Bad Month, Editors... Art Contest? Kickstarter?

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Hey guys, I hope you are all enjoying 2014 so far... because I sure as hell am NOT. I had two events this week and just found out I missed the signups for Comic Market!

Slight bitch fest, but I've got some more happy stuff to discuss after I talk about the events I went to this weekend. Just skip down to the bold print.

Comitia was a bust. I do have some regulars who came and bought the new books, but I had my husband helping and he said people would come up to buy books when I was gone and then suddenly retreat, or ask where I was, etc. One buyer actually got mad at me for not being there when I eventually got back. I... I don't know. He was manning the table because I was off at the editor section, where I had editors look at FaLLEN to see if my art was good enough for them to want to look at a story I was working on, setting up all last year (it has since been canned, unfortunately), and they basically told me my art was now at professional quality (yay) but they didn't like FaLLEN for the following reasons:

- an unpublished author cannot start out with a fantasy story. I don't really consider FaLLEN fantasy, but whatever. One magazine told me I needed to start the story off in an "everyday setting". I guess they wanted the story to start with Arma running to school, late, with toast hanging from her mouth, with her telling the audience what her name and blood type was. Kind of defeats the purpose of the amnesia plot, which is a major chunk of the entire series... when I mentioned that, they said "Well, that's why fantasy doesn't sell." You can imagine what they thought about an actual fantasy story...

- one magazine asked me what my favorite movies are. "I like Rocky and Indiana Jones..." he then asked if I liked Avatar, and I said "I guess. I liked it in the theater, but once was enough." He was surprised by my comment (I must have dashed whatever thing he'd wanted to say) and then went back to Indiana Jones, asking me why I liked it. I said I liked history and the antics of the titular character, how he wasn't over-zealous about his adventures, and how goddamn sexy Harrison Ford was with that whip. He said, "I'm going to say something that always blows artists away, like somehow they never think of this on their own. I ask them, why don't you do a story like something you really like?" He had this big smile on his face, eyes wide, like he thought I'd say "OMG brilliant!!!1 I nevar thought of that wowz! You have changed my life!" and I pointed at my comic and said "This is something I really really like." I have done exactly that with this story; I like stories like Evangelion that delve into the psychosis of characters, and I like magical girls shows and shows that feature teams of women (like Sailor Moon, or Sakura Taisen). I like masculine female characters. Voila, FaLLEN is born. His response to my statement? "Well, I don't like your story." Well, okay then. He suggested I make a story like Indiana Jones, and said he'd email me so I could give him a rough story I was working on. He never emailed me.

- I got a complaint that I only had female characters in the story. Hey, the mouse is a boy.

- Was told that the first two chapters are really exciting, but that at chapter 3 I explained too much of the plot. On top of that, all of the girls looked alike, since they were all in hospital gowns and had their hair down. I said to go along with the amnesia thing they don't get their own clothes or wear their hair differently until they get their identities, and showed the editor that if he'd read past chapter 3 (he was the only one who did not read all five chapters) he would have seen that when Lamia got her name she got a uniform and her hairstyle changed. He then said this is why the amnesia setting doesn't work. I don't actually think he found it hard to figure out who was who, I think he was just trying to get me to go away.

- Finally, I got told that my chapters were too long at around 20 pages per chapter. "Serialized manga usually runs at 12-15 pages per chapter." Uh... since when? Of all my manga (not by me), from various publishers, 20 pages was the average length for each chapter. She actually started to say 8 pages was the norm, but then corrected herself. 12 pages is pretty darn short.

I was mostly there to ask about assistant work, and even though all three places told me my art was professional level, and even though I have assistant experience, nobody called me back about assistant work. I really don't care that FaLLEN isn't their cup of tea, because it IS pretty niche, but they were telling me things like "Nobody would ever like this type of setup." I said that it actually has a fair fanbase online, and when I told them how many people read it they were really impressed... before asking "in Japan?" I said no, those were worldwide numbers, and they told me that was why. I also found out one of the editors worked on a manga I really liked called March Story. LOVED it, and then all of a sudden, near the end, it nosedived. It's like it totally lost its focus and I ended up not buying the last volume. Guess what? "You like March Story? Hey! I was in charge of that manga at the end of its run!" Oh, so... is it his fault it bombed? Was he bragging about that? I don't know.

