Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: Comics, entertainment, kickstarter

At the Intersection of Comics and Banjo

Published Sun, 22 Jun 2014 21:00:32 -0500

1X: short comics by Charles Butler, a Kickstarter campaign, close date: Wednesday, July 16th

Charles Butler writes,

At some point in high school I made the conscious choice to pursue becoming a professional banjo player. It was a difficult decision to make, not for the obvious reasons, but because I felt I inevitably had to sacrifice another lofty goal, that of being a professional comics creator. I found myself at an intersection of two powerful forces in my life, I went with music. After high school, I sought out the best banjo teacher in the land (seriously, his name is Tony Trischka) and found a great music school to study at, where I attained a degree.

Then a strange thing happened. I found that I couldn't stop creating comics. I would be struck by ideas for compelling characters and fantastical situations, and immediately begin searching for the time to create them. This resulted in many pages of comic art being produced over the years, the sum of which never really amounted to anything that could be called finished. When I hit my thirties, my attitude towards making comics shifted. First, a recognition that my interest in the art form was not diminishing, but the opposite. Then, a contemplation of what I would like to accomplish in this beautiful life. The result, a determination to create some unique, expressive, exciting short comics.

That almost brings me to my recently launched Kickstarter campaign for a collection of these short comics, called '1X', but not quite. First, a word about my banjo career and why I love the internet. I've lived in Nashville for the last ten years or so, playing in a multitude of different acts, always staying busy. Last year I posted a simple video of myself doing 'Get Lucky' on the five string and it caught some attention, grabbing more than a million views in the first week. It was a deeply rewarding experience for the fact that I was able to reach out through the internet to people around the world, some of whom had no concept of what a banjo was, and share a musical moment with them.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kzt5dzyy-Q[/youtube]

Comics also have that ability to make their presence felt across the internet. The world of comics has never been so vibrant, thanks in no small part to the amount of crowd funding going on. That's why I am seriously excited for you all to check out my first Kickstarter campaign, '1X: short comics by Charles Butler'. Collected in it are four short tales I have written and illustrated over the last couple of years, two of the fantasy genre, one sci-fi and a western. Creating each one was a labor of love, especially with all the banjo notes I had to produce in the meanwhile. I wouldn't have it any other way.

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