About
$17,037
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What makes you who you are?
How do you grow and learn from your mistakes?
What do you do if you don't feel like you're being true to yourself?
We asked female and femme comic creators to explore these questions and more, and they brought us some of the most thoughtful, poignant, mind-bending, and WILD collection of comics we've had the privilege to print!
It's more important than ever to be true to ourselves and to build connections with those around us, so join us in taking a look inside Dirty Diamonds #9: Being, and consider what it means to just BE.
Dirty Diamonds is an award-winning all-girl comic anthology that features the semi-autobiographical work of female comic creators from around the world. Each of our books focus on a central theme, and for our ninth installment we've gathered comics from over 65 creators and artists from 11 different countries about BEING!
What's this book all about?
This is a book about being true to yourself. This is a book about finding our what motivates and drives you in the face of challenges and others' expectations. This is a book about carving out a space in this world where you feel like your most true and authentic self.
We feature comics about making mistakes, feeling like a mistake, and learning to grow because of them. Stories delve into family and multi-cultural identities, and making sure to honor those histories while also understanding your place among them. There are experiences with cancer, surgery, and concussions that made creators feel as though they no longer recognized themselves, and how they've started on the path to recovery.
This is a book about strength, resolve, failure, and struggle. These are comics that show the importance of taking time for yourself, forgiving yourself, and believing in what you're able to do.
This book is inspiration. This book shows journeys. This book is about how being your best isn't as important as letting yourself be exactly what you need to be right now.
Let's find our truth.
What we're trying to do:
We've collected all of the completed comics, so now we need your help to make this book a reality.
The final product will be a perfect-bound, 8.5" x 11", 224 page book featuring an amazing special guest cover by the monumentally talented and inspiring Weshoyot Alvitre.
SCROLL DOWN FOR PREVIEWS FROM THE BOOK!
Our initial campaign goal will cover all publication costs, provide compensation for all of the creators in the book, and go towards shipping costs, reward production, supplies, and Kickstarter/credit card fees. This goal also includes free shipping and copies of the book for each of our contributors!
Additional stretch goals beyond the initial $14,000 will allow us to provide additional rewards for our backers, and increase the payments for our contributors! Read more below.
While this book is an amazing reward in and of itself, we have lots of other exciting rewards for the backers that support our campaign - from PDFs to enamel pins to drawing commissions and more!
Check out the break-down below of what you will receive with each reward tier, along with the detailed descriptions on the right-hand side of the page.
Get your hands on some hardware designed just for this Kickstarter!
If you're looking for gorgeous original art, we're offering up the one-of-a-kind 11"x17" original ink drawing by Christine Larsen that she created for one of our splash page spreads! This is its own reward tier at $200 and gets you everything in the $60 reward tier as well! Grab it fast!!
We also have multiple drawing commissions that we're offering by contributors from the book at the $100 tier! Each artist will receive a portion of what you'll pledge for these rewards. They'll create a 5"x7" black & white drawing of your choice!
The artists include: Karin Blaauwijkel, Noni Garcia, and Yury Guzman.
And now introducing... BONUS ADD-ON REWARDS! These are additional rewards that you can receive by increasing your pledge to our campaign! This year we're offering 5 different bundles of rewards for $20 each. Rewards include postcards, digital wallpapers, an enamel pin, PDFs, and even more comics!
You can also add up any of the bundles to receive more than one, OR check out the discounts when you add any 3 bundles ($50!), any 5 bundles ($90!), or ALL of them (only $120 for a boatload of stuff!)
Here's how to increase your pledge for one of the bonus add-on rewards: To add any of these rewards onto your pledge, simply go to our project page, click the "Manage my pledge" button near the top, and then select "Change your pledge" on the following page. From here, you’ll be able to adjust your pledge amount by adding the dollar amount for the bonus reward bundle to the amount you've already pledged. You can also add the bonus reward amount when you make your initial pledge if you're a new backer!
When we send out reward surveys after the campaign is completed, we'll have a space for you to indicate which bundle you wanted to select.
Stretch goals beyond our initial goal will allow us to increase payments to our contributors, and provide additional rewards for ALL of our backers. Read more below!
Here are some previews of the pages from Dirty Diamonds #9: Being.
