Newsletter- All the Answers

All The Answers Hello, and happy spring! Piles of news to share, so let's hop right in. Sneak Peek art, reviews, recent interviews- If you ever had a question about Dreamkeepers, odds are it's answered in here somewhere. Before we begin, reminder- Liz and I will be at Motor City Furry Con this April- for any who can make it, we'd love to see you there! And now, the latest Volume 4 Sneak Peek: Next, on a whim, I posted an "Ask Me Anything" journal online. For everything you wanted to know (and so much more) here are the answers. And now witness the ripe fruits of my stalkerish 'Type Dreamkeepers into Google' skills. Here, a writing blog discusses the critical importance of good story starts- and uses us as an example. A positive one! A reviewer gives a great, clear-eyed overview of the series: And a fantastic testimonial from a reader: To top it off we have some recent interviews to share, a written one with Sanguine Games and video review with the Webcomic Relief. Exciting note- the Webcomic Relief is a review channel, and Dreamkeepers is on their list of upcoming features! If you know of any other review sites you would like to see featuring Dreamkeepers, let us know- and let them know! Topping things off, here's something I never would have thought anyone was bold enough to try- a cosplay of Scinter! That's it for this update. Thank you to everyone for your help- none of this would be possible without your support. We're looking forward to bringing you more story soon!

V4 Sneak Peek #6: Thumbnails and Plans

Phew! My head is spinning, but we have progress to show for it. Chapter 11 pencils were finished in February, right on schedule. Our spectacular freelancers are getting the colors rolling as we speak. After one final pass on the script, Chapter 12 thumbnail sketches were completed just yesterday- this chapter is going to be a whopper, 48 pages. There were just too many exciting things happening that I didn't want to constrain.

My next big goal is to roll on the Ch. 12 pencils, and nail 'em. But before I get lost in Pencilvania, I'm knocking out some miscellaneous tasks that need to get done:

  Write a Sneak Peek update, (hello), format V3 pages for the website, post something in the art accounts, finish commissions through 28, plan and launch an online marketing campaign, do the art and programming for the Vivid Publishing website, finalize submission criteria, vacuum, cook biscotti I'm pretty excited about that, finish the art for the current Mace Prelude arc and get a que ready of Bast Prelude comics, reply to e-mails and knock out some interviews, log package and mail orders, restock shipping supplies, oh yeah taxes with a captial 'T'. Uncle Sam needs to get paid for all this.

 I'm really excited about the current run of commission I'm in- it's more art for the Quick Xyk storyline: http://dreamkeepers.deviantart.com/art/Coyote-Cantina-Desktop-182605795

 So, already, major fun. But on top of that, I've been hired to draft the narrative into an actual short story format- it's a blast so far! I'm looking forward to getting enough done that I can start sharing.

V4 Sneak Peek #5: DRAWMA

EGADS, Prelude Collection 1 took way more work than I thought.  But it’s done now- if you don’t believe me, check our store where proof awaits.

…See that?  That’s me being subtle.  I think I’m really getting the hang of it.


And now, finally, we’re back to Volume 4:

Descent to the Archives.

Despite the Prelude Collection, we’re still on track to finish V4 this year.  I’m diving into pencils, and so far staying on quota.

But where’s the fun in just reading about it?

As illustrated, it’s no secret the next installment takes Mace & company deep into the caverns below Anduruna.

Now, any normal human being would realize that this is a good opportunity to ease back a bit on the throttle.  Characters in a cave?  Eye one, eye two, SIESTA!

But, of course, I have problems.  So things like this happen.

This is the scene where Lilith has lost a contact lens.

V4 consists of Chapters 10, 11, and 12.

These drawings are from Chapter 11, I’m finishing page 22 now.  I should be completing it in February, and then rolling forward on Chapter 12 pencils in spring.   With our intrepid freelancers helping out on color blocking, the hope is I can shade the Chapters in summer and then get this thing printed around Halloween.   It’s not set in stone, but that’s what we’re shooting for presently.

Thanks for checking up on our progress, I’ll get to work and have some more stuff to show you soon!

Valentines, Votes, and Prelude Books for All!

