Project management
Quick note. Blue Milk Special has always been, and continues to be FREE on this website. For more, read further below.
A big thank you to everyone who supported us through our Save Blue Milk Special campaign on GoFundMe. You helped us raise $7,620 dollars, far surpassing our apparently modest goal of $3000. For those new to the site, let me explain a little why this was happening.
I am no longer employed after leaving my day job due to my ongoing health problems. I have slipped discs and cervical fusions along with arthritis radiating down my arms and spine. As a result of having to leave my job, as of August 1st we no longer have health insurance.
We were about to stop Blue Milk Special altogether but your investment in us has validated the continuation of our project. The success of the campaign means that Blue Milk Special will continue for the remainder of Return of the Jedi and we will complete the journey we began in February 2009!
Part of the campaign saw the rewards of full digitaly colored commissioned art from Leanne and myself. We had about 12 takers. The first batch have already been sent off to the printers. People made a variety of interesting character art requests, from the expected TK8008 and Biggs, to the unexpected, like Grand Admiral Thrawn and Admiral Daala. We also offered a special perk where readers who made the big donations not only got a pinup of their likeness in BMS style, but they will appear in upcoming strips. For anyone that is still interested in catching that exclusive offer, I have added some additional packages. We will throw in signed 501st Legion trading cards and a set of BMS buttons.
On the smaller scale side of things, are you interested in giving us $1 dollar a month? Maybe more? You can get all sorts of BMS goodies by subscribing to support us through Patreon. Hi-res pinups from selected panels from each strip, the latest strip one day before everyone else, a free pinup, or a free sketch card! You choose how much to give us per month and you can cancel whenever you want. Subcribe to BMS through Patreon.
Just a little disclaimer for anyone who is confused by our non profit stance. Blue Milk Special isn’t a product, nor is it being offered through Patreon. It remains 100% FREE on this website. Patreon is just a way to donate money to an artist. We are giving supporters perks, like a preview of the strip a day early, or a sketch card as thank yous depending on the donation level. I can see where someone might think at first glance that we’re selling something, but like GoFundMe, Patreon is a donation site, not a shopping cart. Patreon is for the support of an artist, in this case me. Hence the whole idea of an art patron.
Such a wonderful update, thank you. It lets all of us know that the money has made it to you and we are happy to have surprised you. 🙂 Hope things are on the improve and that you are looking forward to the Eurotrip in a bit over a month’s time.
Vader does have the right idea. Workers without Coffee will be less motivated and unable to work to the deadlines demanded of them.
Brilliant strip and even better news! Glad to read about the great things going on for Team BMS. 🙂
Here’s hoping you can make Millions off of your considerable tallents!
Glad to hear you all can keep producing the comic. My only concern is that the owners of the Star Wars franchise might see that you’re using Patreon and consider that income. Since you’re a not for profit with this comic, that may cause you some trouble. I’m no lawyer though so I may be wrong. I hope I am
Thanks, Datoneguy. However, Blue Milk Special isn’t a product, nor is it being offered through Patreon. It remains 100% FREE on this website.
Patreon is just a way to donate money to an artist. We are giving supporters perks, like a preview of the strip a day early, or a sketch card as thank yous depending on the donation level. I can see where someone might think at first glance that we’re selling something, but like GoFundMe, Patreon is a donation site, not a shopping cart. Patreon is for the support of an artist, in this case me. Hence the whole idea of an art patron.
I would feel safer if the franchise was not now owned by Sith, Inc. (aka Disney). Even Vader is afraid of their Lawyers.
Some poeple may call Disney heartless (I am not one of them), but I don’t think they would do that to you.
Also, once again sorry for not donating, I don’t exactly have much of an income myself.
Do you at least get some government funds or something as such, or is that still a big issue in the US?
Ah, but it matters not whether they are heartless or compassionate. The system is rigged (surprise!) in favor of the Lawyers. As I understand it, at least in the U.S., even if a company is perfectly happy to let their “intellectual property” be used by small-time artists, the fact that they “failed to defend” that i.p. (ie didn’t sue) previously might cause them to lose the rights to that ip at some later date in a subsequent case. Thus, they are essentially forced to sue anyone and everyone whether they want to or not. The winners in this: Lawyers. They write the laws to guarantee full employment for Lawyers, and screw the rest of us. And then they wonder why nobody likes them.
Yep. Like I said, we’re not selling a product. The only thing we sell is the T-shirt, and we own that logo design. It is not even the Star Wars font, we made that font ourselves. So, this isn’t about infringing. We’re not one of those fly-by-night T-shirt companies that take an IP character like Vader or Boba Fett and sell them on a T-shirt. We don’t do that and it annoys me that other people do. Some of these people I even know, and it’s hard not to know people who do that when you work in a community of comic artist professionals and amateurs. BMS is free. The only places we’ve accepted money have been through donations via donation platforms like GoFundMe and now Patreon. We have sold prints at shows and buttons, which is the only area I think we could be pinged on. But technically this is not profit as our costs always far exceed anything we can make back. I’ve talked about the costs of comic conventions, especially big shows like New York comic con before. Those cost over $1000 just to attend (factor in hotel and travel). That does not include banners for promotion. Promoting our free webcomic costs us money too. But we do it and thanks to readers have been able to continue to do it. 🙂
I’m downright curious what the military project consists of.
Oh yeah, good stuff. Imagine if the emperor learned the hard way of the Death Star’s incomplete status. That door was supposed to say “Open vaccuum on other side”, honest!
“Only a master of beverages, Darth!”
Without coffee it wouldn’t have even been half finished. Priorities!
Congrats on the campaign!
The Caffeinated group worked on the left half of the Death Star, the Decaf group worked on the right. You can see the results.
Congratulations on your GoFundMe success! 😀
“Now witness the firepower of this half completed station and fully OPERATIONAL coffe machine!”
It’s a FRAP!
Okay, you win the Internets with that one.
I’m jobless myself – but I think I could stretch to a Dollar a month 🙂
Aw, you don’t have to do that. Every dollar counts, John. Trust me, I know that.
Rod, I really appreciate your compassionate understanding.
I’m glad that some people in this cruel world of ours appreciate how ruinous $12 per annum would be for a family of 3 with one parent unemployed.
I mean, over one short year, we’d probably have to go without 2 beers, or two bags of ground coffee. I bet some of us would be down by a 20 pack of cigarettes. And you know, these are difficult choices to make when your child is looking up at you with tears in his eyes wondering, “Where will my daddy get that 1 missing beer?”
By the way – I love this strip.
I was surprised at Vader revealing their ploy. Maybe he’s showing how little he fears the Emperor and getting a weird pleasure out of pissing him off?