Tag Archives: Products
★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.
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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
Rough sketch for zine idea.
As I mentioned before (here), I’ve only recently become interested in the world of zines. Not only do zines appear to be an incredibly flexible channel for creativity, but I think that this medium would be a great compliment to my graphic novels and children’s books. I like the idea of the zine being very hands on — a real artist book, the artist not only illustrating, but also cutting and pasting the finished pamphlet together. This process reminds me greatly of Andy Warhol, his factory, and 25 Cats Name Sam and One Blue Pussy.
Before I begin any zines of my own, I’ve been trying to get a better sense of their mercurial world. At APE (Alternative Press Expo) 2012, I talked with Tugboat Press, who produce annual free comics and an anthology called Papercutter. Tugboat led me to Parcell Press, who seems to carry a vast array of zines, comics, etc. I also found “How to Make a Zine” on Rookie. I guess the one true rule of creating zines is that there are no rules!
As I ponder the pre-existing zine world, my own ideas for zines just keep pouring out of me. I scribble these ideas down furiously in a Gallatin notebook I received upon graduation and was saving for something important (who knew that important something was zines). Endless ideas — everything from opera parodies to The Death of Chatterton. I’m not sure when I’ll actually have time to realize these zines since I’m already working on so many projects that need to get done (The Poet and the Flea, The First Reich, etcetera, etcetera). I’m hoping to take a stab early next year, June at the latest. We’ll see how that works out…
Some useful zine-related websites I’ve discovered:
- Zines 101 has some basic but good advice. They suggest submitting zines to sites that review them (Broken Pencil, Xerography Debt, Zine World, etc.) as well as posting on online zine communities (We Make Zines, etc.) to get larger exposure.
- Zinebook.com has an extensive list of zine distributors and reviewers as well.
- ZineWiki: The Independent Media Wikipedia encourages zine creators to add new articles about their zines.
- Etsy, Storenvy, and Big Cartel seem to be used by a huge number of zine creators. There are definite pros and cons to all of them, but I think I’m leaning more towards Storenvy at the moment. (I’m also thinking of selling other products [T-shirts, tote bags, greeting cards, etc.] with images from The Poet and the Flea as well as my zines.)
- In San Francisco, Dog Eared Books, Needles & Pens, and other local bookstores seem interested in carrying zines. Not to mention there’s the East Bay Alternative Book and Zine Fest (Berkeley) and the San Francisco Zine Fest.
- I’m also considering self-printing versus printing with a printer. Most sites seem to recommend working with a local printer. In San Francisco – H&H Imaging, Your Printer, Autumn Press, etc.
- Update Nov. 6: Discovered issuu.com — seems like many zines publish online using this site. Pretty neat!!
Plus, I figure if I make enough zines, then eventually I can release them all in one book.
Any comments, suggestions, or thoughts would be truly appreciated!
***
For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.
***
Copyright 2012 by G. E. Gallas
16 comments | tags: 25 Cats Name Sam and One Blue Pussy, Advice, Alternative Press Expo, Andy Warhol, Annual, Anthology, APE, Appreciate, Appreciated, Array, Articles, Artist, Artist Book, Autumn Press, Basic, Big Cartel, Bookstore, Brainstorming, Broken Pencil, Channel, Children's Books, Comic book, Comics, Comments, Communities, Community, Compliment, Cons, Creative, Creativity, Creators, Cutting, Distributors, Dog Eared Books, Draft, Drawing, Drawings, East Bay Alternative Book and Zine Fest, Endless, Etcetera, Etsy, Eventually, Expo, Exposure, Factory, Fest, Flexible, Free, Graphic Novel, Graphic Novelist, Greeting Cards, H&H Imaging, Hands-on, How to Make a Zine, Ideas, Illustrating, Illustration, Illustrator, Important, Independent, Interested, June, Local Bookstore, Local Printer, Media, Mercurial, Needles & Pens, Next Year, No Rules, Notebook, Online, Opera, Pamphlet, Papercutter, Parcell Press, Parodies, Pasting, Pre-Existing, Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Press, Printed, Printer, Process, Products, Pros, Publisher, Remind, Review, Reviewers, Rookie, Rough, San Francisco, San Francisco Zine Fest, Self-Printing, Self-published, Sketch, Storenvy, Suggestions, T-Shirts, The Death of Chatterton, The First Reich, The Poet and the Flea, Thoughts, Tote Bags, Tugboat Press, We Make Zines, World, Xerography Debt, Your Printer, Zine, Zine World, Zinebook, Zines, Zines 101, ZineWiki | posted in Brainstorming, Graphic Novel, Research
Related post: Plans for APE
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Wow, what can I say about APE?
Well, this was definitely an experience!
Firstly, I believe that APE (Alternative Press Expo) was a productive endeavor. I learned much more about the nature of each publisher I’ve been tracking online. I hope that Shannon and I managed to get the names of our projects (The Poet and the Flea and The First Reich) out there just a little. And I learned a lot about what techniques make a successful table.