Valentine's Contest and more! What's important about February? CORRECT! It's time for the Dreamkeepers Valentine's Day art contest! Every entrant, win or not, receives some kind of prize -Visit the DA group for details: Be sure to keep an eye on the contest to catch all the new artwork headed our way. And in other news... We've fulfilled our Kickstarter rewards, so the remaining inventory of Prelude books are available while supplies last- they come in PDF, softcover, and hardcover. Visit the store page to check it out- we crammed a lot of extras in here that aren't available online. Also available is the newly completed 18 x 24 Dreamkeepers poster! Our final 'Make a Poster' video is below. But first, a quick announcement: For the first time ever, we're trying out vote incentives for our Topwebcomics listing. And it's working! If you'd like a free desktop illustration, hit that banner and give us a click. The other day Dreamkeepers shot from #70something to the TWC top ten when we put this incentive out there. And we actually saw a lot of new traffic to the website as a result- this works! So if you have the time, please help us catch some new readers, and keep those votes coming- the more readers we can attract, the more we can focus on creating! Speaking of which, we're now hips-deep in Volume 4 production. Next update, we ought to have some sneak peeks to show! And for the final bit of news, Dreamkeepers is now on Tumblr. I don't know when I'll have time to put a little button link on our site, but we're on Tumblr. Whatever that is. I'm not quite sure. But we're on it, so if you're in that neck of the internet, you now have an awkward neighbor.

Paper Birds vs. Random Updates

My money’s on the paper birds:  http://vividstuff.blogspot.com/2014/01/vivid-side-notes-liz-confessions-of.html

I’m beginning to think Liz is some form of dark necromancer- every time I leave her alone with scraps of fabric and paper, creatures are staring at me when I return.

Hey, do you like stuff?  Because there’s a bunch of it down below.  We have a big grab-bag of news.  God damn the transitions, and away we go:



New Volume 3 review from a retired comic reviewer:  http://vividstuff.blogspot.com/2014/01/indy-comic-review-volume-3.html

Said reviewer interviews Dave and Liz:  http://vividstuff.blogspot.com/2014/01/dreamkeepers-interview-with-alex-haas.html

And while we‘re on the Interview Train: http://ezioauditore97.deviantart.com/journal/David-and-Liz-Lillie-interview-401611618

The Last Mace figurine is available for sale here:  http://www.dreamkeeperscomic.com/storefigurines.htm

Liz just opened an etsy store featuring creatures and side-projects:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/VividSideNotes?ref=l2-shopheader-name



And the Prelude Collection Kickstarter has now *really* been successful, because the mail-a-thon is over.  The final update is here:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2083757038/dreamkeepers-prelude-collection/posts/727794

That means we’re free to start selling the Prelude Collection in our online store- the backers have been absolutely loving the quality of the final product, and they’re coming soon!  http://zagura.deviantart.com/art/GLORIOUS-DISPRAY-425805327

For now, I’ll close with an excerpt from our final Kickstarter update:

Crowd funding is the greatest thing since funding, period. Before, business investors would fund entertainment ventures for the purpose of getting money. Nothing evil about it, that’s simply the function of financial investing. Money is the point. That doesn't always yield the best quality in entertainment, to put it lightly. But now readers, fans, and viewers can fund entertainment ventures- for the sole purpose of generating high quality entertainment. For everyone involved, quality is the point.
 The horse is finally in front of the cart. And that’s how you get to see interesting new places. 

Now that we’re clear on the Kickstarter, it’s full speed ahead on the next graphic novel- I think we’re in for a fun year!

http://dogpaws.deviantart.com/art/Happy-2014-from-the-Dreamkeepers-423637485

Vivid Side Notes: Liz, Confessions of a Lazy Birder.

Bird-er, noun-informal 1. A bird watcher 2. A person who raises birds.

I have a confession to make.  I think birds are great.  Not just great.  Awesome-great.  But there’s this thing.  I don’t like to go looking for them. (I just got in a fight with a green-cheeked conure as I typed this)  

I’m passionate about them in theory, but birders are supposed to travel around in the cold with notebooks and heavy binoculars and know the sounds and appearance of a red-winged black bird from a ga-gillion miles away and count how many they see and be perfectly happy with this.  I am not one of those people.  (According to the conure, I am not one of those people either.)

I can’t even be bothered to Google pictures of birds for amusement.  But here’s what I do like to do.  I like to make birds artsy.  Sometimes for a challenge.

Sometimes for other people.

And sometimes out of pure passion.  Our bedroom closet is very proud.  This is my reference:

I love birds, think they're awesome, and like making them.

But sometimes when the nest is crowded, it’s time to leave home.  They're clearly plotting something.

So I put together an etsy.com store for any loose creations that occur during the side notes of our Dreamkeepers project with Vivid Publishing ala Vivid Side Notes.
www.etsy.com/shop/VividSideNotes?ref=l2-shopheader-name
We’ll announce new arrivals in our art accounts when they're going to be posted.
You may be surprised what shows up there.

Dreamkeepers Interview with Alex Haas

Thought provoking questions regarding Dreamkeepers from reviewer Alex Haas- Dave & Liz reply:

1. For a series that has been in the works as long as Dreamkeepers, how close has the story kept to the original vision? Have there been a lot of changes along the way? 

