Creating a Graphic Novel : Art – Food – Photography

The next new project from Sigmate Studio, 5 SECONDS is now LIVE on Kickstarter! Keep checking back as over the course of the campaign, there will be new artwork and updates being posted. I would appreciate any support you can give to this project, small pledgers help increase the backer count to get the project to the front page! If it’s just sharing the link around, I would also be most appreciative.

Link :
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1917428739/5-seconds-action-excitement-romance-and-time-bendi/

Thanks to Creative Partnerships Australia’s MATCH program, every dollar you give to this campaign will be matched dollar for dollar, provided we reach our campaign target of $3750.

2015 is the year that Sigmate Studio launched its first graphic novel, Tabby – Action, Romance and Cute Cats and the Tabby Sketchbook. It has been a roller coaster of a year (or 15 years if you are counting in cat years). It definitely was a whole year of firsts!

Dec 2014
Everything was set. Pages by P.R. Dedelis were inked and ready. So it was in December that Tabby was officially launched on Kickstarter and was also picked as a Staff Pick. As this was my first Kickstarter, I honestly didn’t know what to expect but it got off to a great start achieving the funding goal in approx. 3 days.

Jan 2015
During the Kickstarter campaign, I got written up by an Australian newspaper! Link to Newspaper article

Feb 2015
The Tabby Kickstarter finished up with exactly 100 backers! Although the artwork was finished, it was still a huge learning experience finishing up the rewards and getting the first print run completed.

Apr 2015
Tabby was printed! It was the craziest feeling to actually hold a completed copy of Tabby. After completing the Kickstarter rewards and sending Tabby all over the world, I had to figure out what was next for Tabby. With special thanks to Karen Dwarte, Tabby was added to Ashfield public library’s collection! (This was Tabby’s first public library.)

May 2015
Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) 2015 was my first public appearance with Tabby at Good Games – Town Hall! This was also the first month that Tabby appeared in a bookstore (Berkelouw Books Balgowlah – Thanks Ros!).

June 2015
Supanova Sydney 2015 was Tabby’s first appearance at a comic convention!

October 2015
Tabby Sketchbook’s first print run is completed. The amazing feeling doesn’t change with the second book! Tabby has also made it across to 15 New Zealand public libraries!

Dec 2015
So where is Tabby now? Tabby has now been purchased by over 80+ Australian and 15 New Zealand public libraries. The Tasmania public library system finally decides to add Tabby to its catalogue. Tabby is now in public libraries all across Australia (except for Northern Territory).

Tabby is also now stocked by several book stores, games stores (Good Games), comic stores (Quality Comics) through out Australia. It’s been a huge year for Tabby!

Thanks for everyone’s support on this project that otherwise would not be here. Through the course of this year, I made many new friends who have given great advice as well as reconnected with old friends who have come out to support me. Special thanks to P.R. Dedelis as the illustrator and Judy Teh for design & editing works! (And Eric Gravel for the prologue pages!)

What’s planned for 2016?
I’m still writing and have lots of stories to tell. There’ll definitely be more graphic novels published, just finalising the release schedule but first a break over the holiday period.

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Check out Brian’s crowdfunding campaign : Ninja Rain – Indiegogo OR Brian is available on Twitter @firebrian9

Brian Fire is a guy with a long running passion for Cinema, Comics, video games and acton figures who grew up in the 70’s watching shows like the Twilight Zone, Star trek and was an avid watcher of Kung Fu theater! He’s launching an Indiegogo campaign to help fund his graphic novel.

Thanks for your time Brian. What’s the premise for Ninja Rain?

My tale is about a Ninja and Samurai who have lost everything in life. They become drunkards and travel from town to town getting wasted . . . . drowning in their sorrow. When at their lowest point, they make a pact to drink themselves to death. Before they can complete this task . . . they find redemption . . . her name was Mika Z.

Mika is a ninja from the Adju clan and has a very special power. She can generate throwing darts made of pure energy. When she is in close quarters with her sisters . . . they become “The Seven” and can summon a wave of these darts. With this power they can cripple armies and even level cities. With an on going war raging between the kingdoms to the north and south and a maniacal opportunist, “The Alchemist”, looking to consume her power and sell it to the highest bidder, this trio is never safe. Their adventure begins here.

You’ve got a high budget (> $40K) for your campaign. How are you planning to spend the funds?

Working in film and dealing with budgets has taught me a LOT of valuable lessons. The first, when doing a high end project, don’t try and cut corners and leave yourself room. Anything can happen in production and you need to be prepared.

I am investing all of my time into writing and setting up the style of our graphic novel. Good illustrators and colorists charge between $100 – $300 per page. We are doing a 60 page graphic novel and at the current rate, just to cover my artists fees, we are looking at a little over $20,000. Printing a 60 page graphic novel and hitting the conventions to promote, can be costly as well. We have something very unique and I want to make sure we have the finances to get it done. We also have to be mindful that indieagogo charges a fee too.

Are you planning to stop at the graphic novel?

Nope! This is a series so there will be more graphic novel action figures, video games AND a TV show!!!!

Wow. Sounds like you have a full franchise planned. Thanks for your time again and good luck with your campaign!

