★Please Note: Feedback on this post would be extremely appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Only January, and I’m already beginning to tackle some of my New Year’s goals (New Year’s Resolutions, Anyone?)!!!
First and foremost, I’ve been working on goal #1, making progress on some of the finished illustrations for Elias & The City of Cats. I’m hoping to make a bit more progress in the coming days and then meet up with Gabe on Friday to show him my work. 
In the meantime, I’ve been brainstorming on goals #6 and #7, my first self-printed zine and my online storefront!
Possible envelopes for first zine.
The other day, I decided that my first self-printed zine will be an illustrated poem.
I was doing some research on The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and came across the perfect poem for my first zine! I think this poem will be unexpected and exciting while still tying in with The Poet and the Flea. The poem will remain a secret for now, but I’ll give a free copy of my zine to the first person who can correctly guess which one it is. Hint: The Seven Deadly Sins. I’ll be truly impressed if anyone gets this!
As far as production goes, I’d like to keep this zine relatively simple since it’s my first: about 6 to 8 pages, black and white with simple lines, a number of special hand-watercolored copies, all packaged in a lovely envelope. I’ll probably print about 25 or 30 copies, but I’d love to know if anyone is seriously interested in purchasing a copy so that I can figure out if I need to print more or less.
I’ve been planning my online storefront for a while now, but I’m waiting for the right time to set it up and launch it.
I’ve decided to use Storenvy, because it seems user-friendly and stylish. And it helps that it’s free.
Other than my first self-printed zine, I’d like to offer a wide range of products including The Poet and the Flea merchandise (prints/posters, t-shirts, tote bags, badges/pins, etc.). For prints, I’d like to keep them high-quality but made-to-order so that one can request any page of The Flea or whatnot.
The most ambitious product I’d like to see in my store is a The Flea plush toy. I’ve been playing around with many ideas for this, but know it has to remain relatively simple. The plush toy will definitely be handmade in black fabric, possibly with buttons for eyes and silver/gold (maybe glow-in-the-dark) fabric paint to add texture/scales. It will take me a while to get to this project (and I might recruit some help for it), but I’m excited to see how everything turns out.
Also, I’d like to offer commissioned illustrations, but I have to work out the details on that!
Again, feedback is very welcome! Just leave a comment below or send me an e-mail at gegallas@hotmail.com!
***
For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.
***
Copyright 2013 by G. E. Gallas
35 comments | tags: Ambition, Ambitious, Appreciated, Appreciation, Badges, Beginning, Black & White, Black and White, Blog, Brainstorming, Buttons, Cats, Chic, Children's book, Comic book, Comics, Comment, Constructive Criticism, Copies, Copy, Correct, Correctly, Creative, Creativity, Cute, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Drawing, Drawings, Dream, E-mail, Elias & The City of Cats, Envelopes, Etsy, Exciting, Fabric, Fabric Paint, Feedback, Finished, First, Free, Gabe, Glow-in-the-Dark, Goals, Gold, Graphic Novel, Guess, Handmade, High Quality, Hint, Ideas, Illustrated, Illustrations, Illustrator, Impressed, Interested, Interesting, January, Long-Term, Lovely, Made-to-Order, Meeting, Merchandise, New Year, New Year's Resolutions, New Years, Online, Page, Perfect, Pins, Play, Please, Plush Toy, Plushie, Poem, Poetry, Possible, Post, Posters, Print, Prints, Production, Products, Progress, Project, Purchase, Purchasing, Range, Remain, Request, Research, Rome, Scales, Secret, Shop, Short-Term, Silver, Simple, Sin, Storefront, Storenvy, Stuffed Animal, Stylish, T-Shirts, Tackle, Texture, Thank You, The Poet and the Flea, The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, The Pre-Raphaelites, The Seven Deadly Sins, Tie-in, Tote Bags, Truly, Tying, Unexpected, User-Friendly, Watercolor, Watercolored, Welcome, Whatnot, Wide, William Blake, William Holman Hunt, William Morris, Work in Progress, Writer, Zine, Zines | posted in Announcement, Graphic Novel, Illustration/Design, Shop, The Poet and the Flea
On December 8th, I attended the EBABZ (East Bay Alternative Book & Zine) Fest in Berkeley.
