Creator Spotlight: Curtis Clow
and a look into the process of creating the cover for Long Dark Winter!
Long Dark Winter is in the final 48 hours of the campaign and has less than 9% to go until we hit the funding goal! If you haven’t backed yet, you’re running out of time!
There’s 3 awesome covers to chose from…or you can just go for all 3. Here’s an exclusive look at the process C.R Florence and Alivon Ortiz went through to craft their terrifyingly awesome cover!
Also don’t forget! Voting closes soon for Sequential Magazine’s awards and ALICE #1 is nominated for Best Indie Comic of 2023 and I’ve been nominated for Favourite Writer. You can cast your ballot here!
Creator Spotlight: Curtis Clow
Curtis Clow is the writer/co-creator of the comics such as Majestic, Beastlands, Slightly Exaggerated, and The Wild Cosmos. He’s written some work for hire comics like Journey to the Top of the Food Pyramid and The Dragons Kin. He’s worked with publishers like Dark Horse Comics, Scout Comics, In Hiatus Studios and ComicalFoods. He also founded and self publishes through his own imprint To Infinity Studios using crowdfunding. He’s had over 15 successful Kickstarters with over 4,000 total backers to help bring projects to life in the comics and music categories. He’s done writing work on the video game Deadtime Defenders that was released on Steam by Ravenous Games and the game called Pauldron that is currently in development by Pentajoy among a few others. Curtis is always looking for new writing challenges and opportunities!
Curtis another creator that was instrumental to my start in comics. When I first started researching how to make FALLEN into a comic I started listening to podcasts and reading blogs. Curtis’ podcast had a ton of great information for someone just starting out and he broke down the process easily enough that even I was able to follow. Curtis was even nice enough to respond to a few questions I had and truly a positive force in indie comics. Another fun fact is we both work with Toben Racicot on many of our projects!
Curtis took time out of running his wildly successful Kickstarter campaign for Beastlands 1-9 to answer a few questions for fans and aspiring creators.
Can you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your background in the world of
Comics?
Hello! My names Curtis Clow and I’m a comic writer and self publisher. I’ve had 19 successful Kickstarters now and have multiple creator owned series with Dark Horse Comics. I launched my first Kickstarter back in 2017. I also do some freelance comic and indie video game writing. I love writing sci-fi and fantasy stories!
What are you reading these days? Do you remember your first comic? What are
your top 3 comics you’ve ever read?
Not reading so much these days being busy making my own stuff. But I try to keep to reading at least a few new trades every month. Right now I’m reading The Last Ronin and Middlewest. I think my first comic was small Silver Surfer comic from Burger King when I was a kid. But even though I loved Spiderman, Batman and Wolverine as a kid, I didn’t really read their comics. I more so found those characters from the animated series. Some of my favorite series are Tokyo Ghost, Step by Bloody Step and Coda.
What inspired you to venture into indie comic writing?
I’ve always been creative and wanting to create. If I like something then, I usually want to try to make something too. So when I fell in love with indie comics back in my early twenties, my next step was figuring out how to make a comic. Adapting what I knew about story writing to put it into a comic and self publish it.
Why did you choose crowdfunding as the funding model for your comic, and what has been your experience with platforms like Kickstarter?
Crowdfunding is amazing! I knew of Kickstarter since its early days before I ever wanted to make a comic. And even before I knew what kind of project I’d be launching on there, I felt one day I could use this platform to create something. It’s a place to make whatever you want as long as you have or find an audience that wants it. You don’t have to worry about any yes or no’s from any higher ups. Just create whatever you dream! My experience has been amazing with Kickstarter. I’ve been able to find and cultivate my own audience on the platform of backers that want to read my stuff. I feel so lucky and fortunate to have done that. It’s allowed me to start my career in comics!
Can you walk us through your creative process? How do you approach
storytelling, character design, and world-building?
I love to imagine brand new worlds first. So I guess I start with world building. Next up I think about what interesting characters might be in that world. And try to tie that to a meaningful theme to me. I try to say something about myself and about the world in that story. If all that works, then I know I might have a new story of substance and something worth pursuing! Character design I’ll have some ideas for, but I like to collaborate with my artists on that.
You’ve also been involved in writing for video games. How do you find that varies from comic writing and what have you done to adapt to that medium?
Yeah, I’m passionate about video games too, so that's fun to work on. But so far that stuff is very different from my comic work. I’m just brought in late to help write descriptions and dialogue. Compared to my comic work where I create everything.
What have been the most significant challenges you've faced during the creation and crowdfunding of your comic? On the flip side, what are your proudest moments or triumphs?
Crowdfunding is hard and a ton of work. I think about that stuff all the time (probably a little too much). From launching and being obsessed with looking at the Kickstarter every minute and the toughness of fulfillment. Shipping out a thousand packages all alone is a ton of work! But it’s all worth it. I have a life and career that I love now because of it. The fact that I’ve hit over 1,000 backers multiple times and past the 50k funding mark multiple times by creating projects that I wanted to create. Not by following trends or chasing money, just by making good work that I loved. That’s everything to me.
What marketing strategies have proven most effective for promoting your crowdfunding campaign? Are there specific tactics you would recommend to fellow indie creators?
That’s tough. I don’t do too much marketing. I think Kickstarter is more about retaining and getting backers to return to back another project and then that helps more people find you naturally on Kickstarter. You can retain backers by making quality stuff, having good communication and having a good weekly mailing list!
What advice would you give to aspiring indie comic creators looking to launch their own projects through crowdfunding?
Start small and do it! Start with one issue or a one shot. Start with a modest goal. Then just launch, no matter how scary it is! You’ll learn a ton. Then keep coming back again and again to build on that!
Lastly, where can readers connect with you or find your work?
My portfolio is at www.curtisclow.com and imprint is at www.toinfinitystudios.com - where you can sign up for my newsletter. Also @curtisclow on twitter and instagram.
Curtis’ Campaign Beastlands is still live on Kicktstarter with 10 days left! It’s a great fantasy series that will hit you in the feels and you can check it out by clicking the image below!