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treybriggsthewriter · 5 years ago

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This makes me nervous, but I’m going to post it. I’m going to try my best to achieve my goals. I’ve put in a ton of work already, so I’m looking for additional help.

From the campaign:

My name is Trey Briggs, and I'm a black woman who writes paranormal horror, speculative fiction, and other types of fiction. You can find my stories at MaybeTrey , Astrid the Devil , and on Instagram , Medium , and Wattpad .

My stories are aimed at black people who want to read dark stories that focus on original black characters that are complex and interesting. I genuinely believe Black audiences deserve a variety of genres to delve into, and I want to introduce them to paranormal horror, dark romance, and fantasy that they haven't gotten enough of in the past. I also believe that this can be done across multiple mediums, and I spend my money with black creative professionals to make these experiences extend beyond my words. For the last two years, I've run my stories on sites and Instagram to great reception. I like to craft complex experiences that offer looks at character backgrounds, side and backstories, full websites for each title, and more. I also provide encyclopedias, maps, audio journals, and other ways to get into each world. During these last few years, I've run into a lot of walls, jumped a lot of hurdles, and tried my best. I've worked with amazing black artists, voice actors, and actresses, musicians, designers, and more. I trust my ability to run a project, especially when it comes to planning and finding talent. My overall goal is to run a team of black creatives that crafts novels, graphic novels, audio experiences, and animated series for a dedicated audience.

Why I Need Help Long story short: I have the skill, I have the marketing/website building/business experience, and I have the drive. There's a lot I can do on my own, but there's also a lot that gets left behind because I don't have the money I need to proceed at a steady pace. I need help with funding so I can focus, hire the right people, and craft these stories the way they deserve to be crafted. I have thus far spent over $60,000 of my own money on my projects over the past two years - the writing and site-building are easy for me; the rest has to be hired out. I have art, site costs for hosting, domains, templates, specific plugins, and maintenance, audio (and vocal artists to pay), musical, and editing costs. I'm by no means rich or even particularly financially stable. I have taken on tons of extra clients for my digital marketing business, transcribed hundreds of hours of audio for dirt cheap, and taken out personal loans. I even worked a second full-time job along with my full-time business last year to afford to produce the content I love. It's starting to take a toll on my mental health. I plan on continuing to fund these projects out of pocket (and finding ways to do so), but having financial help, however big or small, would allow me to move a lot faster and with less stress. It would let me flesh out ideas and concepts that I have had to scrap because I can only physically handle so much extra work. I run a full-time marketing business from home, homeschool my autistic 10-year-old, and generally have a busy life. Some of the strain is taking a toll on me, and I don't want to give up. Having some financial backing could allow me to drop a client or two after a few months and focus on the work I love to do.

How You Can Help I mainly need a start—a sort of base. I want to emphasize that I plan to continue to provide the main bulk of funding for my projects. I know my goals are ambitious, and I know each step will take time and money. I welcome any help to make the process smoother and to get around the initial hurdles. I'd like to have ebooks and novels offered on my site by the end of the year (along with the free serials and stories). Funding means that I can broaden the projects, include more free aspects to my sites, and secure direct financing through sales of ebooks and audiobooks sooner. It also means that I can offer MORE stories, whether they are online only or fully fleshed out novels and sites. I am swamped with trying to work enough to cover all my bills and creative projects, so I lose a lot of time I could spend plotting and writing. If I have better funding, I can get my stories out quicker (and with fewer mistakes).

The Initial Stories Let's talk about my stories! If you're familiar with my work already, you can skip to the next section. My main story site is Maybe Trey . Currently, I have two big titles and a bunch of smaller ones that I am seeking help with funding: Astrid the Devil

Astrid the Devil is the complicated story of a girl who inherits not only her family's features and DNA, but their fears, struggles, and fights. It's the story of a condition called Devil Syndrome, the women who suffer it, and the monsters that devour them. It's the story of the fight to save the people you love at the expense of innocent lives. At its core, Astrid the Devil is the story of a woman who inherits the chaos of three generations before her. It's a look at what is truly passed down to our children, and how they're left to fight our battles in the aftermath of our failures. It's the tale of an indescribable monster and the women who struggle to defeat it. It's a journey into how their every decision could save or destroy an entire world. Astrid the Devil is the story of Astrid Snow, but her story can't be told without the story of the women before her.

Vicious: On MaybeTrey and The Vicious site (in progress)

Somewhere, a war is brewing. That's the only thing that's for sure to Junnie Gorton, a young horned girl suffering from a debilitating disease called Horn Rot. She typically dealt with her low survival rate and abnormally large horns by escaping the world with her best friend, Lewish. Now she's forced to figure out which side is which, save her entire species, and find out the truth behind the sudden uprising in her home. Horn Rot, a highly contagious and violent disease spreading through horned people, is causing mass amounts of madness and death. Normal horns grow in ways that will pierce, suffocate, and maim their owners, and the only one who can stop it is Junnie's mother, Lyria. As Lyria falls deeper and deeper into an anti-social revolt, the country reels. While Junnie broods, her entire species must prepare for mass extinction. Her brother plots with a group of people with less than good intentions and Lewish is quieter than usual. In a civilization brought up on extreme violence and competition, Junnie and Lewish try their best not to get swallowed by their culture, their lives, or their horns.

Bunni and Bosque :

Bunni lives. Bosque dies. We all know how this story starts. Bunni is obsessed with destruction and death. She comes from the healthiest Horned family in her country. She's from the oldest, purest bloodline in the world. And she's bored with it. Bunni spends most of her time trying to escape her duties as a pureblood. She wants things dirty, messy, foul, inconsistent. Having parents that are willing to kill to keep their bloodline pure is annoying. Knowing that she'll live a long, full life, produce more perfect children, and die unscathed is agonizing. Bunni wants something to mourn. We all know how this story ends. Bosque is destined to die an agonizing death, alone on his family's land. He's watched everyone he loved and grew up with perish. Sometimes it was because of their disease. Sometimes it was because of the malice and hatred of others. While he's absolutely withdrawn and satisfied with his life, Bosque has never had a chance to live it. He spends his days basking in the sun, bathing in wood baths, and contemplating the end. Bosque isn't interested in joining the rest of the world. He'd rather die out, alone, where his family belonged. Bosque wants to go peacefully. But neither expected to meet each other one day in a supermarket. Neither expected to fall in love, lust, and every vicious and dirty thing between. Neither expected to be so right for each other, all while being wrong for everyone else. You know the end of this story. Bunni lives, Bosque dies. But maybe something will change.

My smaller titles, Bunni and Bosque /Aite and Jude, can be found at Maybe Trey .

The Business Plan

The initial phase of my business plan is to get the sites populated with ebooks and audiobooks for sale. I also have prints that can be sold. Right now, I am in the audience-building phase while I save up for editing the full novels.

In terms of an actual business with which to publish the stories, I already have a registered publication company in Illinois: Wolfless Studios LLC. I took this step earlier this year with plans to self-publish Astrid and Vicious. So that is paid for and done.

I have also gotten initial editing done on the first six chapters of Astrid, though it will need to be edited from the beginning again once everything is said and done. I've spent over $1000 on that so far, and it would go a lot faster if I didn't need to save up to edit each chapter.

Astrid the Devil is fully plotted, outlined, and only needs the last three chapters. Bunni and Bosque and Vicious are newer, but plotted and already deep into character development (all being shared across social and Wattpad for audience growth). Aite and Jude and other shorts are plotted, and three other unshared stories are plotted and at the editing phase.

Other costs and ways I would use the funding (I would still put in my own money and do as much on my own as possible):

Initial $30K

$6000 - $7000 Line and Copy edits for Astrid (currently at 250000+ words/expecting over 300000 at $0.02 rate)

$6000 - $7000 Line and Copy Edits for Vicious

$3000 - $4000 Line and Copy Edits for Bunni and Bosque

ISBN Purchases (Separate ISBN for each format for each book) - https://www.myidentifiers.com/identify-protect-your-book/barcode

Covers for Astrid/Vicious/B&B Print Versions

Site Hosting Costs and Maintenance for 2 Years

Site completion for all stories

Initial store and app development

40K - Marketing and Graphic Novels

Social, Print, and Web ads

Email Marketing Campaigns

Booths at Decatur Book Festival (depending on COVID)

Social ads and promos

50 to 60 pages

First two chapters offered as free promo with email sign-ups

Audio journals for each character

Situational audio journals

Encyclopedia for Astrid (finishing up)/Vicious

65K - Hires and Next Phases

Ability to hire a Full-Time Editor

Audio Series for each (professionally done)

Vicious Graphic Novel

Additional Title Added

Short animations for both Vicious and Astrid (with plans to fund more with book sales)

Fleshed out Story Sections (Novellas for each character of each series)

Short comic series with Astrid and Vicious side characters

Possible to plan out monthly subscription service with new stories and 'story package' deliveries

75K -

Astrid the Devil Graphic Novel

Vicious Graphic Novel

Astrid the Devil Animated Short

Ability to hire part-time Web Developer

Additional bigger title

Anything Over - I ascend into pure light. And also, I can add titles, cover more mediums, and eventually expand my publishing to other black creatives.

From there, I should be able to handle the funding via sales of books, comics, audio, and more. Again, I will always offer mostly free content across the sites.

I believe in proof of concept, and I have diehard fans on my social platforms. With no outside funding, I've been able to a lot on my own. I'd love to expand my business into one that does the same for other black authors, artists, voice actors, and animators somewhere down the line.

Thank you so much for your consideration. I appreciate all my readers, present and future, and I appreciate any help!

See incentives and more on the actual campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-trey-publish-black-paranormal-horror-stories

Thank you so much!

#support black authors #writeblr #support black creators #black creators #original characters #original story #donate #buy black #black businesses #my writing #Astrid the Devil #Vicious #Bunni and Bosque #Aite and Jude #Trey Briggs the Writer #paranormal horror #speculative fiction #gofundme

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soyouareandrewdobson · 4 years ago

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…the ugly. SYAC: The Master Review 4

Last post I covered much of what I consider the good or passable strips of SYAC of the pre-Dobbear era. What I have admittedly not covered yet, were three certain characters of the strip that exist beside Dobson.

Persistent Pam

Curmudgeonly Carl

And… this guy I am not even sure has a name.

No, seriously. He shows up in like the 61th strip of the series for the first time and yet I never see his name mentioned once

All I know is that he is an accountant, who pities Dobson (for good reason)

And despite Dobson not liking alcohol, they regularly meet up in a bar as if they are some late 80s comedy duo

Funnily enough, he shows up way before Pam, who would have her premiere in these strips

And despite only showing up in a few strips after her premiere (mostly to make “fun” of overbearing and snarky commissioners I suppose…)

She actually managed something no other character or series by Dobson managed to get: A fanclub

Not that she would really be of any major importance afterwards.

As for Carl, he is supposed to be something like an antagonistic embodiment of Dobson’s “old” art teachers and people being stuck in old ways, who shows up for the following strips forming a sort of arc.

In addition, it is very obvious, that Carl is supposed to be a mockery of people flaming Dobson. Not helped by the fact that THIS character sheet of him made by Dobson assures us, that there were quite a few even less “endorsing” things he wanted to name the character.

Yet funnily enough, Carl turned into such a popular character with readers, Dobson was essentially “forced” to make him reappear in other strips. Not of the “classical” SYAC strips, but he showed up as the “antagonist” to Tenku in the storydriven multi pagers. Though even antagonist is a strong word, as he is essentially more of a jerkish art teacher and college advisor who is harsh on Tenku, but actually has his best interests in mind. To the point he even offers him to be his “harsher” art critic in the years till he enters college, because he wants to see him grow artistically.

However, Carl was also more of an “accident”. Cause when it came otherwise to tackling criticism or things that irked Dobson (and were not anime related) he would end up more or less creating strips that painted him in a manner where he would supposedly always look like “the better” compared to his opposition or mock it. Which is where a lot of the irk Dobson would earn over the years eventually comes from.

Now to be fair, I do not want to call every comic in that regard “strawmanning”, nor do I want to say that Dobson doesn’t have the right to also mock to a certain extend the mentality of certain “snobs” and so on. For example…

On one hand, I know there are people out there who think they are “special” by having the best tools at their disposal. When in reality you can achieve good results also with less expensive stuff. So mocking that sort of attitude is fine to me to some extend

BUT, when you also make down the line a comic like this…

… essentially making yourself come off as a “better” artist or person than others because you have “chosen” the better mass produced crap (btw, that is coming from someone who types this review on a Mac that runs Windows) , then the hypocrisy ends up to be rather strong with you.

Which is also essentially the biggest issue with the strips I am about to show. The hypocrisy of Andrew Dobson. And no, I do not mean the tumblr blog by that. I mean the simple fact, that the content of some of the soon to follow strips gets kinda muddled when you take into consideration some of the things real life Dobson had said and done either at the time or in the years to come. Well that and the way how he tries to mock issues people have with his work, not realizing how he is essentially just reassuring those “silly critics” in their opinions while making his flaws more obvious to people that may have been previously unaware of them.

But enough talk, let me just show you in quick succession examples to confirm said point.

Considering Dobson’s longterm disdain for DnD you have to wonder what the joke really is outside of him portraying DnD players as ugly nerds, supposedly too geeky even for him. Which is hilarious in hindsight as he would years later become a fan of TAZ among other things.

Less hypocritical but the set up is kinda flawed. Like, you are obviously at a convention trying to sell stuff. Why would some old dude not interested in “kids crap” be at the convention anyway? Is he just bringing someone there and just wants to go, but first needs time to belittle your life choices?

Rather hilarious in hindsight to me. Cause for someone claiming he has ideas that last for a life time and who seems rather distraught on the idea of others giving their input, he turned out to be so in need of ideas. Alex ze Pirate e.g. became from 2015 onward only defined by Dobson talking about the sexualities of his characters (and not even in comic as by that point it was discontinued, but rather in tweets and so on). Formera, which ran heavily on cheap shonen anime tropes ended up cancelled after two volumes, Cabin Rest was a failure after 20 strips, 2019 he relied primarily on cheap comics about Miraculous Ladybug and his understanding of certain genres is so bad, he can’t even think up the most basic ideas for a magical girl story.

Weirdly enough, that pitch of a garbage truck driver who fights crime? I think that could make for an enjoyable short story about a vigilante a la the Punisher or Sin-City.

The way Dobson perceives criticism, while also essentially giving a quick rundown how he appreciated criticism in his childhood way better than in adulthood. Yeah, because criticism by your parents as a kid was always VERY constructive. (looks back at certain drawings from own childhood) brrr. And sorry Dobson, but sometimes criticism by strangers is better than criticism from friends. Cause friends may mince their words. Plus people have over time given you quite some insightful criticism aside “U SUX” when it comes to comics. You were just never willing to listen

Hey Dobson, you hear that? That is the sound of your career, dying and no one caring.

Yeah, I think someone who made such “brilliant” comedy as in these comics, totally has the right not to listen to what seems to be solid theoretical advice.

BTW, that Talus comic… I swear to god the worst “joke” Dobson ever told.

Wow. You essentially make a point why you suck at drawing. While still not trying to change.

And as someone else once said: Don’t play with fire if you can’t deal with the heat, BLOCK-son!

