I'm getting prepared!

I received a shipment of cardboard tubes yesterday.

Also, I received a second bottle of blue stamp color.

I already had ordered one at the beginning of the kickstarter campaign but in the last week I figured that this actually wouldn't be enough to mark ...

...over 700 prints!

You know, THIS is the moment at last. The moment I was waiting for ever since we reached the funding goal of $12.000. The moment where actual physical evidence is sitting right in my face and helps me to realize the crazy things that happened over the last four weeks. I can't believe what you all just did. It's unbelievable!

My print provider will fall off his chair when he receives my next print order...

By the way, because of some serious server trouble yesterday, the fine people at kickstarter have extended the deadline of the Wormworld Saga App fundraising campaign by full 48 hours to 2nd April. So, you've got three days left to become one of those people who will drain my blue stamp color supplies. I guess by now you know the link by heart:

The Wormworld Saga App kickstarter campaign

Wormworld Saga Watercolor Painting Steps

For the last days of the kickstarter campaign I felt encouraged to create a special item for a $1000 pledge tier. It had to be something really rare and unusual and I decided to create a watercolor painting. For the first time in 10 years (I'm not kidding you!) I took out my box of watercolors, cleaned the dust out of my brushes and filled two pickle glasses with water. I sat for hours to create an actual original artwork. Apart from my original pencil sketches this is my first original artwork in years. And I really had fun doing it! Here's the result:

I also want to tell you some details about my process. Since I wanted to have creative freedom with the drawing I created it in Photoshop. There I was able to balance the black areas with the white areas more effectively compared to pencil on paper. Here's the digital drawing:

I then printed a dark gray version of the drawing out on regular printing paper. I used a ballpoint pen and carbon copy paper to transfer the drawing onto the watercolor stock which I mounted with tape onto a small drawing board. In this picture I'm half way through the transfer process:

And here is the final result of the transfer:

After the transfer I took a lot of the carbon off the paper with a kneeted eraser in order to lighten up the transfered drawing. Then I started to paint with the watercolors. This is the result of the watercolor stage:

Now this was really lacking contrast and I was very anxious if the end result would look good but of course I knew that the final step of filling in the blacks would most likely do the trick. I used black pigment ink markers to ink the black areas. In this picture I was already half through the inking process:

At this moment I knew that the artwork would look very nice. The solid black areas build a nice contrast to the subtle coloring. I really like the result and it definitely is something very special. And it already found a new owner on kickstarter! 

I will create a painting like this (with a unique motive) for everyone who pledges $1000 on kickstarter and you have 3 days left to get hold of one of these (and a whole bunch of other prints that also come with a $1000 pledge by the way). And let me point out once again that everyone who pledges $25 or more will receive special edition prints as a reward. 3 days to go! All to be found at:

The Wormworld Saga App kickstarter campaign

The final week on kickstarter.com

This has really been an exciting month so far. I'm very happy that I didn't have to wait till the very end of it to see the total funding goal of the Wormworld Saga App kickstarter campaign being reached. I can tell you, it's really unnerving to open your inbox every morning, hoping that you've come a bit closer to the goal and feeling constant anxiety that it just might not work out in the end. But that's over now and I can't tell you how relieved I feel. The Wormworld Saga App will become a reality and I can't wait to sit down and work on its creation. I really have the ambition to make this simply the best comic app you'll find out there. You provided the financial means and I will provide the hard work! It's a deal!

And, of course until 31st March you can still become a backer of the Wormworld Saga App on kickstarter.com. The tiny pledge amount of $5 will already grant your name a place in the Wormworld Saga App credits. Every print you'll receive as a reward through the kickstarter campaign will be a special limited edition print with an exclusive blue Wormseal stamp. But what I really want to point out to you is the fact, that for a $25 pledge you'll receive a hand signed 20x15cm print of "Treehouses & Skycastles".

It is the title image of daniellieske.com and I'm going to use it as a title image in the app, too. This is my signature artwork, my version of dreamwork's fishing boy on the crescend moon, so to say. And the only way to receive a print of this image will be through the kickstarter campaign. I will never print it again ever!

