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. 

The Honeycomb Hideout Episode 19: Youmadness Day 1!

Alright, 'Combies! You heard about throughout 2013 and some of you even got to meet us there. Now you get to hear about Imaginos Workshop's adventures during Youmacon 2013! That's right, we recorded live during the entire weekend and we aren't just talking about the boys (Joe, Mark and Nik), the entire workshop membership was in attendence and on the mic. Now that the holidays and kickstarter madness has died down, you all get to hear about the 'Nos-ian hijinks that ensued. So sit back and enjoy "Day 1"!

CAUTION: Prepare to be waylaid by hilarity!!

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And for all you Apple users, don't forget that you can listen to and download episodes of the Honeycomb Hideout on itunes!

2013 Year in Review: Goals Not Dreams

I usually don't like going backward but this past year warrants a look. We left 2012 a little dejected as we had failed our first Kickstarter attempt. But being the never say die hard chargers we are we drudged forward. In 2013 We completed the first complete draft of our movie script. Yup, 110 some pages of work that we are revising still.

We also completed a short film with our partners at Wrapped Productions and Mill Movement Conglomerates called CHANCES for Canon's Project Imagination with Ron Howard. Even though our shoot was tight, we still showed in the top 40 of submissions with hundreds of submissions behind us.

We also just recently got our supernatural sci-fi pitch DARK DAYS back into corporate hands for review, as well as completing the curriculum for the non profit.

Image Art From "Dark Days" by Mike Majestic, using Vulne Pro

Finally at the end of this year, we relaunched the Kickstarter for our comic anthology iMAGINOs Plus and the rest, shall we say, is history. 

We want to thank everybody who believes in iMAGINOs Workshop.This year we are going to work to get these iMAGINOs PLUS issues one and two out. We will be relaunching iMAGINOS TV on YouTube and we will be focusing on getting more done in the short film Arena and in Hollywood. 

People always tell us how cool it is that we can follow our dreams. I never want to sound like a dick, so I just smile and listen. What's going on inside my head, however, is this: dreams are for people who don't have the talent (or work ethic) to make what's in their head manifest. We Imaginos Workshop people we don't have dreams, WE HAVE GOALS. Goals are what people have when they make solid plans to achieve things and have the talent to back it up. 

2014 THE YEAR OF MEETING THE GOAL!!! 

Mark

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

The Honeycomb Hideout Episode 18: Black Zero's Kickstartin' S.H.I.E.L.D. on the Day of the Doctor

What's up, 'Combies? The boys are back with a new episode! It's getting wild in the Hideout as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Doctor Who 50th anniversary and "walmartians" are discussed at great length. And with the Workshop's kickstarter in full effect, the boys wanted to discuss a lot of what's going on with it and into it. Though we were at $1,730 at the time this was recorded, we've now reached $2,560, so we're getting to the halfway point, but we still need more help.

So all of our 'Combies out there on the interwebs, if you haven't contributed yet, there's still time. But even if you can't, just spread the word and link to our kickstarter around to see if there aren't other peeps out there that can help make the awesomeness of "Imaginos Plus" a reality.  :D

Here's the link: The Imaginos Plus Kickstarter

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Oh and don't forget, the Honeycomb Hideout's also available on iTunes for you apple-heads out there.  ;)
And also, for those morbidly curious enough about the insanity that was discussed during the "walmartians" segment, here you go: Walmartians. You were warned.  LOL

WE'RE DOING IT LIVE! So get on the good foot and start kickin'!!

What's up, peeps? The Workshop has been insanely busy of late! But there's actually something that people have been waiting for that's finally coming to pass...

THE "IMAGINOS PLUS" KICKSTARTER IS LAUNCHING THIS THURSDAY!!

That's right, October 31st is the day! And it's also going live during Youmacon in Detroit! So for all of our supporters, your patience is paying off because the kickstarter's been completely revamped with better art and even stretch-goals! So stay tuned here and on facebook for more details.

But wait, that's not the only important event happening at Youmacon. The whole Imaginos crew's going to be in attendance and we've got swag! We're going to be selling copies of our latest sketchbook "Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars" for $2.99 and we'll also have copies of our "Imaginos Plus" kickstarter poster available for $5.00. Now, we know that Youmacon's a big show and that everyone attending is going to have stuff that they're going to want to pick and money will be tight. So the folks attending Youmacon are going to be able to pick up both the sketchbook AND the poster in a bundle for just $7.00!