This is not how I perceived your shit over the years. See, on one hand it is true that Alex ze Pirate e.g. has its own webpage to read the comic for free. HOWEVER most of his comics Dobson would hide from the start behind a paywall. The idea being that he would e.g. put a small reading sample of 10-15 pages up somewhere and then expect people to buy his comic for full price to get the rest. And you know, if you are e.g. a professionally published writer, that is fine. But when your average art output looks like THIS

And you expect people to pay more than 10 dollars for something that is only around 70 pages long while most people can get 200+ pages for the same amount of money that look like this…

You can frankly go and screw yourself.

On one hand I get that the joke is meant to be, that as an independent content creator you may find yourself in a weird spot where your “child friendly” work may be put in a palace between edgier stuff other creators sell at conventions. On the other hand, I find it rather insulting in hindsight, that self declared feminist Andrew Dobson portrays such competition as either psychopathic murderers or stereotypical cartoon bimbos. If modern day Dobson saw the same strip by any other person, he would be insulted on behalf of the female that she is portrayed as a bimbo, when she could also be a very smart and attractive woman who knows how to tell brave and sexy stories.

Also, I have read your “child friendly” stuff, Dobson. I would call Atea or Alex abusive bitches who like to bully orphans but child friendly? Not to forget that your work is so basic and shallow in depth, it’s like the someone tried to create a chimera out of some of the worst traits associated with Dora the Explorer, 80s toodler cartoons and the Fairly Oddparents.

I frankly hate this theory on comedy. It is true, a lot of comedy can be deprived from conflict, misunderstandings etc. Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry and other cartoons as well as screwball comedies such as Rat Race can depend on it. Heck, one of my favorite comedians of all time is Christopher Titus, who based his entire career on the misery and absurdity of his life.

But comedy is not just defined by misery and conflict.

There are for example also the following theories when it comes to comedy…

And to get back e.g. to Titus, yes, he has build a lot of his comedy on the bad stuff that happened in his life. But he is also someone who in his comedy has build a lot of punchlines on the absurdity of certain situations he has been in life but which in a way have enriched his life positively.

What I am trying to say is, comedy (and entertainment in that regard) does not just have to be defined by misery. And all things considered Dobson, you could have really tried to also just make comics wherein either you or your characters are just happy with their situation in life.

For example, this page from an Owl House fancomic?

I think it holds more entertainment value than your “joke” right here, despite not even telling a joke.

Simply because as a page overall, it tries to convey a positive emotion. Which is more than I can say about the strip.

Because of a lack of different level of thickness regarding your lines, which would trick people into perceiving depth, the fact that the fill bucket and shade layers can only do so much to cover for the rather monochromatic dull nature of your comic, the fact that your characters are not really all that complex and look rather simplicstic even compared to stuff from a comic like this…

And that is just coming from the top of my head as someone who never studied art. If any reader has something to add, I am willing to listen

And considering you could in later years never keep up to any release schedule, which among other things resulted in only three SYAC strips in total being released in 2016, I say go fuck yourself. Not to forget that even some of the worst newspaper comic strips out there tend to actually find a decent following and good jokes eventually, otherwise they would not manage to stay popular for years, if not even decades.

As someone who has worked internships a lot in life, I just want to say fuck you in all our names. Glad to see you having just as much respect for interns than any other scumbag on the planet. Probably even less respect, cause you know, in some places interns tend to get paid.

Also, there is supposedly an entire real world story going on about Dobson having worked at his former university at the time the comic came out and Chaz is based on a fellow intern.

Things are unfortunately rather vague in that regard and only hold up by demonstrative evidence such as the name of Chaz showing up in certain pages of the university and Dobson’s internship being mentioned somewhere.

Well, would you look at that: People have different opinions on your stuff.

There are ways to draw memes funny and then there are ways to fail at them

You failed.

Funnily enough, that comic rings a lot truer to text than you expect. Considering how Dobson would often emulate certain aesthetics in his comics of shows that were rather passee by the time he published his stuff, plus how he will obsess over certain trends and games for years to come (like Skyrim or his Quiet Hate Boner) while also being unaware about current trends (how do you e.g. not have heard of My Hero Academia by 2018 at least once by accident?) Dobson has always been kinda late to the party. Missing the “zeitgeist” of nerd culture and as such never quite finding an audience.

Yeah, what Pam says. Not helped by the fact that yes, the floating eyebrows are real. Look at some earlier sketches or “professionally published” comics by his and you will see that each time characters get excited, their eyebrows will suddenly split into sets of three and float higher than Pennywise’s victims.

Ironically, that fits real life Dobson at the time and later on even more so than this comic version did. Sorry, but what am I supposed to call a person who has an hate boner on anime for years for superfluous reasons, made Danny and Spot a “gaming webcomic” deliberately to piss on non Nintendo fans and has admitted in some by now deleted youtube video, that he kept a list of usernames from an old forum just to remember even years later the people that were mean to him online?

Fuck both of you. I do not expect the Sixtin Chapel in the background, but something to filll up the empty space behind you is at times needed.

The comic here is actually called politics. … ironic how things changed once a certain reality show host turned president.

Jesus Christ. I am not even that much of a Transformers fan (Prime fan for life however) but even I know that this is not supposed to be what you design the head of a Transformer like. Not even if they ever produce the Transformers equivalent of Teen Titans Go.

Too bad you still can’t stand the heat, otherwise you wouldn’t have completely disappeared last year.

When you know you are in a no win situation, and still manage to choose an even dumber option to escape. I really don’t get it. I just think the Portal reference makes the comic dated and Dobsn’s attempt at a smug face looks so stupid. Like his cheeks are falling in and his mouth is about ready to get raped by a garden hose or something.

Yeah, considering Dobson’s later constant need for safe spaces and to be in control of a situation and the narrative, which led to so many blocks over the years… if you know anything about Dobson, how this comic becomes harsher in hindsight is rather self explanatory. I just want to say one thing: There is a difference between genuine agoraphobia and just wanting to be by yourself. And I think Dobson just prefers the later on average. Which is okay, but humans still need to interact with other human beings in one form or another, even just for the sake of keeping their mental health stable. Why do you think are so many people getting depressed in times of covid lockdowns, despite many having all sorts of technical gimmicks at their disposal to at least keep boredom at bay?

And by putting himself into a bubble like that, I think Dobson has deprived himself of some of the most basic human interaction, which was likely a severe factor in his mental degeneration over the last years.

It is still a valid suggestion! Just draw some cartoon characters or a nice fantasy scenario on a mural and earn yourself some bucks. Just be sure they are not by Disney or the Mouse will tear down the school!

… Just google up the words Andrew Dobson and Samus Aran commission by ED and you will see how this comic just further shows how much Dobson seems to actually be proud of being an unproductive asshole.

And by the way, I know that any form of artistic work takes time. Just writing these review posts takes a lot of time for me. But that doesn’t change the fact that people should post and create stuff in a timely fashion, especially when there are e.g. deadlines to hold up too. And by the way, Sloth’s don’t have fingers, they have claws!

And that is it.

Sorry if I missed anything folks, but I just saw how many pages in word this is already filling up, so I call quits for this part here right now. I think I made my point about how Dobson trying to badly deflect arguments people may make against his art and work ethics via jokes clear enough, while also showing some posts that are either harsher or hilarious in hindsight.

Next time we will however address one certain issue about our main character, that has been not directly addressed here. In the meantime, have a little fun video that shows hopefully how entertainment and a certain amount of comedy can be gained NOT via misery.

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#adobsoncomic #Andrew Dobson #Tom Preston #comic #webcomics #syac #so...you are a cartoonist #review #master review

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hypocrisyofandrewdobson · 4 years ago

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Dobson's Patreon: An Addendum to His Monument of Sins

(The following is a submission from @soyouareandrewdobson, meant to be an addendum to the multi-post submission @ripsinfest made a while back. Ironically, this one also had issues when being submitted, so I’ll be copypasting it here with all the images and links originally intended.)

In 2018, user @ripsinfest wrote a multipart series of posts for THOAD, recounting Dobson’s attempt to establish a patreon in 2015 and how it resulted in failure on a massive scale, to the point that his patreon is arguably “a monument to all his sins”.

Personally I think the post series is extremely well researched, rather “neutral” in terms of tone (letting the posts provided as evidence speak more for themselves than the opinion of the writer) and gives a detailed but quick rundown on what went wrong. Primarily that Dobson overestimated his own “value” as an artist and did NOT attempt to give his few supporters what they wanted through his artwork posted around the time.

I do however want to use the opportunity to also point out at certain obvious things that in my opinion (and likely the opinions of others) added to the failure of the patreon account, that were not accounted for in detail and are primarily related to how the internet perceives popularity and Dobson’s inability to understand, how to “sell” and make himself look good to the public.

To begin with, let’s just point out a certain truth about making money via Patreon: To do so, depends a lot on your popularity as a content creator online. That is simply because the more popular you are, the bigger your fanbase is and as such the more likely a certain percentage of people may be willing to donate money to you and your work in hopes they get something out of it, even if it is just the altruistic feeling of having helped someone they “like”. It doesn’t take a genius to see, how e.g. internet reviewers such as Linkara or moviebob (around 2800 and 4400$ earnings via patreon each month respectively) can make quite some money, while other, more obscure content creator or artists barely make money to go by, earning essentially pocket money at best.

In addition, popularity is fleeting. A few years ago e.g. internet personality Noah Antweiler aka The SpoonyOne managed to earn 5000$ a month via patreon, just shortly after establishing his account. But his lack of content over the years AND his toxic behavior online resulted in a decline of popularity and with it people jumping off his Patreon. As such, Antweiler only earns nowadays around 290$ a month via Patreon and most of that money is likely form people who have forgotten they donate to him in the first place anyway.

And Noah is not the only one who over the course of the last couple of years lost earnings. Brianna Wu makes barely more than he does, despite having once been the “darling” of the internet when the Gamergate controversy was at its peak. Many Bronies who once made more than 2k via video reviews on a show about little horses at the peak of its popularity (2013-15) earn less than 300-800 on average nowadays because interest on the show as well as people talking about it has declined.

Heck, in preparation of writing this piece I found out, that one of the highest grossing patreons nowadays is “The last podcast on the left”, a podcast that earns more than 67k a month by making recordings on obscure and macabre subjects on a regular basis.

So there you have it folks: As the interests of the internet users change, so does the popularity of certain people online and -in case they have a patreon account or similar plattforms- their chances of making money via their content.

Which now brings us back to Dobson, who was not popular at all at that particular time and managed to become even less popular as the months and years passed by.

Sure, Dobson had his fans via deviantart, people knew who he was. But the later was more because of “infamy” than popularity and the number of fans he had accumulated online were representing people interested in him at least since 2005 and did not quite represent his actual present day numbers of supporters at the time.

And mind you, the number of supporters was less than 100k, most of them likely underaged deviantart users. And if my research indicates something, then that most content creators with a halfway decent patreon earning need at least 100k+ followers in total. Because of those fans, only around 1-3% will on average then spend money on you, if you actually create content they enjoy and on a regular basis.

Which brings up the next major problem: Dobson did not create content people enjoyed and that in more than one meaning of the word.

On one hand, as pointed out by ripsinfest, he barely released any content at all over 2015 after a few initial months, despite the fact that he was obviously active online a lot, as shown by his presence on twitter. On the other hand, the few things he did create were not the stuff people wanted.

As an example: If you go to a restaurant and pay for a pizza, you expect the cook to give you a pizza. If however for some reason he just gives you a soda, you get ripped off and never come back. In Dobson’s case, the thing people wanted was not pizza but comic pages. But what he delivered was mostly bland fanart, such as of Disney and Marvel characters crossing over or KorraSami. Sure, a few strips of “So…you are a cartoonist” were still released at the time, but not really many.

To give an overview: Taking the release dates on Dobson’s official SYAC site into account, he released around 16 strips of it between March and August of 2015, the last two being “No Leia” being titled “Zip line”

Afterwards, the next official strip released was “Anything at all” in October of 2016.

Now to be fair, there was at least one more strip at the time Dobson released via patreon, that is also save to see on kiwifarms and other plattforms, which has not been uploaded to his official SYAC page. Likely because he simply forgot about it.

But I think that in itself should tell you something about Dobson’s work ethics when it comes to his webcomics. He promoted his patreon in his own video as a way to ensure he can make comics in a timely fashion again for others to enjoy, but in an environment where certain artists are capable to create multiple strips per week at minimum, Dobson could overall not manage to produce more than 16 over a course of six months, which means an average production of 3 strips per month.

For comparison, Tatsuya Ishida of the infamous sinfest webcomic (a garbage fire of epic proportions from a TERF who I think should be put on a watch list) has produced on average 4 strips per week, including full page Sunday strips, for years and nowadays even releases stuff on a daily basis to pass the covid crisis. So a mad man who wants to see trnas people die, has better work ethics than Dobson.

In other words, people expected Dobson to actually get back into creating comics (with some even expecting a return of Alex ze Pirate), but he got in fact even lazier than before, releasing only SYAC strips and random fanart as a product. Which he then also tried to justify as his choice to make because a) he had mental health issues and b) no one can tell him what to do.

And sure, people do not need to tell you what to do. But when people pay/donate money to you expecting to get a certain product in return, they should get the product. Linkara e.g. by all means doesn’t NEED to review comics to have a fullfilling life, but he got famous for his reviews, people want to see his reviews and they pay him for those reviews. So obviously, he will continue those things.

Then there is also the fact that despite Dobson’s claims how he wants to create comics for everone to enjoy and that he aims to keep his artwork online for free so anyone can view it…(his exact words in his promotional video AND text on his patreon once upon a time)

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…the reality was, that he wanted to use patreon as a paywall. Something I actually kinda pointed out at on my own account (shameless self promotion) once, but want now to elaborate a bit. Basically at the time Dobson opened up his patreon, he also was on the verge of leaving deviantart as a platform people could look at his work behind. Which he eventually did.

Meaning that the only major platforms for people to watch any “new” stuff by him were his patreon or art sites such as the SYAC homepage or andysartwork. Which granted, he did EVENTUALLY put his stuff on.

But unlike other content creators who would put “patreon exclusive” new content up on more public plattforms often within a few days, weeks or a month after making them “patreon only” at first, Dobson waited longer and did barely anything to promote his sites as places to look his stuff up for a public audience. In doing so creating a “bubble” for himself that hurt him more than it helped, as Dobson made himself essentially come off as a snob.

A snob who did not create content for everybody to enjoy, but ONLY for those willing to pay him at least one dollar per month. As evident e.g. by the fact that as time went by, certain content was never released outside of his patreon at all, such as a SYAC strip involving Dobbear screaming at the computer because he saw a piece of art that featured tumblr nose.

Lastly, there is the issue of his patreon perks and stretch goals.

See, his perks were essentially non existent. Aside of the beggars reward of “my eternal thank you if you donate 1 dollar”, two other perks that come to my mind were the following: If you donated up to 5$ at minimum, you got your name thrown into a lottery to potentially win buttons and postcards of his artwork. Unsold cheap merch from years prior he failed to sell at conventions basically. There was just a problem with that thing: That lottery thing, which he also was only going to initiate when he reached a stretch goal of 150 dollar a month? It was illegal!

Patreon itself has in their user agreement a rule that forbids people from offering perks that essentially boil down to “earning” something via gambling, which this lottery by Dobson was.

