Hiya folks,
It is I, Ryan Lessard. Comic writer.
It’s been a while since I’ve written a Kickstarter update or newsletter. There’s a reason for that.
By now, I would have hoped to be showing you colored pages and getting ready to print. Unfortunately we aren’t quite there yet. I’ll get into why.
First, here’s the TL;DR … we have a new art team for SENTINEL #3, and it took a while to figure that out. But the book is getting made.
Let’s start with the positive news. Rockstar artist Javi Laparra from Guatemala has stepped in to begin the linework. We signed the contract this week and he’s already hit the ground running.
Here is a sneak preview of an early draft of the first page.
I love his art style, and it won’t be a significant deviation from what you’ve gotten used to.
Javi has been a breath of fresh air and brings a lot of positive energy to the process, constantly expressing to me how much fun he’s having bringing the story to life.
We’ve written a timetable into the contract so we expect the inks to be finished before the end of the year, with a little wiggle room for edits. From there, it’s off to be colored.
This means we will likely ship out books sometime early next year. I’m sorry for the delay and appreciate everyone’s patience!
Drama
The reason for the shakeup is simple: the artist who originally agreed to do the pencil and inks, Jethro Morales, has taken his advance payment and ghosted on us.
I know you’re thinking “That is NOT OK!” and you would be correct. I don’t like airing dirty laundry, but as backers, you deserve to know the story.
We had a pleasant chat back in June, wherein he promised to have some layouts to show me that weekend, and that was the last I heard from him.
By August, I started to send messages to check on his progress but got no replies on Facebook messenger or email. Then by Sept. 4, it became clear to me that Jethro had blocked me on Facebook. That sent a pretty clear signal of his intentions.
To date, I still haven’t heard a peep from him.
In the ensuing weeks I have been reeling emotionally, while engaging other artists about possibly stepping in to replace him.
I’m sharing the facts because it wasn’t my money Jethro pocketed. It was yours. And because other comic creators deserve to know the risks of hiring this dude.
I don’t know why he did it. Believe me, I wondered at first if it was something I did, but that was just anxiety talking. I can only speculate. He and I never had a negative interaction. If he wanted to be released from the book because he was too busy with better-paying projects or medical issues or anything, he could have spoken with me and returned the advance. I would have understood and we could have ended on good terms. I’m very easy to work with.
We never signed any contracts. Instead, we had built a foundation of trust after making two books together. Now, as you can imagine, it STINGS to know that the person who drew my first comic books will be remembered in this way.
I would have provided an update sooner, but I wanted to make sure we had a new artist on board first. I reiterate: THIS BOOK IS GETTING MADE.
Colors
It is also possible that we will be bringing on a different colorist for issue 3, for completely unrelated reasons.
Tragically, colorist Dash Martin, who colored the first two SENTINEL books, lost his wife Jadena to COVID-19 on Sept. 7, after a period of hospitalization.
Jadena was a member of the SENTINEL creative team, as far as I’m concerned. She often offered helpful feedback whenever Dash and I threw spaghetti on the walls of a new cover or a challenging page. I regret that I didn’t get to know her.
Our hearts go out to Dash and his family. The grieving process is different for everybody and he doesn’t know if he’s able to pick up a pencil any time soon. Please keep him in your thoughts.
Future Campaigns
The drama with Jethro has been a learning experience for me. DRAMA, Ugh! From now on, I will sign contracts with artists and only use PayPal for advance payments (Jethro was in the Philippines and preferred wire transfer). Live and learn. I’m certainly not the first comic writer to be burned in this way, and I surely won’t be the last.
This moment has also given me pause to reevaluate how I make books through Kickstarter. For me, Kickstarter has been a way to make my dreams come true, by raising money I don’t otherwise have to produce my stories in comic form. Other creators use the platform as a way to market, sell and distribute books they’ve already bankrolled out-of-pocket.
I don’t have anything against that. It surely helps the success of a Kickstarter when backers know the art for a book has already been made. But that’s a privilege not all of us creators can claim.
Making comics of this level of quality is expensive.
Still, for future Kickstarter campaigns, I’m giving more serious thought to finding ways to get the ball rolling on production BEFORE fundraising. This would speed the process along for backers like you, eager to get their hands on the next chapter of the story. And it ensures wrinkles in production are ironed out before going to market.
The question is how.
Besides saving up more money and cutting some discretionary expenses, there are a few ways I could lower the barriers for future campaigns.
I could focus on smaller books, one-shots and black-and-white stories. And rather than printing extra books for retail, I can print just enough for backers and more on-demand as needed.
All that could mean a much lower fundraising goal than the $4,000 to $5,000 mark I’ve been aiming for each year. And should it reach higher stretch goals, we could add things like color.
This may mean putting the SENTINEL series on a small hiatus after issue 3 goes out. Or at least plugging away on the series in the background so the next launch will be bigger and better. Concurrently, I may launch smaller side projects on Kickstarter. I still have big plans for the series, and I’m going to see those through, one way or another. But perhaps launching a full-blown ongoing space opera series as my first-ever book on Kickstarter was biting off more than I could chew, financially.
And I also want you readers to be able to appreciate the story in bigger chunks, as it was intended, rather than waiting for a new chapter every year.
No decisions have been made one way or the other, but these are just some of the considerations swirling around my ol’ noggin.
I’m also giving more serious consideration to starting a Patreon. I’ve decided such a venture would be folly without some regular artwork by yours truly. So, aside from including more behind-the-scenes info and writing process insights, I would introduce some new monthly comic strips I’ve been dreaming up. Stuff that would plumb the depths of my dark humor.
Let me know if you think a Patreon is something you’d be interested in supporting. If you’re unfamiliar with the platform, it’s sorta like subscription level creative crowdfunding -- usually the minimum is about $3 a month.
Conventions
In other news, I had an AMAZING time tabling at two comic conventions this year, after over a year of no conventions.
I was at GraniteCon in Manchester, New Hampshire in September and Bangor Comic and Toy Con in Bangor, Maine in October.
Many of you reading this newsletter are joining us for the first time after meeting me at one of those conventions. Welcome!
I had so much fun seeing old friends again and meeting scores of new people who were interested in learning more about SENTINEL. And I sold over 100 books between the two shows. That’s pretty good for little ol’ me.
Thanks for reading this update. Now that things are back on track, I’ll endeavor to update you all more frequently.
Bye!
Ryan