For fans of James A. Owen's Creative Work
about 10 years ago
– Fri, Mar 11, 2016 at 12:30:42 PM
StarChild was my first great work in comics; the Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica was my first great series in fantasy fiction. But the book called Drawing out the Dragons has been, I feel, the most meaningful thing I've ever written. It's the first in a series of three books that I hope will help change your life, and how you choose to live it.
In its pages, I talk about all the choices I made as I learned what I needed to learn to write and illustrate the comics and stories that built my career; but I also talk about the things that I believe are most important in this life; about things I believe are true, and meaningful, and most worth sharing.
I tell stories drawn from my own life: examples about overcoming obstacles and adversity; stories about how making choices in your life is like drawing a Dragon; vignettes about how I came to do what it is that I love most in the world for my job. But most importantly, I tell each and every reader that they can make the same kinds of choices that I did – and that I believe in them.
Sometimes, being told that is the thing that we need most in our lives. And I think it's the most important thing that I can say to anyone: I believe in you.
Since the Kickstarter campaign to publish the first version of Drawing out the Dragons took place, I've added to the stories and expanded on the original – and what was one book soon grew to become three: the definitive Author's Edition of DRAWING OUT THE DRAGONS; the followup book THE BARBIZON DIARIES, and the great conclusion, THE GRAND DESIGN.
These books contain the most significant stories I have ever shared. Many thousands of people have seen my presentation Drawing out the Dragons, or have read the ebook, or one of the published versions of the print book; and a great many more have responded to quotes and essays I've posted online. The best of all of the speaking and writing I have done is found in these three books: The Meditations Trilogy. They have been available as ebooks, but now I want to publish them as hardcovers, and I'm asking for my readers to help me do it. Click on the link and read more about the Kickstarter project, and then help us make some awesome books. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1401678214/the-meditations-trilogy
As always, thank you – I am very, very grateful for your support.
James A. Owen and Team Dragon
Something of interest for fans of the Fantastic Arts!
about 10 years ago
– Thu, Jan 28, 2016 at 05:43:30 PM
This is something I've looked forward to doing for a very, very long time: a return to periodicals; a chance to share my working process with my fans; an opportunity to collaborate with some remarkable people; and best of all, the fun of producing some really wicked cool publications, while doing what I love the most – creating new Words & Pictures. This is a project for my best readers, supporters, and fans: an ongoing publishing project that supports my creative efforts and rewards my supporters with some beautiful and exclusive new books. Go read more about it on my Patreon page, then sign up to help support my Words & Pictures, and let's get this thing started. https://www.patreon.com/JamesAOwen
Guess what I just picked up?
over 10 years ago
– Thu, Nov 19, 2015 at 09:42:55 PM
Packing and shipping commences tomorrow. :)
A Triple Update
over 10 years ago
– Thu, Nov 05, 2015 at 08:20:25 PM
PART I: Regarding additional books and international shipping
We had some inquiries from foreign backers about ordering additional books via the BackerKit survey, and there was some concern about the cost of the additional shipping we were charging - which we calculated for NEW orders, but not existing ones where shipping was already charged via Kickstarter. We spent some time working on it, and decided to take off the blanket shipping cost in BackerKit and instead replace it with these options:
International Shipping Category option 1 - Foreign Shipping/New Printed Book Order-For new orders of printed books to foreign/non-USA addresses. The shipping and handling charge is $15 for the first print book and $5 will be charged for each additional book added to that order due to the increased weight to be shipped.
International Shipping Category option 2 - Foreign Shipping/Existing Printed Book Order-For foreign/non-USA orders that have already paid a shipping fee with their Kickstarter pledge and are already receiving one or more printed books. $5 will be charged for each additional book added to that order due to the increased weight to be shipped.
If you are a foreign backer, and you wish to add books to your order, or backed a pdf version and wish to order print copies, please just select the appropriate option and we should be good to go. If there are any questions, please let us know!
PART II: Regarding receiving your PDFs
Backers who have already responded to and submitted your survey will need to go click on the link from the survey email (search for the subject "Response Needed", it will come from the email address "James A. Owen<[email protected]>" and was sent on Oct. 30). Go to the BackerKit website on the final Review page of the survey, and on the left side will be a button to "Get Your Digital Downloads" which will show an overlay with the links to click on to download the PDFs.
Those of you who opted for the digital versions DO have to fill out the survey to get your PDFs - the links are at the end of the survey - but everyone will also have the opportunity to buy copies of any of the 4 PDFs if you didn't already get one with your KS pledge.
We DID have an issue with one of the images on Book Two - the Pirate Queen - being grayed out in the PDF, but the download has been replaced with a corrected one, and so if any of you got the bad copy, you should be able to simply download another one.
PART III: Regarding production of the books
The proofs have been approved, and everything is being printed right NOW! The printer expects they will be at the bindery by Monday, and ready to be picked up later in the week. The covers look GREAT. We tinkered with the colors right up until the last moment, to get the best combination of contrast in the art, and bright colors for the backgrounds. We really hope you're happy with them as well.
Thank you all for your support.
James and Team Dragon
Survey Update
over 10 years ago
– Fri, Oct 30, 2015 at 08:38:27 PM
All the surveys have been sent, and right away, we've spotted a couple of things we needed to fix/address:
First, we left off the combined book/PDF of Book One as an add-on. That's been remedied!
Second, we're trying to work out how to let foreign backers add a physical book or two without doubling the cost because of the shipping. As it stands right now, the cost per additional book also includes shipping as if the book was a standalone - but for those of you already paying for foreign shipping, the cost doesn't need to be that high (and we apologize that it wasn't pointed out that there WOULD be additional shipping on add-on books for foreign backers.) For a few books, it's doable – over a certain limit, it gets REALLY expensive. So we're going to see if we can't find an economical happy medium option there that lets you add the books. We'll update on that late Monday.
And third, we're having an issue with the download links for the PDF digital files. They're supposed to be sent out as people fill out the surveys, but the guys at BackerKit helping up set them up put them in the wrong place – and we may not get it sorted until Monday. Please bear with us – we'll get it all worked out so everyone gets what they're supposed to!
James & Team Dragon