(THOAD chiming in here to add that, in addition to all this, he fully admitted he would be excluding Patrons that he “knew were clearly trolls” from the lottery. Which made the already illegal lottery also fixed, so...yeah.)

The next thing coming to mind was his “discount” on previous books of his he offered online, if you donated at least 10 bucks per month to him. Or to translate it: You would get a bare minimum discount at pdf files of books such as Alex ze Pirate and Formera (you know, the permanently cancelled Dobson comics) if you paid up 50-75% of their original price on Patreon already. And considering the quality of his early works, he should have given you at least a book per month for free if you dared to donate him that much.

As for the stretch goals… lets go through them, shall we:

100$: A wallpaper per month. Something he did provide with eventually, but barely. And after less than five of those he stopped to make them overall

150$: Monthly Gift basket Lottery, which as I stated, was illegal and almost got him into serious trouble with his account. Also not an initial stretch goal he made up but instead came up with a few months into his accounts existence. Finally it got temporarily replaced by Dobson playing with the idea to use 150$ per month to open up a server and art site where people could upload stuff for free similar to deviantart, but under his administration. Promising a “safe space” for other artists. Which considering Dobson’s ego and inability to accept criticism or delegate responsibilities would have likely ended like this:

175$: Establishing a Minecraft server for him and his fans to play on. Meaning Dobson would have just wasted time he could spend on creating comics to endulge in his Minecraft obsession.

200$: Writing a Skyrim children book. Aside of the legal nightmare that this could have been (I doubt Valve would have been happy of someone else profiting of their property) I have to ask, who was even interested in Skyrim by 2015 anymore? Sure, Skyrim was a popular game and it had its qualities, but it was also a trend that had passed by that time. So in other words, there was not a market to cater towards here.

300$: A strip per week guaranteed.

… are you fucking kidding me? 75$ per strip essentially? Something people expect you to produce anyway if you want to be considered a “prolific” creator worth supporting online? Imagine if certain internet reviewers would do that, telling you that if they do not earn at least a certain amount of money, they will not produce anything, period, or less than usual. And Dobson had already proven that he can release more than just one comic within a few days, if he is motivated by enough spite.

600$: Starting a podcast with his friends to talk about nerd culture. In my opinion could only work under the assumption that people even like the idea of listening to Dobson and his opinions. Which considering how very little people like talking to him sounds doubtful. Also, considering how Dobson tends to be late to the party when it comes to nerd culture, likely tending to be out of date faster than he could upload. Finally... what friends?

700$: Returning the love, as he says it, by donating some of the money patreon users gave him to other content creators. This in my opinion is the most self defeating cause possible. On one hand sure, being generous and all that. But essentially Dobson admits here he would blow the money people give him to support HIS art on others, essentially defeating the purpose of HIS own account. He also does not clarify how much of that money he would donate, meaning there was a high chance that he would spend less than 10% of it on other creators, only creating the illusion of support while putting the actual earnings/donations into his own pocket.

2000$: A massive jump ahead. 2000$ per month would result in him getting better equipment (as in a new computer e.g.) and as such “potentially” make more comics. Mind you, only potentially.

This goal in my opinion is also the most fucked up one. Primarily for the following reasons:

Lets say Dobson would have achieved the goal and actually earned over 2000$ per month for at least a year. His annual earning would have been 24k, minus whatever he had to pay as taxes and payment for using the patreon service. And what would he do with this money? Get himself a better computer and equipment by paying a minor fraction of it once. Then he could use that computer for years to come while still having over 10k in his account, plus his monthly earnings. And he may still just produce 3-4 comics a month of a series that has as much depth to it than Peppa Pig if not less.

Sure, many patreon users have 2k+ as a stretch goal on their accounts to signify that if they could make that much monthly, they could have the necessary financial security to focus their time primarily on their content instead of a regular job. And if the content they create is actually well made, many people would support that or be okay with it.

But 2000 dollars to buy ONE computer and not account for how this money will add up over time? And that in light of such profits people may actually expect you to create more than you barely do already? That is either a case of narcissism, plain stupidity because you can't look further than 5 feet or just shows how Dobson did not understand at all the tool he had at his disposal.

Bottom line: Dobson, like many times before, fucked it up. He overestimated the potential support and resulting profits he could make, he expected that his name alone would be enough to assure gainings instead of creating content to justify support and he was unwilling to really give his supporters anything worthwhile back.

And while I am sure that there were also many other factors guaranteeing his failure, those at least to me, were his "common" mistakes most other people familiar even with the basics of internet popularity would ahve avoided.

#long post #patreon #syac #submission #very long post #andrew dobson #adobsonartworks #tom preston #adobsonart #soyouareandrewdobson #ripsinfest

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maiassensibleblog · 4 years ago

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Dear theatre people, this is what I mean when I say theatre is elitist...

(All views expressed are my opinion).

I’ve been considering whether now is the right time to post this but when theatre comes back (which it will, it must), it cannot look how it looked before. I love theatre with all my heart, it is the part of my life that heals the most. But the industry drives me crazy.

I want to address the questions: Why don’t people go to the theatre? And why don’t people care about theatre? My perspective is from a West End theatre goer who is working class, not white and not straight. I am not involved in making theatre and do not desire to be involved.

To answer this huge question, I’d like to start with two definitions:

Elitist: Relating to or supporting the view that a society or system should be led by an elite.

Inaccessible: Unable to be reached.

I often see people asking “why don’t people go to the theatre?” with only responses related to accessibility. When we talk about accessibility, we need to consider barriers such as ticket prices, geographical location and ableism. An awful lot of people are not stopped by accessibility, but they do not go to the theatre. Why? Theatre is elitist.

Elitism is the feeling that you do not belong in a space because the people who are there are different from you and often appear to think they are better than you. In my opinion, this is the reason that the general public do not care about theatre. Elitism is built into the theatre world and this has only been highlighted recently through the BLM movement (I don’t need to go into this here, you’ve all seen it).

From a personal perspective, I’m privileged to have been going to the theatre since I was tiny. We didn’t have a lot of money but my mum was really good at finding deals on tickets and I grew to love theatre more and more as I grew up. I go around once a week and see a lot of off West-end stuff. I, a seasoned theatregoer, feel elitism every time I go to the theatre. I will elaborate on these in the sub-topics below but I wanted to point out that I am somebody who is relatively confident around the elitist feeling, imagine if you aren’t. You just wouldn’t bother and that is what we’re seeing.

Tickets

The first thing I would like to discuss may seem to sit between accessibility and elitism but getting affordable tickets sits in with elitism in my opinion. I am often asked how I can afford to go to the theatre so often and my answer is always I know where to look. Why do theatres feel that it is acceptable to hide their cheap seats? The only thing that is achieved here is keeping theatre for those who know where to look.

If you have not be brought up around theatre folk, you don’t know that day seats exist. Even when theatres advertise and say something like “£15 day seats available”, people who do not know anything about theatre will not have a clue what that means. They won’t know the difference between a digital lottery and a regular in-person day seat, they won’t know how to press buy now just at the right time on TodayTix to get a rush ticket. Having cheaper options does improve accessibility but the way it has been done doesn’t serve to reduce elitism.

Put yourself in the shoes of somebody who has never been to the theatre before. They see a poster for a musical that looks amazing, they google it, they see decent seats for £100+. They decide to go for the £30 option in the Gods. They feel ripped off and don’t bother again OR they know that those are crap seats and don’t bother at all. There is nowhere on that main booking page that mentions cheaper, good seats. That is telling people that they only deserve good seats if they’re rich. That is elitist.

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My next two points spill into each other, but they are not the same thing. What do you think of when you think of somebody who goes to the theatre. We all just thought of the same old, white couple. They tut at young people who talk at interval? Yeah we all know the type. It’s amazing that these people, who usually have disposable income, go to the theatre and spend money there but they are coming anyway. Why are you therefore using them to advertise?

Some theatres do this amazingly (Bush, Soho, Young Vic, loves) but most don’t. Some shows have gone too far (looking at you Heathers West End transfer) but think: What is the demographic that you think would want to come, but isn’t? If you’re trying to attract non-theatre goers, they have to see themselves in those who are recommending it.

Obviously, some known reviewers have to be included to keep the regulars in but theatres must start including a wider range of reviewers, they must be open to criticism from young people, queer people, Black people... Then, they must show the faces of these reviewers in their advertising, they must include their views using their vocabulary. And once you get these voices (and start respecting them), theatres must start taking these views into account. A mainstream producer actually listening (and properly listening) to the views of not the mainstream critics? That is revolutionary. That’s showing you’re willing to change.

Etiquette

This is the big one. Theatre etiquette is elitist. I’m sure many people know what I mean by this: Hushed tones even when the show isn’t on and you’re in the bar, FOH using theatre-y vocabulary to usher people places (even things like “the house is open” mean nothing to people who aren’t in theatre), expected restraint to reactions towards what’s happening on stage. I’ve never been to a theatre that doesn’t use vocabulary that would be alienating to non-theatregoers. Only a few theatres don’t have that feeling of “we’re better than you” hanging in the air.

I have been told that I do not match up to people’s ideas of expected theatre etiquette twice outside of fandom things. I remember them both. Once, I was laughing at funny moments during a funny play. The second time I was talking to my friends excitedly at interval and had some older theatre-goers tut and ask us to be quiet (hun, it’s the interval). As I mentioned, I go to the theatre all the time, I generally conform (even when I hate it). Imagine how you’d feel if you didn’t know the nonsense rules.

The solution? Dismantle the rules.

People dismiss panto because is does this and it’s the least elitist theatre out there. Stop getting on your high horse about people openly enjoying themselves. And to those panicking, very few people are actually going to chat their way through a whole show they’ve paid money for.

We need more relaxed performances. We need more for disabled people but we also need more for young people, where they can react to what’s going on during the show and whisper to each other about it.

We need more sing-a-longs. Musicals can create an amazing fandom this way. Six is doing an amazing job because they’ve fostered this environment. Imagine a Hamilton sing-a-long. Just sit in that for a moment. Imagine a person who had never been to the theatre before and has heard a few songs of the soundtrack getting the feeling of a gig from the theatre. It’s powerful and it needs to happen.

Shakespeare

Nothing exhibits the elitism of theatre more than Shakespeare. The sheer prevalence of it. And, I’m going to say it: Nobody fully understands what’s going on.

Why, as an industry, are you all so obsessed with a sexist, racist, homophobe who died in the 1600′s? People alive today are writing plays about stories that people want to hear, in a language that people can understand. Commission them.

That is all on that.

Secrecy

There’s certainly something to be said about keeping the magic of theatre alive by keeping tricks a secret. I totally appreciate and love that about this art medium. You watch things happening in real time that look like magic and it’s beautiful.

However, the secrecy around productions has gone too far. Why are full on HQ recordings of shows being filmed for them never to see the light of day? I have seen the argument that people will not feel the need to watch the show if they have seen a recording but I have only seen that argument from people who work in theatre. Listen to the people who just go to the theatre. I don’t know what I can actually say to convince the industry of this, but theatre people will still come because there’s nothing like live theatre.

What you will do by releasing a good recording is open the show to the masses (and make money from it). You will essentially be building a fandom. People can watch football on TV but choose to pay for a ticket to go watch live because it is a different experience. People can listen to a band but choose to pay for a ticket to go to a concert because it is a different experience. It is the same thing. You honestly need to get over this because I think this is a massive reason why this elitism still exists.

Also why not release HQ footage even as a trailer? Stick it on YouTube for free, get ad revenue and advertise.

These are just a few things that need to be taken into consideration when theatres re-open. Theatre must come back better and stronger than it was before and it must get more people in the room. The people will need art.

This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal. - Toni Morrison

#theatre #theatre culture #west end #broadway #elitism #opinion

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edorazzi · 6 years ago

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Well, here we are again! Twitter said yes to a review post for a Miraculous magazine that suddenly showed up in my local area. ‘Tis the season after all, and by that I mean someone bought it for me as a joke birthday gift and I was way too happy about that.

I’ve done previous reviews of the Miraculous Christmas calendar, Easter egg set, superhero fashion dolls and action figures, so let’s dive into the unknown world of merchandising yet again!

(As always, if you enjoy my posts, please consider checking out my Twitter page or supporting me on Patreon for lots of bonus content!)

4 FREE GIFTS! PACKED WITH ACTIVITIES! MEET THE KWAMIS! PRANKS & LOLS! CUT-OUT MEMES! FANGIRL ALERT! NAIL ART! 100% OFFICIAL! I’m overwhelmed! It feels like I’m having a seizure just from the packaging!!!

I should preface this by saying I haven’t bought a magazine like this in years. Possibly ever. I read things like the Beano, Animals & You and the odd Disney Princess zine when I was a kid but I have no idea what to expect from a free-gift-packed kiddie magazine in 2019. If the outside is anything to go by we’re in for a wild ride.

I’m noticing that it says “Miraculous #20″ on the back. Does this mean I’ve missed 19 previous issues? I’m genuinely a little upset by that. My local area is a complete dry zone for Miraculous so I haven’t had the chance to pick these up.

First step: let’s separate everything out and get a look at these freeeee giftssss. Except they aren’t free, because this magazine was like £3.99. This does seem to be the current trend - it’s kinda rare to see any kids’ zines without the excess packaging crammed with ‘free’ stuff. Is it really too expensive to just produce the magazine? Probably, in this economy.

Chat Noir is revealed on the cover! He was on the back of the plastic jacket, but it’s still nice to see the kids as a front-cover duo. Apparently we’re going to learn to draw Pollen, too, which sounds fun. I’m actually liking the look of the gifts as well, but we’ll get into those in a minute.

This hairbrush............. is adorable. Oh my god. It’s pretty cheap and flimsy but it functions the way it’s supposed to, and the Ladybug design has been taken into account in a better way than “it’s red/black, that counts” (lest we forget the UTTER BULLSHIT of the Christmas calendar, and YES I’m still mad about that). I don’t know how well I expect the outer sticker to last, but if it can take a bit of wear and tear this would be an adorable little travel brush. Nicely done, lads!

These nail stickers? Also adorable. They remind me of the kiddie makeup sets I had when I was little, back in the early 00s when plastic stick-on nails and decals were all the rage. Are they still a thing? That’s nice to know.

There are 13 designs (that I can count) - a Queen Bee mask, Chat Noir pawprint cake, macaron, cupcake, heart-print cookie, Ladybug stud, flower, lightning bolt, love heart, Marinette heart, bee, fox tail and star. The majority are directly related to the show and that makes them feel special. No Carapace though? :(

I’ve put a little Marinette heart on my furthest finger. At the time of typing this up (about a day later) it’s still firmly in place. I haven’t really knocked it around, granted, but it’s not flimsy enough to fall off after five minutes either. It’s also really cute to look at. Guess I’m still a decal-loving 2004 girl at heart......

These stickers though!!! Wow! They’re those holographic and slightly-puffy kind and they feel like pretty good quality, and the designs are so cute! I can’t fault these, they’re absolutely adorable. I immediately want to stick them everywhere.

So I’ve stuck them everywhere. I’m especially proud of the light switch pun. My room looks GREAT.

I saved these “mystery stickers” for last because I’m weak for the thrill of mystery bags, and there wasn’t anything on the packaging to indicate what kind of designs to expect. And OH!!!! OH, IT’S MY BOY!!!! Look at him!!!!

