GOURMANDO FINANCES

To date we lost over $30,000 out of pocket on our Gourmando campaign with COVID rate increases, delays, and inflated shipping costs.  This does not include the cost of getting the books shipped out which will be an additional $5,000 (Kickstarter & IndieGoGo combined).  Budget increases are a risk with any Kickstarter and we took and accepted that risk.  We are one of many campaigns who got caught with the COVID port problems and Hong Kong shipping fiascos.  

HOW CAN I HELP

I've had a number of backers emailing asking how they can help.  The best way to help right now is to back the How to Draw the Animated Nexus and spread the word!  We have 8 days left and are currently 35% funded.  SteveRude.com/DrawNexus

I think I touched on this before, but we are running the campaign to raise funds to help Steve continue to work on Nexus, and also to pay for the last bit of shipping to get your books out to you.

HOW TO DRAW THE ANIMATED NEXUS PROJECT

The $20,000 needed for the project ensures all the past projects will ship quickly, we can do a print run of 1,000 How to Draw the Animated Nexus from a LOCAL printer, AND we can ship out all the past projects while paying our designers and shipping assistants for their work.  Note that this does not include any profit for Steve.  $20,000 is our break even.

SHIPPING GOURMANDO HARDCOVERS

Regardless of the outcome of the Animated Nexus project, your items WILL ship.  We have all the boxes and packing supplies here to get them wrapped up and shipped out in small batches as we are able to afford to do so.

COVID UPDATE

Steve was set to do several livestreams to promote the Animated Nexus project, however, his COVID took a turn for the worse and he's been in bed with a fever.  He's back to working a few hours a day, but until he's fever free for 24 hours we can't allow helpers back into the house.  

I had an allergic reaction to Benzonatate (almost literally every last side effect) and am slowly recovering, but working through it and some of you should have received shipping notifications already.  I am currently working on the next batch of 30 orders.

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT

I am hopeful that this explains what is going on behind the scenes.  If you have further questions please feel free to ask.

THE GOOD NEWS...

All 4 books arrived to storage on Thursday so the 2021 sketchbook regular cover, alternative cover, the Gourmando Deluxe hardcover and the Limited Edition are all in house.

THE BAD NEWS...

I was out of the office August 12-19 for my brother's wedding and came home  really sick.  My assistant is also out with COVID.   While my case is mild, a raging headache is keeping me from getting too much done.

STEVE AND COMMISSIONS...

Steve is roaring through commissions and once my assistant is back in house she will start attaching commission requests to hardcover books.

If you would like a commission we can offer them until your order is processed.  With nearly 700 orders to process will get everything out as quickly as we can.

DRAW NEXUS KICKSTARTER

My illness has caused a delay with this.  We are still planning to launch, hopefully within the next 2 weeks.  While I would love to get all our books out the door prior to launching anything new, bills do not pay themselves, and funds will allow Steve to work on his next Nexus project, THUNEWORLD,