Newsletter 39: Original Art and Other Projects
See what my friends are cooking, and don't miss your chance to hold a piece of original SENTINEL art in your hands
Hello my fellow space nerds and discerning champions of independent arts.
It’s been an amazing first couple of weeks for the SENTINEL 1-4 Kickstarter campaign so far!
In just the first week we raised about half of what we need to reach the first goal of $5,000. That’s the most amazing start we’ve ever had to a SENTINEL Kickstarter campaign. Looking back at past campaigns, we’ve traditionally seen a slow climb to 50% somewhere around the final week of the 30-day campaign. So, this is huge!
And the brilliant people I got to meet at Granite State Comic Con were a huge help it making this happen.
That said, we are now in the slowdown stage, with $2,645 raised so far. That’s 52% with 17 days left to go. For my fellow liberal arts majors, that means there are 2,355 American dollars we need to raise before Oct. 17! And that’s not even counting the additional $1,000 stretch goal to reprint Issue 1!
We had great momentum at the start, and that’s always encouraging, but now is the part where I get nervous. My inner voice asks ‘Is that all of it? Will anyone else back it? What if it fails?’
Logically, I know that the strong start is a sign that this will be successful, just based on general Kickstarter statistics. But I can’t help it!
ORIGINAL ART
Anyways, that’s not what I came here to say. I came here to talk to you all about the magical feeling of owning and holding original art in your hands. There are THREE different original art works that are available to own as reward tiers in the Kickstarter. I’m splitting the proceeds with the artists, who have generously donated these pieces well under their normal value.
As a comic creator, I derive great joy in seeing the art I commission develop at every stage. From the layout sketches to pencils to the inks to the colors and so on.
During Granite State Comic Con, one of my favorite things to do was walk people over to my friend Chris Vance’s table (just across from me) and show them the original pieces that were made for SENTINEL Issue 3’s cover art.
Here he is holding it. 😀
I especially loved showing young kids, because it connects something in their minds. It makes it real for them. These images weren’t just created out of thin air. Someone put pencil and ink or paint to paper. And maybe, it sparks a desire in them to someday become an artist or become a patron of the arts themselves. To see artists as masters of their craft, and to see the need to support them by buying their work.
We buy art all the time but don’t realize it. When we buy comic books, when we buy Pokémon or Magic cards, when we buy a novel with really cool cover art that we connect with, when we watch our favorite Star Wars show or play our favorite video games, when we win our beloved skins on Fortnite… even when we pay for someone to cut our hair. That’s all made possible by working artists!
This original piece is available to purchase as a reward tier in the Kickstarter campaign for $350. Only one inked piece is available in the whole world. It’s unique. Only one lucky person, therefore, will have the chance to own it.
STARTING TODAY…
This piece by Chris Vance is also available to own. The original inks for the new cover of SENTINEL #1 (Cover B). Available now on Kickstarter for $400.
The composition is meant to mirror the original first issue cover by Dash Martin. She is set anachronistically on the homeworld of our hero Saras, ravaged by genocide and war, which we see in the story through flashbacks. Both cover scenes are set either literally or metaphorically immediately after the main triggering event of the first issue. The explosive violence of that moment resurfaces for Saras her traumatic past. But she faces it, and looks beyond it, with bravery and hope.
I look forward to sharing the colored version, with colors by Dash, very soon.
Finally, here is a piece I’m quite proud of. A full-color gouache painting for Cover C of Issue 4, by none other than JK Woodward!
Readers of the newsletter know that this composition is an homage of the Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan movie poster. It’s also a rare thing to see our cast of characters as photorealistic actors cast in their respective roles.
Imagine having this invaluable piece hanging in your home for only $600? It’s easily worth twice that much.
These reward tiers list only a baseline of what other books and items this will include. Anyone who backs these original art tiers can message me and request additional add-ons for no additional cost, if they want other variant covers, up to the entire run of the series.
OTHER PROJECTS
Before I let you go, please take a look at some other great projects out there that my friends are funding through Kickstarter. Both are great for the coming Halloween season.
My good friend Joseph Schmalke has a Kickstarter for his first paperback collection of Seven Years of Darkness: Year One. This collects his first series arc with over 130 pages. The story follows a new cohort of young magical adepts who are enrolled in the dark and deadly subterranean magic school, the infamous Scholomance. Seventy-two students enter, and after seven years without seeing the sun, only seven will survive. Joe writes and illustrates the whole book.
This project has been fully funded, and it’s his ninth campaign. There are seven days left, so get it while you can. If you prefer reading a comic collection in a trade paperback, this is a great way to get introduced to the series.
Also, Joe has started his own publishing house called Midnight Factory. You can follow his progress and other projects there.
Finally, my friend Patrick Coyle has a Kickstarter running right now for his horror trope noir series Bixby Grant: Fangs and Brimstone. This collects issues 1 and 2 for a 30-page book. The campaign launched around the same time as ours did, so it also has about 17 days left to go.
Patrick writes the story and has several great artists working with him. The story follows a cursed living mummy private eye who navigates the underworld cartels and political corruption of a supernatural metropolis called Harbor City.
Please take a look and support these local New England creators.
Thanks.
BYE!