Crowd funding kickstarts alumnus’ comic series

L.D. FORREST

THE SIGNAL 

Asthmatic teenager Darius P. Clyde longs to run. After his old running shoes become magically infused with thermogenic liquid, the shoes become linked to Darius’ imagination and the scene is set for “Selling Soles,” a comic series by UHCL alumnus Kalan Lyra.

Lyra is utilizing Kickstarter, one of the leading crowd-funding platforms for startups, in an effort to catapult his “Selling Soles” comic series out into the world.

The award-winning cartoonist’s work has been published in The Signal and featured in the textbook “Digital Media Law” by Ashley Packard, professor of communication and digital media studies.

Lyra’s “Selling Soles” comic series, which is more than just the everyday comic storyboard, aims to blend traditional comic storytelling with animated sequences rendered in 3D.

“The idea for my story comes from an experience I had in my childhood,” Lyra said. “I never knew I was asthmatic until I had an attack while running in gym class. It was so severe that I passed out and had to be hospitalized. After that, I became obsessed with running and going fast. As I got older, I became aware of the irony of my situation. An asthmatic runner sounds like the subject of a cruel cosmic joke.

“My character is a figure of juxtaposition whose body cannot perform the tasks his spirit wills it to. The other idea that drives the story is the idea that we lose our creativity and imagination as we get older. The world loses its magic patina as we learn how it all works.”

Lyra plans to mix his long-standing enjoyment of traditional comic drawing with his more newly formed enthusiasm for 3D modeling and animation – utilizing skills and practices he learned in classes at UHCL.

The series, which will be funded almost entirely by Kickstarter donations, will be experienced by readers through traditional print as well as electronically through the download of digital files from the Web.

Kickstarter, for those unfamiliar, is a Web-based organization that allows content creators to pitch a project to not only the entire Kickstarter community, but also the Internet community at large. So far, nearly 5 million Kickstarter users have pledged a total of $795 million to help fund projects created by artists, musicians, inventors, writers and small business owners.

Every project on Kickstarter is created and managed by its project creators. Project creators set their own project’s funding goal and a deadline by which to collect pledges from donators.

If people like a project and want to help support it, they can pledge their money to make a project happen. If a project meets its funding goals, backers’ credit cards are charged for the amount pledged at the end of the deadline. If the project does not meet its funding goal, no one is charged for the project.

To encourage funding, pledgers are often offered bonuses for supporting the project. Some rewards include early access to a service, exclusive content or the final product at a reduced price.

At any given time, there are thousands of projects seeking funding on Kickstarter, so in order to be a Kickstarter success, creators have to start with a great idea. Lyra’s great idea is a comic series that goes beyond traditional ink and paper.

On his Kickstarter project page, Lyra describes “Selling Soles” as “a way to transport the reader to a world beyond the drawings, a world of exciting visual possibilities that a regular comic book cannot offer.” Lyra’s deadline for funding ended Sept. 29, and while “Selling Soles” did not reach its funding deadline, Lyra plans to post the project on Kickstarter again at a later date.

“My experience with Kickstarter has been positive as a whole,” Lyra said. “The preliminary steps to getting a project submitted are quite involved. The story, the rewards, the video, the background info, the bio – all those things take time. Maybe more time than the artist expects to put into their initial pitch, but all of it is crucial to creating a fully fleshed-out project.”

Julie Auman, one of the project collaborators said Lyra is a very talented artist and had fun working with him on “Selling Soles.”

“I think he has a great idea,” said Auman, senior software engineer for Lockheed Martin and a digital media studies major at UHCL. “As a team we will really have fun and produce some great artwork and entertaining pieces.”

Keith Kimble, who assisted with preliminary rendering and consulting on character modeling and rigging on “Selling Soles,” summed up his work with Lyra as an excellent experience.

“He is a great person and artist to work with, and I hope we can work together more in the future,” Kimble said.

Lyra is currently working on the second book of the “Selling Soles” graphic novel and, with the help of Kickstarter, Lyra, Auman and Kimble may get to work together sooner rather than later.