I made jokes with the Christmas calendar about all the Chat Noir items being stolen ahead of time, but that’s definitely NOT the case with this magazine. I have been SPOILED with the presence of my cat son.

These stickers are similar to the sticker sheet (and the Chillin’ Out design is reprinted), but they’re puffier and non-holographic. I’m deeply allured by the “decorate your phone or tablet” suggestion on the packet, but I’m going to see how the previous stickers withstand the wear-and-tear of my laptop lid before adding any more. If I damage these beautiful Adrien stickers I’ll be devastated.

Those are our free gifts! They’re actually very fun and cute, I’m really happy with them! I guess now it’s time to get into the magazine itself...........

I genuinely almost forgot the magazine was the main part of this package. I figured I was done, but we’ve barely even started! Here’s a splash page of the kwami. Kwami with a capital K? Kwamis? I still feel like it should be singular-lower-case-k-kwami. I’ve never been happy about this “miraculouses” business either.

But is that--

It IS!!!! It’s Nino!!!

I guess this is the new flavour of Miraculous tie-ins. Now they’ve broadened out to a full team we’re seeing a lot more of Adrien alongside the girls, and Nino is the elusive hero who shows up once in a blue moon. At least this time his name isn’t in the title of the gotdam show.......

Anyway, I can see I’m supposed to draw my “fave Kwami”. Better get to it.

Felix just wants a break. Just one break. But not in this magazine.

Speaking of seeing more of Adrien (and, tragically, less of Nino), this is the kind of splash page I want to see! Both kids are here! The banner themed with Marinette’s signature flowers is a nice touch too; that’s associated with her arts ‘n’ crafts in the show already and it makes sense to apply it to the creative portion of this magazine too.

I LOVE the promotion of Chat Noir nails as something the little girls buying this magazine will definitely want to try. I’d expect them to do Marinette vs Ladybug nails, but instead we get a boyish option! Hell yeah!

I’m a little confused by the Queen Bee masks apparently going on the Chat Noir nails though. I guess they’re friends? Is this secret AdriChlo confirmation? Watch out, Marinette, Kagami’s not the one to be worried about.

SURE WOULD BE NICE TO HAVE SOME TURTLE STICKERS FOR AN ALL-BOYS THEME BUT I GUESS NOT HUH

Next up is a short merch catalogue (why would you put the big bold arrow pointing right to the underoos.....). Would those Chat Noir socks come in my size? Asking for me.

Then there’s......... this page. FANGIRL ALERT. God. It’s like the Ladyblog, if only the Ladyblog ever gave a heck about reporting what Chat Noir’s up to.

THE SPELL WAS BROKEN AND THE FANDOM IMPLODED WITH JOY.

I really have to wonder what age range this is meant for. Do kids know what a “fandom” is? Do little girls consider themselves “fangirls”? I guess most kids have enough internet access to figure it out these days (all the hashtags and LOLs and memes speak volumes), but I can’t imagine being young enough to fit the target range of this magazine while also knowing these terms. I dunno.

(Also, the definition of ‘implosion’ is ‘an instance of something collapsing violently inwards’, so I’m not sure that’s the word they’re looking for. Unless the return to the status quo in Dark Cupid and the continuing stagnation of the love square was enough to make people quit in frustration? Probably.)

I’m filling it in, of course. Because I must.

I gave up on the pre-approved ratings system pretty much right away, but I think this is an accurate rating of my LadyNoir opinions.

I might be kinda cynical about it here, but I am actually pretty fond of how this magazine sells Ladybug and Chat Noir as a couple. The show’s portraying it as very onesided lately, with Chat pining over Ladybug who has absolutely no interest in him (Glaciator was a TERRIBLE episode and I’m still hurting from it), but reading this zine I’d guess they were already dating. It’s cheesy, but in a nice way.

I have to laugh at “the most amazing thing about this super duo is that they always look out for and protect each other” though. Chat’s usually pretty focused on LB, sure, but there are endless instances of LB using Chat as cannon fodder and just generally abandoning him to get mauled by akuma while she carries out her personal private plan to save the day. Maybe we’re just focusing on the better-written episodes, huh?

Moving ahead. I’ve been dreading this page since reading “Plaggs Pranks & LOLs” on the back of the packaging. I feel hatred in my very bones just looking at it.

I like that there’s ONE instance of the term “ladybird” in the joke column. This is a UK-based magazine and that IS the word we tend to use over here - “ladybug” is an Americanism - but it’s like they’re worried kids could have got to the middle of this magazine about a superhero named Ladybug and then not understand the bug jokes. Maybe whoever was writing this page slipped up?

OH NOOOOO. MARINETTE, NOOOOOOOOOO.

THIS IS WHY FELIX GOT RID OF YOU, PLAGG. THESE ARE ADRIEN’S PROBLEMS NOW.

(mmm whatcha saaaaay)

I mean........... YEAH, I guess, but we absolutely did see Plagg destroy Felix with an entire shelf of heavy books. I guess he’s nicer with Adrien. It’s all fun and games until someone has a nervous breakdown in the library.

I do love the concept of Tikki getting glitter-bombed by Plagg through the mail. She just curiously opens up the little letter which got slipped into Marinette’s purse, and-- WOOSH. One entire wall of Mari’s room is glittery except for a little Tikki-shaped silhouette.

Next up is a two-page comic which is absolutely adorable! Look at those little chibis! The warm and soft colour palette! This is nicer than most of the official Miraculous comic book art I’ve seen, I hope they keep giving this artist work.

Nino’s here too (and he looks great!), and I like the touch of Marinette and Adrien playing as each other’s superhero characters. Adrien even wins the match, though I guess there’s something to be said about Ladybug beating Chat Noir (again)......

It does raise the question yet again of where this tie-in merchandise is coming from! They’ve had action figures, a movie, music video features, now an arcade game... Who’s getting the royalties here? Who’s profiting? Is this how Fu can afford to buy all those rare ingredients for the magic potions?

Over the page we have an activity to Design your Secret Lair! Right away I love the Marinette theme of the page, the soft pink and flowers, and the drawing space looking like a page in a binder with marker tabs and everything.

I have to design my secret lair, of course:

What do you think? I’m very creative. I’ll need an adult to send in the drawing of my hideout but I think I’ve really got a shot at those unicorn headphones.

Now we’re on to puzzles and character pages. I don’t know what ol’ Gabe is doing trying to meet a 13 year old girl in the dead of night without telling anyone, you’d think if he’s got that much free time on his hands he could be spending it with his son.

I don’t know how those points in Ladybug’s power profile are awarded or what they mean, but you can tell this is a fan magazine. Official sources would have put her at a 10.

Standard House of Villains page! Most of these were good episodes but I’m deeply offended Riposte isn’t on here. Maybe her motives weren’t dramatic and cartoonish enough to be up in the ranks with Glaciator and Gorizilla?

“Cat Noir’s dad is also the evil Hawk Moth”, huh? I mean that’s not WRONG, but is it really something to put in his power profile when Adrien doesn’t even know yet??? Feels like we’re kinda jumping the gun on the poor boy. What if he picks up this magazine?

Apparently he’s one point weaker than Ladybug (seriously???), two points faster, equally as agile, one point less skilled and two points less cool. Despite all those lesses he still comes out at an equal 9, which is a relief! These kids are a team, putting either of them below the other would have been a big no.

I did the colouring page too, naturally. Je suis un artiste.

Now we’ve got a page fresh from the Ladyblog, a Miraculous quiz! Not a lot of excitement, but it’s nice to see Alya getting her own section.

I like that the qualifications of “you could be Ladybug herself!” are knowing what city Marinette lives in and what school she goes to. Well done, Mari! You’re doing your best!!!

TEACHER I AM SO HUNGRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

I gotta say, I’m not so sure about decorating donuts with fondant. I’ve never tried it so I could be wrong, but it feels like rolled icing instead of frosting(?) would be too heavy for an entire donut. The texture is totally different.

I mean I guess if you’re going to load your kids up on sugar you might as well go all the way. They’re going to look like they’ve eaten something horrible with all that black fondant, but they’ll have fun. Adrien would love these.

WHERE’S NINO. THIS IS JUST UNFAIR. You’ll have four out of five heroes, then a double of Marinette and Tikki? Maybe this just goes to show how little memorable dialogue Carapace has.

Though if “Spots On!” is Marinette’s dialogue and not Ladybug’s, why are the other transformation phrases attributed to Rena Rouge and Queen Bee instead of Alya and Chloé? Surely they could have picked something better for Marinette to justify having her on this list twice instead of Nino.

The next page brings us one of those flowchart quizzes! And ouch, yet again the absence of the other heroes is obvious. I can understand not including Chloé here since she’s technically not a “friendly” character yet, but no Nino? Alya and Marinette are close friends, but Adrien doesn’t really hang out with them without Nino around. Having the three of them together just seems strange.

I do like the little fashion page! They’re all cute and affordable and easy to find on the high street here. I’d love to see how other issues of this magazine are structured; is there a different fashion spot every time? Styles to channel each individual hero would be adorable.

Moving on to a tutorial for a Ladybug notebook! I would have made this, but I didn’t have the time nor a notebook to stick it to.

Between this and the donuts, it seems weird that these designs are based on, like... an actual beetle, eyes and antennae and all. Shouldn’t it be Ladybug’s symbol? These come across more like “fun animals” arts ‘n’ crafts instead of themed after Miraculous specifically. I think if I made this (or decorated the donuts) I’d miss out the head and match the spot pattern to Ladybug’s symbol.

The hidden message design is adorable though. I can see this being a craft kids are super proud of.

Another activity page! I didn’t have a go at these but they’re pretty standard. It’s cute that the coded message designs are the same as the stickers and nail decals!

Also, apparently Ladybug’s ‘secret’ is “LB mask + heart + CN mask”, which was (somehow) stolen by Volpina. Is that the secret Hawk Moth was talking about earlier in the magazine? Is he blackmailing Ladybug with revealing she has a crush on Chat Noir? How did Volpina ‘steal’ this secret? Is LadyNoir finally reciprocated???? THIS IS A WHOLE EPISODE IN ITSELF, I NEED ANSWERS--

Next page we have an ad for another girly magazine (Quizzes! LOLs! Celebs! Cringes! Puzzles!). I think I’ll pass, no matter how appealing that giant microphone pen is.

And a “Miraculous Identity” quiz! Tikki’s apparently super fickle with her wielders, three seasons of relentlessly praising Marinette and now she’s telling us we’re the Chosen Ones. You can’t fool me with those big ol’ eyes.

My inner superhero is Marvellous Fox, by the way. Though yet again I’m noticing we don’t have turtle options...................

And on the back cover... the memes. Oh, sweet lord, the memes. They’re hashtag-SoRelatable! And I can cut them out to keep! Oh boy!!!

Is this what kids do when they have limited internet access? Cut fresh memes out of magazines and carry them around? I need to know.

That’s a very sinister Ladybug at the bottom of the page though. What’s-- What’s she going to do to me if I don’t cut out and keep these memes. Ladybug what are you going to do if I d--

Well that brings us to the end of the magazine! And yet again I’m surprised by how much time it takes to just put a bunch of photos together and write about them.

This is a neat little magazine all in all! The ‘free gifts’ are pretty nice, there’s a fair amount of content and the whole thing is pretty cute for young fans of the show. I could see myself buying this again - if it ever shows up on shelves, Miraculous is so scarce around here that I fully expect it to disappear again after this one issue - just for the free junk, but it would be interesting to see how they’d structure different issues too!

I notice we never did get that promised tutorial on how to draw Pollen; the one advertised on the cover. Was the “draw your favourite Kwami” activity supposed to cover that? I’m not sure that really counts.

If you got this far, thanks for joining me on this Miraculous journey! We’ll meet again whenever I get another piece of weird ML merch to cover. Bien joué!

#miraculous ladybug #josie talks about things #josie's art #i really should get a review tag #ANYWAY there's a bit more art in this which isn't just the header image so give it a look!#and felix features a couple of times because WHY would he not on edorazzi dot com

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xexilia · 5 years ago

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I notice when you do your comics, it applies a certain level of toner. I ended up deciding on the route of using paint brush india ink, and charcoal for toner instead. Does this aesthetic difference change the marketability of graphic novel, compared to just using toner? In the context of the prologue in this web comic, it is used to denote a fog atmosphere. In the upcoming chapter, I might use it for graveyard fog.

I think first I need to establish that what you mean by “toner” is “shading”?

I do use tones, but tonER is the stuff used in and by physical printers. Print tones refer to the dots, lines, etc. that are present in the majority of my work and that Roy Lichtenstein emulated in his paintings. Tones are dots because that’s how printers print; Thousands of dots. The closer together, the more solid the shade or color is. I’m not trying to correct you on terms, but knowing this difference will help you later because I promise, if you buy toner online and expect to get tones, you’ll be disappointed by what arrives in the mail!

So, I think you’re falling into a common trap webcomic artists make in the beginning, which is focusing on the wrong parts of the project. You asked me if this changes marketability; But you didn’t tell me:

What medium do you want to publish in? Do you want to ONLY have your comics online, or do you want to print them?

Who is your target audience and age group?

Do you want to sell or profit off your webcomic?

The first question is important because far too often, webcomic artists design for the web/screens first, foremost, and only; Later, they decide to print a book, and this is when all hell breaks loose. Lots of media (Charcole, watercolors, etc.—media is the art term for materials) can look both better OR WORSE on a screen—this is where technology comes into play, like the scanner you have, the DPI (dots per inch) its able to scan things in at, and the size of scannable area. A lot of my favorite media and mediums (I like pencil on paper), are really delicate drawings—and like a lot of artists who favor these materials, scanners just never seem to do them justice. Lots of fine artists I talk to admit that they feel their work looks best in person, and no matter how high the quality scanner, small, delicate details get lost. Part of it can be a cheap scanner, the wrong DPI setting, but the other part can be the wrong medium (That’s the term for things like canvas or paper), or the wrong SIZE medium.

Size matters; Both in terms of the scanner surface area AND the size of your medium. A lot of people (And I did this myself for a lot of the first book), work on standard size paper—8.5 by 11 inches; But professional artists, print or not, are always better off to work at a LARGER size than the end result will be. When I printed my book, I didn’t come out too terribly for the size I worked in, because manga book page sizes are smaller than their American counter parts. I also knew I planned to print from the first page onward, so everything was designed for print first and web second—this is much easier and less time consuming to do than the reverse, because a lot of print errors can occur that don’t appear on screens—and literally can’t—and can take hours, days, weeks or more to fix, depending on how bad and common the issue is and how many of your pages have this problem. A big one is called moire, which DOES NOT show up on screens; This happens when an artist applies on tone directly over another. Because most of us work digitally these days, it’s even easier for artists to start doing this and not realize the consequence until you print a book. . .and discover all places where tones overlap create this weird square pattern within them—which is called moire. This is why it’s critical to use separate tones for different shades and such, because unlike solid color printing, you cannot overlay tones like you would layers in Photoshop or other such programs. Ignore this at your peril!