During the next 7 days you'll still have the chance to get one!

The Wormworld Saga App on kickstarter.com

100% reached on kickstarter.com - It's DONE!

I can't tell you how happy I am right at the moment. Seriously, I don't find the right words. This year doesn't stop to surprise me.

Like I promised, here you have the last video in the 'Art of the Wormworld Saga' series. YouTube has enabled longer videos for my account and so I didn't have to split it up. I guess I'm going to upload the other videos in one piece, too. But it will take me some time to render them again. I hope you enjoy step 4!

And just so that you know, you can still pledge at the Wormworld Saga App kickstarter campaign until 31st March in order to provide me some extra funds and in order to receive a limited edition print!

80% reached on kickstarter.com - New video!

And here is now over an hour of video showing my digital painting process for the Wormworld Saga Online Graphic Novel. I hope you enjoy it!

And of course, if you want to support the creation of the Wormworld Saga App, please visit its project page on kickstarter.com

Thanks for your support so far! It's unbelievable!

'Bran-Jar's Story' launched on remindblog.com

Jason Brubaker's 'reMIND' graphic novel was one of the first online graphic novel projects I encountered when I started to research webcomics in 2009. Jason has not only created an outstanding graphic novel which with the help of his fans he's now finally able to bring to print. He has also published a collection of invaluable information about creating graphic novels on his blog and I can't tell you just how useful these resources were for me over the last year. Jason has also launched an online forum where graphic novel authors can share their experiences and at this very forum a group of artists has gathered to give Jason something back.

Christopher Wrann of Aquarium Drinking has written a spinoff story to 'reMIND' in which  he tells the story of Bran-Jar, a little lizzard boy who gets inspired to become the hero of his own adventure. It will be told in a nine page long comic. Every page will be created by a different artist and I'm happy to announce that I'm one of them. 'Bran-Jar's Story started today on the reMIND blog so go check it out! My page will be published on 2nd May.

60% reached on kickstarter - new video online!

Yesterday, 60% of the funding goal for the Wormworld Saga App was reached on kickstarter.com and like I promised, here's the next batch of videos in the "Art of the Wormworld Saga" series.

I also uploaded the brushes that I use to create the Wormworld Saga Online Graphic Novel. You can download them here:

http://www.wormworldsaga.com/downloads/WWS_Brushes.zip

(Please note: these will only work in Photoshop CS5 and you'll have to install them as tool presets and not brush presets.)

The second step in the process of producing a panel for the Wormworld Saga Online Graphic Novel is to create a drawing based on the greyscale preliminary version. In the videos I show you how to create a perspective grid in Photoshop and how to create the drawing. Also you again will learn some German vocabulary and something about German carnival. :)

You can find all videos also on my YouTube channel

And if I may ask you to please keep on spreading the word about the kickstarter campaign! We have yet  to raise 4800$ to reach 100% of the total funding goal!

Vive la France!

Tonight I have the pleasure to announce to you the launch of the French version of the Wormworld Saga! I have to thank my friend Issa for doing this translation for me and I hope the French audience will enjoy it. If you happen to be a French reader, please help to spread the word in the French speaking world!

I also have to thank my wife who is helping me tremendously with layouting the translations recently. In fact, I want to use this occasion to mention her blog where she posts her wonderful crafting projects which little Lucas and I are enjoying so much here at home. I mean, just look at this adorable Totoro for example. It's a music box!

So, if you are interested in crafting and home decoration, have a look at her blog. She will be so happy to welcome some new visitors!

Art of the Wormworld Saga - Step 1 online!

Wow, that really caught me by surprise! The kickstarter progress jumped from 37% this morning up to 44% this evening. This means it's time for the first video. Due to the maximum length of 15 minutes per video on YouTube I had to cut it into two parts. You can watch them here directly on the blog or in my YouTube channel.

I would be happy to receive your feedback on the videos and if you happen to have any questions, please shoot them at me!