I found out about the EBABZ when I picked up a postcard about it at APE (Alternative Press Expo) in October.
EBABZ was a small but interesting Fest and I enjoyed walking around, checking out what other people were up to, chatting, building my zine library, and getting some advice.
＊ Milk & Carrots #2
Milk & Carrots is an anthology featuring a number of artists with vastly different styles of illustration and storytelling. I think this is a good start for anyone who’s just getting into the world of zines! Printed by Keness.com. For more information about Milk & Carrots, please visit www.ebbandflood.net.
＊ Between Here and Here by Brendan Monroe.
This zine is a dream-like abstraction filled with science, sexuality, and emotion. Might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but anyone can see that Brendan Monroe is insanely gifted. Check out his amazing paintings, sculptures, and comics/zines on his Tumblr!
＊ Murder Dollhouse No. 1 by Teppei Ando
Murder Dollhouse is a completely bizarre but wonderful little zine! This volume includes The Man Who Lived In Their Attic (part 1 & part 2), the full-color and delightful short She Made Me Feel Four Inches Tall, and a number of fun extras. If you like a good pulp fiction, then this is the zine for you!
＊ Melancholy Rainbow: A Sitcom, “Tastes Like July” Issue One by Nina Kim
Melancholy Rainbow feels to me like a mix between Daria and The Book of Bunny Suicides – a perfect blend of sarcasm and sadism. This is an autobiographical affair and, judging by my brief interaction with the artist, a pretty accurate one at that. Read Melancholy Rainbow for yourself at www.melancholyrainbow.com.
＊ 1984 Printing
Also, I discovered this wonderful local printer. Their products are really beautiful, high quality, and fairly priced. They gave me their very useful pricing list as well as a cute free notebook. I’m seriously considering using them down the line, whether for a small zine or possibly a bigger project.
***
After stopping by the EBABZ, Wes and I ended up at this great soba restaurant called Ippuku. The whole experience was very authentic and I’d love to go back sometime.
Then, somehow, we ended up in Haight-Ashbury. We visited some of Wes’s favorite stores like Super 7, Kidrobot, and Amoeba Music, which were all a lot of fun.We also went to The Booksmith and proceeded to drool over all the gorgeous Penguin Classics hardcovers.
So, all in all, it was a very exciting day!
***
For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.
***
Copyright 2012 by G. E. Gallas
8 comments | tags: 1984, Abstract, Abstraction, Accurate, Advice, Alternative, Alternative Book, Alternative Press Expo, Amoeba Music, Anthology, APE, Art, Artist, Artists, Authentic, Autobiographical, Autobiography, Beautiful, Berkley, Between Here and Here, Bizarre, Blend, Brendan Monroe, Brian Herrick, Bussan 33, Buy, Chatting, Christopher Gray, Comic book, Comics, Creative, Creativity, Cute, Daria, December, Delightful, Different, Discover, Discovered, Dream, Dream-like, Drool, East Bay, EBABZ, Ebb and Flood, Emotion, Endeavor, Exciting, Experience, Extras, Featuring, Fest, Free, Full-Color, Fun, Gifted, Gorgeous, Graphic Novel, Haight-Ashbury, Hardcover, Hardcovers, High Quality, Illustration, Illustrator, Independent, Insane, Interaction, Interesting, Ippuku, Issue, James The Stanton, Jen Oaks, Josh Birdsall, Keness.com, Kidrobot, Library, Local, Malachi Ward, Matthew Sheean, Melancholy Rainbow, Melissa Geppert, Milk & Carrots, Mix, Murder Dollhouse, Nina Kim, Notebook, October, Paintings, Part, Penguin Classics, Postcard, Price, Pricing, Pricing List, Print, Printed, Printer, Product, Products, Project, Publish, Publisher, Pulp, Pulp Fiction, Read, Restaurant, Sadism, San Francisco, Sarcasm, Science, Sculpture, Sexuality, She Made Me Feel Four Inches Tall, Short, Sitcom, Small, Soba, Story, Storytelling, Strange, Super 7, Tastes Like July, Teppei Ando, The Book of Bunny Suicides, The Booksmith, The Man Who Lived In Their Attic, True, Useful, Volume, Wonderful, Writer, Writing, Zine, Zines | posted in Graphic Novel, Illustration/Design, Links
First Zine and Future Shop
★Please Note: Feedback on this post would be extremely appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Only January, and I’m already beginning to tackle some of my New Year’s goals (New Year’s Resolutions, Anyone?)!!!