My first suggestion before you go to far is; Of you want to ever, EVER print this, print out a copy of a page at home. Even if you’re happy with it, consider how you may be printing or mass producing these things; If you’re going to make them via a copier at Kinko’s, take a page down to a copier at Kinko’s and see what quality you get. If you don’t like it at full size to the ratio you worked in (In other words, printing on the same size paper you created it on), you can get some improvement by using smaller pages—but going UP in page size will cause quality to drop. I now work on paper—digital or not—that’s always 11 by 17 inches AT LEAST. For anything I make, I try to work in a size 3 to 4 times larger than the end result will be.

When I first began, I made my comics with a copier at Kinko’s, and discovered while my ink wash method looked good, it looked better with color printing; Color printing is ALWAYS more expensive, hence why when digital comic creation tools (Like Clip Studio) got invented, I was an instant convert! It saved a lot of time and money (Tones and such are all expensive), the environment (No trees died for my drawings), effort (Tones are REALLY tricky to work with by hand), and it’s no wonder that manga artists now are nearly ALL working digitally.

Also, for the disabled (Like me), digital allows us to work from beds, at home, etc. instead of in front of a desk, all hunched over. I don’t accidentally smudge ink, my cat doesn’t drink my ink (Yes, it’s a thing cats do!), and if I mess up, the power of Undo/Redo/Copy/Paste/Transform CANNOT be understated. I’ve mentioned it before, but I believe in working smarter, NOT harder. This is why I draw out a lot of backgrounds (Which you can’t see on the free copies online, but you can if you buy a physical copy or the Amazon eBook), separately, and I can just drag and drop them around as I need. That way, I can focus on drawing the characters and not on drawing a giant cathedral for every damn appearance it makes or scene change I do.

As for marketability; A lot of this depends on your target audience and age group. Even so, people tend to grow to like something even if it may be atypical of the general stuff they like. I’m generally not a fan of shoujo-ai—but many of my favorite anime and manga ARE in this genre! Turns out, if the story is good, I don’t care about the sexuality of the characters!

A lot of people expect or want color comics these days though, which is odd to me, since the manga produced in Japan is in black and white (Color printing is expensive—even for a major publishing company!) People still read it, and those who expect an artist to make a free webcomic with color pages and update several times a week or month aren’t aware of the time, effort, or consequences. Generally; No, they will NOT buy a book they’ve read for free online (As much as people love to say to support us creators, they rarely actually do), and they damn sure won’t pay for the extra cost of color printing. If you want to see the difference, check out Ka-Blam comic printers and do a price comparison between printing pages in color versus black and white.

Yes, there are people who do a Kickstarter and such and get these funds up front; They are exceptions, not the rules. Consider them—and most artists who make comics or art they make of their own choosing (Not commissions, but only originals), the same as you might someone who plays a sport and decides that they are GOING to play professionally for some orginazation or team—which is, they are counting on being in this LESS THAN 1% of their field. Yes, some people pull it off; The vast majority don’t—and skill isn’t the biggest factor in the end. Just like an athlete with all the promise in the world can have their career ended before it’s begun by an injury that never heals right, art itself is a career path with MANY hidden pitfalls and problems—and health is a major one. Too many of us don’t eat right, don’t exercise our bodies and minds, and so on; It adds up. I personally really recommend a diet with a caloric/carb intake ratio that works within your activity levels; In other words, if you’re determined not to work out (Which—don’t make this mistake), you can’t eat as much as you’d like—not only will you gain weight, but it impacts your health health, your blood sugar—it can be a recipe for an early, but preventable, grave or a LOT of suffering that could be avoided. I try to jog at least two miles a day, meditate daily, and really put my health as the main focus in my life—even before my art. I can’t draw anything or write more stories if I’m dead, after all, and I can’t produce my best work if I’m not in the best condition I can manage. With an autoimmune disease, there’s only so much I can do or control and I’m often still very sick and in a lot of pain; But I still do all I can to run or walk two miles—at least, and even if it takes me an hour or more—and to keep my heart rate at 120 beats per min. when I do. There’s a lot of days where this is about the ONLY thing I can manage and where my pain is so bad I cry and cry—because right now I don’t have a lot of means of relief; This doesn’t happen to everyone, but it means that health—no matter what you do in life—can make or break you at times. Audiences aren’t always understanding of these circumstances and yes, ones career can dry up as a result. Just because someone manages to play for the sports team of their dreams doesn’t mean their health can’t or won’t turn on them, or a serious injury will end their career; We do not live in a world where people will continue to support you because of a series of or singular unfortunate event.

This brings me to the last point, which is if you plan to sell or profit off your work; We all want to, but often making sales can come at the cost of producing something that we, as the creators, really love or are passionate about. I decided from the jump that, while profiting was nice, I’d much rather make the title I wanted to make rather than the one that sells the most copies; If I were concerned with it, trust me, Eternity Concepts would be a wildly different story, with different art, etc. I’d have written a formulaic story that was entirely predictable and changed so many aspects, you’d never recognize it; Manga fans tend to be teens, so I’d have made the cast all teenagers! It’d be set in school! Someone might magically transform to fight evil or some such thing.

I didn’t want that; If you do, there’s no shame in that, but audiences will keep buying and reading what we keep producing, and if we’re too afraid to take a risk on a chance that our story won’t make a dime—because making a dime is the most important part for you—then we can’t be surprised when it’s what people keep buying—because we aren’t even attempting to sell anything else.

Publishing houses (With novels and such) can be really guilty of pushing for changes based on market research; The thing is, the research is often based off past sales of what’s already in the market. Plenty of novels that became classics and best sellers got rejected for years and years until a publishing company was willing to take a chance and discovered that people can, will, and do enjoy new and different things. They might also do market focus group testing—but these are small sample sizes of average people—and your audience may NOT be average people.

All creative pursuits involve risks, at the end of the day; You just have to decide what rewards you want or are willing to sacrifice if you take them.

As for aesthetics, there’s no accounting for taste and I’ve seen plenty of paintings I hated sell for insane amounts of money, plenty of art styles I hated become popular titles, etc.

I will say this; When I, PERSONALLY, see a comic with tones or color, usually that’s digitally produced (It cuts out the need for a scanner!), it looks to me like it’s professionally made—by someone who is on their way or already at such a level.

While a lot of newer artists try to make do with other materials, again, the world is not a kind place and making do is just that—making do. Yes, there are a million and one reasons why one can’t get their hands on better or more professional materials—but sadly, people don’t want to hear excuses, and many successful artists got their tools by working jobs they hated, saving up, living in their cars—making major sacrifices to get to where they are now. There’s no easy road or shortcuts to the end; Yes, I do, sadly, think the mixed media approach you’re trying won’t be favorable towards your marketability—but I could always be wrong (Look at how many MS Paint comics made it big!) There’s a first time for everything.

Comics, though, is also about production speed, and traditional materials can come at the cost of working quicker. I’m a big fan of suggesting people save and wait and invest (And it IS an investment) in serious materials and tools if they wish to be seen and taken as seriously; This means making sacrifices and at the end of the day, plenty of people still won’t like what you make, no matter what tools you have or plot you employ. The person who NEEDS to like it most? . . .Is only you.

You cannot please all of the people all of the time, and the faster you accept that, the happier you’ll be with what you make.

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starlingari-a · 6 years ago

Text

MOTHER, MAY I ???

[ open starters! / memes! / calls! ] low activity | starlet-hopeful oc | multi-verse {default: 60s/70s} | multi-most

MARIONETTE mar·i·on·ette || noun, thing a puppet worked from above by strings attached to its limbs. see also: DOLL, DUMMY, FIGURINE, MANIKIN, MOPPET

ARIENETTE ar·i·en·ette || noun, thing person! page 22, your favorite cult film starlet, a music video extra 45 seconds in. see also: ARI STARLING, JUST TRYING, MOTHER’S DARLING

! i can be anything you like !

NAME: Arienette Marie Jones // ARI STARLING ! AGE: twenty-two HEIGHT: 5'5" MOTIVE: ubiquity. attention. approval. INTERESTS: the next big thing. piano. theater. celebrities. fame. getting gigs…. OCCUPATION: film extra, pianist, back-up, dancer, model, a pretty face in print. STATUS: trying; too scared busy to mingle, probably…

BETTER AS A CONCEPT : MOTHER DEAREST : IDENTITY CRISIS : AWKWARD WHEN NOT TOLD HOW TO DO OR BE : CAN NEVER AFFORD THE LUXURY OF SOLITUDE OR SELF-REFLECTION : AN UNINTENTIONALLY CONVENIENT SOCIAL CHAMELEON : EAGER TO PLEASE, BECAUSE WHAT ELSE IS THERE REALLY : EXISTENTIALLY INEPT : PERPETUALLY BUSINESS-MINDED : BIG BREAK OR BUST : NOTHING TOO SMALL

OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL BABY !! indeed.

Her overture came just opposite as faeries do- on the dwindling notes of an infant’s first cry. Ari’s first gig happened as she’d assumed everyone’s would- Mother imprinted the green ghosts of a camera flash into her retina and called her Darling while toting her from Agent to Agent.

Somehow, between babbles and being handed sparkly baubles, the darling landed her part as a precious, chubby-cheeked sweetheart rolling about in diapers, pasted on every cardboard box at any Baby Shower you’d ever go to :: LOOK AT HER! A NATURAL! apparently…

The ARIENETTE SHOW continued on– as Mother knew it would. Chain store baby clothes advertisements, local magazines, a couple spots as a teensy sweetheart in commercials, many crowns ( & cash prizes ) from tiny tot beauty pageants– and Mother decided; nobody would stand in their way.

Especially not Arienette’s father, who dared to protest with all his crazy ideas of children being allowed to play in the dirt and act like children: only took divorce papers and three hours in the car to get rid of that negativity.

The credit companies- who INVESTED in dear Ari whether they wanted to or not- wouldn’t be able to dissuade them either: despite the many times they’d called or sent strongly-worded letters...

Her darling Arienette ARI! was going to be a STAR, she just KNEW IT, just a DARLING STAR !

ARI HAD TO BE A STARLING!

OR ELSE THIS ALL WAS A WASTE!

EXTRA! EXTRA!

PRETTY GIRL WITH A MOTHER HAPPY TO SIGN THE DOTTED LINE!

CUE, STAGE LEFT– the barrage of childhood lessons: tap, ballet, singing, piano (probably the only thing she truly enjoyed out of the whole mix), jazz, guitar, poetry: just enough of each that made it so she could manage, hold her own– but there had never really been any chance for one or the other to last long enough to become a honed skill…SAVE FOR HER TIME AT THE KEYS, Arienette absolutely loves playing piano… at least something good came from it all…

NEXT TRICK: On to classes: etiquette, niceties, literature, the art of conversation: Mother “home schooled” her to keep that impressionable brain free from those vile teachers, who think they know so much!

really, it was just strategically simpler to keep up with possible gigs, travel, and to focus those lessons onto relevant topics… important topics… off the record, don’t mind a thing…

all extracurriculars and lessons would be considering Mother’s discretion, of course.

Thus came her second calling, her re-birth, name chosen by Mother as carefully as every other bit of her was: ARI! STARLING! and watch her Icarus her way right to burnout!

OH, THE TRAGEDY– but the years passed, as they do, and when you’ve grown from a darling blonde baby to just another pretty-enough girl in the midst of talented starlets and performers: all the fun goes from being a DREAM to a method of survival !!

But oh, she tried, and some would argue– at least for the few years that would be remembered as fifteen minutes– ARIENETTE MADE IT! Was even notable for a couple of those months- especially after she was just shy of a Scream Queen title in some low-budget cult horror flick, she got to have her name printed in the paper, Mother kept extra copies, and a couple big name ARTISTS actually ASKED for her! As could, and should, have been expected; those highlights turned dim after the time was up and another pretty girl fell into media favor. Once left in the wake of her own shadow, without the persistent approval of Mother or the calls from well known producers: she struggled.

Thus: when the days of being unable to will herself out of bed took over, the times when she couldn’t even pretend to smile, her SECOND ACT HAD COME AT LAST…

Until that 11′o’clock cue came as a fellow actress who suggested that Therapist. A DOC WHO UNDERSTOOD! IT’S HARD BEING A MOTH SUSTAINED BY SPOTLIGHT!

Who needs a bitch face when you can just give ‘em pure, prescribed, apathy!?

The paparazzi caught on, when they snapped photos including her pouting petulantly at the glare of a camera lens flash during brunch with a singer she’d be modeling with… they loved it: READ ALL ABOUT IT: DARLING ARI STARLING HOLDS MELANCHOLY WITH GRACE– and thank God for that caption, Mother hadn’t been talking to her since she’d gone and gotten pills… but now that even her Depression can be spun into Media Fodder, it’s all just fine!

HELLO! HELLO! IS THERE A GIRL IN THERE?!

She’s not ungrateful, truly. Or even notably unhappy! Easy to say: she’s quite blissfully content with where she is… always chasing after the next role.

Just dancing on the knife’s edge of knowing who she is and who she is to be. But does it matter? Can you have one without the other? Who cares? Where does Identity go when there’s so little of yourself you even truly know?

all she’s so sure about that ARIENETTE is that she loves her books, the theater, and her piano- but is that really enough to substantiate a someone…?

It’s a sweet surrender, but at least: it’s hers.

Thankfully: at 22, mother’s had to loosen her reigns! EVEN IF SHE STILL RIDES ON ARI’S COATTAILS AS A CAREER CHOICE! but her influence remains an omnipresence. Her social circle has expanded, through minor gigs covered in fake blood or sitting in the background as an extra, through miscellaneous commercial jobs and mostly modeling: COME TO FIND OUT, Ari’s pretty cute when she sits on a car while those fellows with more hair than metal traipse about strumming their guitars. Those wide-eyes also make her a devastating addition to those creepy-crawly movies: she’s become a cult film favorite just for being so awkwardly her and so darlingly easy to slaughter: a good lamb for those weird wolves, you know. Sometimes, someone will pay her a pretty penny for promotional gigs: she just has to bother strangers and convince them to do or buy something, easy enough– she’s even made it in some album art before, mostly just an additional face within the crowd. Once, they even let her play the piano, probably her very favorite shoot even though you can hardly see her…

The plentiful small gigs keeps her bill cheap, even lets her venture into the realm of what might vaguely be able to be considered Passion Projects… her very favorite are her stints playing piano, and any chance she can have on stage in theater: but Mother says that’s a waste...

There’s no job too big ; yet, there’s also no job too small ; a gig’s a gig.

she likes this easy stuff, with these funny people, all in their own shows… the perpetual EXTRA, she is !

AND FOR THE RESUME:

> Diaper Box Baby > Toddler Beauty Pageants > Kids Commercial Magazine modeling > The Soup Commercial — (she is very proud of this one- first job she really remembers getting any attention for) > Various TV (mostly various local stations) Commercials > The Puppet Show, for about 4 years, one of the recurring child roles > Background Dancing / Chorus Line Spots > Ambiance Piano; playing in the background at very fancy parties, in hotel lobbies, at casinos, etc. (this, she loved, dearly, because she adores piano and people watching) > Modeling, teen magazines etc. > Extra work in movies, which led to a couple very minor roles. > About now she was permitted to explore theater more — (Mother says it’s a waste of time and money) > Niche found in low-budget / campy / cult-y / independent Horror Movies > Promotional Work, general. > Modeling with / for other performers and musical groups; print, music videos, album art > Dancing, still (chorus line / ensemble; burlesque; showgirl) > Any piano or staged theater gig she can land (her f a v o r i t e s) > Absolutely anything you will pay her to do…

WHERE TO FIND AN ARIENETTE:

> Waiting in line for an audition. > An audition, in general. Always. > At a piano. > In a terrible outfit, peddling shots or cigarettes or windows (THAT WAS ONLY ONCE!) > On set, as an extra or background model. > Covered in fake blood, amidst some weird cult film or… something… > A chorus line / A temporary back-up dancer / A swing performer / Ensemble > Playing piano in a hotel lobby. > With Mother, or someone Mother’s appointed. > On her way to or from lessons of some sort, wishing she were elsewhere. > Networking. Or, trying to.

