Sunday, January 19, 2014

CKS News January 20, 2014


First off, I hope everyone had a happy New Years and a productive start to 2014.


If you've been following the CKS facebook, you know already that the last part of 2013 was rough to say the least for the studio. I'd like to leave all of that in 2013 so I'm not going to go on about it here. What I'd like to do is fill everyone in on my plans for 2014. Lack of resources, financial stress, and my new schedule are forcing some major changes.


The Original Mission of CKS
From it's inception, Charisma Kills Studios was created to be a multimedia studio and a vehicle for the collective works of creative individuals. At the time webcomics were all I knew, and attempts to work with other artist and writers resulted in marginal to no success.


2014: The Year We Get Back on Track
I've made it my goal for 2014 to be the year that I realize my initial vision for the studio, and focus efforts on making it viable. I have established relationships with a few artist and writers that have expressed interest and production has already started on several projects. First, Janette Mapp. Janette is bringing her talents as artist on a graphic novel trilogy. It's based on plots I developed many years ago that we have merged into a single, self contained, story. I'm very excited about this project and happy with the progress that we've made on it. I'll give more info on it once enough material for a proper copyright has been created and the paper work filed.


Multimedia Initiative
I start taking classes in New Media and Animation next week. This will help me develop the skill sets I need to realize my goal. I've also entered CKS into a partnership with Fire Storm Studios. Fire Storm is operated by a long time friend of mine, Rusty Gregoire. His skill and studio's multimedia resources exceed mine. We've already started with some voice work on audio dramas.


In addition to this, I've been speaking with an associate in Norway, Marius Hjelseth, to produce transmedia projects based on his webcomic “October 20th”. I'm super excited about this and we've already made some initial progress on it as well.


There have also be some preliminary talks with and friend of mine, Jaimie Callender, who operates Broke Dick Media. Jaimie is extraordinarily talented in a diverse range of artistic mediums. While no concrete plans have been made, a mutual interest on partnering on multimedia projects has been established.


CKS Webcomics
I simply cannot continue producing 3 webcomics. There's just not enough time and resources. Juggling the webcomics prior to my new schedule was hard enough. Now, it's going to be practically impossible. CKS will still produce the C.O.G. webcomic; however, Sweet Dreams are Made of Worms and Apocalypse Pizza will continue as multimedia projects as well as digital and print comics that will be scheduled as time permits.