There has been far more adaptation than I would have initially imagined.  Before starting Volume 1, I had the entire story roughly planned out, beginning to end.  I knew what I wanted, and jumped to start making it.  The biggest frustration over the years has been how much time it takes to render what I had in my head- but, in retrospect, I think it was one of our greatest assets.  I had time to get to know our characters better, let them grow and develop more, refine my understanding of the world, and develop my writing and artistic abilities.  Dozens of story choices changed.  We kept the same roots, the ones cemented into place within Volume 1- but the tree they are growing into has juggled branches and twigs, pruned itself into different forms.

I’m thrilled with the story taking shape.  It’s not that we’re creating something different from the original vision- but rather, conveying it more effectively than we initially could have conceived.

The magical thing is that progressive edits don’t feel at all like we’re making new stuff up.  It feels exactly like making a discovery, uncovering something that was there all along- like the perfect Dreamkeepers story exists independently in the ether, it always has, and the more we develop and focus our efforts, the more clearly it shows itself.



2. How did your working method change when Liz came on board towards the end of work on Volume 1 and particularly with Volume 2?

It actually wasn’t a stark shift…  I was always bouncing ideas off Liz, even before Volume 1 was drawn.  Whip’s current design is thanks to her.  If it wasn’t for Liz, Bast and Mace would have been rivals with… Get ready for it…  Fire and Ice powers.  Liz was candid about elements that seemed cliché or stale.  My original partner didn’t want competing input.  The biggest change from V1 to V2 was that we no longer had to bend backwards to work around an unhealthy dynamic- we could just get to work.  From V2 and on we’ve enjoyed open critical collaboration on everything, from early story concept to polished artwork choices.



3. Is the intention of Dreamkeepers to be an ongoing series or does it have a fixed ending in your mind? How many volumes do you envision for it if the latter?

Seventeen or eighteen graphic novels, roughly.  There is definitely an end to the story.  I like stories that actually go somewhere, and arrive there without outliving their welcome.  Things that never end tend to jump the shark, and end anyways when people realize there’s no point to reading Yet More Of This.



4. There are a lot of characters and stories already present in the DK world along with historical references that are thrown out periodically. Are there any spinoff series you might attempt parallel to or after the main Dreamkeepers story arc is resolved?

I’m open to the possibility.  Anduruna history has plenty of epochs that might yield good material.  When I refer to things jumping the shark, I’m thinking mainly of stories that follow a character after the story is over- to the point where the writers just have to think of stuff to throw at their protagonist, until they run through every cliché in the book- and then they keep going.  A story without an end is like a sub sandwich that doesn’t stop- eventually you get sick of trying to consume the thing.  But an entire world can be rich enough to yield different characters, with distinct stories that can stand on their own two feet.  But before I think seriously of any other DK stories, I’ve got to finish this one.  



5. Are there any story developments that you were reluctant to draw whether out of concern for reader reaction or because you didn’t like subjecting your characters to less than savory events?

The first one that comes to mind is Paige.  It was easy to write out her fate on paper- and then I drew her for the first time, and it felt like someone had punched me in the stomach.   It won’t be the last time I get that feeling.
I’m not worried for our readers, though- if there’s anything that explains why DK is being well received, I think a big part is because I don’t patronize our readers, or shield them from unpleasant truths.  They stay because they know the story will unfold in an unflinching, internally consistent reality.  That makes the danger relevant, rather than just another Saturday morning cliffhanger.
As for subjecting our characters to adversity…  That can’t be helped, for the same reasons stated above.  They aren’t stupid enough to step into true peril for petty reasons- they have to be pushed into difficult, near unacceptable situations.  It’s the most extreme circumstances that make or break characters, that show us what kinds of truths endure through life’s storms.  If our characters had it easy, there wouldn’t be a reason to read about them.



6. Is there a line you won’t cross in your writing, regardless of how well it would fit into the story?

No.



7. KMFDM is mentioned twice: in the introduction to Volume 2 and as the background music for the club scene in Volume 3. How heavily does music play into your creative process? Is it something you use when you’re aiming for a particular mood while writing or drawing or more of an incidental? Are there bands other than KMFDM that are heavy in rotation while you work?

Liz and I both use music on a daily basis.
KMFDM is influential to me for two reasons.  First I enjoy the sound.  Second, it’s an aggressively independent band, released under its own label, held together by the will of the founding creator, which has endured through the decades to keep on kicking every ass within reach.  The band itself serves as a symbol- don’t give up, keep going, it’s possible to succeed creatively on your own terms.  It can be done.  There have been plenty of rough spots through the years, so having artificial willpower helps.
Music helps the work process, too.  When I’m color blocking or darkening pencils, I can play a movie or whatever in the background- but scripting, thumbnails, and blueline pencils require focus.  Music helps motivate and block out distractions.  In addition to KMFDM I enjoy pop, big band swing, classical, trance…  I guess ‘eclectic’ would sound better than ‘ superficially random’ to describe my taste.  Some names that come to mind are Muse, Metric, Mayhem of LapFoxTrax, Yelle, Angelspit, Big Bad Voodoo Daddies, Fitz and Tantrumz, Lady GaGa, Professor Elemental,  The Chieftains, Mika, Flogging Molly, Scissor Sisters, Brad Paisley, Britney Spears…  Listen- you can almost hear the judgement.



