Hello friends!
2022 is coming to an end, it’s time to make a recap of the year 2022!
But before I start, I wanted to thank everyone who supported me in some way in the last year. Life as a small artist is not always easy, because besides job and family you also want to build something and realize your dreams. This is only possible with a lot of discipline and hard work and of course thanks to all of your support. Thank you!
There are years in which it was simply from an artistic point of view not much going on. Painting a picture here and there or learning a bit, but nothing exciting. But then there are years that are completely different. 2022 was just such a year…
The year had already begun with great expectations. 2021 had already announced that 2022 would be a special time. I give you a short overview of what has happened in this period with me.
Narae
In 2021 I finished my comic “Narae” and I wanted to publish it. I was able to reach the big goal! It was within reach! But I was faced with a big dilemma. Did I want to work with a publisher or do self-publishing? Or in other words… Would I throw the one ring into the blazing flames of Mount Doom or keep it to myself after all? Tough decision, everything has pros and cons.
In June the Comic Salon in Erlangen should take place. The most important fair for comic creators in Germany. My plan was to have everything ready until then, so that I could secure my choice in one direction or the other. But because I was not sure if I would find a publisher or not, I had to learn about selfpublishing first.
Internationaler Comic-Salon Erlangen
It was the first time I visited such a fair and I had one goal, to talk to people about Narae and see how it was accepted. Of course the hope was to get my comic published by my favorite German publisher, but I was open for everything.
I had great conversations with many publishers, big and small ones. I was able to talk to some artists and collectors. There were great presentations with interesting topics. I could learn for myself how a book signing runs and many other things. They were nice days where I was able to learn a lot and from which I will profit in the future. Nevertheless, the dilemma was still there… What do I do with the comic (ring)?
Publication of Narae
Erlangen was over and all the publishers had been hit by Corona after that. I sent my comic to publishers, in fact not to all of them. Unfortunately nothing resulted from it. That was not nice but not bad for me. In the meantime I had more and more flirted with self-publishing. After considering all possibilities, I decided to go with KDP Amazon. (So I’m on Sauron’s team and keep the ring, no matter what Sam whines about) Not my first choice because I’d rather sell my book in a bookstore but the only logical one for me.
Because everything took so long, I had to get Narae out as an e-book first and then a print version at the end of the year. It will be different for next time. Again I learned something. Anyway, I am a comic author since this moment. Gosh, I’m proud of it!
The comic is published in three languages as a booklet and can be bought here. I would be very happy to hear how you like it.
The gift of diversity
One comic does not make a real author, more comics have to come! At the beginning of the year I had the idea to concentrate on a new story instead of continuing the second part of Narae. That means part two is on ice now.
My new story with the working title “The Gift of Diversity” is getting formed since then. It’s about a girl in a fantasy setting with a Dissociative Personality Disorder (Multiple Personality) who goes on a dangerous adventure to save her big love.
This year I’ve already made character concepts, built a world, I wrote the script and finished the outlining phase. By the end of the year, I was ready to start drawing the pages. So far, that’s going much better than the first comic and I’m very happy with my work speed and the quality of the story. I’ve also switched completely to Clip Studio Paint for this comic and I’m still learning exactly how everything works.
What’s next?
After throwing Sam and Golum into the lava, I can now bring the whole world under my control. Muahahaha!
That means 2023 is going to be very work intensive year. I want to have the new comic ready by the end of the year, so maybe I can even showcase my stuff in Erlangen 2024 or in other events. I plan to finance the comic via Kickstarter and for that, I need to increase my reach. At the end of the day, it’s no good for anyone to have the best comic in the world if no one knows about it.
Also, I’m continuing to develop my drawing style. I realize I’m not where I could be yet, so I’m going to keep working on it. But that will happen independently of comics and will be tried out again and again in individual illustrations.
Conclusion
A good year has passed. Not always optimal but very satisfying for me. I have achieved my big goal to publish a comic and some other important things for me and I learned a lot of new things. How was your 2022? Did you also reach your goals or did everything go differently than expected? I am looking forward to your comments :D
A+ gladly again!
Greetings!
Fede