Work Updates and First Event of the Year

So far 2014 has been off to a great start. We've been hard at work on the Imaginos Workshop Anthology - drawing, flatting, inking and lettering are all part of the process and so far we love the results. There will be prizes coming out for our wonderful Kickstarter backers in the first quarter of the year, as we continue to put this comic book together.

We're proud to show a sneak peak: Requiem Page 1, now fully inked and looking sweet!

We're also about to kick off Black History Month with our first event of the year: Black Comic Book Day 2014 (#bcbd2014). The event is taking place at the Detroit Public Library from 11 am - 5 pm on Saturday, Feb 1. We will be there selling sketchbooks and posters, and chatting with the good people of Detroit. Come down and see us there!

And here's a glance of Candy Coated the way it was always meant to be: in full color.

Don't forget to Like our Facebook Page, follow us on Twitter and check for Kickstarter updates. 

Crowdsourcing Comics: A Trial By Fire

In October of last year, we cancelled our first Kickstarter campaign before its deadline was up. Our "Imaginos Plus" comic book project received generous contributions from some friends, family and supporters, but it wasn't enough to meet our financial goal. After an encouraging opening push, the donations to our comic book anthology slowed to an ever-decreasing trickle. The campaign stalled at just over $2,000, not nearly close enough to our $8,300 goal. Our first attempt at crowdsourcing our artistic ventures was time-consuming, emotional and ultimately disappointing.

It was also a learning experience; it forced us to take stock of our own work and think practically about what it meant to produce a creative, collaborative project. It forced us to explain the value of our work to other people - a surprisingly challenging and rewarding task. There wasn't a clear-cut reason why our first attempt at crowdsourcing failed. Were we explaining our project well enough? Was our financial goal too high? Did we offer the right kinds of incentives to potential backers? Did we fail to market ourselves properly? Maybe it was just timing. Most likely it was some combination of these factors. And while no one wants to fall short, we learned a lot through the process.

Fast forward to November 2013: our fledgling company Imaginos Workshop is now a registered LLC, and new artists and writers have been brought into the fold. We have a couple extra conventions under the belt, and we've made real progress on our comics. Our new Kickstarter campaign has a financial goal of $5,800 (well under our original asking price from the year before), without sacrificing any of the content. 

This time, the contributions didn't stop after the initial opening volley. People watched our Kickstarter video over 500 times and pledged an average of $46. They shared our project on Facebook, Twitter, Palladium Books and other websites. Veteran writer and columnist Bill Baker interviewed Mark Dudley on The Morton Report, and we provided our own Kickstarter updates every step of the way.

In the end, we finished at 114% of our goal. Our second try at crowdsourcing was an unequivocal success, made possible by the wonderfully generous contributions of all our backers. Perhaps it was important that we fell short on our first Kickstarter. It reminded us that some amount of failure and rejection is an inevitability in this business, and that it does not necessarily mean you're doing the wrong things. We were also reminded of the inspiring generosity of others ... an important lesson during the holidays. Our backers gave us the best Christmas gift we could have asked for. It means more work for us in the new year, but we wouldn't have it any other way. Thank you.

Jon

Kickstarter Update: Proposal Delayed, Work Continues

As you probably know, we have recently been promoting our Kickstarter bid as a way to help fund our comic book Imaginos Plus. As of last week however we have decided to cancel our Kickstarter bid for now. We were not on track to meet our financial goal, and we decided to postpone the crowd-sourcing project so we could retool our proposal, as well as continue working on our project. Just because we have postponed our Kickstarter bid does not mean we've stopped working on the project itself. On the contrary, we are working harder than ever on our comic book and the artwork is coming along great. While we're disappointed that our first Kickstarter bid didn't make it, we feel confident in our work and we will definitely try again in the future. In the meantime, we keep working.

Thank you so much to those of you who donated and shared our project while we were promoting it. You people are amazing, and we're going to need your encouragement and support while we keep doing our thing. The cool thing about Kickstarter is all the money is automatically returned - so nobody lost anything except a little bit of time and effort. We are sincerely grateful for those of you that showed your belief in us and our work. Stay tuned, because we haven't slowed down and we haven't given up on crowd-sourcing our projects. Despite not making the goal, it was a great learning experience.

And just so you know, we are going to be at this year's Youmacon 2012 in Detroit! Look for our table there where we will be selling copies of The Door and showing off some of Mark's awesome artwork! The event is this Thursday-Sunday, Nov. 1-4. Find out more info at their official site. Thank you, hopefully we will see you there.

Jon

Camera Mart's Demo Days returns with sales, swag and newest models of cameras

Calling all Metro Detroit photographers! This month features the event Demo Days at Camera Mart in Pontiac, the area's best location for cameras and photography equipment. The event is on June 15 & 16 at Camera Mart on Telegraph Road in Pontiac.

There will be manufacturer and vendor representatives there to show off the latest models of cameras and to answer any of your questions. You can get a free sensor cleaning (on a first-come, first-serve basis) for two of your cameras and win Camera Mart swag.

There will also be a raffle for a FREE Canon Rebel T3i camera! Camera Mart's Facebook page explains the details of the event, as well as what you can do to increase your chances of winning that T3i (for instance, tweeting or sharing Demo Days or, ahem, writing about it on your blog).

This event is a great way to shop for that camera you have in mind or to get some new equipment (there is NO SALES TAX on most items during Demo Days).

Camera Mart is located at 11 S. Telegraph Rd, Pontiac MI 48341. Demo Days will be on Friday 15 (9:30 am-7 pm) and Saturday 16 (9:30 am-5 pm).

Jon