Well, gee!

I came to the Cellar Door blog to give you guys an update on the very belated first issue, but I found the below post instead! Thanks, Michael, you sure are swell!

Yes, it's true. Due to generous donations from my friends, family, and a few strangers, I was able to quit my hotel day job and work as a full-time comic artist and illustrator. It's been awesome, stressful, rewarding, frustrating, and fracking (to steal from BSG) magical. Thanks again for everyone's support! And for those of you just hearing about the project, visit my blog to catch up!

Now for a Cellar Door update:

It's getting done.

Tomorrow I'll be handing off the final, fixed files to Michael! I took an executive decision to fix a few small things. Even though a bunch of the changes were minute, I believed the changes were worth waiting another month to get the final book.

I'm very excited to finally get this book into your hands and I want to thank everyone for their patience.

Love and hugs!

Leila

Leila Del Duca

Surely you've heard of her by now! If not, you have not been reading these posts closely enough and you need to get your head in the comic game. This girl is on fire. She recently had a rather successful run on IndieGoGo.com and was able to give full time illustrating a go. This could not have happened to a better artist. Leila is doing incredible things with her newfound creative freedom. Make sure and keep your eyes open for the upcoming Fox Witch and Other Tales book she is currently working on as well as a bunch of other projects (including art directing the first issue of Cellar Door of course). You can see her work at LeiladelDuca.com, there's a link right there to the right of this blog. Now is the time to check out her work so you can say "you knew her when" after she hits her stride and is too important to talk to the likes of you ;)

The Proof and Photographic Evidence

It has been a long time coming but I am actually passing around the proof for the first edition of Cellar Door at Drink & Draw tonight. So far it is getting positive reviews. The cover looks gorgeous which comes as no great surprise. The entire thing has made me even more excited (as impossible as that sounds) to put together the second book: Unraveling!

Speaking of the second book... I will be adjusting the deadlines quite drastically. Apologies to those who have been working hard to get their material submitted on time. I do believe that more contributors will be sighing in great relief. Things got a lot busier than what I suspected they would and I want to dedicate time to getting the first book out instead of working at editing the second one at the moment. Therefore, more time for you. I will be posting an updated version here on the blog soon.

ALSO: We will now be able to accept B&W photography. The one that we used in the author button ad came out just fine. I'll be consulting with a photographer friend to draw up the guidelines and adding those soon as well.

Patience

Patience is a virtue that I do not have an abundance of. I hope you are all still excited about the book. The printers I'm working with for our freshmen-go at this are not very communicative and it turns out that the wait continues. Instead of trying to determine another countdown I just ask that you guys keep your eyes open for blogs and emails (and in person invites of course!) to the releases and such.

In the meantime! I've just added a donate button (in the right margin) for the amazing project that I've recently become a part of called The 5280 Comic Book Classroom. The website is coming soon and there is some info already posted on Facebook. Go check it out and send a donation in the form of $$$ or the supplies listed on the FB spot.

Thanks so much for hanging with us here at Cellar Door ;)

One....more....week....!

So I was informed one week ago today that after approving the interior as well as the cover for Cellar Door One that it would take ten to fifteen days to get the proof ready and mailed out to me. I have been nearly saintly in my patience and hope that you have been as well. Just wanted to keep you all informed of the status of our first book and hope that you are working on your submission for the second.

In the meantime you should look up the 5280 Comic Book Classroom on Facebook and go donate to Hamza Pecenkovic's Murder Machine on IndieGoGo.com.

Thanks!

The Comic Book Classroom!

Hey all! Make sure you make it over to Drink & Draw at Leela European Cafe next Tuesday to learn all about the upcoming 5280 Comic Book Classroom. Make no mistake, this is going to be a huge step in the revolution to gain academic respectability for comics in both education and literature. Come and see us with your ideas for how we can make our plans even better! OR if you are not in the area make sure and drop us a note to see what all the hype is about. You won't regret it.