Wow. Two-thirds of the way to our goal and we haven't even started pleading to friends and relatives yet. Thanks everybody!
Since Josh and Mike have chimed in a bit here about the merits (or lunacy) of the project, I figured it might be a good time to talk about why we're on kickstarter and how this kind of fundraising environment is exciting to me as an artist.
My personal background in art is as an easel painter rather than as a cartoonist. When I was in art school in the '80's it was a kind of flush time for painters. Young artists who were lucky enough to receive some attention for their work had some different choices available for how to support themselves then; some worked through the galleries or commission system making products for a pretty large market of "art consumers", and some went through the academic route or learned to write the grants necessary to make a less "consumer-driven" kind of art.
And quite a few more of us became waiters and carpenters, bookstore clerks and plumbers, security guards and upholsters, anything to make a (mostly) honest buck and still give us a studio to come home to and the freedom to do work that we believed defined us beyond the job that paid our bills.
These were all options in the '80's and '90's, in my youth as an artist, that we had open to us because there was a stronger market for art and a lot more chance that making the art one believed in could become a viable career. While there's exciting new things happening now as publishing and other media turns to a digital format, and while no one quite seems to know how that will effect us in the future, this doesn't seem to be the economic climate of art these days. No one is sure of what art might look like as a career when the traditional employers of artists, publishers and manufactures and a financially secure middle- to upper-class, are uncertain of their future. The older, surer systems are breaking down in such a way that no one is quite certain where a career in art may eventually come from.
We've been fortunate enough to see some really exciting attention come to us very early on in the development of ULYSSES "SEEN" and, frankly, that's given us some unique options. But following up on some of those options could very easily close us off to some of the new potential we see happening in web-based art and media. Personally, I don't want that to happen just yet. I was always one of those guys who would rather wait tables than take commissions or write grants to pay the studio light bill. Hell, I'm still waiting tables to make sure that happens now.
But kickstarter offers a different kind of opportunity for artists like myself and projects like ULYSSES "SEEN" in this collapsed and uncertain market. It gives us direct and grass roots contact with supporters who want to see the art get made. It lets people, the real fans and users of art, help artists in small ways that they can afford while providing those people with a direct return, or reward, for that support. Frankly and personally, I think that's just genius.
One of the most troubling and rewarding things I ever faced as a painter was the day I realized I was successful enough to make paintings that I, my family and my friends could not afford to purchase or own. It was a big factor in my decision to leave painting in favor of books and cartoons and stories.
So, for me and for why I'm happy to be here on kickstarter?
Kickstarter offers more than just a chance to support artists or projects. It allows us all to support an environment for art beyond its traditional, conventional connection to the marketplace. And it offers artists some time and support to do the thing they do best: think about what comes next.
-Rob
(oh, yeah, here's another Dubliners sketch to keep your appetite up for the next chapter...)