Hey... What if we try to have some sort of Short Story contest? Where people can make anywhere from 1-8 pages of a Jenny Story.
Then, when it's over, we take the best ones (which could be difficult and highly subjective), and I'd publish them in a book through Ka-Blam, and put it up on Indy Planet.
Of course there'd be a lot at look at from a legal aspect. Depending on costs of printing, I would assume a small profit margin would be fine for advertising costs. I could bulk-buy copies and sell them to the contributes at cost, and they can turn around and sell them on their own to others as well (maybe we'd all agree on a max mark-up?) Anything sold online through the printer and distributor would go to myself and The Shifter Archive for advertising costs.
The goal would be at least a 24 page book.
Normally, the contests have been where I fronted some money for part of the prize, but I can't really afford to do that this time... Because, I really would like to give a free book to everyone that is involved, but I don't think I could afford that.... except for maybe the top 3 contributors.
This is still an idea in the works.... ideas? Thoughts?
I'm guessing that this mainly for comics but could there be written submissions for this as well?
Well, I was going for just comics... written stories.... *might* work... I mean it'd be some awfully expensive all-text pages... but I guess I won't rule it out... May even make it possible for people have writters and artist work with each other.
Again, the whole thing is an idea in progress.
I'm up for prose, of course. If any of the ones I've done to date suit your idea of how the book should be, I'm in right now; it's not as if they'll get read less by being copied onto dead trees, right? I don't have a new but unseen story ready to go right now, only a few fragments and ideas; there's no telling when something might come together, though.
Is text actually more expensive to print than art? I've never tried micropublishing a comic, so I'm a bit lost on how this works. I'd love to have some printed Jenny Everywhere material, though. Somehow things you print out yourself never seem as real as published works.
I'm at a loss, right now, to think what I could contribute to an anthology comic. A one page pin-up or portrait is probaby within my artistic skills, but such a thing would be better as a standalone piece than as part of a comic, wouldn't it?
Sounds good to me. However i think the key to the whole thing would have to be promotion, It'd have to be sell, sell, sell, to round up contributors and potential buyers for the finished product, so we'd all have to do our part to get the word around.
I like the idea of teaming up artists and writers, as long as we had enough artists to go around, since I see myself as more writer than artist, but I'd be happy to do either.
So yeah, sounds like fun, we could even do prose stories with artwork like the ones they do in 2000ad and the old Inferno books.
A group project, rather than a contest, was also something I was thinking about as well. Even if we can get some pre-existing stuff in this thing (going the project route) would work if we have the hi-res copies.
I've already been trying to design a "retro cover" with the Shifter Archive logo.
What would you do in a group project with Jenny? (Or what could you do? would be a better question.)
Quote from: Pirate Lepricorn on May 29, 2009, 11:07:58 PM
What would you do in a group project with Jenny? (Or what could you do? would be a better question.)
Well, this compilation book idea thing this thread has been talking about... Unless I'm misunderstanding the question.... :/
Misunderstood in a way. The compilation book is one this to do but it's a compilation of people working more independently. I'm asking what could be don't with a group of people more as a whole then a collection.
Quote from: Pirate Lepricorn on May 30, 2009, 02:22:15 AM
I'm asking what could be don't with a group of people more as a whole then a collection.
I think what he means is that a compilation would be a collection of stuff we'd produce as individuals, where as a group project would involve us working together in more depth, brainstorming ideas, giving our opinions on different areas such as design and execution, in that sort of way.
Ah, that makes sense, yes - like Fesworks, I didn't quite follow Pirate Lepricorn's earlier post. I agree; letting everyone make something featuring Jenny Everywhere and hoping that 24 pages of it turn out to be usable product seems like the best route. (As an example of the other approach, note that the Miss Adventure story over on Comic Jam seems to have stalled out after four pages.) Working in parallel seems more likely to produce results than working serially.
I've shown that I produce prose fiction occasionally. Fesworks is a co-ordinator, web maven, and artist. Perhaps Pirate Lepricorn will draw something. How about you, El Presidente? Do you have any particular areas of talent?
But it's gotta be really good too. I mean, doesn't need to be professional grade, but I certainly want to make sure there is some quality control. Not to sound mean or anything, but I think it's a fair goal.
Even trying to get some of the artwork that's already on the archive... try to find the original artists and get high-res images, and see if they'll allow the use to be printed. etc.
Quote from: Scott on May 30, 2009, 07:02:17 PMHow about you, El Presidente? Do you have any particular areas of talent?
Well I see myself as more of a writer than an artist, intersting ideas and flowing dialogue tends to come naturally (don't want to blow my own trumpet mind you), I taught myself to draw more out of necessity than anything, but I feel i'm moving from strengh to strengh in that field, though its far from perfect. I wouldn't mind doing some artwork, but if better talents available I don't mind stepping down.
Quote from: fesworks on May 30, 2009, 11:10:32 PMEven trying to get some of the artwork that's already on the archive... try to find the original artists and get high-res images, and see if they'll allow the use to be printed. etc.