This is how dealing with Japanese editors can be sometimes. I've honestly kind of given up. Not entirely I guess; sometimes I reach out and see how things are, but I'm a little old and I'm not Japanese so I'm not their prime target for potential artists. FaLLEN has proven to be appreciated online and it is getting more and more readers, and the response online has been very positive... and really, if I got published, who knows? Editors might want to change the story, and this is a story I don't want them changed. But I do want money, even if it's just doing more assistant work or just illustrating comics. I just thought I'd let you guys see some of the things that I personally go through with editors, since I know a lot of you want to draw manga in Japan someday. I used to get some good feedback sometimes that I used to improve myself, but in the last year I feel like they have been really reaching with their ideas. Fantasy is a hard sell? Japanese people hate fantasy? Really? Almost every successful manga currently published is fantasy. One Piece, Fairy Tail, Magi, to some degree Naruto... did I miss something? I've been told this before, too, back when I had an editor at Shounen Magazine, so I know it's not just in response to FaLLEN. Shingeki No Kyojin was rejected by basically EVERY PUBLISHER until the author tried Shounen Magazine. One of the most successful franchises right now (and kind of fantasy, btw) and editors all said it wouldn't sell. 

I'm embracing this era with webcomics and kickstarter and whatever. And though yeah, most of my audience has been outside of Japan, I'm gaining Japanese readers. Or I was...

Comitia, which was on the 2nd, was bad for sales. I now have so many books I don't have the space on my table to showcase them, so I am going to have to totally rethink my table presentation. Japanese comic events only give you so much space, and five books is now just too many. Also, I was in the fantasy section for the first time, and though a lot of people picked up my books to read, not many people bought. FaLLEN is light fantasy at best, in my opinion, or kind of an urban fantasy. I think people were looking for elves and wizards, you know? I had two guys read every FaLLEN book, beginning to end, and still not buy the books! Can't you tell before then that you don't like the story? I can't stand people like that.

Yesterday was Sunshine Creation, and this was only my second time going. I did well my first time, but Saturday we had a mini blizzard that rendered many trains inoperable... including MINE. I had to walk a few miles, in the snow, with a suitcase full of books that couldn't be pulled on its wheels because the snow hadn't been cleared away! I had to PICK UP THE SUITCASE AND CARRY IT. It took me an HOUR to reach the next town over's train station, and because of that I ended up getting to the event just as they were opening the doors. No time to setup! AGH!! The guy next to me had been next to me the LAST time I went (kind of sort of creepy coincidence), and my whole section was in front of a big wall that I don't think people even noticed. I thought I had a great table, but the map didn't show that wall. Nobody could see us from behind, and almost nobody came by our tables. Plus, we were right in front of the porn section... I did get a few new readers, I think, but I might end up losing them because I decided not to sign up for the one in April because I won't have a new book out by then.  Since I'm in the red from these two events, I am hesitant to apply until I have something new in May. I was apparently the table with some of the better sales in my area, though. Talked to some other artists (some very talented!) and they only sold one or two things. Crazy.

I did decide I was going to sign up for Comic Market, though! And finally I had time to do it... the signups started on the 28th of January, so I still had some time-- oh, oh no. No. Signups closed Feb. 6th... wow. Okay. Eff you, Comic Market. One week? Seriously? EFF YOU. IN THE BUTT.

So... not a great year so far. End bitching.


ON TO MORE HAPPY THINGS........... :D

To people with commissions: putting these on hold until the awards polls end on the 15th since I am still advertising for that and all.

