Greetings and salutations! My name is Toby Johansen, I'm an independent artist, writer and filmmaker, and today I really need your help to get my heart-felt, horse-loving passion piece off the ground and to the rest of the world, that means you! I want you and everyone who would want to hold a copy of my work in their hands that can show them there are more great stories to tell, even ones about Horses!
This graphic novel I've been working on since last year, is really the most passionate and greatest labour of love I've ever had when doing comics in the past since ever. I've only got about 41 pages left to draw before I go back to draw in the final details and the rest of the backgrounds and put int some color to help with the black and white when it goes into printing, that's my estimation, could be less pages if the story is progressed well!
What is this graphic novel about? Allow me to narrate!
In a post-apocalyptic 2018, a man who wears a horse mask, Dawn Horse, is bent on protecting a herd of horses from savage flesh-eaters, called Scavers, while trying to make a meaningful life in a world that has stopped. As the herd of horses strive to understand what Dawn Horse teaches them and how they must learn from their surroundings amongst themselves. To survive without pride, to live with heart than with malice.
How things came to be from such a time while not perfect but very free and prosperous, turned grey and deathly silent, those who survive live on with the lives they have to survive, even if that means to turn to a dark place which you may never return from to do so, or maybe you do choose to be a guardian to protect those you care about even if there are always consequences.
If that plot doesn't make you scream "Holy crap! That sounds amazingly interesting, original, dark, emotional and awesome" then I don't know what will!
You'll find 20 unfinished pages here that I know will wet your appetite! Plus some scans of my character sketches (which are part of one of the Perks I have!). I'll definitely keep you updated!
What I Need & What You Get
I have estimated the amount to cover the printing costs and the cover artist will be $2390.
You see that I set the goal at $2570, that's because of the site fees. What I'll be getting is just a little bit over $2390, if we don't make the goal then the fees will be higher. Mainly the site's fees establish that if we succeed the goal they get 4%, if I don't reach my goal then they get 9%.
All $2020 of your awesome contributions will go straight into the printing costs for the book and $370 of it will go to pay a fellow artist to make the cover of the book and it's going to look beautiful as the story itself. I'll start with printing up to 370 books, it's a good start and what I'll make back from sales will go into more prints of this story, have to keep it going. :) Plus, I'll be writing a sequel book this Winter and get started on it late 2014.
If I get more than my estimated goal, I'll put that extra money into some lamination work and promotion for the book!
What do you get out of all this? How do these perks sound?
$1 This is enough to show you care about creative passion projects which means your name will go into the beautifully designed "Special Thanks" page.
$5 You get to own a PDF digital copy (or which ever your preferences are for digital copies please let me know) of the book when it's finished! Also with your name in the "Special Thanks" page.
$10 You get the SOLID BOOK when it's complete and printed by November 13, 2013, delivered to your own home! You also get your name in the "Special Thanks"! (Does NOT include digital copy)
$15 Want me to autograph your copy? Totally!
$50 You get the BOOK, both with your name and signed, with the addition of two beautiful posters of the front cover done by Emily Nguyen and the interior cover by KARNO! (Kjartan Arnorsson)
INTERIOR COVER:
Check out some of their stuff!:
Emily Nguyen: http://emilynguyenart.deviantart.com/
Karno: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/karno
$100 Donate this you get the book, posters...what could be better? Why, having your very own original Horse character drawn next to your name in the "Special Thanks" page curtasy of me! Just be sure to e-mail me your commission after purchasing this perk!
$200 You get all of the above...AND...3 of my original character sheets I drew and used for visual reference while drawing my book! Holding an authentic piece of comic book history!
"Dawn Horse"
"Rosie"
"Rikk"
"Scavers"
The Impact
You would be helping me reach my creativity out to the masses, letting me do what I love to draw and write whatever I want, because life is always about creativity. I would shed more details about the story, but trust me when I say this that if I do I'd be spoiling WAY too much for you, and this is a story that MUST be read in order to do it any justice and I HAVE to let my work speak for itself. However, I will engage you on a personal discussion about why I'm making this story and why it's important to me.
First, the Nice reasons!
As I said before, I love Horses. It was something that was living in the back of my mind for a long time and haven't really come to full grips with it until just a few years back. Coming to know these proud beasts, big or small, different kinds, different colors, different personalities, an animal that builds a trust and a loving friendship that can last longer than forever. I love their anatomy, I love how you can read them, I love how they're misunderstood by some people as being stupid when they're most definitely not, the long faces, fluffy ears, voluptuously-strong bodies, their cute but awesome hooves, their flowing manes and tails, their neighs are music to my ears...
...I told you I love them. I'm looking on down the road to learn more about how I can own my own regular or shetland pony as my companion pet.
