One of my Mom's favorite things to say is always "The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray." This is a truism that is particularly true for me today.
My Kickstarter was supposed to be ready to launch yesterday, but sadly, things are not going as smoothly as I'd planned. I need a video, and I've been wracking my brains trying to come up with something cute or clever, but until today, I had nothing. Today, I decided to film Maddy running around the backyard in a cape, but it was brutally hot and she got really overheated, and then my camera battery died.
So now I'm stumped. I can write, and I can make art. But getting in front of a camera? Soooooo not my thing! I have no idea what to do for this, and everyone says the video is so important.
My camera is charging up downstairs. I don't know if I should just sit down in front of it and ramble a lot, or keep trying to think of something better. I just don't know. I want this project to be awesome! I want it to show people how excited I am about this, and tell a good story.
Just to tell you all a little about what I have planned, I want to launch this Kickstarter to fund a new line of work I call Girl Stories. As I've said in my previous two posts, I really love stories. I love movies, video games, comics, and books of all kinds. I love to lose myself in a really good story, something that is true, that is fantastic, that makes me think, that entertains, and that has a profound effect on the way I view the world. However, it's become clear to me that the majority of the stories I really love have male protagonists, and the majority of the stories I like with female protagonists are just not characters I would want to emulate. Being kind and pretty and nice to animals is great and all, but I want more out of my girls! I'm tired of every girl in a video game being either a weak throw away character, or a sex kitten who kicks ass. I want girls who have adventures, who are strong. I don't just mean physically strong, I mean capable, independent, self assured. Totally able to have their own adventures.
My Kickstarter is to fund 12 new doll jar sculptures, along with some mini related works, that will tell stories. I plan to write stories to go with each doll, illustrate them, and store each story inside its corresponding doll. I feel like it's time to stop bitching about the lack of stories that I want to hear. If I want them, I have to make them myself!
My hope is that not only will I get the opportunity to tell kick ass stories about girls, and make some awesome art, but that I will inspire other girls and women to do the same. We need more of us out there, in all media, making our voices heard, telling our stories.
So, that's the plan. I'm nervous and excited! This is a subject I feel really passionate about, and I'm just now getting the guts to do something with it. But I don't want to launch something half-assed, so I'm going to keep working on Kickstarter until it's worthy of public view. Then, I hope you all will support me in this. Wish me luck!