We were so pleased to put together this little article for Creative Boom sharing tips for artists and printmakers from Glasgow Print Fair favourites Yuk Fun, Lizzie Lomax, Alan Campbell and Max Machen on how to set up a successful stall at their next print fair.
Comics and Crowdfunding
Detail from variant cover art by Mark Brooks for BRZRKR #1, Keanu Reeves’s comic. Photograph: Mark Brooks/Boom!
2020 was a bumper year for crowdfunded comics, and 2021 has continued to see this success across platforms.
”By October [2020] backers had pledged $22m (£16.5m) to comics projects, up from $17m by the same point in 2019. Since the platform began in 2009, Kickstarter has funded 10,000 comic book projects, to the tune of $127m. With Marvel and DC putting out around 850 individual issues this year between them, that makes Kickstarter far and away the single most prolific publishing platform for comics in the world.“ - David Barnett, for The Guardian
Which is why we were delighted to be invited along to Creative Scotland’s inaugural ‘In the Frame’ to discuss crowdfunding as an alternative funding route for creators. The day is designed to demystify routes to funding, publication and distribution, the free online event is produced by Creative Scotland in partnership with industry specialists Hannah Berry, Nyla Ahmad, and Woodrow Phoenix and backed by the Society of Authors.
Rewired an event series for Kickstarter
After the success of our gal-dem UK online tour for Kickstarter they set us a new challenge - how can we reengage with maker community after a year of lockdown?
Thinking about our work with Kickstarter, Distributed Design, Make Works and Make Manifesto we started to hatch a plan. We asked ourselves what do makers and designers want to hear in 2021? What issues are important to them? What trends have we seen emerging on the Kickstarter platform this past year that we might be able to provide insight into? That’s when Rewired emerged.
Each week throughout May we curated three one-hour sessions that dove into the ideas that are shaping a more vibrant and equitable future.
Session 1: Dreaming of the Future with Rob Hopkins, Sebastian from Lunark and Carson from Taur
Session 2: Design that gives back with Ross Atkin, Chloe Meineck and Daniel Becerra
Session 3: Wonder materials, circular waste and sustainability with Seetal Solanki and Tom Meades
We were delighted to co-host sold-out events with Heather Swift- Hunt from Kickstarter’s Design and Technology Team. With kind words and support from the maker community including Develop 3D and Restarters.
Glasgow Print Fair 2021
We couldn’t let another year in semi-lockdown pass without another Glasgow Print Fair at Home. We invited 25 artists from Europe and beyond to create a print for us on the theme of Travel. The theme of travel is something I think everyone can connect with as we slowly emerge from lockdown. Our eyes are on the horizon with the world opening up and feeling that we will soon be able to get out there and explore.
We ran for one week this year and featured work from DR.ME, Lou Rowland, Alice Dansey Wright, Tess Smith Roberts, Conor Nolan, Eleni Kalorkoti, Kieron Redmond, Linn Fritz, Thomas Hedger, Adam Higton, Sanna Hellikki Turunen, Supermundane, KMGYeah, Andreas Samulesson x Raclet, Katie Smith, Wild Press, Dominika Lipniewska, Ruan Van Vliet, Concrete Nature Studio, David Lemm, ploterre, Michael Driver, Lauren Morsley, Hollie Fuller and Risotto Studio.
Each artist explored travel in a different way from imagining time travel to daydreaming, to a summer full of sunshine as well as many other things that we’re yearning for. With the pandemic, many fairs have not been able to run. It was really important for us to do all that we could to continue to shout about print.
This year all proceeds went straight back to the artists with many of them sharing their profits with charities close to their hearts, like Glasgow-based Refuweegee. We’ve had huge support this year with features in It’s Nice That, Creative Boom, Design Week.
Big shout-out to co-organiser Jane McDevitt and her partner Peter Byrne for taking all the photography.