Aside from that, Horses have been with us since the dawn of time...no seriously, look it up, they call it "the Dawn Horse" (Eh? See that? Getting some insight on my inspirations -wink-)...but seriously, they've been around since forever, when we came into their lives they rode us from place-to-place, they helped us build many things, they've went with us into battles and wars, they died with us, they race and become celebrities and they have also become great companion pets and have helped those disabled (physically, mentally, emotionally) to know there is more to life through a Horse than just cynicism, apathy, and ignorance.
When I go out to sell my books at comic book conventions and online to other readers, half of my profits will go into future issues of this story (being the sequel of course!) and half of the profits will go into donations for a Horse rescue, a good cause comes out of it for the good of creativity and for Horses!
Now, here comes the Not-So-Nice reason...
What could possibly crush the good parts that I love about this? Horse-Slaughter. Yes, it really exists, it's been around for a while, but seems to be more frequent these days. Some people are still doing it in several parts of the world, especially in America. They back up their arguments through varied lies about "over-population" (of course) but it's all about easy money for corporate industries, greedy land managers and some ranchers that would rather take more profits than doing their job at "being responsible". Horse meat is contaminated with the use of medications that can be lethal to humans if consumed. "Humanely Slaughtered"? Don't make me laugh.
Everyone, put some time aside and read up more about this issue here: http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/horse_slaughter/facts/facts_horse_slaughter.html
I personally object to it (along with many Horse Owners/Advocates/Lovers, etc.) being that we have cows, chickens, pigs and fish (to which I also love all animals in general and don't want them harmed even for consumption, but until "cultured meat" is more supported and hits the scene, it's unfortunate) to survive on and should not turn over to making more companion animals (both domestic or wild, yeah they slaughter both and sell them for food) into food for the sake of easy money let alone to take away our greatest discoveries and companions ever known to exist from grand ol' nature itself.
Doing this story I hope would help a great deal to stop this atrocity and to help keep Horses of all kinds, domesticated or wild or both, from meeting this terrible fate, especially because of the way things are in the economy. Because if I and many others (Yes, even yourself included!) can make a difference like saving and protecting this particular animal from extinction, just think of the inspirations this could do for others to make a better world for themselves, it's an incredible notion! That seems a little too optimistic, but rational people with great ideas can accomplish anything! But even if Fake Horse doesn't save the world or anything it can still account for good creativity in the arts of visual/written story-telling and can help shape others' opinions on subjects like this. If anything else it explains where I stand on the matter and will keep up a good fight!
After reading that you probably think this project is nothing more than just a pitiful piece of propaganda, for some maybe, but anyone who is super smart will tell you to NEVER judge a book by its cover!
I understand my personal love for my favorite animal and a pure undeniable hatred for their fate can only be taken so far as signing petitions, donating to Horse rescues and such, part of me felt that while I am an activist on this issue I felt that I HAVE to do more than that, and what better way than to use one, if not THE greatest, of individual expressions, the Artistic Expression! But why stop there? Writing does a great deal of expression as well! Put two-and-two together and vuala!
Now here's the thing, this graphic novel IS a big love letter to Horses and is most-definitely a big anti-horse-slaughter message, but it is also a character-driven narrative that debates the merits of humanity's survival over companionship, spoken from the point-of-views of both the human and the horse characters in the book, what it takes to be a hardcore survivalist and what you could turn into as well as it does talk about when becoming the "good guy" has consequences too when you go at great lengths to defend yourself and mostly those important to you when the world becomes violently unsafe.
The tolls it takes on one's emotions, Bad vs Good, or heck this book has conflicts that are more formed being Good vs Good, in the nature of survival, companionship and in nature itself. Life is not always pretty, nature is a great example and it's addressed, but it CAN be changed, because change and conflict is what life is all about, only then can you find the happiness in its shades of grey. Bizarre as it all may be, it's still heart-felt because of characters coming to know creativity is what keeps their lives going, and they can't do it without each other. Such is reality.
Pretty deep stuff, but that's what makes it so great and I love it!
Other Ways You Can Help
You can like the Fake Horse facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/TheFakeHorse
Bookmark my website to help support it and it's creative projects: http://psychosentinel.tripod.com/
Subscribe to both my YouTube channels: https://www.youtube.com/user/DarkToboki & http://www.youtube.com/user/GoryPumpkin
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoryPumpkin
I understand that it's a tough economy and that not everyone is able to meet the demand, but if you can help out by:
SHARING THE HECK OUT OF THIS CAMPAIGN!
SHARE IT ON FACEBOOK!
POST IT ON TWITTER!
TELL YOUR FRIENDS!
TELL YOUR FAMILY!
TELL YOUR HORSES!
POST IT ON YOUR BLOG!
TELL EVERY COMIC BOOK FAN ABOUT IT!
TELL HORSE LOVERS/OWNERS/ADVOCATES ABOUT IT!
Please help my story come to you and to everyone all over!
Thank you so much! Let's make this baby gallop through the fields of freedom and into continuation! LONG LIVE HORSES!