In general: Arienette’s quite accustomed to being used more as a prop than companion: to be there in hopes of making the main attraction appear ever more magnificent. To being posed, instructed, critiqued, told how to be or how to do. It’s her comfort zone, being theirs.

Considers herself the understudy of her own life– Ari Starling’s the STAR of this show, but sometimes Arienette does take the time to come out for a peek at existence, tends to require some coaxing before that facade breaks down, though: EVERY MISSED OPPORTUNITY IS ONE TOO MANY, AND ANYONE’S ONLY HERE FOR ARI! Doesn’t even take much offense, ever: completely accustomed to critique and criticism: which leads into how the treatment she would accept being steadied on a rather low bar. Hard to offend someone who’s been up for scrutiny since she could walk, even harder to cross boundaries she’d never had the power to set for herself…

that was Mother’s job…

Oh, and our Darling doesn’t mean to come off as pretentious, but she’s had pretention pearled into her bones so long- she can hardly tell where Arienette begins and Ari Starling ends…

can be snooty, life is only a job interview, honesty is the best policy, there’s no point in shinin’ up shit… doesn’t think things through all too much in conversation that’s not being recorded, perfectly content with saying what’s on her mind: tendency to share strange things, never bats an eye. Almost comatose when unsure of what’s expected of her, too quiet when off-script, constantly asking: what do you want me to do?

what do you want from me? how should i be? where do i stand?

Nearly always on the verge of giving a PERFORMANCE, since, as Mother always said:

“ WHO CARES WHO YOU ARE UNLESS YOU’RE EVERYTHING, DARLING!? “

But, the real HORROR SHOW: What About When Mother’s Gone?

what does she have left, but the connections that have been made and the reputation / identity that’s been crafted and constructed for her? Who is she supposed to be without the familiar puppeteer there to pull her strings?

WHO IS ARIENETTE JONES!?

Well… she’s still trying to figure that out for herself…

NEED A PRETTY FACE FOR JUST ABOUT ANYTHING? HAVE WE GOT THE GIRL FOR YOU!

#!! about #!! i'm'a pokin #!! arienette; about #!! arienette; thoughts

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itsclydebitches · 6 years ago

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You mentioned piracy in a recent post and I'm curious. How do you feel about pirating things you simply don't have access to? For a very long time the anime Evangelion was not available anywhere new. Your options as a American were to either buy expensive used DVD's or pirate it. Even Crunchyroll didn't have it. Eventually a Japanese (no subtitles) blu0ray release was made, but it was costly. Finally Netflix got the rights to host it. Before that though could you fault anyone for pirating it?

Overall I’m solidly pro-pirating media because every interaction with a text comes down to the same question: Can I buy it or not? If you can buy it then you give money to the artists who rightfully deserve it and that’s fantastic. However, if you can’t buy it and abstain from engaging with the media at all you’re potentially losing more than just your own enjoyment. What does that mean? It means that:

Maybe I wasn’t able to pay to see the first film, but pirating the first got me interested in the series so now, two years later, I’m paying to see the second when I have more funds.

Maybe I wasn’t able to pay for the monthly streaming service hosting this TV show, but now that I’ve pirated it I’m buying related merch.

Maybe I wasn’t able to buy this book, but I downloaded it, told all my friends about it, wrote a positive review, and potentially set the stage for other copies to be sold.

You are, in short, functioning like a fandom: you created a thing, I love the thing, I’m going to ‘pay’ you for that thing in ways other than cash and credit.

Pirating isn’t quite the same thing as walking into a store and snatching a book off the shelf. In that scenario you’re harming the author’s potential (or expected) revenue as well as the very real costs that the store put into buying that book in the first place. When you pirate you’re only cutting into those potential profits--profits that still wouldn’t exist if you’d said, “Well I can’t pay for it so I won’t watch/read it at all.” Now, I want to emphasize that none of the above examples are a justifiable replacement for funds. There’s a reason artists on tumblr rightfully say, “No. You’re paying me for my commission. ‘Exposure’ isn’t a valid form of payment.” What I am saying is that there’s a massive difference among a) not being able to pay for a show created by a major corporation so you gain nothing and give nothing back, b) pirating that major show and giving back in the ways that you can, and c) trying to “pirate” art off of a 21yo college student who’s just looking to buy groceries. Yes, every artist deserves to be paid for their work regardless of whether they’ve sold two copies or two million, but---while a lovely and worthwhile sentiment--that doesn’t acknowledge that a lot of people just can’t. That money isn’t going to end up in the artist’s pocket regardless.

Ignoring for a moment the fact that a good chunk of us are Millennials/Gen Z and can’t pay for shit anyway, other reasons you might be inclined to pirate include:

You literally do not have access to this. At all. I’m a grad student out in Ohio. There is no way I can pay/take the time to go to NYC and see Hamilton play. I can, however, download a recording of the show and then buy the soundtrack.

Similarly, costs are not always just the cost of the media itself. My closest movie theater is a small, non-profit place that doesn’t always play the latest blockbusters. The closest AMC where I could see those blockbusters? That’s an Uber drive away. I can’t afford that on top of a $10+ ticket.

As we’re seeing now, most people can’t afford to pay a monthly fee for multiple different streaming services. The content isn’t all in one place? We’re only going to pay for a portion of the content then. Just buy cable? Distributors need to acknowledge that we’re moving away from that format too. Most people don’t want media laden with commercials anymore, or media that requires equally expensive, specialized tech to play it on. “Specialized” here meaning it only exists for entertainment. I need my laptop to do my job. Being able to watch stuff on it is a bonus, but I’d need to pay for a laptop whether it could play films and TV or not. Actual televisions though? They only exist as a form of recreation. They’re a pure luxury.

A common rebuttal here is, “Just buy the DVD.” Except, as said, I don’t own a TV. And Mac took out their DVD player in order to produce another expense by forcing people to buy it separately. Which I haven’t done yet. So not only are DVDs functionally useless to me at the moment, but it’s the same issue as above: the overall price is far more than the cost of the media alone.

Sometimes---as you point out, anon---the material is simply not available in your country. It might never be available. Maybe it will be, but that’s years from now...and telling someone to wait years to see the thing all their friends are currently invested in is not the most compelling argument.

Also yes, sometimes media stops being produced and the price skyrockets. I’ve had books I desperately wanted but they were well over $100 used for an otherwise cheap paperback. (Funds that, notably, also wouldn’t be going to that original author, editor, cover designer, etc.)

People have always had a complex and murky definition of what amount of profit is “enough” for an author. And we need to acknowledge that. Because if we all collectively believed that every individual really had to pay for their own access than we would never lend books to friends. We wouldn’t sell used. Or allow music on Youtube. Or have libraries. No one would ever share their Netflix login. We would be far more concerned with eliminating ALL forms of “free” access if we were truly that concerned with a 1:1 transaction. Whether people want to admit it or not, there’s a middle ground between “making sure an author is fairly compensated for their work” and “making sure that people have access to the media at all.”

It all comes down to how you’re defining that fair compensation and yes, I do think it makes a difference who the author is and what sort of compensation you’re offering. I buy all my books because pirating those tends to do more damage than pirating TV. Complicating that, I have a Netflix account and watch One Day At a Time there because they need ratings a whole lot more than Breaking Bad does. However, I pirate John Oliver because I can’t afford an HBO account on top of a Netflix account.

Which brings us to, “Then you shouldn’t watch John Oliver at all. That’s a privilege, not a right, and if you can’t pay for it then you don’t get it.” But here’s the thing: media is important. We do need it. We need stories, almost as much as we need food, water, and shelter. It’s easy to say, “You can’t pay for the Popular New Thing so you don’t get to engage with it” and a lot harder to convince people that they should accept that situation when they’ve found access to it another way.

You know all that research proving that when given a basic income most people still choose to work? Same principles apply. When people have access to money they will spend it on entertainment. Always. I buy books. I go out to the movies. I buy music on iTunes. I go see plays when I can. But the “when I can” portion is a complex and, for many people, rather rare scenario. I guarantee you, it’s not a dystopian future of, “If we accept piracy then no one will ever buy anything ever!” because most people want to pay artists. They want to support films like Captain Marvel. They want to buy a hardcopy book to put on their shelf. They want another copy of that film to gift to a friend. But there are times when they simply can’t do that... so what are we left with? The issue is much less a moral one than a practical one. It comes down to that original question: Can I pay for it? Most people don’t go, “I can pay for it but am choosing not to because I’m a horrible, greedy person.” They go, “I can’t pay for it so you’re not getting my money regardless. The only question now is whether I’ll lose the enjoyment of your art and you’ll lose anything that I might have given back---even if what I have to offer doesn’t mean as much to you as money.”

#mymetas #Anonymous

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redatuvu-blog · 6 years ago

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Making Art for Cheap: The Current Cost of Game Development

Gamers tend to complain that gaming has become more expensive in recent years. In actuality, gaming is becoming somewhat more accessible. In parallel, game development also used to be far more expensive to get into, but in recent years, many resources have been made available to make development easier and cheaper - often even free. While originally too expensive for common hobbyists, game development has become inexpensive enough to be accessible to all, and is on the verge of becoming a popular art form, much like music and painting.

Game development is usually seen as expensive by default. Even in the 80’s, when video games first started to become widespread, they would cost a few-hundred-thousand dollars to create. Steve Theodore, a developer who worked on games such as Half-Life and Halo 3, says that nowadays, triple-A (aka “blockbuster,” but for games) budgets can reach the hundred-millions, and predicts that those numbers will continue to rise. Due to the steadily improving speeds of processors and capabilities of hardware, games are consistently expected to become more outstanding and amazing – and thus, more costly – every year.

As a result of these larger budgets, these triple-A games are also fairly expensive for gamers to play, currently selling for about $70 a copy, and not all of them live up to the demanded quality for their scale. Reviewers like Caddicarus on YouTube state in many reviews that a lot of high-budget games are “not worth the price I paid,” and players on social media tell others to “wait for a sale before buying this game.” There is almost an air of entitlement as to how much a game should cost when compared to how much a player enjoys it, and, in many ways, that makes sense. Paying $70 to a triple-A developer for a poorly-made game does not feel like a fair trade to most people.

But not every game is $70; PC games on the online distributor Steam average at around $6 - $10, and there are multitudes of games on sale for much cheaper. On the “Free to Play” page alone, there are 1,415 games listed. Players don’t need to pay a dime to be able to play even a large selection of games, and this is becoming the norm. This makes the steadily rising cost of mainstream triple-A games look a bit pricey in comparison.

But even in that case, while those prices have indeed been rising, they have not been keeping up with inflation. In 1990, the average cost of a new game to play on a Nintendo Entertainment System was $50. According to the CPI Inflation Calculator, that would be around $96 as of the time of this writing - a fair chunk more than the $70 for high-end games of today. The actual cost of video games hasn’t risen at the rate they could have - and that’s still overlooking the waves of sales and discounts that games often go through.

The lower costs of games is a result of the lower costs of game development. While triple-A budgets are obviously still rising, much of that cost is being directed toward marketing, rather than actual development. Plus, there’s many more small, independent companies making games for cheap than there used to be. Minecraft, one of the highest-profiting video games in history, was started as a hobby project, costing the developers next to nothing. While the game was in beta, it was $12 to play. This comparatively low price tag was due to that lack of a large budget. Another popular independent game is Undertale, still available for most systems at an outrageously high price of 10 whole dollars. Again, the creator of Undertale, Toby Fox, did most of the work himself, with a bit of help from friends, not expecting much of a return. Yet, because it became the source of many memes and the inspiration to countless creative projects, the game sold enough that Fox earned far more than he invested in creating it. Not all independent games get as popular as Minecraft or Undertale, of course, but that doesn’t matter much when a $5 game still results in profit.s

That’s not even touching on the 1,415 free games available on Steam. Many of them are free to download and get into, but offer upgrades or DLC as microtransactions. While a company can make a good chunk of change from these transactions, the games are still playable from the start for free, which shows that the development was at least cheap enough to suffer some sacrifice for the initial release.

Additionally, a lot of those Free to Play games are free forever. Often short and, again, independently developed, these games are made solely for the sake of the art. Some of the developers of these artistic games may have sacrificed some cash to bring them to fruition, but the majority of them were made for free, put together from homemade code and art and music.

[Bad transition, fix later] Even then, there are also many free resources available to create games with. Unity and Unreal are two of the most popular engines to start with; both are powerful, professional-level systems that let creators dive in without too much training – but they have plenty of in-depth training available as well. Aspiring creators can jump in and begin practicing with the available tutorials and tips, getting ready to dive into the advanced aspects later on. There’s also Blender 3D for making homemade assets, and plenty of cheap image editors for making 2D assets; aspiring creators do not need to purchase a pricey copy of Photoshop or Maya anymore.

These inexpensive resources are what’s making game development more popular and commonplace - and from that, even more artistic. The same rise seen in pop music, painting, and even filmmaking as popular forms of art is happening now with games. Folk music was born to poor singers playing cheap instruments, and that begat blues, and then blues begat rock ‘n’ roll, which begat pop and hip-hop and rap, which are now omnipresent in modern media. The music of the poor has always been more popular than the grand orchestras and symphonies of the rich, because anyone could pick up a guitar, raise their voice, and sing along with the folk songs, blues, and rock ‘n’ roll. Everyone could join in, and that made it popular. Now, game development is turning the same direction; almost anyone can join in. And, as more developers do join in, they pave the way to make it even easier and more accessible to an even higher number of aspiring creators.

An example of this evolution of accessibility is a hobby called “modding” – short for “modifying.” For years now, gamers have been taking games that already exist, reverse-engineering them, and then changing them for their own enjoyment. These reverse-engineered techniques are then passed on, allowing more creatively-minded fans to use those resources to make their own changes. These modifications – “mods” – have been around for decades, and have been the jumping-off-point for many fans into becoming game developers of their own. For many fans, modding is what gets them into game development as a hobby. It’s an easy way to learn the basics of game logic and asset creation without being overwhelmed by deep code and project management. These fans then transform into hopeful game devs, wanting to create their own artistic projects using what they’ve learned.

Of course, some might argue that paying for these more expensive programs and professionally-produced assets makes for a better quality game in the end, and that can be true. However, more and more affordable resources are being created and developed constantly. Even for someone who can’t draw or compose, there are still plenty of good-quality stand-ins for little to no cost, and the selection is still growing. [examples] And, as always, practice makes perfect; with enough time and effort, someone who can’t draw well can learn to, and then create their own assets.

