Borrowed Worlds
Standing on each others shoulders
The last time I launched a comic Kickstarter, everything felt familiar and solid. I knew the rhythm and had come to know a few amazing creators. The ground I walked on felt fairly firm, life was (something approaching) on track and I knew, more or less, what I was doing. Leaving aside my personal challenges and changes - for just an indulgent second - two years later, as I cracked open and peered around the Kickstarter door, the room I walked back into felt unfamiliar, strange, and honestly intimidating. The room has been completely rearranged. The platform has changed. The conversations feel different (and the room is half full of robots) And then (btw -I’m not sure why this analogy is starting to read like a group therapy session), even though I don’t recognise all the people sitting on the chairs (certainly not the robot ones), two wonderful things happened. First, several (real human) creators I’ve known a good while, stood up, came over and gave me a hug (I kinda hoped that would happen, but it sure felt good). But then, completely unexpectedly some other new (still human) faces came over - and just started talking. No understanding of my hang ups and troubles - just a simple “Hi’, I’m Jesse, I understand you’re a creator… like me”!
I don’t think I’ll ever stop being amazed at how generous the independent comics community can be.
We’re all trying to launch books. We’re all trying to persuade readers to take a chance on something they’ve never heard of before.It would be easy to see each other as competition.
Instead, something rather cool happens. We start sharing worlds.
Long story short, our worlds don’t define us (and yes we do like to talk about them) but more than that we love the idea of sharing. Writers with editors, writers with artists, artists with colourists, everyone with letterers (don’t hide that bit - I love that bit), all of the above with readers, readers with creators and every possible path between - which of course eventually includes creators with creators.
The upshot of this is that over the past couple of weeks I’ve been working on a series of crossover prints with other creators who’ll be launching campaigns around the same time as Episode 4 of Pioneers: Blood & Stars.
A beat to explain ‘crossovers’. Typically they are additional pieces of original artwork you can access by backing both campaigns. They have become something of an indie comics tradition - and are an absolute celebration of creators sharing worlds, and readers discovering new ones.
The first is with Jesse Judy, creator of Ashes of Eden.
Rather than simply swapping pin-ups, we’ve gone one very exciting step further.
I’ve drawn our ‘Lilu’ alongside Jesse’s guardian princess ‘Eden’, while behind them lurks ‘The Stygan’, Jesse’s wonderfully designed creature that feels part robot, part reptile and part ‘orrible’ ancient nightmare.
The really cool part is that Jesse is colouring the piece himself.
It’s now a real collaboration rather than two artists simply having a bash at each other’s characters.
Jesse’s series has a very Manga-inspired look - so I got an extra reward when Jesse commented how typically he’s never thrilled at the idea of ‘western’ interpretations of his characters - but he felt really comfortable with mine. The fact that he liked it is gonna stay with me a long time. So now neither of us can wait for you to see the finished article, but to get things going, heres a snippet of the inks (the final print has a whole lot more going on).
The second collab is with James Burton, creator of The Ballad of Nod. And this is kind of exciting too - as we’re actually creating TWO prints.
James’ book follows a young girl named Fey through an enchanted forest while something genuinely terrifying hunts her (yeah, I’ve seen the preview and it does look genuinely disquieting)
Instead of a posed clash or fight scene, I thought … What if Fey met Beagan (Pioneers own ‘innocent’) instead?
James loved the idea - So my print will underline something really core to Pioneers, that ‘friends can be found in the most unexpected places’. And also - y’know - that somewhere, in the distance…, a demon may still be watching!
James, meanwhile, is taking Lilu in exactly the opposite direction.
He’s drawing her facing the demon Phobetor. I’m fascinated to see it.
Us creators are so used to living inside our own worlds that we rarely get the chance to see someone else’s interpretation of our characters. I get the feeling that James and I are quite different people (based solely on the fact he used the word ‘woot’ in a conversation with me the other day), but how incredibly exciting to see what a ‘woot’ user is going to make of Lilu!
So … can I please add this to the (long) list of things we love about independent comics. Instead of building walls around our universes, sometimes we get to build bridges. And we invite you to come cross them with us!
So to the plug part (which you knew was coming). If you have a minute - and if you’d be interested in seeing more behind-the-scenes artwork as these collaborations develop, I’d love you to follow the pre-launch page for Pioneers: Blood & Stars #4.
Every follower really does help the campaign build momentum before launch. Just click the link above and hit ‘notify me on launch’ (a KS login is required, but it doesn’t commit you to anything I promise).
And if you haven’t already, I’d also encourage you to take a look at Jesse’s and James’ campaigns.
We are all in prelaunch and it would be amazing if you’d consider hitting the notify button on each. They are all very very different approaches to the same thing - a thing that that lives in all of us. Lean in child - we’d like to tell you a story!
So that’s my takeaway from coming back to Kickstarter, I expected to spend the next few months fighting algorithms and over analysing follower numbers. Instead, I’ve found myself making new friends and remembering that independent comics has never really been about selling books. It’s always been about finding your people.
If Episode#4 finds a few more readers because of these collaborations, wonderful.
But even before the campaign launches, and I try once again to do this thing I do - thats purely for myself - that no one (including myself) really gets,… I don’t feel weird, or afraid - I already feel as though I’ve gained something.
This week in the studio
Completed my ‘Heroes’ Bowie homage cover (more of that next week).
Finished Inks for Ashes of Eden collab and started pencils for James Burton print
Still trying to work out how to get my ID card artwork onto a real laminated ID cards with lanyards!
Started artwork for my first ever wraparound cover - for a very special project.
See you in the funny pages
pt