Lucas Lieske Costas * 10th January 2011

After the last two weeks and especially that last night I don't know how to even start to describe my feelings to you. Let's just put it that way: I'm tired! :)

I hereby appologize in advance for delays in print orders, donation processing and mail response that may or may not occur during the next couple of weeks. At least you know who's to blame.

Welcome Geek Dads! Print Shop's online!

Today, the Wormworld Saga Online Graphic Novel is featured on the Geed Dad Blog  on Wired.com. I welcome all new readers that found their way to the Wormworld Saga from over there. I hope you enjoy the first chapter!

Since on weekends there is less traffic, my inbox has finally calmed down a bit and I had time to finish the print shop. It's now online and features a range of artworks of which some are available for the very first time.

Besides all time favorites like 'The Journey Begins' and 'Trapped!' you will find a first time edition of 'Rise Of The Firelord' and 'Welcome To The Wormworld'. Also, I have picked 15 different panel artworks of which you can buy 20x15cm prints with rounded corners. All items in the shop are hand signed and bear the Wormseal stamp that I've posted about a few months ago.

I hope some of you find what they are looking for in the print shop and remember: purchasing a print entitles the byer to be listed in the credits. And because the prices for the prints are mostly higher then the average donation amount, your name will most likely end up pretty high in the credits.

Ok, I'm bracing for the next week. I gave some interviews and the Wormworld Saga will be featured on several websites. That should bring in some more new readers. We're approaching 200.000 readers right now and I'm really curious how fast this milestone will be reached.

150.000 reads - No Words!

I was genuinely shocked this morning when I checked Google Analytics. Yesterday I had mentally prepared for announcing the 100.000th read at the weekend. The numbers were pointing into that direction and I was utterly amazed by the thought that within two weeks, so many people would have read the first chapter. Also, 100.000 was like the "magic number" for me. That was the number of readers I dreamed of reaching over the whole YEAR when I launched the website.

This morning, the number of reads had again doubled in total over night and is now 150.000. I really have no words right at the moment to express you how much I appreciate all this attention Jonas and his adventure receives from you. Seriously, no words!

I have processed the first batch of donations from you so there are a lot of new names listed in the credits now. Thank you all for your generosity! The money opens up brand new perspectives for me and I will make sure to invest it in ways to speed up the creation of the Wormworld Saga.

I came up with the idea, to post a little treat for you and hereby I announce that every 100 contributions (donations and print purchases) a selected fan artwork will be displayed in the credits. The first image is already online and it was created by the super talented Jana Schirmer. Go check it out! Here's a little teaser:

Thanks to Jana for this wonderful artwork and thanks to you all for your support, your comments and all the love you express towards the Wormworld Saga!

60.000 Readers - Utter Amazement!

It looks like I have the pleasure to greet a lot of new readers! Yesterday more people read the first chapter than on all previous days together. I cannot tell you how overwhelming this is for me. I was buried under an avalanche of mails and I directly want to appologize to all donators that it will take me some days until I can process all your mails and put your names into the credits. Also I want to appologize to those of you who took the time to send me an email that I didn't replyto. I read them all and I'm very thankful for your feedback. It really makes me happy to learn about all your experiences with the first chapter and I'm immensly motivated to keep up to your expectations for the next chapter.

The launch of the prints shop will most likely be delayed into the next week. I really have to get organized in order to deal with this new situation and I guess having to deal with print orders right now would completely derail me.

Thank you all for your outstanding support!

Over 25.000 reads - You are awesome!

I'd like to say hello to all the new readers that were sent by boingboing. I hope that you enjoy what you found! I also want to thank Sarah Ellerton of The Phoenix Requiem for featuring the Wormworld Saga several days on her splashpage and putting the link into her favorites. It means a lot to me because 'The Phoenix Requiem' is one of my favorite webcomics out there. I also want to thank all the people who subscribed to this blog, the Wormworld Saga Facebook Fanpage and to my Twitter account. It is very important for me to know that I can reach you when new things are coming up. And thanks a TON to all the people who are spreading the word! Today, the Wormworld Saga reached 1000 likes on Facebook! And last but not least a heartfelt thank you to all who took the time to write a comment. It makes me so happy to learn about your reception of the first chapter. I almost feel guilty that I can't give you the second chapter right away. I swear I will make it worth the wait!

