Introducing PROJECT 45!

PROJECT 45 IS HERE! 

For the past few years, I've been chipping away at my own story, Project 45, in-between the plethora of logo designs, books and multimedia commissions that usually occupy my time. Now, I finally get to present it to the world!

Project 45 is a science fiction space adventure following a misfit team consisting of Beatrix, Aestas and Taura. They attend an all-girl military school in space called Tidereus Academy, which is built into a large asteroid.

The school teaches intergalactic diplomacy, which assigns small groups of students, called Projects, on missions to deal with conflicts. Project 45 is the worst and oldest group at their school, having been kept back so many times due to their rebellious and often violent way of dealing with their missions. 

With Project 45 struggling to graduate, they face their biggest challenge yet... their first mission with the team's newest member, Carmen.

CARMEN

Carmen is the main character and newest member of Project 45 and the first human to be accepted into Tidereus Academy. As a transfer student who is eager to prove herself, she tries desperately to fit in with the team by using her humor and remains optimistic that she will eventually win their trust. Carmen has limited telepathic powers but her greatest asset to the team is as a gifted sharpshooter. Carmen is also the team’s historian; particularly enjoying Earth history from the 1980’s and always listening to 80’s rock/pop- calling it “classical music.”

BEATRIX

Beatrix is the leader of Project 45 and a member of the feared Danaki clan, an alien race with a dark, uncontrollable power. She is a powerful mage specializing in black magic; able to control the elemental energies of fire, water, lightning, etc. but also has limited healing abilities. Although she is stern and can seem downright cold at times, she is also quite motherly and respected by the other team members.

 

AESTAS

Aestas is the calm, refined, intellectual peacekeeper of Project 45. She is unique in being the only member who is mute, preferring to speak only through mental telepathy. Her telepathic abilities make her the communications specialist and she doubles as the team’s science analyst. Aestas also has the unusual power of being able to manipulate whatever matter she touches for a limited amount of time, called haptokinesis.

TAURA

Taura is rebellious, hotheaded and ill-tempered. The other members typically dismiss her erratic behaviors, as her loyalty to Project 45 supersedes her bad attitude. She suffers from fits of violence due to a traumatic childhood on her war-torn planet. Taura is the team’s mechanical genius and prefers to sit alone, making upgrades to her weaponized cybernetic arm. These upgrades and penchant for bloodshed, make her the fiercest member of Project 45!

FREE DOWNLOADABLE PREVIEW!

In my store I’m offering a downloadable digital preview of Project 45, along with some other goodies, for FREE! So please, check out my store to download the Project 45 #1 Preview Package and use the coupon code: 2PGZRRD1S8KM during check out. Enjoy!

PROJECT 45 © Kaland Mebane and Enigma Resolve, LLC. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without the express written permission of the copyright holders. Names, characters, places, and incidents featured in this publication are either the product of the creator’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events, institutions, or locales, without satiric intent, is coincidental. Project 45, Enigma Resolve and the Enigma Resolve logo are trademarks of Enigma Resolve, LLC. All rights reserved.

FREE COMIC! Store opening!

What a year so far…

COVID-19: a mysterious new virus that attacks the respiratory system has ravaged the planet. The economy has all but shut down as people now adhere to house arrest-like quarantine. The citizens of the world try to balance between maintaining normalcy and social distance. The worldwide death toll is currently in the hundreds of thousands, specifically 217,132, with millions having contracted the virus.

A SCIENCE FICTION REALITY

It sounds like a science fiction movie but the fact that this is reality is terrifying to most of us. Alternatively, on the other side of that fence is…the boredom. Oh my god, the boredom.Times like this, we are reminded that half the world are extroverts who rely more on interaction over introspection, but I digress.

Realistically, during these times, people need productive outlets. People need those positive distractions – the entertainment, the mental escape – to calm their emotions. I'm an artist who tries to offer this type of entertainment, which is why I’ve decided to open my store.

GRAND OPENING

In my store, I’m offering two new products. The first is a limited edition lithograph to celebrate the debut of my new comic, Project 45. An autographed version is also offered. The second is a downloadable digital preview of Project 45, along with some other goodies. Due to COVID-19 quarantine boredom, I’m offering it for FREE!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT

So please, check out my store to download the Project 45 #1 Preview Package and use the coupon code: 2PGZRRD1S8KM during check out. Enjoy and be safe and healthy.

Photoshop Tutorials on Making Comics

Wow! It's been a whole year! Before I catch up on what I've been up to, I'd like to bring some attention to some tutorials I did last year.

Comics Economics 101: Comic Book Budgets

So, do you want to be an independent comic book publisher or release your own comic? Well, dreams definitely come true but this one may cost you a pretty penny! People rarely think of the cost to produce a comic book. Keep in mind that this is not to deter you but to inform you of a realistic budget to make your comic book dreams come true.

Firstly, comic books are an art form that is mainly done with a team, that is, unless you can or want to do it all yourself. Many people do, but that takes a LOT of time to do correctly or at least to the level that will sell enough books to make the time worth it. If not, you will need a writer, penciler, inker, colorist, etc. All of these people need to be paid depending on their personal rates. We will look at some of these rates, based on pro artists that I know and we will build our budget!

Most, if not all, of these artists are professional indie freelancers. They cater their prices to the common audience and not to big publishers like Marvel and DC, so they are much cheaper but still good. Despite this, you’ll see how quickly their prices can add up.

MAKING YOUR BUDGET

Every book needs a cover, so we'll start here. A good cover will cost you between $100 and $300 so let's choose the $200- right in the middle. Pencilers charge between $25 to $100 a page but I know a good one who charges $35 and a great inker who charges $40 per page. I'm a colorist and my rate is $45 a page and I work with a separator (who lays down the flat colors for me to do my stylized detail work) who charges $10 a page. A letterer typically charges about $25 a page.

To round out our team, we'll pay our writer, an editor and a graphic designer a measly $100 per book, each. Also remember that a typical comic is 24 pages. So let's plug in these figures and add this all up with the chart below: 

DON’T QUIT YOUR DAY JOB

Yes, $4,220 for ONE 24 page issue! Remember, this is a more conservative price because many of these artists are on the cheaper side! So now, you can see why you would need additional income outside of comics to start publishing. Many people just don’t have that kind of disposable income and end up doing it themselves, which takes a LONG time. Even if you have the money to pay a team, the artists also have other jobs on their plates as well, in order to survive, and have to balance their time for your project with other deadlines, which also takes a LONG time! Either way, patience is a virtue that not many people have to complete projects in this line of work. It’s just too costly and takes too long.

I know you are thinking that you can probably cut some corners and consolidate or eliminate some of these jobs on your book. Some you can and some are more essential than you think.

Take the graphic designer for example. You may think his job is done with just the title and company logos but these days comics are sold digitally as well as print. You need a graphic designer to import/export and convert to correct file formats, make sure the page bleed is correct, the color-coding and resolution are print ready, pre-flighting, etc. Hell, even the legal info on the inside cover and all of the ads are laid out and designed by a graphic designer for each issue.

Looking at the editor, you need one for proofreading, spotting art and layout inconsistencies, plot holes, continuity errors and all around damage and quality control. Simply put- if you want a GOOD book, get an editor.

REALITY CHECK

Here’s where it gets real… again. If you plan to sell your book at the common cover price of $3.99, it’ll take you to sell more than a thousand copies just for you to break even and get that $4,220 back before you'll even see any profits. Do you think your book can sell those units? Well, it’s possible if the quality is there. That quality just may cost you $4,220.