Coffee, Patreon and Influences

Delay in new drawing

Having crowed too soon about drawing dependably, I must eat crow. The past couple months were overrun by moving and health issues. I kept telling myself, “In six months all of this will be stories.” In the thick of it, I drew little and wrote little. There was no energy to spare for that. All the creative muscles are stiff from disuse.

The move, however, is largely complete, and life is better for the change. Medical stuff continues to be a pain in affected body parts, with ocular problems rising fearsomely above other aches and annoyances. When eyes won’t focus, hands wring. An unrelated surgery also lies ahead. Still, we move forward.

Occupied and mostly settled, the new Robert Stikmanz Intergalactic HQ has come far enough to shift the design team from packing/unpacking to plotting the next old cowboy drawing. I have been sleeping a lot — long nights and long naps. Near-horizontal is less uncomfortable than otherwise, though it keeps dreamland close. A mound of pillows and a lap board abet sketching in bed. A decent drawing lamp for the night stand moves up the wish list.

Patreon

I’ve started a new Patreon to host, promote and sustain the old cowboy’s ambling episodes. The gallery — as interrupted by moving — still appears on Ko-fi, but from now on new drawings will be posted only on Patreon. Eventually, the first drawings will disappear from Ko-fi, and both “buy a coffee” pages will shift to other content (TBD). Rewards are in the works for supporters through all of these channels.

Supporters’ worry

“Are these sites safe for supporters?” I have been asked. That’s one for Carnac.

In so far as I know, these particular three sites — Patreon, Ko-fi and Buy Me a Coffee — have not been breached. Given the volume of payments each processes regularly, they make obvious prey for malefactors. One must assume the security is steadily tested. Absence of compromise so far suggests the risk to user data is reasonable, depending on how one defines reasonable. I do not know.

Angels can always support the work of Robert Stikmanz by using the links HERE to buy Stikmantica books directly from the distributor. That option is secure for the buyer and absolutely thrilling for me.

About Sequence #1

Feedback from beyond the walls is that I am again up to my elbows in an incomprehensible project. My profound thanks to everyone who visits the slowly growing Sequence #1 gallery. Double thanks to those who communicate reactions, even perplexity. I perplex myself, so we’re in the same corner. Boundless thanks to the viewers who become supporters.

Addressing an itch some of you want to scratch, it is true that nothing shown in the drawings is explained. The sequence includes no words. Reasons are several. For one, the audience, though small, is linguistically diverse. Faced with choosing a primary language, committing to bilinguality, or electing something MORE FUN, MORE CHALLENGING, MORE OPEN AND MYSTERIOUS, I plopped for completely wordless. Semiosis over semantics. In this project, meaning accumulates and evolves, and each viewer brings unique, personal backstory to the viewing process.

To further muddy the water

Here’s part of a description in Spanish that I posted elsewhere:

“He lanzado un proyecto del arte secuencial, una sucesión de dibujos a lápiz en el espíritu de los cómics underground…. Inspirado por la ficción gráfica, el proyecto cuenta como influencias la imaginería psicodélica, los mitologías del mundo, un poco de R. Crumb, un poco de Rick Griffin, un poco de Rene Magritte, un poco de Gary Cooper, un poco de jazz, un poco de rock & roll…. Ojalá que algo de estos se abra camino en el arte a medida que continúo dibujar.”

My translation:

“I have launched a project of sequential art, a succession of pencil drawings in the spirit of underground comics…. Inspired by graphic fiction, the project counts as influences psychedelic imagery, mythologies of the world, a little R. Crumb, a little Rick Griffin, a little Rene Magritte, a little Gary Cooper, a little jazz, a little rock and roll…. Hopefully some of these will make their way into the art as I continue to draw.”

In the previous Musings column, I described the project as “a hybrid beast of visual narrative, free association, occasional bouts of phantasmagoria, and whimsy.” Narrative is one among several structural factors. That only bites if you fret about it.