Life Update + Apology

Hey everyone.  It's been a minute...and a half. Hope all of you are having a somewhat good/ great start to the year. First and foremost, I want to dish out an apology for being such a shitty Patreon host. My girlfriend, Janice, had to give me a well deserved lecture on why I need to take this more seriously. So, I'm going to begin by sharing with you all my 2019 year.  

Early last year - around February - I got my first taste of packing books. It was a great feeling packing books for customers who were eagerly awaiting a copy of Kings of Nowhere. What I didn't anticipate was the sheer number of copies that would get lost in the mail. Me, being the type of guy to avoid conflict at all costs, had a difficult time dealing with distraught customers who were desperately wanting to get a hold of volume one. For around two months, I was a shitty customer support person. I did my best, but ultimately, I disappointed a few people. Lessons were learned.

Then in April, I had a deep discussion with Janice about my over-arching story (Not Volume 1, we both agreed it was a pretty damn good book). She hated it, and to my disappointment, so did I. Here's why. When I first came up with the story for KON, I was around 17.  Bili was just a villain who'd show up later, but the story was initially meant to begin with Bass; an unmotivated, beatboxing, spray-painting monkey who hung around some other unmotivated primates (clearly I was a teenager). I developed this story until I was 19, and that's around the age where I began writing the plot. I also very much wanted to include people from my life in anthropomorphized forms. The initial story had no real motive or cause. It was just supposed to be action scenes, fight scenes, some more action scenes, and maybe a sex scene thrown in for fan service. I tried building relationships, but it started off so weak that it felt stuck in the mud. When I finished college at the age of 22, I had written a new story about one of the villains from KON. I made the backstory to Bili. The reason was because deep down, I knew the story I had for Bass was lacklustre, but I believed I would have it figured out as I continued writing. The story for Bili was so powerful and moving, that looking at what I had for Bass made me want to burn it all. So that's what I did... metaphorically speaking, of course.  

In May, I started over. Luckily, I had some fantastic villains, and my audience are already cheering them on. I took the formula I used for Bili, and I shifted it over to Bass. Make the audience care! Sounds difficult, but it's not. I just have to take it way back, back to his childhood. I roughened up Bass' past. I gave him a clear direction. I created reasons for his actions. I built a world for him, one in which he likes and dislikes things. Then, the secret sauce. I gave him weaknesses. Plural. The easiest and most notable being someone to care for. Duh! I spent 8 months animating my short film about Bass rescuing a kid, and I didn't think of including that earlier into my story? Me so stupid. I worked on Dante - this kid bent on being a protector of something, while utterly despising how weak he is. He's lost so much, and yet he manages to keep positive. However, everything pure must be exposed to some darkness. That way, when the light is back, we can see the growth.

Let's take it to July. I was about to get my book published by DarkHorse Comics. I spent all of July 'til the end of August creating a pitch deck - a multipage presentation that briefly touches on story, characters, release structure, etc. I was excited, and very nervous about giving my baby away to the big corporate overlords. Obviously, DarkHorse is a very respectable company and they own some of the best works of fiction. I held discussions with the DH staff, my manager, my girlfriend, and some successful self published comic artists, and I decided against going with any publishing company. The reason being... it was 2019! I have all these facets of reaching my wonderful audience. I contacted the book printers myself, I packed the books myself, I dealt with customer service myself, and yes, it was tiring and difficult, but in the end, I learned valuable lessons and grew not only as an artist, but as a businessman. I want to make Koteri. Ink a known name in the industry. I believe in my work, and I know first hand how much effort I am willing to put into my project. As time goes on, I plan to streamline my business and integrate fulfillment programs that will lift some weight off of me. I sold a total of 2000-2300 books in all of 2019. Those are terrible numbers for a comic book artist working in Marvel or Dark Horse, but myself as a creator who keeps 80% of the profits, it was phenomenal! For those of you who dream of being picked up by a publisher and believe that is the ultimate way of reaching your goal - it's not. If your idea is bangin', and you got the skills to back it up, then the only reason you won't achieve notoriety is because you haven't put in the time to pick up the pen and draw - or write.

I continued to write until the very end of the year. I fricken loved it. I created stories that I  am very proud of and can't wait to share. Unlike my first attempt from many years back, this time I allowed for opportunities in my story that let me to be more expressive, and I get to work on and develop some fascinating relationships. Chapter 3 is finished, and I'm currently working on chapter 4. I will be releasing Volume 1 and chapter 3 on my website very soon, and I will be giving you a look into chapter 4 in the next post.

2019 was one hell of a ride. I experienced more in that year than the three years prior combined. I developed as a writer, an artist, and a businessman. I made some new discoveries, some mistakes, but in the end, I spent every minute working on what I loved, even if some of the time I just wanted to rip all my hair out and dance in the nude on the streets while mumbling gibberish. I want to apologize for my absence. I was that dad who went out for smokes and didn't return. But daddy's back, and this time, he's here to stay and work it out with mommy. I have no idea where this is going. I'll end it here. I love you all and I appreciate your support. I'll see you peeps soon!