The Never-Ending Art Cycle of Self-Published Comics Artists
It's not just about the pages and panels
As young and starry-eyed comics fans, many of us dreamed of participating in our chosen and beloved artform, whether that role lay in words or pictures or both. Fantasies of holding our own illustrated, sequential stories in our hands held a glamour beyond any a realistic emotional response might yield. Little did we know the toil and time consumed by this pursuit, nor did we imagine the work friction that would peel away peers by the scores as we persevered via devotion and, primarily, stubbornness.
For comics artists in the world of non-corporate indie comics production, their time is dominated by the sheer amount of time required to draw and/or color the several distinct scenes required to construct a standard, sequenced comic page. The trick is that they’re only compensated for one picture, the patchwork one comprised of all those requisite mini-scenes. They call it a page rate, not a panel rate, for a reason. For most artists, there is only time and financial space for comics projects that are paid and produced for writers or other publishers who can afford to pay. That leaves little time or space to create comic art for art’s sake, much to the detriment of creativity.
Across the past 15 years, my partner in comics (and life),
made time for crafting comics that weren’t just paid projects. Whether they were whims or nightmares she needed to realize on the page, she drew (and sometimes wrote) many short comics because she wanted to, not just because they paid a bill or two. These were made coincidentally with, and often between, larger projects, like our own Vicious Circus series.
Now, we’ve collected all those short comics (2-20 pages each) into a 160+ page anthology we call Amandatory, and her work on these stories deserves to be seen. Last night, we launched it on Kickstarter. The campaign reached its initial funding goal in less than an hour, and is already close to tripling it over 12 hours. There are extra levels of charm and individuality in these more personal stories, and I enthusiastically suggest you check them out and support Amanda’s less known, but powerfully creative work.
Amanda is including copies of her 2025 Vampires Sketchbook (5.5" x 8.5") with select reward tiers and as add-on rewards. This awesome, short-run art book features 31 classic neckbiters rendered entirely in black-and-white, pencil-and-ink glory by Amanda, and it arrives with an original, black-and-white, pencil-and-ink cover sketch by Amanda featuring a vampire chosen by you!
Please jump over to the Kickstarter page and check out the full details, the awesome intro video, and some of the interior artwork. Indie comics artists need your support to continue making the comics you love as well as the other, less visible art and stories that they love.
Have a great week!
Kevin
So inspirational read! I'm a fellow indie kickstarter artist and could really relate to you guys!