7" Kara 2nd Launchiversary
This Sunday, I'm celebrating the 2 year launchiversary of 7" Kara! I'm still mulling over what I want to do to celebrate, but during Friday's Power Hour, I'm definitely going to give away some cute Kara charm sets to a few lucky winners and talk at length about my paper daughter.
Two years ago, on February 10th, I launched my print comic, 7" Kara, as a webcomic. At the time, I didn't hype the launch as much as I would have liked, and that's a mistake I really regret- a comic's launch is the BEST time to hype your comic. That's the best time to get your friends talking about it, sharing their excitement, and a great time to rehash all the self indulgent promo art we all know you've drawn over the years. This is PARTICULARLY true if this is a project you've worked on for a long time- the launch is a perfect opportunity to strut your stuff.
And compared to some artists, who do a great job talking about and driving hype for their webcomic projects, I think I've failed to really promote 7" Kara as much as I should. I talk about it frequently- it gets plugs in almost every video I post, and I'm constantly sharing art of the characters and pages in progress, but I've never really encouraged comments or discussion of the comic itself. This is mostly due to the fact that by the time web-readers see a page, that page has been finished and dried for well over a year- if there's issue with that page in particular, there's little I can do to remedy that. It's a wall I've been reluctant to tear down, and while I've dabbled with the thought of hosting a Lilliputian RP on The Paintbox, time is the biggest factor preventing me from opening my sandbox for others to enjoy.
Sure, in the past, I've participated in Comic Tea Party (read the transcript for that chat here!)- a great opportunity to sit down and chat with other webcomic fans about what they enjoyed about your comic-, and I used to be a regular on Webcomic Chat and Comic Artists Unite, but even on Kara's home turf of the Ink Drop Cafe Discord, I've been hesitant to talk about my comic work. I think it can be difficult to talk about your soft, sweet watercolor comic when everyone else whats to talk about romance and adventure- things your comic distinctly lack.
But around the Launchiversary, I start to take things seriously. This is Kara's birthday, and I'd be a horrible comic mom if I didn't throw her the party she deserved. And Launchiversaries are a great time to promote your comic- they're big milestones!
Last year, to celebrate Kara's birthday, I held an anniversary Livestream- we had cute themed events, I had a small cake, I even drew peoples characters as Lilliputians. I painted a celebratory image (Pancake's Pancakes) and made a paper child of Kara to make the event more 'real'. It was a lot of fun, but it also took a lot of energy. I'm saving the BIG event for something else Kara related that's even more exciting that will be coming up this spring. I also had a Launchiversary post that talked about my experiences launching a webcomic from a print comic, and what I did to promote 7" Kara.
Two years without hiatus or significant breaks is a long time for a webcomic, especially for a watercolor comic like 7" Kara. I've now shared 100+ pages of handpainted watercolor comic, pages that were a labor of love and laborious to paint. I'm currently working on finishing Chapter 8, the last full color chapter of Volume 2, and that means I'll have a big announcement coming up soon!
If you love the world of 7" Kara, you can dive deeper into the lifestyle of Lilliputians by checking out the #LilliputianLiving hashtag on my Instagram- for the past two years, I've done Inktober prompts that help develop worldbuilding.
So join me this Friday, at 8PM CST over on Youtube, for Power Hour and to celebrate Kara's 2nd birthday! Make sure you brush up on your 7" Kara and Lilliputian trivia, because I've got some great prizes in store!
7 Inch Kara Webcomic Announcement Timelapse
Two years ago, on February 10th, I launched my print comic, 7" Kara, as a webcomic. At the time, I didn't hype the launch as much as I would have liked, and that's a mistake I really regret- a comic's launch is the BEST time to hype your comic. That's the best time to get your friends talking about it, sharing their excitement, and a great time to rehash all the self indulgent promo art we all know you've drawn over the years. This is PARTICULARLY true if this is a project you've worked on for a long time- the launch is a perfect opportunity to strut your stuff.
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| Launchiversary art from the first annivesary |
And compared to some artists, who do a great job talking about and driving hype for their webcomic projects, I think I've failed to really promote 7" Kara as much as I should. I talk about it frequently- it gets plugs in almost every video I post, and I'm constantly sharing art of the characters and pages in progress, but I've never really encouraged comments or discussion of the comic itself. This is mostly due to the fact that by the time web-readers see a page, that page has been finished and dried for well over a year- if there's issue with that page in particular, there's little I can do to remedy that. It's a wall I've been reluctant to tear down, and while I've dabbled with the thought of hosting a Lilliputian RP on The Paintbox, time is the biggest factor preventing me from opening my sandbox for others to enjoy.
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| Art for my 2018 CTP |
But around the Launchiversary, I start to take things seriously. This is Kara's birthday, and I'd be a horrible comic mom if I didn't throw her the party she deserved. And Launchiversaries are a great time to promote your comic- they're big milestones!
Happy Anniversary! 7 Inch Kara 1 Year Launch Birthday
Last year, to celebrate Kara's birthday, I held an anniversary Livestream- we had cute themed events, I had a small cake, I even drew peoples characters as Lilliputians. I painted a celebratory image (Pancake's Pancakes) and made a paper child of Kara to make the event more 'real'. It was a lot of fun, but it also took a lot of energy. I'm saving the BIG event for something else Kara related that's even more exciting that will be coming up this spring. I also had a Launchiversary post that talked about my experiences launching a webcomic from a print comic, and what I did to promote 7" Kara.
Newly minted Lilliputians during the stream- Fox and Aster (Linked), Big Sis (TAWBW)
More newly minted OC's! Diane's bird winged OC, and Nisa's Solas
Two years without hiatus or significant breaks is a long time for a webcomic, especially for a watercolor comic like 7" Kara. I've now shared 100+ pages of handpainted watercolor comic, pages that were a labor of love and laborious to paint. I'm currently working on finishing Chapter 8, the last full color chapter of Volume 2, and that means I'll have a big announcement coming up soon!
 |
| Inktober 2017- Seamstress |
If you love the world of 7" Kara, you can dive deeper into the lifestyle of Lilliputians by checking out the #LilliputianLiving hashtag on my Instagram- for the past two years, I've done Inktober prompts that help develop worldbuilding.
 |
| Inktober 2018- House Lilliputian family |
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| Inktober 2018- Towny Lilliputian Family |
So join me this Friday, at 8PM CST over on Youtube, for Power Hour and to celebrate Kara's 2nd birthday! Make sure you brush up on your 7" Kara and Lilliputian trivia, because I've got some great prizes in store!
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