Hi, my name is Joe and first of all, thank you for clicking on my campaign!
I've had a passion for drawing for years and have been creating for a while now but for a long time I've always wanted to create a story using my illustrations to weave a world that anyone can get lost in, both young and old.
Story
The story revolves around a kid called Ni, set a few hundred years after the fall of the Old World, our current world, this new generation of people have developed far faster and within this short period of time have already industrialised to a critical level, to the point where the forests have almost been entirely destroyed. We follow Ni and loyal friend Scratch the fox, in one of the last tribes trying to defend the forest, these tribes are much like those untouched by man, they live minimalist, attuned with the forest, helping creatures injured by the industrialist movements through the forests as they reap the forests for fuel. But as the industrialists set their sights one of the last areas of forest, Ni and the tribe must defend their home, this requires Ni to journey into the depths of the industrialists Capital City “Steelforge” to find answers on an old world defense system that could protect the forest. On this journey Ni encounters both relics of the old world and the dangers of the new. The style of the story is based on loose sketch drawings with both watercolour and digital colouring to create vibrant and enticing pieces.
Inspiration
My childhood has been a large inspiration for this, getting lost in endless fantasy novels, in particular Lord of the rings, and the wonders of the Ghibli universe, the beauty of those animations really stuck with me. One of my main inspirations was reading with my little brother, we have 18 years difference in age (he's 7) yet I loved reading the beautifully illustrated stories he had and often getting more into them than he was, and now he will be my harshest critic.
The style is based on a mixture of fantasy, steampunk and sci fi to create distinctions between the tribes of the forest, the industrialists of the new world and the old world technology. So first disclaimer, this story is not finished, in fact there is a way to go, this will be one story in 3 parts, fully illustrated which will come to around 30-40 detailed illustrations.
Don’t run away just yet, I thought it would be interesting to have the people who support this project to be involved in its development, with constant updates on the progress and first viewings of the story so far to get thoughts and feedback so you can see the process of this story and have a say in how you think its developing and if its what you envisaged if you decided to support it. This Kickstarter will not be the final book but you will be supporting the creation of this story and you will have a direct involvement in its development. The final book will be a part of a second campaign to fund the publishing costs, I've previously published a colouring book so have some experience in this area (which you can find on my website) and if you support both this campaign and the final book printing campaign you will receive an additional print to say thank you for your awesome support!
Where does your money go?
I am currently studying and therefore do not have huge financial support but this story has been in my head for years and I’m desperate to get it out there, hence why I’m asking for your support. Your support will go towards supplies so I can create this story and will allow me to dedicate my full attention to the book, being the cliche struggling artist, your support will go a long way in allowing me to support myself with art supplies and food whilst I create this book.
Rewards
Onto rewards, you can have a direct influence in this story, I’m offering a limited reward for you to become a character in the story, I have several major characters that can be personalized with your face as that character, if you choose this option we will discuss your character, who you will become, and I will draw and paint a full A4 portrait of you as the character to get the personalization just right. As well as this reward there are many others, including original paintings from the book, prints of the artwork and sketches and your own original A5 sketch of a steampunk mech from this world.
I just want to say a big thank you for checking out this campaign and reading this far through it, even if you don't fancy supporting the project any feedback would be great and you can message me here or email me at shenj010 at gmail.com. Please have a look around the campaign page at the illustrations and sketches available and do get in touch with any feedback, thank you!
Risks and challenges
The main risks of this campaign will largely come with postage, particularly overseas, if items are lost or damaged, particularly prints, I will send new prints if evidence is given of the damage from the postage delivery or evidence that it did not show up at all. Other than that I think this should be nice and simple!
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Funding period
- (30 days)