Yes, sometimes you can still tell when a game was made on a low budget. Shovelware games - named for the way they seem to be “shoveled” out of a failing developer’s back door – are usually horrendous. But most of the time, these games are also extremely cheap, or even free. They may not be diamonds, but at least they don’t cost as much as diamonds. In contrast, triple-A games are far more expensive, but are also frequently criticized for not being worth their price. Shovelware games are criticized for being bad, but are inevitably waved off with, “Well, you get what you pay for.”

In fact, many of these games exist almost entirely due to the fact that game development is more accessible. Hobbyists can get their feet wet and find out where they fall short without dropping too much of a budget into something that may flop. Additionally, many hobby projects turn out to be outstanding for what they are. Accessibility can surely breed low-quality content, but high-quality content will shine through and last longer. Gems hidden in the bog of ugly messes stand out and become popular, just as many artists and musicians do. When every song on the radio begins to sound the same, one that genuinely sounds new and fresh will overdrive a musician to the top of the charts. The same thing happens with these small-scale indie games.

Indie games are becoming increasingly popular in the eyes of most reviewers. Hollow Knight, Shovel Knight, Ori and the Blind Forest, Celeste, and many more have all been praised for being beautiful, fun games, and they’ve all been developed in just the last few years. Indie games are sweeping through the markets, showing up on every platform, and, since they’re fairly cheap, gamers and reviewers alike are happily claiming that they are worth buying, playing, and supporting.

The same cannot be said of the triple-A market. The publisher EA, one of the few mega-corporations behind game development, is notorious for releasing games of sub-par quality chock full of microtransactions on top of high base-game prices. The Sims series, one of their forefront staples, has hundreds of DLC packs, and those packs average at $30 - half the price of the base game. Other developers, like Bethesda and Ubisoft, are ridiculed for releasing “unfinished” games. Bethesda’s Fallout series and Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed series are full of bugs and glitches, and are often required to make updates and patches in order to push the games into what players call “suitable for sale” territory.

Still, not all indie games stand out. Some try their best and fall very flat. Mighty No. 9, a highly anticipated, Mega-Man-inspired Kickstarter game, was full of bugs and glitches in place of any good story or gameplay. And on the flipside, triple-A, high-budget games do not always come out as trash. There is, after all, a reason the triple-A developers are called triple-A. In general, many fans have high hopes from big-budget games; they are meant to be beautiful, powerful, fun works of art. For example, Nintendo is very well-known for putting out amazing works, to the point that “Nintendo Polish” is expected as their norm. However, that polish adds extra dollars to the pricetag, and, regrettably, Nintendo does not always live up to the the term. Lately, many of the powerful developers have been “slacking off,” and the independent devs are filling in the holes. More and more, indie games are being praised, and triple-A’s are being criticized. Again, it’s not always true, but it’s becoming more true as time goes on.

Artists through the ages have used writing, painting, movies, music, and more to express themselves. Today, they are adding game development to the list. Development in the early years of the gaming age required high levels of technical knowledge and skill, but nowadays, it has changed enough that one can take it on as a hobby. Anyone who can draw, write, or express themselves are able to get into game development.

Because the cost of getting into game development is almost nothing, if you’re willing to make assets on your own, you can start. So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and start.

#gaming #game development #hobbies #indie games

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craftsguide · 6 years ago

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62 Small Business Ideas for Stay at Home Mums

New Post has been published on https://craftsguideto.com/awesome/62-small-business-ideas-for-stay-at-home-mums/

62 Small Business Ideas for Stay at Home Mums

Working for somebody else will never attain you rich.

And who doesn’t want to work in your own business, working hard to provide your family with the benefits of your blood, sweat and tears. If you don’t know where to start, start here! We give you 62 ideas on small businesses to start from home. All can be scaled up as much or as little as you wish.

1. Start Your Own Online Fashion Boutique

Find a line of garb you really love and start your own small online boutique. Purchase fashion from places like Etsy or even look at having attire custom-made overseas in the styles you love. You can also sell your way through Etsy , eBay or start your own Shopify store !

If you want to design and manufacture your own line of clothing, you can start smaller. Have a look at this Free List of Fashion Wholesalers and Manufacturerswhich might help you on your style! You probably should prepare a start-up money of at least $1,000 to buy stock in advance.

Also, check out this article on ‘A Beginners Guide to Launching Your Own Clothing Label ‘.

If you don’t have the cash to design and attain your own manner line, perhaps you should consider Drop Shipping. Drop Shipping is selling other people’s products, and then the manufacturer sends the item immediately to your customer- so you don’t need to buy stock – you simply pocket the difference. I’ve got more information on Drop Shipping here !

Other information on a Fashion Start Up:

List of Wholesale Fabric Suppliers Worldwide Australian Retailers that Offer Drop Shipping List of Australian Fashion Pattern Makers List of Fashion Affiliate Programs to Sign Up To

Someone that has done it: Check out Jane Wu who started Showpo from her garage in 2010. She has now built an empire that is envy-worthy.

2. Become an AirBNB Host

If you have a spare room in your home, a rental property or a Granny Flat that can be rented out – why not look at becoming an Air BNB Host and and earn just as much as $1544 per month( as per their website !).

Make the area look clean and tidy, give it some art work or a lick of paint- and start being the Hostess with the Most-ess…

FIND OUT MORE

3. Cake Baking and Decorating Business

If your family and friends are always imploring you to stimulate that delectable chocolate cake with that amazing icing for their special occasions, why not look at your skills to the wider public. Whether it is cupcakes for a school birthday, or wedding cakes and everything in between- showcase your work on your Facebook Page and start charging for your services.

What you can expect to be paid: From $80 per cake

Someone that has done it successfully: Jessie& Co is Gympie based cake decorating business. Jessie made this amazing’ Shades of Lavender Cake’ and offers marriage cakes, newborn shower cakes and decadent cupcakes for every occasion!

If you don’t want to actually sell cakes – you can still make a good income with the following notions :P TAGEND

Start a Cake Decorating Youtube Channel Start Online Courses in Cake Decorating Set up a Cake Decorating Subscription Box– they are all the rage at the moment!

via twitter.com

4. Buy Wholesale Adult Product to Sell at a Earning

Did you know that there is up to a 300% mark up on adult products? There really isn’t a most perfect product to buy cheap, and sell at a huge earning. Sure it isn’t exactly’ Savoury’- but it can be a lot of fun!

Check out our article on Where to buy Wholesale Vibrators to Sell at a Gain for more information!

Potential Clients: School Mum’s, Friends, Family

Ideas on marketing your new Adult Business include :P TAGEND

Start a Party Planning Business with your Sexuality Toys Produce a monthly catalouge and issued and circulated

5. Cake Baking Small Business

If you aren’t into decorating cakes but can cook like a demon in the cake department, or you induce the most amazing Mars Bar Cheesecake the world has ever seen, induce your wares and sell them to local bakeries and cafe who are always looking for delectable sweets to serve with coffee! What you’ll need is access to commercial kitchen, transportation and basic cooking tools.

Provided you use a commercial kitchen and check with your local Council and listing the ingredients on supplying, there is no way formal qualifications required.

Potential Clients: Delis, Cafes, Cake Decorators, Caterers.

via kreativeideer.no

6. Makeup Artist

If you are creative and have a knack for inducing your models look incredible, or have a bit of a thing for stage makeup, perhaps consider ad your services for makeup artistry. Whether it is a classic style for Spring Racing, something sinister for Halloween or a full bridal looking, take loads of photographs of your work and place it up on your Facebook Page and Instagram. To get a bit more practise under your belt, approach your local theatre groups.

What you can expect to earn:

From $ 80 per look upon onwards depending on the quality of makeup and experience.

What will I require:

You will need to provide all the makeup( good quality ), brushes and transport.

Potential Clients:

High School girls for their school formals, hairdressers

7. Hair Upstylist

Do people admire your daily hairstyle? Can you braid like a demon? Do people stop you on the street to ask you who did your hair? Then perhaps you should do’ Upstyles ‘. Perfect for school balls, weddings or formal occasions, many people would love to pay to have the services done in their own home! You’ll need to invest on your own hair styling equipment and learn lots of haircuts and techniques!

What you can expect to be paid:

From $ 60 for a simple hairstyle. More for weddings and special occasions.

Where to advertise:

Consider’ renting a chair’ at a local hairdresser during school formal and bridal season. Otherwise print out flyers for local noticeboards, start your own Facebook Page and advertise your services on local Buy Swap and Sell pages.

via premierbridemaryland.com

8. Web Content Writer

Many websites are always on the lookout for new writers to furnish content on various topics. If you are a confident writer, are careful with your spelling and grammar and can write under a deadline – why not look at this type of freelance run?

What you can expect to be paid:

From $ 20- $150 per article

Where to find writing run:

Check out the following websites for writing run :P TAGEND

Freelancer iWriteror approach larger style websites with an example of your writing style. Stay at Home Mum also pays up to $50 per article if it is accepted.

Check out more information here :P TAGEND

Earn Money By Becoming a Freelance Writer

via hobbyfinda.com

9. Transcription Services

If you are able to form rapidly and effectively, why not be a freelance Transcriptionist. Work would involve listening to a tape( pre-recorded) and typing out the content word for word. You’ need a computer and internet connect. You should also be detail-oriented, organized and can type lots of words in a minute.

What you can expect to be paid:

Medical Transcription can start from $50/ hour

Where to look for run:

Check out Stay at Home Mum’s Positions Vacant segment– these chores come up all the time!

via thespruce.com

10. Write and Sell E-books

If you are an expert on a particular topic, why not write a’ Go to Guide’ on your topic, and turn it into an Ebook. The great thing about Ebooks is that once the work has been done, that’s it! You submit it to websites for sale and watch the commissions come in. You’ll need to invest in a computer, internet connect and a good editing software.

What you can expect to be paid:

A basic E-book about 30 pages can sell from$ 1 and come up as high as $300 depending on how niche your topic is!

Got an idea but don’t know how to get it to market?

Stay at Home Mum is always looking to buy great quality completed e-book manuscripts- so fell us an email!

For a complete guide on how to write and sell e-books for a living- make sure you download our Guide !

11. Resume Writing Business

If you are diligent with spelling and grammar, can type and have a good internet connect, why not do professional resume writing and cover-up letters. There are always people that don’t know how to put together a professional seeming resume together. Advertise your services on local Facebook Pages and Noticeboards. There are literally thousands of beautiful resume templates online that are free to use to give you a few ideas. If you already have a computer, internet connection and a printer at home then you’re already define!

What you can expect to be paid:

From $ 300 per resume and cover letter.

12. Sell Images to Stock Image Websites

You don’t need to be a professional photographer to make money selling your photo. Many stock image sites are always go looking for day to day photographs of people doing’ normal people things ‘. There are hundreds of these sites such as iStock Photo, Shutterstock and Bigstock. Once uploaded, this is a passive income type of online job.

What you can expect to be paid:

From $ 2.50 per download per image. If your image goes viral – you could earn thousands of dollars from a single image.

Where to Sell Your Images:

Alamy– they have over 155 million images and are based in Australia Stockify Fotolia iStock Photo Shutterstock Crestock 123rf Corbis Dreamstime Getty Images Stockxpert

via smallbizclub.com

13. Freelance Gardening Business

If you are a real green thumb and love nothing more than turning a boring garden into something special, why not do it for a living! Offer services from weeding gardens right through to garden design and implementation. Even weeding is needed by people whom are day poor!

How to Market Your Business:

Send a price list of services to local Real Estate agents and Plant Nurseries. Advertise in your local Facebook Gardening Groups and post notices up at your local store.

via cinnicoin.co

14. Family History Researcher

There are amazing websites around now that help you tracing your family tree back as far as it will go. They even have access to birth certificates, wedding certificates and details of where your ancestors lived. Many people are interested in genealogy but simply don’t have the time( or patience) to do it, so why not put your researching abilities to run and become a Family History Researching for other people!

How much can you expect to earn:

From $ 20 per hour

How to start:

Approach your local Family History Society to get a bit of know-how under your belt, and advertise locally.

via thoughtco.com

15. Marketings Representative for MLM Company

Look, I’m not a great fan of MLM companies but some people swear by them. That’s all I’ll say about that now…

Some MLM companies include:

Doterra, Herbalife, Tupperware, Lorraine Lea Linen, Younique, Rogan& Fields, Arbonne, Intimo

Now defunct MLM companies:

Your Inspiration at Home

via alicescontainers.com

16. Online or Home Visit Tutor

If “youre ever” a wizz at maths or an hotshot in English, and you are good with kids then tutoring is a terrific idea. You can work the hours that suit you and you are making a difference in the life of a child. There are even online tutoring companies around now so you can work at home! Experience in teaching is definitely a plus. The number two things you’ll absolutely require is passion for teaching kids and the patience of a saint.

Another option is to go and work for one of the larger online tutoring companies such as :P TAGEND

Kip McGrath Cluey Learning Maths Online

via learningsupport.co.nz

17. Home Cook

If you adore cooking and don’t mind spending time in the kitchen, why not offer your services for busy households that don’t have time to cook a delicious dinner at night. Either offer pre-prepared foods or even cook at your client’s house and serve dinner straight to the table!

How much can you expect to earn?

From $ 10 per serving.

Outside the Box Ideas:

Ever heard of Lite n Easy or Hello Fresh? You could be the next big thing. If you want to go big, think of doing a website so your customers can pick and choose their own snacks and dietry selections!

via dizzypigbbq.com

18. House Cleaner

House Cleaning is a service everyone will appreciate! If your home is always spick and span and shiny, then perhaps offer your services as a cleaner for others. You can either run as a contractor for another cleanser, or even start your own from scratch. You will need insurance and transportation. Some house cleansers also bringing their own clean tools and chemicals.

Who has done it well: MS Property Services started as one girl working hard to provide enough money to support her young son. Now she is preferred and recommended cleaner for real estate agencies in Brisbane!

via thebetterhealthclinic.com

19. Christmas Decorator

If you have an eye for decorating and adore the Christmas period, why not advertise your services as a Christmas Decorator. Set up the Christmas Tree, add the fairy suns and ensure the Christmas Decorations seem amazing! Many businesses don’t have the time or patience to do it themselves, or even look at approaching your local shopping centre. Advertise your services at the local Christmas shop in your area. Drop in your costs to local stores and put your services up on local noticeboards and Facebook Pages.

What you can expect to earn:

From $ 150 per home decoration

via beneconnoi.com

20. Homemade Beauty Products

Organic and vegan makeup and skincare products are in high-demand. If you have a recipe for a magical clay mask or a moisturising cream that changes lives, consider making small batches and selling it to others who will appreciate your hand-made products. Many small operators making their own beauty products start out selling their range on Etsy .

Since labeling requirements for cosmetics can be quite tricky, you’ll need to learn more about it before starting your business. Find out more from the ACCC .

Who has done it?

Herbana Cosmetic on Etsy sells an amazing hydrating hand cream that is much in demand!

How to do it?

Just a hint, many laboratories now will make a generic( but high quality) product that you can brand to your own liking. Check out Stay at Home Mum’s Ebook for more information !

via xalala.gr

21. Buy, Swap and Sell Trading

This is a good way to make money at any age !! Buy and sell items that you are interested in, make a profit for every marketing! To start, subscribe to all your local Facebook Pages that buy, swap and sell. Maintain an eye on newspaper listings and noticeboards selling items that are a great deal. Get to know your local antiques and second-hand dealers.

Items you are able to make money on:

Cars, Boats, Mowers

Where to Find Items?

