Crowdfunding your Comics | Art of Comics Epi 2

estimate breakdown

Graphic Novel - Pariah, Missouri

Taking a moment to mention my new graphic novel: Pariah Missouri,

it just came available on KICKSTARTER

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andresjsalazar/pariah-missouri-the-graphic-novel Heres a press release: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Ventura Man Uses Kickstarter to Realize His Dreams Ventura, California – November 25, 2012 – Doing something creative that you love is a challenge.  Finding an audience for your work and getting paid for it is even harder.   Andres Salazar understands those struggles.  Andres is a stand-up comedian,  has directed and produced short films, written screenplays even sells his paintings at craft fairs.  Most recently Andres has turned to the crowdfunding website, Kickstarter.com to find an audience and realize his dream of being a creator. His latest project is a graphic novel titled Pariah, Missouri--a western/horror story set in pre-civil war.  He has a love for Missouri, in particular St Joseph.  He wrote it after traveling to St Joseph multiple times for business.  “I pitch it as Deadwood meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with less camp.  St Joseph is ripe with great history, I loved the people and town and I thought it would be a perfect setting for Pariah,” says Andres.  “When I conceived Pariah, I wanted something that I could tell graphically since comics have been my love as a kid.  It’s much cheaper of course to generate a comic and this is a good way to build a fanbase,” says Andres.  Creating a comic book is not without it’s challenges, an artist needed to be found so Andres turned to sites such as Deviantart.com to find affordable and dependable artists.  “That was a challenge.  I mean, I could have drawn it myself, but comic book art takes an incredible amount of time, plus there is value in adding others creative juices to the mix.  I was lucky to find a great artist like Jose,” says Andres.  Jose Luis Pescador is no stranger to the comic book world.  He studied at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and has worked on a number of independent graphic novels and has shown fine art in galleries across the country.  His super-team was assembled, but Andres still needed funding.  Enter Kickstarter.com  Kickstarter is a new phenomenon in what is dubbed crowdfunding which gives creators a chance realize their ambitions by asking others to “back” their project.  From films, music albums to food, Kickstarter generates hundreds of projects daily in the hopes that they meet their funding goal.  If the goal is achieved, backers then receive rewards according to their pledge amount. Having worked for Howard Chaykin as an assistant, Andres learned much of the business from his mentor.  Andres also wrote and directed SAG short film After Cheri and stated , “We are very excited about our Kickstarter for Pariah, Missouri!  It will be an exciting story for the next 30 days to see how we progress through the campaign.  I will be posting videos and updates often so backers really get a sense of the “behind the scenes” of what it takes to make a comic book.  Please check us out.” You can find Andres Salazar in front of his laptop furiously typing away here in Ventura at a coffee shop near you. To see the Pariah, Missouri Kickstarter campaign to go: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andresjsalazar/pariah-missouri-the-graphic-novel

Changing the Spark Plugs

I bought some Bosch platinum 2 spark plugs for the car. My plan is to change them tomorrow, I'm excited to do it, and hopefully it will go smoothly, mostly worried about the potential of cross-threading or having a frozen plug.

Changed the Oil

Second time now, I changed the oil.

Very easy to do.

6.5 quarts.

My first Tinkering

So, I bought this bad boy in Sacramento, knowing that there are a few small repairs that need to take place.

1. Front control arm bushings.
2. Drive belts need replacing.
3. Rear differential leak.


I am going to take it upon myself to record all my DIYs and try to save a few bucks and change the oil and the drive belts. I need to get a few tools first.

This morning, woke up, when to look under the car, and it had a little puddle under the rear diff. I felt the bolts and they were LOOSE! I grabbed my ratchet, and for the first time in forever, I tightened up my bolts and and working on my car. Still has a small leak, but it's not as bad as it was. Going to take it in the shop for the arm bushings and rear diff leak on Tuesday.

The following pic is NOT of my car, it's one I grabbed from the web, but the red circles are the bolts that I tightened.

History

I've had it since Tuesday, it's Thursday so I'm on day 2 and I do love driving the car, it puts a smile on my face, this is the first luxury car I've owned. Maybe I'll start with my car history so you can get to know where I'm coming from. I'll look for some pics that you check out.

I cut my teeth on a 1985 Ford Escort. It was manual. I learned on a manual, which was tricky at first, but once i got it, it was fun to drive... the manual that is, not the Escort. The escort was crappy, but as a 18 year old, it was the car I had, so I was stoked.

At the same time, my mom has a 1968 VW camper bus. I loved that beast, it drove like a tank, the stick was crazy, but it was fun to drive.

I married a woman that came with a 1988 Oldsmobile Cutless supreme. It was a huge beast, automatic, comfy but way too boat-ish for me.

I leased a 1999 Honda Civic down in LA, where we moved it. I loved this car. The civic was a blast compared to the Escort, which always broke down on me and the Oldsmobile. Unfortunately the lease terms sucked, so we moved on to my last car.

1999 Camry. Bought in 2002, with 34,000 miles, it was cherry and we loved it. I used it as my primary car for many years and I had it until last week which got to 229,000 miles on it. Never really gave me problems. Good to drive, lasted forever. Just sold it to a kid up in Los Osos for $2,700. I'm sure it will last her a number of years still.

That brings me to this blog. BMW. The Ultimate Driving Machine.

This blog will have my adventures in the world of DIY and what I do to keep my car running smooth like butter!