As far as the bigger publishers go (Fantagraphics, Drawn & Quarterly, Last Gasp, Top Shelf, etc.), I was glad to see them at the Expo — to see all their products laid out in front of me, rather than squinting at images on a computer screen. Some of them only had marketing representatives who didn’t know much about the submissions process, which was too bad. Others had more knowledgable people to talk to, who offered some useful advice. I guess it really just boils down to submitting material and seeing what happens!
I very much enjoyed talking to some of the smaller publishers. They were very enthusiastic, helpful, and informative. And just because they’re smaller doesn’t mean they have inferior products. They are extremely professional (but in a laid back sort of way) and their books are gorgeous!
I loved talking with the kind folks at Yam Books. Tim Hensley (creator of Ticket Stub) was shocked that someone in their twenties (me) was a Barbara Stanwyck fan!! Both Saturday and Sunday, we had conversations about the film noir starlet, exchanging movie titles and laughing away. He even drew me this awesome illustration of Barbara (see below) in Double Indemnity — bangs and sunglasses and all!
Also had good but brief conversations with the good people at A Raven Above Press and Never Press.
I’ve only recently become interested in learning more about the world of zines. And Tugboat Press seemed like a good place to start. I really admire what they’re doing. I’m glad I talked with them because I learned that, rather than taking submissions, they commission artists. I also received recommendations about which volumes of their anthology Papercutter to buy and realized that they are interested in a vast array of genres. I’m excited to really sit down and read my purchases.
Sunday, I finally figured out where Uncivilized Books got to (I just could not figure out that map!). Their chief Tom was excellent at patiently answering my questions and encouraging me to submit my work. I’m excited to start working on sending out some follow-up e-mails to everyone I talked with!
Also, I picked up a lot of interesting flyers, cards, stickers, etc. from around the expo and from the free table. Below are some of my favorites!!
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Here are my notes of what makes a successful table in case I end up getting one for APE next year!
(This is just a rough list for my personal use. In no particular order!)
- Need a billboard/banner advertising name of artist/graphic novel.
- Need a tablecloth.
- Need a sign (or maybe t-shirts) to hang off the front of the table.
- Wear one of your own t-shirts to further advertise your graphic novel.
- Perhaps a sign or two saying: “Pleas talk to us — we’re friendly!”
- Perhaps a big bowl of free candy.
- Attract customers with a selection of cheaper items ($1 pins or stickers?).
- Need a clipboard and form for customers to sign up for your mailing list.
- Provide plenty of business cards and/or postcards.
***
Among the flyers and such was a postcard for the East Bay Alternative Book and Zine Fest, free and taking place December 8th in Berkeley. I’m very interested in checking it out!
***
For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.
***
Copyright 2012 by G. E. Gallas
19 comments | tags: 4th Dimension Entertainment, A Raven Above Press, Admire, Advertising, Advice, Alternative Press Expo, APE, Author, Bangs, Banner, Barbara Stanwyck, Billboard, Blog, Business Card, Candy, Cards, Chance, Chief, Comic book, Comics, Commission, Conversations, Customers, Double Indemnity, Drawing, Drawn & Quarterly, E-mails, Encouraging, Endeavor, Enthusiastic, Exhibitors, Expect, Experiences, Expo, Fantagraphics, Fantagraphics Books, Film Noir, Flyers, Follow-up, Free, Free Table, Friendly, Future, Genres, Ginormous, Gorgeous, Graphic Novel, Graphic Novelist, Half-Table, Helpful, Hoping, Idea, Illustration, Illustrator, Information, Informative, Interested, iPad, Last Gasp Books, Learned, List, Luck, Mailing List, Movie, NBM Publishing, Networking, Never Press, Next Year, October, Opportunity, Out of the blue, Papercutter, Patient, Perfect Day Publishing, Perhaps, Pernicious Press Magazine, Personal use, Photographs, Photos, Plan, Please, Plenty, Portfolio, Postcard, Preperation, Productive, Products, Professional, Projects, Publishers, Puna Press, Purchases, Rare, Rough, San Francisco, Saturday, Scans, Screenplay, Screenwriter, Script, Selection, SF, Shannon, Shlep, Showcasing, Snuck Up, Sparkplug Comic Books, Starlet, Stickers, Submissions, Successful, Sunday, Sunglasses, Supplement, T-Shirts, Tablecloth, Tables, The First Reich, The Poet and the Flea, Ticket Stub, Tim Hensley, Tom, Tomorrow John Press, Top Shelf Productions, Tugboat Press, Uncivilized Books, Visitng, Vistaprint, Volumes, Wear, Weekend, Wes, Wilhelm Reich, William Blake, Writer, Yam Books, Zines | posted in Brainstorming, Graphic Novel, Research, The Poet and the Flea, Travel
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