Ebay Gumtree Local Noticeboards Facebook Buy, Swap and Sell Pages

via usatoday.com

22. Grow and Sell Plants for Resale

If you are a budding( find the pun !) gardener, why not grow seedlings and look at selling them at your local marketplace or online. All you will need are some pots, good quality clay, fertilizeriliser and patience! Succulents are huge at the moment and they are really easy to grow- so why not cash in on the phase!

Where to sell them:

Local marketplaces, local corner shops, offer a mail-out version too( many post them in the mail because they are so hardy !).

via hobbyfarms.com

23. Design Invitations and Sell Online

Are you a pro at designing invitations for birthdays, events and other important occasions? Many people are looking for their invitations to be designed and published by pros. Invitation designing and publishing will require creative skills as well as graphic editing skills. If you have these two then you can definitely start with that! If you already have a computer or laptop and a printer at home then you can cater for small jobs at first then upgrade as you grow more clients. Advertise your work on your personal pages or create an instagram account exclusively for work.

Kind of Invitations:

Don’t just think weddings and birthdays, suppose BIG! On Etsy you can buy custom invitation packs, or even downloadable designs for invitations.

via oosile.com

24. Packing Service

What you will be selling here is labour and day. When you’re planning a packing service business, you will be offering a quick and no fus experience for customers who are moving and have no time to do it themselves. This is perfect for people who are organised and have enough manpower to help out with the business. To thrive in this kind of business you will need to meet some real estate people who can recommend you to get the job done. You’ll need transportation, manpower, boxes, containers and other packing materials.

Potential Clients:

Homeowners Apartment rentals Business

via chicagomover.com

25. Product Reviewer

Try out a product and write a review about it! Some brands would like to know about what customers think. The feedback will help them improve their product. While some companies send free products for you to review, some merely offer a discount when you buy it. Some companies also offer incentives. Here’s a thorough guideon how to be a product reviewer as well as a listing of websites that look for product reviewers. You’ll require a pone/ laptop/ desktop computer and a stable internet connection.

via fatstacksblog.com

26. Data Entry

There are a lot of data entry jobs and it is one of the most convenient options for SAHMs. You’ll almost always been identified that has a negotiable time of work which you are able to fit in during your free time. Now, data entry chores vary from one company to another. But basically, it is all about organising spreadsheets and document related run. For better understanding, a data entry clerk is someone who inputs and maintains information. You will need extreme focus and high attention to detail.

You also need to be dependable and organised as you are in charge of making sure all information is accurate and up to date.

via regionvavid.org

27. Wedding Organiser

Being a bridal organiser is no easy chore, but if you have a passion for organising bridals then this is definitely a great gig which can ultimately lead to a bigger business. Who knows! If you’re new to the industry, “youre going to” do lots of homework. You also need to familiarise the latest trends in the bridal industry. Basically, being a wedding organiser means you’ll have to make sure the Groom and Bride isn’t stressed and the wedding day is perfect.

28. Film Online Videos

Starting a Youtube channel is easier nowadays, but the trick is in maintaining the channel and getting enough subscribers to create income out of it. Watch lots of youtube videos and do some research to prepare yourself. If you can get a minimum of 4000 opinions on Youtube per month, you are able to monetize your channel- plus you can get sponsorship and product reviewing etc! You’ll need wit, charm and lots of fresh ideas.

How much can you expect to induce?

From $ 200 per 60 -second video.

via definitiontoday.com

29. Start an Organic Skin Care Line

Starting an organic skin care line won’t create instant income for you. It’s going to take you a bit of time to reap the fruits of your investment. However, interest in organic skincare is increasing and people are digging natural products.Do the investigations and watch tutorials. Study skincare recipes and take advantage of the free information from the internet. Etsy is a great place to sell your new line of homemade skincare. There are also lots of places to go to get’ White Label’ skincare. That is, you get a laboratory that makes a great line of skincare- and brand it yourself! We have loads of information in our new Ebook:’ How to Find, Source and Buy Products Online ‘.

via lespagesvertes.ca

30. Do Some Driving for Uber

Being an Uber driver means you can choose your own hours. Great for Mum’s! The more you drive, the more fund you induce. And you’ll need to start is a automobile and an Uber account.

via flipboard.com

31. Design and Sell Forms

Do you have a knack for creating simple and straightforward sorts? You can definitely make money out of that! Create online forms and sample contracts that can be customised and sell it online. You’ll need a website to put your kinds up on sale and some online tools to create and design forms.

I know myself that I have bought the work of decorators with an eye to details for my own business!

Where to sell forms:

Etsy Ebay Approach small businesses

via fodor.co.uk

32. Make Wedding Favours

Start a wedding favours business while at home! If you are someone who loves to do craft especially marriage giveaways, then you can definitely start a bridal Bomboniere business. What’s great about this is you can start small. Your first customers can be your close family and friends. Make sure to take photos of giveaways you create and upload it to your social media.

Soon questions will pour and you’ll attract interest. Make sure you give discounts for large orders!

Check out our article on 50 Affordable Wedding Favours for the Modern Bride for more notions!

Wholesale Wedding Favors Seller:

MyWeddingFavors.com Superbuys Warehouse Aliexpress

via aiido.com

33. Create Succulent Gifts to Sell

Let’s be honest here. Not everyone can raise a plant. Bahaha! But if you have a talent for that then succulents are great for a business idea! They’re really trendy and can be given as a gift for any occasion.

via tbrb.info

34. Start Your Own Line of Macrame Gifts or Designs

Are you great at generating Macrame gifts? Post it online and sell it! Pinterest has a lot of ideas for patterns that are trendy. Sell your products on Etsy and ensure the money come in!

via mollyandthewolf.com

35. Frame Christmas Music as Gifts

Now this one is a seasonal type of business, but with lots of expenses during the holidays you’ll need more cash! This business idea is really easy to start and necessitates small investment so it’s totally doable. You can also ask your teens to help out with this business and make it a family affair.

via jeuxipad.info

36. Design Your Own Line of Plates

Are you into calligraphy or are you someone who loves to describe? Designing your own line of plates can be a great business idea for you!

via smittenonpaper.com

37. Import Kids Clothing for Your Own Cute Kids Line

Order name-brand kid’s apparels from online suppliers and make your own garment line. Create a marketing strategy and promote your garb line on your social media. You can also create a website to post your products!

Find wholesalers here!

Free List of Fashion Wholesalers and Manufacturers Free List of Eco and Vegan Clothing Wholesalers and Manufacturers 10 Steps to Start Your Online Business

via infokids.gr

38. Sew Your Own Vintage Style Baby Rompers

Sew vintage style baby rompers and sell it to friends and family. Offer styles and design and do it on a per order basis. It’s important to have passion and deep those who are interested in sewing and clothes to prosper in this business notion. Sell them through Etsy or Madeit or just promote them on your very own Facebook Page!

via recycled-things.com

39. Design Wedding Non-Floral Bouquets

There aren’t many options for non-floral wedding posies right now so designing and selling is a really great idea. This is also most likely a per order basis based business or you can create some and then post online! These day wedding bouquets are made from everything from latex, to newspaper!

Marketing Your Business: Sell them on Ebay, Etsy and in local florist shops.

via mariages.net

40. Locate and Sell Vintage Clothing

Do you get excited and high when you score some vintage apparel at the thrift shop? If you are great at this, why not consider it as a business! Find what is in demand and sell them at a profit!

via clicboutic.com

41. Design Funny T-shirts

Design funny shirts and get them published as a t-shirt line of your own! You can use FB, IG or a website to sell your clothes online. There are many memes you can find online that you can use for your shirts. Funny ones or relatable ones sell the most!

The thing with t-shirts is that you can get them drop-shipped genuinely easily! Shopify has loads of’ Print on Demand’ Apps that you are able to upload right away- without having to life a finger!

via zazzle.com

42. Kid’s Party Entertainment

Do you love children? Do kids love you? If “youve had” passion for amusement, performing and children then that’s a great combining for someone to start a Kid’s Party Entertainment business. With this business you are in charge of the fun in a kid’s party. You can do magical, jester, storytelling and the like. You’ll need to invest in transportation, music, party props, face paint makeup and other necessary equipment.

via fantastickidsparties.com.au

43. Make and Sell Nappy Cakes

A nappy cake business is a great idea for a business because it is easy to start and it’s totally okay to do at home. You need to have a creative streak for this one and lots of patience! Sell them on Facebook or Etsy.

via courtingbertha.com

44. Sell Product on Consignment

Sell goods on consignment! Order goods from a trader or consignor and sell it on your FB page or store. Usually, you get a percentage for each product sold. One great thing about this business is that you have the right to return goods that doesn’t get sold.

via glamour.com

45. Home Daycare Provider

Do you have a passion for children? Then you might want to start a home daycare provider. With a home daycare business you can watch over your kids will making money as well. The most important requirement to start a home daycare business is a license to be a home daycare provider and a designated space at home. You home should have a designated area that is safe, clean and conducive for kids to learn and play.

For further details on how to start a home daycare business, check out familydaycare.com.au.

46. Swimming Instructor

Becoming a swimming teacher can be a great side gig in the summer. Kids love to be in the water in the hot summer months so most of them will ask their mums to learn swimming! It’s important for you to have experience and credentials prior becoming a swimming instructor. Having your own swimming pool at home is more convenient for you, too! To start, you’ll need a private swimming pool, professional certification and years of experience as a swimming coach.

via littleotterswim.com

47. Buy and Flip Small Websites

Buying and flipping websites can be a great route to generate income. If you’re new to this business, it is basically buying a non-performing website, improving it to attract purchasers and then selling it. The hard proportion is in how you’ll improve the website. If you succeed in attaining the website into a high-performing one, then there’s a high chance of it getting sold. It is a low-capital business that anyone with interest and knowledge can start doing. Basically, you’ll have to have knowledge in web design and a basic understanding about the industry. You’ll also need to invest in a computer and internet connection.

via blog.studentsnepal.com

48. Make and Sell Gift Baskets

Gift baskets are great gift ideas because it can be customised to be what the receiver likes and you can adjust it to whatever budget. If you’re into creating gift baskets for your family and friends, then you can definitely consider this as a small business. You’ll required to have creative and entrepreneurial abilities as well as basic marketing.

via neoleague.com

49. Property Manager

To be a property manager, you must have a background in real estate. Your job is to manage residential properties in behalf of the owners and interact with tenants. You will also need to schedule regular inspections and maintenance of the properties you are trying to sell. Maintaining track of tenant or lease datum is also one of your responsibilities as well as following up on rent. Being a property director can also be day consuming, but, it’s great for Stay At Home Mums because you can schedule a period that works for you and you can definitely do it while the kids are at school.

via rentfaxpro.com

50. Upstyle Vintage Furniture

Are you into upcycling old furniture? If you have interest in interior designing and upstyling furniture, then you can definitely make money out of it! Upcycling is a ability and practising can definitely construct you better. Start with simple and basic styles. If you’re confident in doing the basics, then you can learn more of those complicated techniques.

via freewpthemes.info

51. Create a Subscription Box Business

I definitely looove subscription boxes and I think it’s a great business idea. Just put together a unique selection of goods that you think will be well loved by your target marketplace and have beautiful packaging, you’re gonna be a hitting. Read more about how to start your own subscription business here!

via motherhoodinhollywood.com

52. Start a Party Planning Business

For a party panning business, you need to be extremely organised, detail-oriented, resourceful and the desire to bring joy into people’s lives through a perfectly organised events.

via micpublishing.co.id

53. Bake Pies and Biscuits

Perfect a tart or cookie recipe and sell it as your signature product/ delicacy. Package it into gifts or consign it at local coffeehouse so you are able to make money out it! The best thing about this business is that you can do it at your own period and pace. Perfect for mums!

Potential Clients: Local Cafes

via portcitydaily.com

54. Start a Blog

Do you have a passion for writing and are interested in several topics such as travel, cook, parenthood, beauty or more? Blogging can be a great way to generate income for Stay At Home mums. Starting a blog might not be profitable at first, but if you attract a large number of people, income producing possibilities will come through ad and/ or affiliate marketing.

Here’s a great guide on how to start blogging !

www.thenextrex.com

55. Become a Doula

Women have been supporting girls during birth since the old days, and becoming a Doula can definitely be something many stay at home mums consider. To be a Doula, you’ll have to take up some training and a acquire certifications. It’s also important to have great people skills. The birth mother, the spouse and the doula should have to build trust prior birth. Being a Doula can be on-call work so you’ll also have to be flexible.

via romper.com

56. Garage Sale Organiser

Do you have a space that’s great for holding garage sales? Having a space that’s convenient to display preloved stuff is a great start. If you don’t have one and only want to be a yard sale organiser, then your job is manage everything for that event. As an organiser, you are in-charge of the space, marketing the event and attaining sure the entire thing goes well smoothly. There are a lot of people interested in holding yard sale, but are not able because of lack of venue and resources.

57. Take Online Surveys

I would love to take online surveys during my free time, but I have extremely limited patience! lol. If you got lots of hour and patience then you can definitely earn cash while taking online surveys! Here’s a list of great websites who pay you for taking surveys about brands, products, services and more. Check it out here !

via wahadventures.com

58. Evaluate Websites

Bloggers and website owneds are concerned whether their website is working properly for users or not so there are some who pay for objective reviews from a number of people. To assess websites you’ll is essential to objective and internet savvy since you’ll require a basic understanding on how it works.

Here’s a list of websites you are able to check out! Click here .

via futurpreneur.ca

59. Create and Frame Your Art

Do you love to paint and create artwork? It might be a good idea to frame it and set it out for sale. Earn extra money while doing what you like. Sounds like a great idea, right? Now, how much should be used sell your art for? A great advice would be to put a high price to it. That style, buyers will value it more.

If you sell it at a lower cost, then the buyer will think it is cheap and value it accordingly.

via evensi.us

60. Create Educational Videos

Educational videos are fun to make and can assist you generate income. It should be brief, easy-to-understand, entertaining and backed by facts. It is also important to determine your audience to know what educational videos to stimulate. Just like blogging, income making possibilities are in the form of ad and/ or affiliate marketing. Make sure to research for trendy topics to keep your video ideas fresh!

via paperfolds.in

61. Online Cooking School

If you have deep passion in cooking and think you can explain and teach it in a manner that is easy to understand, then an online cooking school is a really great way to earn money at home. If you’re a nutritionist, you can teach how to attain recipes healthier with alternative ingredients. If you’re a trained chef, teach your students hackers and techniques. For this type of business, you’ll only need basic kitchen equipment, enough kitchen space, a camera, internet connect and your cooking skills!

via elearninglair.com

62. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a great way to generate income. Youtubers, bloggers and popular public personalities earn extra money using affiliate marketing. They talk or advertise a specific services and products from a brand. When people buy through a connection provided by the publisher, they get a revenue from the link or code.

Earning from affiliate marketing can be slow and come in little amount, depending on how saleable a product or service is. It will also depend on how you advertise a product. However, it costs little to none and you don’t need to produce your own product and service so it’s convenient for stay at home mums!

via nairaland.com

Do you have more small business ideas to recommend? Share it with us in the comments!

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If you want to start selling online, need help on marketing strategies, website development, social media coaching, content creation, video production and much more! We could help you to start your business online! Please click here .