However, that's not all. We're also going to be having two panels this weekend on story-telling and art, so if you're interested in learning what really goes into making your stories and comics, you'll definitely not want to miss these!

And for you fans of our little podcast, here's a little extra icing on the awesome cake, we'll also be recording for "The Honeycomb Hideout" throughout the weekend! We'll be doing numerous topics, as well as guest polls and all kinds of other craziness. So come on down and see how the boys and girls of the 'Hideout get down!

For those of you that aren't going to be able to make it to Youmacon, don't fret. We're in the process of talking to a lot of metro area comic shops about carrying Imaginos products, so stay tuned for that as well. :)

That's about it for right now. Stay tuned for more updates throughout the week and even during the weekend, so make sure you're following the blog and our facebook page so that you don't miss a thing!
See y'all in Detroit!

-Joe

Imaginos Plus:Kickstarting An Anthology(and other Fall Business)

This year Imaginos Workshop has managed to meet all of it's goals so far. From a business standpoint,We took care of our business status and got our tax id. We were 

able to get our legal house in order and procured Stephanie Hammond as our intellectual property representation. 

Creatively, we got our first 120 page film script done. We also were able to get our Reality show Idea in the hands of people who could help it out and we wrote and shot CHANCES with Wrapped Productions and Mill Movement. 

The last thing we need to do to make this year perfect is RELAUNCH, to a certain extent of IMAGINOS PLUS. When we first concieved the project a year or so ago we thought it would be more of a Sampler, that we could share with our audience to kind of gauge the popularity of our comic book ideas. 

However, as I thought more about it, and found more stories from friends an collaborators that I thought needed to be told, we decided to try to make Imaginos Plus a bi annual ( and maybe quarterly if demand is strong for it) anthology magazine. We want the magazine to be a place where people can show the work and talk about the industry, ideas and people who do the work. Sure we want stories launched from the anthology to move on to other forms of media and other publishers, but we want it help showcase people who we think are really talented and mostly overlooked. 

To kick this thing off, We decided to take some of the heat off yours truly and bring in some help on the penciling side. While I am currently penciling my own contribution, Juda Fist: 7 Deaths of the Yobi, We have hired to amazingly talented young people to do the rest of the penciling chores. 

Enter Dimitris Moore,Cassie Henry,Gary Mitchell,  and CJ Howlett. I met the first two artists at last years Detroit Fanfare and this year Motorcity Con respectively. I knew I wanted to work with them the minute I saw their work. So I showed the rest of Imaginos and they agreed.

Gary and CJ I met on Deviant Art, I saw there work and again, knew they had the inking chops and Unique colors respectively to bring something extra ordinary to the cause.

Returning from last time are veterens Ylenia Di Nopoli, Shauna Grant, Ka Xiong and Brandon Clark. I found Ylenia's work on Deviant Art and she fit exactly the vision I had for how Requiem needs come across. Shauna I met a Youmacon and new then that her playful and vibrant style would make Candy Coated pop color-wise.

Ka Xiong and Brandon Clark along with myself and Ryan Csazar and our extended family formThe Mighty Drunkenstyle Studios.

Back in 1995 we came together because of shared philosophies as it relates to comics, anime, hong kong cinema and visual story telling. So its no accident that Ka and Brandon would be coming in to lend some ink assists to truly make this anthology not just and Imaginos Workshop project but a bonifide DRUNKENSTYLE JOINT!.

So set them calendars for OCTOBER 31th, and before then look for information on this very page and the Imaginos Workshop Facebook pages, as from here on in we will be releasing more and more information up and until and after the launch of the Imaginos Plus Anthology Kickstarter.  I will be at Detroit Fanfare Oct 25-27 sitting with Palladium Books doing sketches and talking up the Kickstarter. The following week is gonna be huge as IMAGINOS WORKSHOP will be at Detroit only anime convention YOUMACON. We will be selling things and giving away Imaginos Plus related Swag. We will also be talking up the Kickstarter and our doing some really cool how to create comics seminars.


Ah here is a treat from CJ's Youtube page Art Tips and Life Blips.Rage .Droppin science.