Posted in: Comics | Tagged: cheief o'brien, Comics, entertainment, kickstarter, star trek

Chief O'Brien At Work

Ends September. 22nd. Ships Nov, 2015.

The beloved and painful Chief O'Brien at Work webcomic is now a big book! Perfect for fans of space travel, dead-end jobs, and ennui.

Jon Adams writes,

There's a reason I chose a career that requires me to sit alone all day long, and it's not because I wanted to make videos of my face asking people for their money. When I set out to make a Kickstarter for my Chief O'Brien at Work comic, an animated cartoon of Chief O'Brien's face sounded much more agreeable.

The first thing I needed to do was track down someone capable of a Colm Meaney impression. Finding a Christopher Walken or Robin Williams impressionist? Easy. Colm Meaney? Not so much. I combed through several Irish-specific voice-over talent sites. There were plenty to choose from, but none with the right combination of tone and gruffness of Colm Meaney. Very few people sound like that guy.

I eventually took to Craigslist Los Angeles, assuming Hollywood would have a wide selection of voices. And I was right – I got responses from everyone, from overly optimistic women with elf-like voices to men who sound like a jazz musician trying to seduce a married woman. Among all the noise of Craigslist came one legitimate candidate who actually read my ad – Jon Houston. The accent wasn't perfect but the voice was there and Jon was the right combination of affordable and easy to work with, going back and forth and offering multiple takes and interpretations. He was committed to doing a good job.

Although I have some animation experience, I needed a professional – someone who could do it quickly and well, and save me the grief. Another Craigslist find was Amy Baniecki. Animation can be expensive. Like really, really expensive. So much so that I was certain the prices I was being quoted must be typos. Fortunately Amy was flexible and really enthusiastic about the project, which made all the difference.

The budget was determined by basically how much was I willing to lose. There's no guarantee a Kickstarter will succeed, so any money you put into it you may not see again. Fortunately, Chief O'Brien at Work met its funding goal within 36 hours. Now all I have to do is hire someone from Craigslist to help me package hundreds of books.

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