I have important news, everyone! I am beginning a new project which I hope will make a huge difference in my life, if not in the world. I am launching a Patreon page to support my work in comics. Actually, I launched the page a month ago, but I wanted to make sure that everything worked to my satisfaction before making a general announcement.
What is a Patreon? Well, it’s like a Kickstarter Campaign, but instead of making one big contribution to fund one big project, you make a series of little contributions to keep me drawing comics on a monthly basis. Really, it’s like a tip jar for the cartoonist, and like a tip jar, you can give as much or as little as you like.
This video shot by my awesomely talented friend Milan Erceg lays out the details. You can watch it on the home page, or on YouTube:
David Chelsea is reading:
The Sculptor by Scott McCloud.
Although my intention is to make this Patreon page an ongoing project, my immediate aim is to provide a way for my patient and much beloved fans to support work on two of my upcoming books.
The first book is a full length collection of stories featuring Snow Angel, an all-ages superhero character. Snow Angel is an ordinary little girl who becomes a crime-fighting angel when she makes an angel in the snow, battling scourges like bicycle theft, jaywalking, and littering. The first story was drawn as a 24 Hour comic in 2007, and since then Snow Angel has appeared in DARK HORSE PRESENTS and her own one-shot comic book. I am now at work on stories for the collection, which is set to appear in early 2016.
The second project is ARE YOU BEING WATCHED, a graphic novel about Reality TV featuring Mugg, who appeared in both my books about perspective. This story began as two 24 Hour comics, drawn in 2013, and I will be posting pages from the expanded version as I complete them.
My plan is to post at least eight pages of new comics a month, and an equivalent amount of new-to-you stuff from my archives, some of it already published, and some of it never-before-seen stuff from my sketchbooks. All of this will be free for anyone to look at.
Now, why should you pay to see stuff that I have already said is free? Well, you have the satisfaction of being a Patron of The Arts, as well as the virtuous feeling that you are helping to subsidize the comics habit of some very, very impoverished fans who can’t afford even the smallest contribution. Also, I have numerous rewards for the people who help me out, including copies of my books, personalized envelopes and postcards, access to roughs and character sketches that nonpatrons don’t get to see, a monthly hangout in which I read your letters and do drawing demonstrations in real time, and much more.
Also, as more and more people sign up, and contributions rise to various levels, this will enable me to meet some specific goals which in turn will inspire me to do more to make more and better content. My immediate goal is raise funds to hire a colorist, so that I can post new installments of SNOW ANGEL and ARE YOU BEING WATCHED? in full, glorious color.
My tentative schedule is to post new comics on the first Thursday of every month, comics from the archives on the second Thursday, material from my Secret Stash on the third Thursday, and to do a video hang out on the last Thursday of each month. Since I launched a month ago, there is already material online which you can see, including two stories featuring Angel/Snow Angel. In the first, she goes to play games at a friend’s house, but finds herself subject to frequent interruptions:
In the second story, Angel goes on a car trip with her family, but finds herself subject to– wouldn’t you guess it– frequent interruptions!:
The comic from my archives is the first part of another story about a car trip, featuring my character Piggola, from 1974:
The first Secret Stash collection is a group of flyers from I drew in the 1970s, including many for Portland’s Storefront Theater, as well as some NSFW envelopes I drew for penpals over the years. Membership has its privileges; The Secret Stash is viewable only by Patreon subscribers at the $4.99 level and up:
(BTW, I skipped the video hangout last month, but I will be sure to do one this month.)
That’s about it. I will be adding material on a regular basis, and posting notifications on this blog. You can check out my home page here. You can also check out the Patreon pages of other eminent cartoonists, such as Keith Knight, Lucy Bellwood, and Erika Moen. And if you like what you see, please $how your $upport!