Graphic Novel Friday Guest Post Latchkey Studios

[Giovanni Gelati]

Things sure aren’t what they used to be. When I started my book, Ties, I was still a starry-eyed college student at Savannah College of Art and Design, dreaming about drawing for a living. That was until
I actually found out what it takes to get a book published. I found alternative
comics a puddle within a tiny koi pond, and sharks lived there. So it was my decision to try the
self-publishing route.

Now I know that my too-cool-for-school art style and my witty and penetrating slice of life storyline is just the thing for the 135,059 monthly Green Lantern fans that bought Blackest Night, but I
love my story. I like looking at life through an altered lens. Don’t get me
wrong. I love the tortured men and women in spandex. I was the first in line at
the midnight Batman premiere, but I find real life, or made up real life, just
as interesting if not more so. In my book I set out to find out what would
happen if you had parents by mail and Ira Anderson was born. He’s as
self-destructive as they come and if he doesn’t wear a cape, well… who wants to
save the world anyway when there’s scotch!

After coming up with this great idea and revolutionary art style that was going to break the mold of comic book publishing, I said to myself, “I’m fun and funny and ambitious. People will
love me, my passion and my work and then buy my book!” Yeah… gone are the
newspaper boys in their little caps hawking comics on the corner. Unless I want
to have my own kid stand there and cry that mommy has to make money so he can
eat. (Don’t laugh. I have seen people at comic convention booths do this.) No
one is going to promote your new revolutionary fireplace fodder unless you get
out there and do it. There has to be a new way to get independent comics out
there. Hence I formed Latchkey Studios to give us a fighting chance.

LatchkeyStudios.com is a collective of artists who go out there and just do it. We come together to present our own projects in any way shape or form. Comic conventions are the obvious choice
since so many of us have comics to get out there, but we are a diverse group
that includes a zombie sewer, scarf knitter, glam fashion designer, and
painters galore. There is a wide range of interests represented from die-hard
DC and Marvel pin up artists, to the cutest plushies you’ll ever see, to slice
of life comics about Brazil. We see art as our life and it just happened to
manifest for most of us in the form of comics. Unfortunately it just happened
to manifest for most of us in the form of comics. I love the medium whole-heartedly,
but have you seen San Diego Comic Con? Have you been crushed by the hordes of
[insert popular costume of the year here]? It’s stiff competition out there.

So we have come together to make something new happen. We pool our collective knowledge and contacts. We help each other succeed. We recommend each other for jobs and shows. We search for alternative
advertising and venues like traditional galleries, local festivals, and quirky
retail stores. Half my Facebook “likes” for Latchkey Studios are my friends,
(Hint, Hint) and www.tiescomic.com has
one lone follower, but I wouldn’t want it any other way as long as I could
continue working with people passionate about comics, art and beyond. That’s
really what Latchkey Studios is all about.

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for stopping by today; We will see you tomorrow. Have a great day. http://www.gelatisscoop.blogspot.com