Not a bad idea this, printing a few of the more polished strips off and releasing them as a paperback would be pretty cool.
Tell you what, we could always meet half way with the group project, we could have the stories all being connected along a simlar theme, a la Pulp Fiction or something, do a bit of brainstorming about plot etc, and then go off and do our own things, before bringing it all together at the end.
Quote from: El Presedente on May 31, 2009, 07:06:16 PM
Quote from: Scott on May 30, 2009, 07:02:17 PMHow about you, El Presidente? Do you have any particular areas of talent?
Well I see myself as more of a writer than an artist, intersting ideas and flowing dialogue tends to come naturally (don't want to blow my own trumpet mind you), I taught myself to draw more out of necessity than anything, but I feel i'm moving from strengh to strengh in that field, though its far from perfect. I wouldn't mind doing some artwork, but if better talents available I don't mind stepping down.
Quote from: fesworks on May 30, 2009, 11:10:32 PMEven trying to get some of the artwork that's already on the archive... try to find the original artists and get high-res images, and see if they'll allow the use to be printed. etc.
Not a bad idea this, printing a few of the more polished strips off and releasing them as a paperback would be pretty cool.
Tell you what, we could always meet half way with the group project, we could have the stories all being connected along a simlar theme, a la Pulp Fiction or something, do a bit of brainstorming about plot etc, and then go off and do our own things, before bringing it all together at the end.
Well, I'm not saying that some existing stories or such are not good enough. I'm mostly saying that they should be refined enough, especially for being in print... such as taking advantage of color or greyscale, or refined a bit... we could even have people that would be interested in refining, coloring, adding text or something... You know?
Of course there's the question of legal stuff, but if we work together, and all get's credited, it should not be an issue. Anyone and everyone involved would be able to get an At-Cost + Shipping copy at the very least. Major contributers could get several copies at that, and sell on their own at conventions, etc.
With so many people (potentially) to work on this project, splitting profits (if any) is close to unrealistic... asside from allowing them to buy the base-price books, and selling themselves at conventions or such.... I was planning any profit margin (for selling online) to go to The Shifter Archive, for advertising the book, and also future projects via the site.... and I think most people would be fine with that... despite how minor any profit would be on it.
I'm presently in the final process of making When Casting Calls printed, and a similar agreement had been reach for that.
I just hope that we can produce SOMEthing, instead of just talking about it. I'll try to make a news post and send out some e-mails this coming month, to get a jump on the project.
Well, I'm up for anything, time permitting, I'm actually working on a nine page full colour scripted strip atm, though its the start of an arc more than a self contained short.
That sound pretty cool MattSqueaks, whats part of the neighborhood are you from? the states, UK or elsewhere? I'm trying to get a leg up on the old small press scene networking the converntions etc myself, Sounds like you know a thing or two.
Also, Fes, hows the retro cover coming along? I had a simlar Idea in te style of Jack Kerouac's book covers, given that era having a slight influence on Jenny's character.
Quote from: El Presedente on June 04, 2009, 09:54:34 PM
That sound pretty cool MattSqueaks, whats part of the neighborhood are you from? the states, UK or elsewhere? I'm trying to get a leg up on the old small press scene networking the converntions etc myself, Sounds like you know a thing or two.
Also, Fes, hows the retro cover coming along? I had a simlar Idea in te style of Jack Kerouac's book covers, given that era having a slight influence on Jenny's character.
The Retro-cover has not gone beyond mental idea at this point.
Quote from: MattSqueaks on June 06, 2009, 02:37:43 PM
Quote from: fesworks on May 24, 2009, 01:26:05 AM
Normally, the contests have been where I fronted some money for part of the prize, but I can't really afford to do that this time... Because, I really would like to give a free book to everyone that is involved, but I don't think I could afford that.... except for maybe the top 3 contributors.
I've got a pretty extensive collection of signed comics by a wide variety of pencillers, writers, and so on, and would be willing to put in a few of them for prizes in the contest. I can't say that I'm keen on paying shipping for them, but maybe Fes can figure out some way to work that out...
I kinda meant the finished product of the collaboration itself.
The first contest on The Archive had a $35 prize.
The second was winning, not only the placement of their art for the official cards for a TCG, but also a deck of the TCG along with the card they did the art for.
I'm trying more for related prizes if I can.
Quote from: El Presedente on June 03, 2009, 10:02:04 PM
Well, I'm up for anything, time permitting, I'm actually working on a nine page full colour scripted strip atm, though its the start of an arc more than a self contained short.
I musta missed this post when the thread when to two pages :P
anyway, cool :) :P
So, I done had another Idea on how we could colaberate but also be able to keep to our own ideas. Along similar lines with doing a bunch of our own stories following a similar theme I thought it would be good if we did some sort of 'where were you when...' style theme (quite often we hear, everyone knows where they were when Kennedy was shot, when man walked on the moon etc), so we could have some kind of event that effects different Jennys across the dimentions.