The next step - the drawing - will be posted as soon as the kickstarter campaign reaches 60% of the funding goal. So, please keep on spreading the word! The more people learn about this, the less will everyone have to contribute to its success! And since it's always handy to have a link within reach - click here to find the kickstarter project page:

The Wormworld Saga App at kickstarter.com

The Art of the Wormworld Saga Video Teaser

On kickstarter.com we have now reached over a third of the total funding goal for the Wormworld Saga App and this weekend I took some time to think about how to keep up the interest in this kickstarter campaign and how to spread the word even further.

What helped me during the creation of the first chapter was a set of milestones. The final goal doesn't look as daunting if you take it in small managable steps. So I sat down this sunday and created a nice set of videos in which I show my complete and unabridged process for creating a panel of the Wormworld Saga Online Graphic Novel. The four videos have a combined runtime of nearly 3 hours and I will progressively post them after reaching 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% of the total funding goal. Have a look at the video above for a little teaser!

So, please keep on spreading the word about the kickstarter campaign and soon you will gain an interesting insight into the creation of the Wormworld Saga!

The Wormworld Saga on kickstarter.com

The Wormworld Saga App on kickstarter.com

The Wormworld Saga App on kickstarter.com

In the last few weeks I received many messages in which people advised me to start a kickstarter campaign in order to push the project forward. I'd already heard of kickstarter.com but I couldn't quite imagine in which way it might be helpful for me. It wouldn't make sense to ask people to pay ... say ... my income for a year or something like that, would it? What would I do the next year? Ask for money again? No, if I were to launch a kickstarter campaign it would have to be for funding something with a lasting effect. Something that would lift the Wormworld Saga onto the next level.

The Wormworld Saga is a true digital comic. Not only does its atmospheric artwork look best on a screen - the light effects on the dark and gloomy backgrounds can truly shine there - but the scrolling layout, that works like a charm on a screen, makes it practically impossible to print the graphic novel in a book format. However, the day I loaded the Wormworld Saga Online Graphic Novel into the browser of an iPad I realised that I would not have to bother any longer with chopping my work into pieces in order to fit it into a page layout - I'd found the perfect way to enjoy it.

The Wormworld Saga Online Graphic Novel looks and feels great on a tablet device. Not only can you literally hold the story in your hands but navigating the scrolling format with a touch interface feels intuitive and smooth. I think, this is the best way to enjoy my work and therefore I want to create  

The Wormworld Saga App

The main purpose of the app is to provide an inexpensive product through which I can monetize the Wormworld Saga. By buying the app you would directly support me and my work and would make sure not only that there will be more chapters in the future but that they will come four times as fast as now! Like I stated in a blog post below, my goal is to create 4 chapters a year as soon as I'm able to work full time on the Wormworld Saga. 

But this wouldn't be the only incentive for you to purchase the Wormworld Saga App. I consider the app to be premium content for those fans who really want to get everything out of the project. The app will have a list of features that will make it desirable for fans. That's important because the app will NOT replace the free online version of the Wormworld Saga. It will just be there for those, who want more.

Now, there's only one tiny problem: I can't create an app and it costs a whole lot of money to pay others to do it.

And that's where kickstarter.com finally comes into play.

For those who haven't heard of kickstarter.com yet: it's a platform to fund creative projects. You launch a project with a specific funding goal and you try to raise the money in a given period of time. If the money is raised, everybody is happy. If the money is not raised inside the timeframe, nobody pays anything - again, everybody is happy (well, except for the project owner...). But it's not just a donation thing. For your support of the project you receive rewards depending on the sum you contribute and all in all it's a very cool thing with a lot of interesting projects to discover.

Well, and now the Wormworld Saga App is one of these projects and I kindly ask you to consider to support it. I have created a video, which you can watch on the kickstarter page, in which I describe everything in greater detail. And I have created a range of interesting rewards for supporters of the project. 

If you were waiting for an opportunity to give the Wormworld Saga a substantial push: here it is. 

Let's kickstart the Wormworld Saga!

The Wormworld Saga App on kickstarter.com

(have a look into my studio in the kickstarter video!)