Next month I am going to start putting together things for a kickstarter for FaLLEN vol. 1, the graphic novel. And yes, the ENGLISH VERSION. It will probably be out in late spring/early summer and will include the following:

- chapters 1-7, uncensored in a handy B6 sized graphic novel with full-color cover
- an additional short comic featuring Arma and Lamia in an alternative origin story to becoming Guardians.
- character profiles w/ character design sketches
- postcard sized prints of the individual chapter covers in color
- a guest art gallery

I'm going to make a special trailer to post on youtube/kickstarter next month, but I'm still trying to come up with ideas for the kickstarter! Any suggestions? So far I've got these ideas I'm kicking around:

- copy of the book in English or Japanese
- 12 month wall calendar
- character charms (like what I already sell)
- a large poster featuring the art from the graphic novel cover
- special mention in the book for your donation
- dakimakura of Lamia... ahaha XD

I'm still trying to come up with some ideas, so if you can think of anything you'd want, please let me know! The kickstarter is for both the Japanese AND English editions, so I figure I'll need about $3000, give or take... haven't done the math yet since I don't know how many pages the book will have. But any advice or donation prizes you can come up with would be a big help to me if you could list them in the comments below!

And yes, I did say a guest art gallery. This gallery will be decided through a contest I'm going to hold starting next month here on DA as well as my website and on MangaMagazine.net. The contest will be for people to draw the following characters:

- Arma
- Lamia
- Vox
- the "munchkin"

Since it's the first book, the number of characters who have their names is still only a handful and I don't want people drawing characters they don't really know yet. There will be a cash prize for the top three entries, and all winners will have their art featured in both the English and Japanese printings of Vol. 1! I'll be kicking off that contest next month sometime and it will probably go through until early May. I'm looking forward to hosting another contest again :D All entries will also be featured on the FaLLEN website, so there is still a chance for some exposure if you don't place.


FaLLEN is doing really well in the polls! That's amazing! If you haven't voted, there is still time! We're in the last week at the polls, so here's hoping for the best!!




BEST-OF-GMI-LOGO-RAW2-571x257 by OgawaBurukku

FaLLEN has been nominated for the Best Of GMI Awards!! I feel so honored to be listed among so many amazing series!

If you read FaLLEN and you enjoy it, please please please vote for it on the official GMI voting page:

Winner VOTE FOR FaLLEN HERE!!Winner 


The cash prize would really help in getting me to be able to post more pages a week. If I win the full prize I might be able to do four pages a week instead of two, since I'd be able to turn down other work and focus on FaLLEN. So once again, any votes I can get would be a major boost in helping me reach my goal of being able to finish a chapter per month. If you want to see more FaLLEN pages at a faster page rate, this is one way you can help make that happen.

Plus, you'd be SUPER AWESOME.

So vote if you are enjoying the comic or want to support my art and my comics without having to empty your wallet XD


Series-cover21 by OgawaBurukku





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Commission Slots
1. :icondas-mimi: - cel-shaded full-body (finished)
2. :icontadpole7: - cel-shaded full-body (finished)
3. :iconqdla: - cel-shaded thighs-up (finished)
4. :iconchocobosh: - cel-shaded bust (progress: sketched)
5. :iconjadiner: - chibi and sketch (progress: sketching...)
6. :icongrandcross: - b/w bust (progress: sketch finalized)




The Japanese printed Chapter 4 book is available here, or you can get the pack here.



There are other things available, too, so check it out!


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ogawaburukku.com/fallen




Shop for FaLLEN and other products by Ogawa Burukku!

:star:If You Like FaLLEN, Please Vote For It Or Add It To Your Favorites At The Sites Below!



© 2014 - 2024 OgawaBurukku
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JadineR's avatar
I forgot: IndieGogo is another option some comickers use because of the following:

Even if it doesn't get fully funded, you get to still keep all the money thus raised so far. Unlike KS.

It's a good option, but personally it's also a double-edged sword -- who's to say the artist will actually keep their word? .-. At least with KS nobody gets hurt except, well, the one who created the project. XD