Über dieses Projekt
Hello! I'm Lucy Bellwood, a professional Adventure Cartoonist living in Portland, Oregon. I'm running this campaign to fund a printed collection of my 100 Demon Dialogues Project and a companion plush toy to keep you all company as you bicker with (and perhaps get to love) your own inner jerks.
What's all this about? Here's the scoop:
Back in 2015 I started exploring a series of illustrated dialogues between myself and a small, obnoxious character who had a lot of big ideas about everything I was supposedly doing wrong in my life and my career.
Sharing these illustrations induced a particular kind of catharsis: it turned out most everyone I knew was struggling with feelings of imposter syndrome and anxiety. Externalizing these conversations and giving them a humorous twist often enabled me to overcome my self-doubt and get on with the exciting business of Making Good Art—and it seemed to help other people do the same.
This year, for The 100 Day Project, I decided to delve deep into these Demon Dialogues. For the past three months, I've been drawing a demon every day, exploring all the ins and outs of the creative process, growing up, and trying to live a balanced life as an adult in the 21st century. (You can read all the entries online for free right here.)
The project has garnered a massive and humbling response. I've heard from so many people who saw themselves in these illustrations and were able to laugh at the absurdity of the demon's demands or nod in recognition when something hit too close to home. Lots of people were asking for books or prints, so I decided to launch this campaign to bring a physical edition of the project to life.
The primary goal of this campaign is to produce a print edition of the complete 100 Demon Dialogues series. I'll be making softcover and hardcover editions available, both with all the fancy bells and whistles I can think of.
Softcover editions will measure 6"x 6" and feature French Flaps, color covers, spot foil, and patterned inner covers.
Hardcover editions will measure 6" x 6" and feature ribbon bookmarks, colored spine stitching, spot foil, and patterned endpapers.
Both editions contain all 100 entries from this year's 100 Demon Dialogues project, printed in black and white, plus a brief essay on what I learned while completing the project. If things go really well, I'll be including a gallery of additional demon entries from previous iterations of this project, but let's get the basics down first.
Of course, the logical companion for the print edition is a cuddly demon of your very own!
I've partnered with Soft Stuff Creations to produce a plush toy demon for all your bickering needs. Here's a look at the prototype:
This little fella measures about 15" from tip to tail and has beans in his backside so he can easily sit up on any surface you care to place him on. The body and eyes are both ultra-soft, short fur, and the eyes and mouth have embroidered edges. His floppy limbs windmill in a very pleasing manner when you throw him down a flight of stairs, too.
Soft Stuff Creations has a stellar record of producing plush toys for folks like KC Green and Kate Beaton, and I'm really excited to be working with them for this reward.
While I'm deliberately keeping this campaign simple so I can better focus on producing high-quality books and toys, I am offering a limited-edition run of signed and numbered, reversible letterpress prints, produced in partnership with my pal Emily Riley of Rx Letterpress, a local Portland printer.
These prints will be 6"x9", featuring black and blue ink with a custom watercolor wash—which means no two will be alike! You can hang them whichever way appeals to you the most, or switch ’em up depending on the day.
If you're looking for prints of specific Demon Dialogues, never fear: the fine folks at Buyolympia have got you covered. You can buy prints of every single demon from the series right here.
Of course, producing all these exciting things takes money, which is where Kickstarter comes in! The operating budget for this campaign looks like so:
For all you number nerds, here's the breakdown. [Note: these numbers are current quote estimates and may change, but we've been careful to overestimate where possible so there won't be any nasty surprises.]
- ~$9,540 to Soft Stuff Creations for plushie design and production.
- ~$3,050 to the print team for book production and shipping.
- ~$1,000 for print brokerage and negotiation.
- ~$8,000 to Blackbox, who will be bringing their stellar customer service and logistical experience to the table to get your packages shipped intact and on schedule.
- ~$600 to Allyson Haller, my fabulous book designer.
- ~$320 to Rx Letterpress for limited-edition demon prints.
- 5% for Kickstarter fees (about $1,214, with current figures).
- 2-5% for credit card processing fees (variable, but again: about $1,200).
This takes us just about up to $25,000, which you'll notice is the goal for this campaign. I try to be transparent about my finances as often as possible, so here's the deal: this campaign is to fund the production of these items, which is why I’m setting the base funding goal at 25k.
However, reaching the magic number of $32,500 will ensure that I’ll be able to afford the taxes on this income (The More You Know: Kickstarter money counts as income for creators!). The final rate may be less than 30% because many of these expenses are deductible, but it's always best to play it safe where this stuff is concerned.
There are no official stretch goals for this campaign because I wanted to jump straight into making the best possible thing right off the bat, so consider this our one above-the-mark mission. Deal? Deal.
Support Team
I'm thrilled to be working with the following companies to ensure the backend of this campaign runs as smoothly as possible:
Risiken und Herausforderungen
This will be my third Kickstarter campaign, and I'm really looking forward to implementing everything I learned during my first two successful experiences.
All the illustrations in the 100 Demon Dialogues series are complete! I've been working hard to get as much of the book design done ahead of time as possible, so all that remains is gather that artwork and getting the final files put together with my fabulous book designer, Ally.
For both books and plushies: production and transit time are hefty where overseas projects are concerned. I'll be keeping backers abreast of the production process so they can see what goes into designing and producing these objects, but we can't get around how long it takes them to arrive from abroad.
Our March 2018 arrival estimate is VERY generous to allow maximum time for potential delays. I'd rather your rewards be a pleasant, early surprise than an overdue burden! I will, of course, keep everyone fully apprised in the updates of when to expect their goods. Blackbox and BackerKit, our survey and fulfillment companies, both have fantastic customer service and backend interfaces to help guarantee that your books and plushies arrive in a timely and undamaged fashion. I have the utmost faith in them.
Aside from shipping delays, though, we're looking at a solid, stress-free experience bringing some exciting things into the world. I can't wait!
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