Join the 2012 Cut Paper Art Calendar Campaign (updated)
update -- The 2012 Cut Paper Art Calendar is now available for purchase. Please check the Calendar Shop for a preview and to order. 2012年切絵カレンダーご購入頂けます！カレンダーのショップからご閲覧・ご購入頂けます。
There's a long, long, sometimes tedious story behind this post, and I still haven't decided how much to tell, and which details will only bore the pants off of you. So, lets begin with the pizzaz!
The 2012 Cut Paper Art Calendar is now available!...sort of. This year, I'm printing the calendar myself, using local printers here in Japan (the same folks who do such a great job on my postcards!). To do that, I'm going to need a bit of a hand from all you guys. And when I say "hand", I mean the one reaching for your wallet. So, please hop on over to my Kickstarter project and pre-order a calendar. Or two. Or a baker's dozen. While you're there, bask in the glorious rewards I am offering (ps: they are named after the animals of the Japanese Zodiac).
update: I forgot one of the most important points! Like all kickstarter campaigns, the 2012 Cut paper Art Calendar is an all-or-nothing affair. Money only changes hands (and rewards only rewarded) if I reach my goal of $2200. Kickstarter collects the money after the campaign ends on November 22nd, 2011. Thanks!
After that, go forth and share this happy news with your friends and relatives, neighbors, arch-enemies, pets, beautiful strangers whose eyes catch yours on the street, and the other 7,000,000,000 people in the world.
About the calendar For the next twelve months, you will find yourself in a strange, familiarly alien world. It is a world of shadowy forests and living stone. A world where the sea and the wind wear faces; where great and eternal animals converse with colorful spirits. Where, in 2012, a dragon is the waterfall it bursts from.
Mostly, it is a world of paper.
2012 is the Year of the Dragon, and that brand new image (my first ever cut-paper dragon, and the first drake I've drawn since middle school) graces January. The other 11 months each feature one of my favorite pieces from the last couple years. This year, I'm planning on rotating in two new pieces for February and March, so let me know if you have any favorites!
Hopes, Dreams, and monotonous tedium under the fold.
The Rewards are super. And I'm being modest when I say that. I'm offering 9 rewards at the moment, ranging from a hearty "Cheers!" on up to full commissioned artwork. In the middle are postcards, calendars, artist-edition calendars with sketches and my fabulous signature, and more.
Got an idea for a great reward? Leave a comment or drop me an email. I live to make you happy.
The Money Bit (in agonizingly dull detail) There are times when being international just. simply. sucks. This project was supposed to go live nearly a month ago, but, as usual, I failed to account for F*up time. Y'know, those wasted weeks when you realize that online banking doesn't allow overseas access, and bureaucracy vomits forth massive roadblocks of virtual paperwork, and all work has to be done through grudgingly related intermediaries who would really rather be in bed right now because, gosh darn it, there is a 13 hour time difference.
You might have read something about the steroid-enhanced Japanese ¥en. We don't much like it either. Especially those of us who sell art overseas and weep at the 25% shavings every time we bring money to these island shores. It also makes it darn hard to judge what something costs.
Basically, most of the $2200 I'm looking for will go towards the printing of the calendars, color proofs, that sort of thing. There's also a bit for the packaging materials. And the rest should be enough to cover shipping of the calendars and lower-priced rewards to whichever corner of the globe you call home.
All my price estimates are based on printing 100 calendars. If I can pre-sell more than that number, the printing price-per-calendar drops a bit, and, hey, I might even be able to buy that new printer I so desperately need. Or lunch, depending on the value of the ¥en that day.
...and finally... Why? Those of you who have been following my career for a while might be asking, "But Patrick, why not just print the calendar through Lulu the same way you've always done?". First of all, it's nice we're on a first-name basis now. Secondly, while I was always ultimately happy with the calendars before, the road to get there was even more tedious than this essay. This way, I have more control over the final product, I can offer signed and sketched copies, and I can hopefully offer the calendar to people all over the world while at the same time charging less to do so (when shipping fees are factored in, if not foiled by those darned currency tidal shifts).
Which brings us full-circle to me humbly asking for your support. First, we need to make the Kickstarter Campaign a success by the ending date, Nov. 22, 2011. Then, if we can pre-sell more than 100 calendars, this can be better than a break-even project, with a promises of even brighter futures. If the 2012 Calendar is a success, I'd love to try something even more ambitious. A full-blown art project perhaps. I'd love to do an art book too.
So, please go forth and spread the word. Tell all art lovers and all people who need to remember dates. If you know any artsy gift shops or galleries, share the link with them. Let's make this a success! Thanks!!