Check out Brian’s crowdfunding campaign : Ninja Rain – Indiegogo OR Brian is available on Twitter @firebrian9

Click here for XCT #3 Kickstarter.

Australian writer Shaun Paulet is Kickstarting the next issue of his Xtreme Champion Tournament (XCT). The story revolves around mythical champions like Spartacus cloned in the future for a new gladiatorial tournament! In this issue will a traitor in their midst bring down what Spartacus and Ragnar have built?

Congratulations on making it to Issue 3! Does Issue 3 finish off the first story arc?

This issue was supposed to be the close off of the story arc and is the main reason why it’s taken longer to come out, but we have split the script of this issue into two. So Issue #4 will be the final issue of this arc. Brendan and I had felt we were trying to fit to much into this issue and decided to take a step back and expanded into another issue. There was a lot we wanted to get in and didn’t want to cheat the audience. We had even gone as far as having the cover drawn for this issue and then changed it and moved it to issue 4. I believe now we have a really strong finish to the first arc while keeping true to the action and fun XCT brings to readers.

Awesome! Are the plans for a Trade Paperback (TPB) when the arc is finished?

Well I can give you a little exclusive here with the answer yes two TPB’s are on the horizon within the next 12 to 18 months. The first will be a collection of the first story arc (5 issues plus extras and pinups) as well as a collection of 10 different stories within the XCT universe written and drawn by 10 different writers and artists. More new on that to come!

That’s great and thanks for the first scoop!

You’re offering a really great looking incentive cover! Who was the artist?

Craig Bruyn the writer and artist from the Australian comic book series From Above did the artwork for this incentive cover. We have decided moving forward all our incentive covers will only be drawn by an Australian artist. We hope in some small way this helps gain further exposure to some of the outstanding talent we have here, as well as it’s our small way to give back to the great Australian comic artist community. We already have a great talent working on the incentive cover of Issue #4 as well as another lined up for a future project.

Thanks for your time and wish you all the best with your XCT 3 Kickstarter!

Click here for the Kickstarter project.

Australian Nicole Kane is launching a new Kickstarter project Seamstress will tells the tale of 2 estranged twins (Polli and Cassi), one of creates costumes for the heroes and the other costumes for the villains. Both twins are very different not just for the clientele but in personality as well.

It’s an impressive Kickstarter. Nicole has done an amazing job assembling an uber team to bring her dream to life. With rewards at every level you can fancy and some amazing artwork to boot!

Firstly congratulations on launching your project on Kickstarter. Why did you choose Kickstarter as a platform?

Well two reasons, one its great way to reach people with the project and show just how much people like it. It’s very much a gauge for me to see who well people are receiving the first appearance of the comic details so that I know what to keep doing or what to change in the future. And secondly, it’s a great way to fund the project too, not just one issue but future issue, being in Australia means costs are a bit higher so sometimes you need your fans help to really get the project off the ground.

This is the first issue but I’m assuming you have more stories planned? How many issues have you plotted up?

The story has 2 arc’s at the moment which span over 24 issues in total. If the series is loved enough we will see where the story will go after that but I can honestly say I’m not lacking in plots from here on out!

Do you have any plans after the Kickstarter campaign?

I plan to keep writing the comic and it the 24 issues done but I also want to see this story with a publisher and that is another huge goal for the girls. I want to be able to bring them to fans all around the world and have them in stores not just here but everywhere.

So in terms of 2 main characters . . who do you like better? Polli or Cassi?

Oh my god that’s not fair!!!!! I love both of them and it’s funny because I can hear my wife saying if you don’t pick Polli you’re going to get it!! Haha! They are both awesome to me though my personality is more Cassi if I had to pick then Polli would kill me on the spot.

Thanks for your time and good luck with your Kickstarter! It’s off to an amazing start.

Click here for the Kickstarter project.

Tabby Sketchbook is now printed! It’s an amazing experience to actually hold the physical copies, it’s very hard to describe! For everyone who has pledged to make the Tabby Sketchbook a reality, your rewards are slowly being packed and being shipped through October. (Not long now!)

1st Printing of the Tabby Sketchbook :

A small photo of my desk as it’s slowly being converted in a rewards production line. Thanks for everyone’s patience, it is a very manual process to sign and personalise each reward. (I love doing it, it just takes time!)

The Rewards :

Was clearing out my desk and came across some artwork from Free Comic Book Day with 2 Batgirl head shots from Jon Sommariva and a Catwoman from James Brouwer. Thought I’d share them before I put them away in safe storage!

FCBD :

Tabby Sketchbook is now finished and funded on Kickstarter! 49 amazing pledgers to get there. It’s definitely a humbling experience to have so many people’s support for this project.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1917428739/tabby-sketchbook-graphic-novel

Thanks :

Tabby Sketchbook is still up on Kickstarter with 8 days left to go! One of the amazing sketches that is part of the project featuring Tabby as Captain America with artwork by P.R. Dedelis!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1917428739/tabby-sketchbook-graphic-novel

Sketch – Captain Tabby :

Tabby Sketchbook is still up on Kickstarter! One of the amazing sketches that is part of the project featuring Tabby & Poppy with artwork by P.R. Dedelis!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1917428739/tabby-sketchbook-graphic-novel

Sketch – Catwalk :