First and foremost, I’ve been working on goal #1, making progress on some of the finished illustrations for Elias & The City of Cats. I’m hoping to make a bit more progress in the coming days and then meet up with Gabe on Friday to show him my work.
In the meantime, I’ve been brainstorming on goals #6 and #7, my first self-printed zine and my online storefront!
Possible envelopes for first zine.
The other day, I decided that my first self-printed zine will be an illustrated poem.
I was doing some research on The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and came across the perfect poem for my first zine! I think this poem will be unexpected and exciting while still tying in with The Poet and the Flea. The poem will remain a secret for now, but I’ll give a free copy of my zine to the first person who can correctly guess which one it is. Hint: The Seven Deadly Sins. I’ll be truly impressed if anyone gets this!
As far as production goes, I’d like to keep this zine relatively simple since it’s my first: about 6 to 8 pages, black and white with simple lines, a number of special hand-watercolored copies, all packaged in a lovely envelope. I’ll probably print about 25 or 30 copies, but I’d love to know if anyone is seriously interested in purchasing a copy so that I can figure out if I need to print more or less.
I’ve been planning my online storefront for a while now, but I’m waiting for the right time to set it up and launch it.
I’ve decided to use Storenvy, because it seems user-friendly and stylish. And it helps that it’s free.
Other than my first self-printed zine, I’d like to offer a wide range of products including The Poet and the Flea merchandise (prints/posters, t-shirts, tote bags, badges/pins, etc.). For prints, I’d like to keep them high-quality but made-to-order so that one can request any page of The Flea or whatnot.
The most ambitious product I’d like to see in my store is a The Flea plush toy. I’ve been playing around with many ideas for this, but know it has to remain relatively simple. The plush toy will definitely be handmade in black fabric, possibly with buttons for eyes and silver/gold (maybe glow-in-the-dark) fabric paint to add texture/scales. It will take me a while to get to this project (and I might recruit some help for it), but I’m excited to see how everything turns out.
Also, I’d like to offer commissioned illustrations, but I have to work out the details on that!
Again, feedback is very welcome! Just leave a comment below or send me an e-mail at gegallas@hotmail.com!
***
For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.
***
Copyright 2013 by G. E. Gallas
35 comments | tags: Ambition, Ambitious, Appreciated, Appreciation, Badges, Beginning, Black & White, Black and White, Blog, Brainstorming, Buttons, Cats, Chic, Children's book, Comic book, Comics, Comment, Constructive Criticism, Copies, Copy, Correct, Correctly, Creative, Creativity, Cute, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Drawing, Drawings, Dream, E-mail, Elias & The City of Cats, Envelopes, Etsy, Exciting, Fabric, Fabric Paint, Feedback, Finished, First, Free, Gabe, Glow-in-the-Dark, Goals, Gold, Graphic Novel, Guess, Handmade, High Quality, Hint, Ideas, Illustrated, Illustrations, Illustrator, Impressed, Interested, Interesting, January, Long-Term, Lovely, Made-to-Order, Meeting, Merchandise, New Year, New Year's Resolutions, New Years, Online, Page, Perfect, Pins, Play, Please, Plush Toy, Plushie, Poem, Poetry, Possible, Post, Posters, Print, Prints, Production, Products, Progress, Project, Purchase, Purchasing, Range, Remain, Request, Research, Rome, Scales, Secret, Shop, Short-Term, Silver, Simple, Sin, Storefront, Storenvy, Stuffed Animal, Stylish, T-Shirts, Tackle, Texture, Thank You, The Poet and the Flea, The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, The Pre-Raphaelites, The Seven Deadly Sins, Tie-in, Tote Bags, Truly, Tying, Unexpected, User-Friendly, Watercolor, Watercolored, Welcome, Whatnot, Wide, William Blake, William Holman Hunt, William Morris, Work in Progress, Writer, Zine, Zines | posted in Announcement, Graphic Novel, Illustration/Design, Shop, The Poet and the Flea