The initial Kickstarter goal covers all of our basic publication costs and allows us to pay each of the contributing creators a baseline fee. Hitting our stretch goals will allow us to increase the amount we pay all of our contributors and artists, and provide additional rewards for ALL backers, regardless of reward tier!
Check back here as we unlock stretch goals to reveal even more potential rewards!
Here is the complete list of our absolutely fabulous contributing comic creators:
- Ally Shwed
- Amy Stoddard
- Andy Isabel
- Anna Krzton
- Anna Sellheim
- Ashanti Fortson
- Betsy Ochoa
- Brianna Gilmartin
- Brie Katherine
- Caitlyn Stilgoe
- Christine Larsen
- Claire Folkman
- Coco Candelario
- Erin Roseberry
- Grace Teoh
- Hailey Thurrott
- Jennifer Chan
- Jessica Howard
- Jillian Fleck
- Jordan Stillman
- Julie Fiveash
- Julie Lerche
- Juliet Goodman
- Karin Blaauwijkel
- Kata Kane
- Kate MacDonald
- Kelly Phillips
- Kielamel Sibal
- Lilly Taing
- Liz Parkes
- Lorena Reyes
- Lucia Ceta
- Lucie Towers
- Lucy Galloway
- Lucy Kagan
- Mara Padilla
- Maria Kammerer
- Marilena Ness
- Marta Syrup
- Mayya Agapova
- Mazie Lovie
- Megan Crow
- Michelle Zhuang
- Mirana Reveier
- Mooshe Nickerson
- Natalie Riess
- Nicole Testa LaLiberty
- Noni Garcia
- Olivia Commini
- Ortal Avraham-Svarzenberg
- Priya Huq
- Rica March
- Robyn Haley
- Sara Goetter
- Sarah Burns
- Shauna J. Grant
- Shy
- Silvia Carrus
- Soumya Dhulekar
- Štěpánka Jislová
- Teresa Roberts Logan
- Vicky Leta
- Weshoyot Alvitre
- Witchy Momo
- Yury Guzman
Dirty Diamonds is edited and published by Kelly Phillips (Weird Me) and Claire Folkman, drawing buds since the 7th grade. Holding down the fort on either end of Philadelphia, they have been the loving parents of the all-girl comic anthology since 2011. The goal of Dirty Diamonds has been to give the women of comics a dedicated outlet for telling their stories, and artists from around the world have contributed their semi-autobiographical comics over the years. Gathering these personal stories has allowed us to highlight both the talents and experiences of women in comics today.
We won the Philly Geek Award for Comic Creators of the Year in 2015, and the DINKy Award for Best Anthology in 2017 (for Dirty Diamonds #7: Imagination). Copies of all eight of our previous issues have been donated to the permanent comics collection at the Library of Congress, with an open invitation for future issues (including Dirty Diamonds #9: Being!) to also be added to the collection.
If you have any questions about Dirty Diamonds or would like to reach the editors about anything whatsoever, feel free to email us at editors(at)dirtydiamonds.net or get in touch with us in any of the following places:
- Twitter: @DirtyDiamondsYo
- Tumblr: DirtyDiamondsComic
- Instagram: @DirtyDiamondsYo
- Facebook: facebook.com/DirtyDiamondsComic
Risks and challenges
We previously published Dirty Diamonds #5: Comics, Dirty Diamonds #6: Beauty, Dirty Diamonds #7: Imagination, Dirty Diamonds #8: Sex, and editor Kelly Phillips' Weird Me: The Complete Collection via Kickstarter with great success! All of the projects exceeded their initial goals, which allowed us to produce the books on schedule, create/send all rewards out to our backers, and pay all of the contributing artists as planned.
With lessons learned from our previous campaigns, we've streamlined and improved our publication process, production schedule, and rewards expectations. We have everything lined up with our printer and have a distribution plan in place, so all we need is you and your support!
The biggest risk involved with this campaign is that if we don't reach our goal, we won't be able to pay our contributors. :(
Note: No part of this Kickstarter's funds will go directly towards the editors as profit. All funds have been budgeted into our artist payments and business expenses. Any extra funds that are raised will go directly toward the production and distribution of Dirty Diamonds.
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Funding period
- (28 days)