8. How do you rank the growth of interest in the DK comic? Is the fanbase still increasing? Is it where you hoped it would be by this point in the project’s development?

Our reader level is healthy, and still growing- despite the fact that they’re free to read online, we sell Volume 1’s and 2’s every week.
Our readership is far below my ambitions from 2006- I was hoping by 2012 DK would be *the* premiere independent comic series of our generation, and shouldering it’s way among the lower tiers of mainstream fiction.  I hoped that, though everyone wouldn’t be a reader, most people would be passingly familiar with us.  That’s the level of achievement I worked towards.
We’ve fallen far short of that- instead of doing earth-shatteringly spectacular, we’re doing pretty damn good.  The high aim motivated me to advertise and actively promote whenever feasible, which augmented reader word-of-mouth to bring us a substantial audience- thousands of readers, with thousands of books sold.  We’re larger than most web comics- and not nearly as big as some of the daily-updating ones.  But the quality and loyalty level of our readers is unsurpassed.  Thanks to them, I can realistically expect to continue expanding- we’ve by no means filled our potential footprint yet.



9. Where would you like to see the DK universe ultimately go? Is this something you would like to see as a multimedia project? Animation? Heavily merchandised video games?

The only rock-solid certainty is a graphic novel series.  That I can guarantee, regardless of external circumstances.  I’ve loved books from childhood, and I’m immensely satisfied to be making them.  However, expanding to animation and video games sounds fun as hell.  I don’t want to sign off on something that amounts to a sad travesty.  But if I have the opportunity to bring a solid animation or game into the world, I’ll go for it.  After I get some more books under my belt, if things are stable enough, I might instigate the opportunities.      



10. Are there any other creators – whether writers, artists or musicians – who speak to and inspire you and your work, even if indirectly?

Absolutely.  How cognizant I am of them is another matter- I’m a child of the 80’s, so I inherited a rich culture of vibrant traditional animation.  Dreamkeepers is really a takeoff from that era- a cartoon-loving child growing up and deciding to take what he loves with him.  I’m indebted to more creators than I’ll ever know.  Some that I’m aware of:  Bill Watterson, Glen Keane, Jhonen Vasquez, Tracy Butler, Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira Toriyama, Tim Burton, Brad Bird, Bruce Timm, Don Bluth.



11. You mention in the introduction to Volume 1 wanting to create a comic that spoke to your interests in storytelling and bypassing comic clichés. Was there ever a doubt that your idea had the ability to do this?

Not really…  Perhaps that reflects some arrogance.  But I knew what I didn’t like about most superhero comics, and I knew what I wanted to see instead.  Even if I fall short of the vision and make mistakes, I’m still satisfied with the direction I’m striving for.



12. What advice would you give to an aspiring storyteller, whether one just coming up with the beginnings of their concept or seeing their story through to publication?

The only one that really matters is this:  Don’t quit.

Talent is vastly overrated in our society.  There are a whole lot of talented failures.  The ones who prevail are the ones who hang on the longest, the ones who care the most, the ones who never stop striving to improve.

Starting advice:  Start creating what it is you want to see.  If you’re not ‘good enough’ yet, bear in mind that I still don’t see myself as good enough.  There will never be a perfect time to start.  You’re alive now.  Get cracking.

Second, finish.  Give up on making something perfect- nothing perfect is ever done.  You don’t get bonus points for making the ultimate creation that nobody will ever know of.

Now, developing your skills, planning your story, and effectively revising it are all critical steps to take.  But just make sure those steps don’t turn into never-ending foot-dragging death spirals.  Try setting some realistic deadlines if you find yourself drifting into the doldrums- and work for them.

Practice is critical for honing a skill in pretty much any area.  I got a head start on drawing since it’s been my lifelong pastime.  I started writing without much experience- I’ve improved by sitting down and doing a lot of it.  I also did some research- these are titles I would recommend to anyone looking to craft a story.  Read this stuff, and you’ll be better equipped to craft a story than some poor soul who got blasted with literary snobbery and saddled with debt at a university.

http://jimbutcher.livejournal.com/  Jim Butcher’s livejournal houses sheer gold.  Grab a copy before the internet eats it.

Wired for Story by Lisa Cron, Story Engineering and Story Physics by Larry Brooks, Invisible Ink by Brian McDonald.  One or two months of reading, maybe thirty bucks on Amazon, and you’ll be ahead of most aspiring creators.

No time to start like now.