About
$79,044
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The award-winning graphic artist Maëlle Doliveux creates comics and illustrations in an entirely original way: she builds them out of paper.
Using layers upon layers of colored paper, she creates artworks that resemble relief sculptures in their dimensionality. She then uses carefully designed lighting and inventive photography to bring her charming and astonishing images to life, the picture plane bursting into three dimensional space.
Her upcoming book I WILL LIVE FOREVER represents the culmination of a decade experimenting with this utterly original style.
I WILL LIVE FOREVER is a collection of six all-new short stories linked thematically and structurally by the concepts of mortality, rebirth, memory, rebirth, and the interconnectedness of all things.
These are not tales of heroic deaths or martyrdoms, but everyday endings that weave through life at every scale. A young architect travels to a war-ravaged city to project holograms of once-standing landmarks. A prince reflects on the strings attached to his inheritance. A genetically engineered mushroom witnesses the end of a planet. The book will explore grief and mourning, but also relief, renewal and humor.
Tales range from ancient history to the heat-death of the universe, tracing characters who make an effort to reach out from their brief lives and limited perspectives to build something that will outlast them, to connect with the richness and constancy of the world around them, or to create meaning that is larger than themselves.
I WILL LIVE FOREVER will be 148 pages with an oversized 8.5 x12.125" trim size, beautifully produced, designed and printed on lux woodfree archival 150 pound paper stock. The exterior covers will be intricately die cut in several layers, with coptic binding revealing the stitching along the spine. Each edition will come in a custom designed mailer box.
In addition to the book itself, we have a wide range of artworks by Maëlle Doliveux to offer through this campaign. If you'd like a package including several of these rewards, just message us and we'll come up with a custom price for you.
POSTCARD and PRINT. We will produce a set of postcards and prints based on the cover image. The postcards will be 4x6" and the prints will be 8x11".
A print can be added on to any order including the book for $10, and a set of three postcards can be added on for $5. If you wish to do so, simply increase your pledge by the relevant amount. You will be able to choose the prints and postcards from a menu when we fulfill the campaign through BackerKit.
"DECOMPOSITION FOX" ENAMEL PIN
A 2" die-struck enamel fox pin, designed by Maëlle Doliveux. Limited to an edition of one hundred, hand numbered by the artist, with only fifty available through this campaign. Please message us directly if you would like to add one to an existing order.
SPARROW DIE-CUT INSCRIBED BOOKPLATE EDITION
We will produce a special limited run of three hundred customized cut paper bookplate editions of I WILL LIVE FOREVER. The bookplates are individually made by the author, and will be signed and personally inscribed with a name of your choosing. All backers who receive bookplate editions will be thanked in print in the book, and will receive the postcard, the print, and a DRM-free digital edition of the book. They will also be thanked by name in the print and digital editions of the book.
We will also produce a series of seventy-five special publisher's cut paper bookplate editions for elite level backers, with watercolor elaborations by the artist's hand. View the rewards list to see which tiers include which editions.
In addition to the cover and some interior pages, which are for sale through this Kickstarter, Maelle will produce three series of limited edition papercraft artworks, mounted in a shadowbox. Each of these works is hand assembled, and produced in a small limited edition. They ship framed and ready to hang.
"LILIES." 6x6". Limited to an edition of 50. $150
"MOTHS." 6x6". Limited to an edition of 50. $150
"ROSES." 6x6". Limited to an edition of 50. $175
"FUNGUS." 9x9". Limited to an edition of 30. $350.
"POISONS." 11x14". Limited to an edition of 10. $800.
We also have a number of bundled package deals, for several cut paper art pieces at a discounted rate. Just contact us if you want some specialized package not listed as a rewards tier.
I WILL LIVE FOREVER Cover. Four hand-cut layers of original artwork composing the entire multi-page die-cut cover presentation. 8.5x12.5". $5,000.
Here are the four individual hand-cut illustrations that compose the cover. View the attached Kickstarter video above for a clear sense of how the fit together into one finished art piece.
ORIGINAL PAGES. The original interior pages of I WILL LIVE FOREVER, most of which have not yet been created, are for sale through this campaign for $1,200 each. Backers will choose pages on a first-come first-served basis in order of backing, so back this tier early to have your choice of page. Here is an early page:
If you want any specific combination of rewards not listed here, have any questions, or even if you just feel like a nice chat -- simply contact us via the link below.
MAELLE DOLIVEUX is a French and Swiss illustrator who has lived all over the world, from New Jersey to New Zealand. She obtained a Bachelor's degree in Architecture from the University of Nottingham in 2008, and graduated from the MFA Illustration as Visual Essay program at the School of Visual Arts in 2013. She is the recipient of many awards and honors, including gold and silver medals from the Society of Illustrators, Merit Awards and Silver Cubes from the Art Director's club, and more. Her clients include The New York Times, Newsweek, The Boston Globe, Motorola, Moleskine, Sesame Street, Charlex, IFC, Passion Pictures, UCB comedy, Nickelodeon, Vulture, the French Embassy of NY, and Seven Stories Press. She is also the creative director and co-founder of Beehive Books, and was a 2018 creator-in-residence at Kickstarter HQ. In her spare time she enjoys moose riding, roost hiding, and making up fake hobbies for herself in her biographies.
See more of her work at www.maelledoliveux.com or find her on Instagram @ouimaelle.
BEEHIVE BOOKS is a new small press founded by the artist and designer Maëlle Doliveux and author and editor Josh O’Neill. They create book art editions of great literary and pictorial works with a special emphasis on graphic art, design, and comics. Their line of forthcoming books includes monographs on Harrison Cady and Herbert Crowley, illustrated novels with art by Yuko Shimizu, Bill Sienkiewicz and Paul Pope, and LAAB Magazine, curated and created by Ronald Wimberly. Learn more at www.beehivebooks.com, or find us on Instagram @beehivebooks.
COMICS
Kickstarter video is (c) Beehive Books 2018.
All art in the campaign is (c) Maëlle Doliveux.
Soundtrack music is (c) The Underscore Orkestra.
Please contact us with any further queries by clicking the BEEHIVE BOOKS logo at the top left of the campaign, or the button below.
Risks and challenges
With ten successful Kickstarters over several ventures totaling more than half a million dollars to our name, Josh and Maëlle are veterans of crowdfunded publishing. We know the tricky logistics of fulfilling these projects, and know how to overcome the inevitable hurdles in our way.
Maëlle's unique creative process is very time consuming, so we've budgeted a full two years for her to complete the book. (Artwork at this level does not come quickly or easily.) We've carefully priced out production costs for all books, prints and ancillary rewards, as well as expenses for domestic and overseas shipping. We’ve planned for the logistics of reward fulfillment. We know exactly how much money we need to get this project across the finish line. All we need to finish the job is you.
There are many risks and challenges involved with publishing. Problems can pop up in ways we can't always predict. But we get better at this every time we do it. We have the knowledge, experience and commitment to persevere through difficulties and deliver a product that meets and exceeds the exacting expectations of our audience of discerning readers and collectors.
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Funding period
- (28 days)