We'd be able to have freedom to produce our own stories, but We'd be able to crack our heads together to come up with what this event would be that they'd tie into, how would it effect the Jennys, what the repecussions of this would be?
Seems like a great way for us to pool together our ideas, and those who don't make the book could have at least contributed in they're own way.
For reference of printing, the page specifications are:
300dpi
RBG for Coloring (or color in CMYK and then convert to RGB)
Index/B&W (or Greyscale) for B&W
TIFF file (nothing else)
Page margins:
http://ka-blam.com/printing/index.php?page=Specs_comics (http://ka-blam.com/printing/index.php?page=Specs_comics)
I can take anyone's original files and convert them, if need be. Make sure that the DPI is at LEAST 300.
Well, I'm all for working on something for this, but I'm no skilled artist. I can draw passably, but I've no experience with coloring or inking. Plus, I don't even own a scanner these days and as seen by my only Jenny contribution to date my drawing-in-Photoshop skills leave something to be desired. I could certainly work on a script or something and put it up to see if anyone would like to work on it, but that's about the best idea I can come up with.
Seeing others who would like to work in the prose medium, I'm wondering if we can't get something done in a collection of prose short stories as well as the comic ones. Then again that may be biting off more than we can chew at this date. But in any case I'm on board for support if nothing else.
I'd be up for participating, but it'll probably have to be a prose submission as well, since I'm mainly a writer and I've had trouble before finding an artist to collaborate on a comic book project. I'll start brainstorming some ideas anyway.
Come on fellas, show a bit more spirit than that, it's like I alread said, sell, sell, sell. I'm sure if we spead the word a bit we'll be able to get a fine few artisic types involved. Any online communities you frequent or even people you hang about with, ask around.
Think I'll stick something up on the deviantart forums, see if we can't coax a few people who might be interested in working on something.
Cheers Chaps
Well, we really would need artistic talent for this... most people won't want to buy something that mostly text.... So, for now, I want to shy away from strictly text-only stories.
that being said, a text-story that is supplemented with art could work. The art does not need to be a literal comic version of the story, but may have scenes, etc.
I hate to restrict creativity, but for a comic book, especially in this method, the more text-only it is, means the more expensive it is... as far as page real estate that is... A full color page is going to cost the same if you use a full-color image, versus B&W text.
Of course, artists are harder to snag for these things, but I want more art before deciding on text-only stories.
I got one in PDF format. It's attached to this post.
In this one, Jenny Everywhere is a main character, but I hope you
don't mind that it stars two of my characters: Kaina, and Chris.
Note:
* A hachimaki headband is the Japanese equivelant to
the "go team!" flags of western culture. I just thought it would
make it more of a dramatic moment to use them.
* Almost all parts, model numbers, etc. mentioned about kaina's
car are made up. Just realize that it's a REALLY fast car.
By the way I had another idea of what possible theme we could do, I know that an origin story has been touched upon a few times, but we could do a bunch of origin stories for various Jennys, the could even interlink.
Quote from: El Presedente on June 25, 2009, 03:07:22 PM
By the way I had another idea of what possible theme we could do, I know that an origin story has been touched upon a few times, but we could do a bunch of origin stories for various Jennys, the could even interlink.
Origin stories are touchy, really... I mean, they can certainly work, but when you start with an open source character with no real background..... They should definitely have more care in creation than a regular story.
I was hoping for a more old-school approach. back before Jenny shifted all around, and when she just had a simple one-off adventure. Not shifting and shifting out like Doctor Who, but she's just there and there's an adventure. Just starting, in the midsts, or finishing one.
There's plenty of strips and arcs that explain who she is. I'm hoping for some various adventures, maybe up to 8 pages each... like the early days.
I'm not say a collection of origins wouldn't be an interesting idea at all, I was just thinking of something simpler.
I'VE GOT IT!!!!
There is really no time to get this book idea thing out and done in time (at all) this year,... maybe for next year.,
BUT how about A COMIC JAM????
Not a story, but artwork. Pass around a PSD with a central art of something, like a birthday cake on a table in the middle. Then pass around a PSD (or just have people work from a simple image) to add their own Jenny Everywhere, reacting to the art provided (or other Jennys). People can even Team up!
Now, this does not need to be done in time for her birthday on the 13th. It can even START on that day.
We might need to start a limit/sign-up sheet though... or a deadline.
The end result could be sold as a Wallpaper (for how much?) to gain Ad Revenue for The Shifter Archive, advertising the site AND the Wallpaper (everyone involved would get the free, final copy, of course.)
Also, if anyone knows how to set up those Paypal links that will give people access to files or such after payment, that would help me a lot! I have no idea how to automatically set that up...
Thoughts?????
Yeah, Like the idea, I'm up for it, lets do it.
This thread is being split into the
Story Compilation Idea (http://xepher.net/forum/index.php?topic=940.0)
and the
Art Jam Idea (http://xepher.net/forum/index.php?topic=939.0)