Over 10.000 reads - Thank you so much!

The end of the year comes close and I just want to thank all of you for your support over the last 12 month. Your comments on my progress and your encouraging words helped me a great deal on my way. It really means a lot to me!

The last 6 days I was overwhelmed by your feedback. The first chapter has already been read over 10.000 times in less then a week. That in my eyes is a tremendous achievement for the starting week of a webcomic. I want to thank every single one of you who spread the word and I also want to thank all the donators who have already created a nice budget for my first advertising run. The next thing on my list now is the opening of the prints shop which you can expect within the next two weeks.

But now it's time to lean back a bit and celebrate the new year! I wish everyone a happy new year 2011 and I hope to see you all around!

Chapter 1 - Here it is!

I don't want to bother you with too much talk here. The first chapter of the Wormworld Saga Online Graphic Novel is waiting for you! To read it, please visit the brand new Wormworld Saga website at:

wormworldsaga.com

I hope you enjoy it and I'd love to read your comments here on the blog.

I hope you all are having nice Holidays!

The Wormworld Saga begins on 25th December

This year you can look forward to an additional Christmas present! On 25th December I'm going to launch the brand new Wormworld Saga website and the first chapter of the Wormworld Saga Online Graphic Novel which is titled "The Last Day Of School". I have finished the online formatting of the graphic novel and now I only have to prepare the rest of the content of the website. Here is a preview for those who are curious:

As you can see, I'm going for a compact layout. The whole startpage fits onto an iPad screen which I currently consider to be the best hardware to enjoy the Wormworld Saga Online Graphic Novel. Of course you will be able to read it on any other hardware, too. Together with the Wormworld Saga website I'm going to launch a Facebook fanpage and I'll update my Deviantart gallery with panel artwork for those who want to enjoy the artwork without word ballons. This blog will remain to be the centre of all news about the Wormworld Saga and the most direct way for you to give me your feedback.

In January I'm going to open up the prints shop. From that point on the Wormworld Saga themed artwork that is currently on sale on daniellieske.com will be sold exclusively on the new website. Ordering the prints will be much easier in the new shop and there will be many new artworks at various price points available.

You may wonder why I chose to launch the Wormworld Saga Online Graphic Novel on a date on which most people will be offline. Most internet creators are on hiatus over the holidays and would tell you that it's not worth the effort because nobody watches anyway. I considered to hurry up and launch the website before everybody disappears into the holidays. I also considered to delay the launch and start in January when everybody is back at work and hungry for new content. But ultimately I realized that it just would be nice to launch on Christmas. I imagine that everyone who learns about the launch will be happy to have this little additional Christmas treat. And when if not during the holidays might you find some spare time to sit down, relax and dive into a story? Hopefully in a cosy place with some cookies and a hot cup of tea.

Milestone 5 accomplished - It's done!

Today is the day! The day I was not able to imagine at the beginning of the year when I had finished my layout and saw how much work lied before me. You might remember:

But it happened - I finished the last panel today and it feels unreal to me. I cannot imagine NOT to head straight to my computer after work and painting until I'm too tired. Fortunately there's still a lot of work to do before I can present you the first chapter of the Wormworld Saga Online Graphic Novel. This is my list of tasks that have to be completed before the release can happen:

• Rework of some panels (I'll keep this brief and stay away from the perfectionism trap).
• Finetuning of the writing and preparing a document for proofreading
• Layouting the word balloons
• Composing and color correcting the final artwork
• Creating the website

I have no experience with most of these points and therefore have no idea how long it will take me. My goal is to have the main bulk of work done by the end of November and doing last touches to the website in early December. I definitely want to have everything online before the holidays so we are closing in.

I'll keep you updated!

Digitalartconvention 2010

I'm the admin of a german digital art online community and every year we have a convention (normally in Frankfurt). We had three wonderful days of creativity and inspiration and I want to share a small video with you in which community member Caccaduu has collected some impressions from this year's event.



Caccaduu is also known under the name of Kemane Bâ and he is hell of a creative mind. Illustration, animation, music and film - he does everything with passion and his results are always a joy to watch. You should definitely take a lok at his blog at:

http://kemaneba.blogspot.com/

And in case you're wondering what all these updates are about when instead I should be busy working on the Wormworld Saga I can appeace you: I'm sitting at the last panel right now so expect the next update really soon!