Announcing the First Volume of 7 Inch Kara

Volume 1 is now available in the Nattoshop!  Includes a back of the book sketch and dedication.

It's been awhile since my last post, but I have an excellent reason!  As soon as I finished lettering Chapter 4 of 7" Kara, I began putting together the first volume for the comic!

My First Perfect-Bound Comic

Synopsis

For those of you not in the know, 7" Kara is my full watercolor children's comic that features not one, but two female protagonists.  It's about Kara, an 11 year old Lilliputian girl living with her parents in a forgotten dollhouse hidden way back in a dusty shed.  Kara's life has been sheltered and predictable, until a new human family moves into the shuttered house the shed is attached to.  From that point onward, Kara's life changes drastically. 
















I'm so excited to announce to you guys that I now have the proof for 7" Kara, Volume 1.  This first volume includes the first four chapters of 7" Kara.  I hope to have five copies of Volume 1 early this week, with the rest hopefully coming in before MoCCA-Fest.  Due to time constraints, there are some minor errors that were not ironed out before this first edition's printing, but they shouldn't effect the readability of the book, and don't really effect the color.



Two of these chapters have never been published in any form before, so it's brand new content! In the past, I've released issues of Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 that I'd assembled myself.  I was unhappy about their high price point, and I swore that the perfect bound book would be set at a much more reasonable price. I've held back Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 until I could offer all four chapters at a reasonable price.  If you're interested in a sneak peek, I've uploaded the first ten pages of Chapter 1 on my Tumblr, so please go check it out!

 

A Sneak Peek at the Interior








 There's also a bonus story, "Small Blessings", which was my submission for the Hana Kira Doki shoujo anthology.




 I even included a concept section that shows a TON of my process art and introduces readers to the world I've been working on for the past year and a half.






Besides assembling this book (much of that heavy work was done by Heidi Black!), I also created several new illustrations to make every page shine.  The proof itself is BEAUTIFUL- the watercolors held up well in printing, due largely to how much care I took in scanning, color correcting, and tweaking every single page and image.

Below are some shots of a few of the originals, many of which will be traveling with me this convention season.





  The matte cover is intentionally understated, I felt like the glare of gloss would make it hard to see the watercolor details.


Also shown:  my new con buddy sent to me by my Mom.  I thought she looked a lot like a little Kara, and I'm so excited to display the two together at cons.


I'm extremely proud of this first volume, and I intend to share a post about working with CreateSpace in the near future, so I hope you guys keep an eye out for it!





Basic Stats:

112 total pages

The book is 11x8.5" tall
Written for children ages 5 and above, but it's intended to be read together with a parent.
72 pages of comic
2 Never before seen chapters
Lots of concept art and world-building notes

Upcoming Availability

Although the book is already available on Amazon, I strongly encourage you to either purchase it from me at conventions (it debuts at MoCCA-Fest this year with a bunch of debut treats!) or to wait until I have them in stock in the Natto-shop.  I intend to include treats with every book purchased, INCLUDING Kara sketches on the interior front cover.  If you wait to purchase from me, I get a larger cut of the sale and I get control of how the package is shipped.  This means you'll get a much cuter overall package if you order it from me.  If you just CAN'T wait, feel free to order it on Amazon, I will sign and sketch any Volume 1 you bring to me at any con I attend this year (I do request that you come during downtimes, since I'll be able to more easily fulfill the sketch).

For more about 7" Kara, check out:


My Kara tag on Tumblr (which includes a LOT of process stuff about the pages inside this book!)
An Introduction to 7" Kara
Concept Art Sketchdump 
Introducing a New 7" Kara Story (Hana Doki Kira announcement post)
July 2013 Sketchdump (lots of Kara concept and noodling)


Comments