even for just a month?

Then back this campaign! There are base rewards on the main page, and whichever one you click, you have your choice of add-ons to pick with your bundle!

Broke? Share this campaign far and wide! Sharing is caring and it helps more than you know. The link is tinyurl.com/kzineclub

That’s all for now. Thank you so much for your support!

You. Are. Awesome.

July 25, 2019July 25, 2019

How (and Why) I Script My Comics Like I Do

One of the backers of The Legend of Jamie Roberts, Chapter 1 had asked to see some scripts for the comic as part of the PDF reward. This question made me realize that my scripting process is not like how I’ve seen other comics makers work on their scripts.

Why?

Well, most comic makers I know only WRITE the script. Usually in a movie-script-like format, in which it goes like this:

Panel 3:
Billy stares at Marc Macaw in disbelief. Marc Macaw realizes his gaff and smiles a bit sheepish.
BILLY: …I’M A DINOSAUR.
MARC: Right. Sorry. Stupid question. Let’s do a practice run, shall we?

Truth be told, this format is how I write my rough draft of my comic scripts.

The only comic I’ve made that this didn’t apply to was Johnson & Sir. That one, I wrote out the story page by page. It’s not a method I would recommend to anyone unless you’re writing gag comics.

My other comics, from Thoughtful Dinosaur to The Case of the Wendigo to The Legend of Jamie Roberts, have been scripted in this pattern:

Rough Draft: type it up in my version of a comic script format.
Second Draft: Read the rough draft and thumbnail the pages. I make adjustments as I go.

Sometimes the second draft is a re-typing of the rough draft. If that’s the case (like with The Case of the Wendigo), the thumbnailing stages will actually be my Third or even Fourth draft.

What are thumbnails?

This is a term I stole from animation – it means to VERY roughly sketch out how a page looks. I’m talking stick figures and bubbles. Thumbnails are in a sketchbook and are meant to just show how the page would look in a rough layout.

I find thumbnailing the pages to be helpful, even if I wait several months between the rough draft and the thumbnail draft (or, Thumb Draft, if you will).

When I work on the Thumb draft, I can sketch out how the page looks according to the script. And if I don’t like how many words a character says, or I don’t like how certain scenes pan out, I can draw a different result.

As a visual person, it helps me to SEE how a scene pans out, rather than just read about it.

So if you’re having an issue in your comic script, try drawing it out in rough stick fugure-ish form. It may help you visualize the scene easier.

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

You. Are. Awesome.

May 26, 2017May 25, 2017

Rethinking How to Run a KickStarter

johnson and sir kickstarter art

One of the people I met at 3 Rivers Comic Con this year mentioned a podcast called ComixLaunch and recommended I give it a listen. So I did.

This is going to sound like product placement or a sponsorship, but let’s be clear, it isn’t. ComixLaunch is a podcast entirely about making comics and art, and running successful KickStarters to fund said comics and art, and how you can make a living as a working artist.

So I kinda’ got hooked after four episodes.

One episode in particular, Episode 95, is about why now is the best time for comickers to run KickStarters. It got my attention about halfway through the episode for one reason: Continue reading “Rethinking How to Run a KickStarter”

January 18, 2017