Thursday, July 24, 2014

This is a sketch of JJ and Becky, the main characters to a side project called Rock Slingers I'm working on, which is going to be a Kickstarter in the next month or so.

Doing the math for my kickstarter is below.






I'm in the process of starting a Kickstarter for a writer that has hired me. This is a side project from my regular gig, so it's just one shot 26 page comic.
I started doing the math and remembered some of the finance math I learned in college.
I thought this might help anyone that is starting a kickstarter.
Using the formula px = vx + FC + Profit
Where,
p is the price per unit (the price you're selling the comic $10.00)
x is the number of units, (we're trying to solve for this, which is how many comics you have to sell to break even)
v is variable cost per unit (this is the cost of printing the comic, shipping it to you from printer and then to the customer)
FC is total fixed cost (paying the artists, writer, etc.)
I used Ka-blam to get my printing costs.
For a 26 page comic the price is $2.20 or $1.77 if you put their ad in the comic. I chose not to get the discount, so $2.20 is the printing cost.
Going to USPS and getting a flat rate 3-5 day standard large envelope with a weight of 5 ounces is about $1.82. I put in several different zip codes too. One from Seattle, Washington to Boston, MA and still was the same price. Now you have to add the price of the envelope and handling charges too, so I was averaging $4.00 for shipping each comic within the US. The charge of shipping the comics to me, from Ka-blam averages around .20 cents.
The variable costs are as follows $2.20 + 4.00 + .20 = $6.40
I’m selling the comic for $10.00, which includes the shipping costs. So the customer is paying a flat rate of $10.00 for one comic.
Finally the fixed costs (FC) is how much it costs to make the comic. For art it is $1,300 and other charges are $260, which equals $1,560.
Putting the formula to work written to solve for x is FC/(p-v), $1,560/($10.00-$6.40) = 437.
X = 437
That means in order to pay for the shipping and all the other stuff I need to sell at least 437 comic books to break even.
Since each comic is being sold for $10.00 the total funding I need to ask for is $4,370.
If I want to add international charges I would need to add more for international pricing. I’ve seen pricing from $6.00 to $10.00. That is no insurance, first class and no tracking.

Friday, July 4, 2014

Pinup WIP of a book I'm doing called Rock Slingers. It is a slow going project that won't see completion for several month, because I'm plugging away with Steamroma. This is a pinup of the two main characters.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

A little exercise in styles. I was reading Inhumans and I felt like sketching one of Joe's drawings and then I decided to draw a similar pose with my own style. I think it is interesting looking at the difference in technique and whatnot.