Self-Publishing - Setting Up Pre-Order

I have gone and set up a pre-order store page for my two comics. It took a while to set up as I had to ensure postage and package was all correct, and write out descriptions, but now the page is set to go! I plan to make it live in a week or so, when I've really got more pages complete and feel more comfortable about fulfilment. As well as having more images to share to help me promote it.

I have used the inbuilt store option on my already existing website, purely for ease, it does up the subscription cost to £25 a month (including domain and hosting), which means I've added on an extra 50p per comic to go towards that. At markets and in-person I'll be selling each comic for £6.

The delivery time for the pre-order is set for August; I need to get everything printed by July 1st (my first comics fair), so I do feel reasonably confident I can meet that date.

My initial aim is to order 50 of each comic, dependent on how well the pre-orders go, which means I'll have extra stock to sell at the two comic markets I have lined up.

I will put together some graphics to help me promote the pre-order too, which I will use on my social media.

Self-Publishing - Pre-Orders & Crowdfunding Research

I researched out to the comics community via twitter to ask for advice on the pros and cons of crowdfunding V's a self-ran presale, here are some responses I received:

The consensus seems to be that a crowd funder (eg Kickstarter) is a great way to promote your work, its transparent about the costs of the project and how much you're looking to raise, it also allows me to send updates to everyone much easier than a self-led pre-sale. I still don't know if this is the route I will go down for this project (purely based on time restraints), but it's interesting to know for future reference.

Below is a slide from James Lawrences lecture on crowdfunding, specifically on working out the costings:

Discussed the maths (costings) with some other comic creators, and it made me realise how complicated this could be, I was advised that it can be time consuming too to promote and make it worth while.

An option that was given to me was setting a page up on my website as a pre-sale, with a link directly to paypal, to keep it really simple and manageable, with little pressure to hit a target in a certain time scale etc.

I think for my first two comics I will go down the pre-sale route, and for further projects (or even reprintings), where I have more time, I will go down the crowd funding route.

Creating my Own Font - Final Version

Based on the research I've created the below font. Below are two pages as example of the font being used. It still feels really like my own hand-writing, but a lot clearer and legible, and of course, much quicker to type out than hand letter. 

 

Self-Publishing - Lettering - Research

 I reached out to the comics community via twitter to ask for advice on lettering, specifically why a lot of comics are in capitals and for examples of any that where not in capitals, so I can analyse what would work best for my work, I want a balance between handwritten and professional.

Some observations:

• The fonts seem to be quite thin
• Lower case lettering varies in high often, meaning the line spacing needs to be larger.
• Most speech-bubbles seem to be centrally aligned

Professional Casestudy - Lizzy Stewart

 Lizzy Stewart is an illustrator and author, she also teaches illustration! The reason I am drawn to Lizzy and her practise is that she has a really great portfolio with a mixture of interesting projects within it. She doesn't seem to be bound to one type of output, but has a really distinct style in her illustration. 

Her online shop is full of illustrations, zines and graphic novels and her online presents feels really natural. She has been published by small press, and large press, and self published too. Lizzy was the artist in resident at Edinburgh Book Festival 2022, she made a zine as part of her trip which I absolutely love. You can read it here.

Its really interesting to see someone have to much range in their work (in terms of projects) but still feel extremely true to her style and visual language. The exact thing I want for my own practise.

Accessed May 4

Creating my own Font - Research & Creation

I followed this tutorial to create my own font: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WV9IL528tM

Below is my first attempt at the outputs. I wanted the font to be my own handwriting and overall I am pretty happy with, there are a few issues that I will go back in to fix to make it all a little more consistent, specifically focusing on the capitals as most comics seem to be lettered solely in capitals.

The process was really simple, and will make it a lot easier (and quicker!) to letter my comics.

A Crying Shame - Adding to the page

I want to keep the artwork simple for A Crying Shame minimal colour and line, but I also do want to ensure the pages feel full, with depth and emotion. 

I decided to experiment with adding heavy black to the pages, with details in white/negative space. Below is a side by side comparison of Page 2 with and without the black, and below Page 3 with the black. When the lettering is added I feel the heavy black will add to the tone and overall feel of the page. The comparison between the light and dark will also aid with the stories sense of hope.

I will now go through and sketch, then fully ink every page based on the dummy book I have just finalised, once the pages are inked I'll go back and add in the black as above.