Before we get into the meat and potatoes of this introduction, some formalities first.
Hello everyone, I go by Habi; I'm a failed freelance artist whose currently trying to get back into art and make it a career. I've been doing illustration for 10 years but have been spending most of this current decade revitatizing my skills. As of right now, I'm slowly working on a multimedia project that I've called Pierrot Patrol: An action/adventure story about a crime fighting team having to return to their heroic duties to stop a demon from devouring their universe. Which is how I came up with The After Hours Coven.
Why?
Let's start with the why, as in "Why the hell did you decide to start a business?" Great question, simple answer: Freedom. As I developed my story and idea there was a problem of where I would publish it. I intend to make the story aimed at an adult audience but many places are very "conditional" with that. You either have to censor a good amount of what you're making or you don't but your work doesn't get searched by normal means cause it's 18+. "Well, then just promote it via social media. Cut out the midle man."; except that means you gotta compete with everyone on an open forum that nowadays perfers conflict and AI and even then, your work still might get flagged. (I'm aware that this a very generalized view of this but I'm not making my intro and exposition a whine fest about online promotion). If only there was a publisher or studio I could give my idea to; so I decided to make one. Why lament on what isn't there when you could just make it there and that's The After Hours Coven.
Ok so what exactly is The After Hours Coven?
The After Hours Coven is, or will be, a studio and publisher that handles adult fantasy and fiction media with a main focus on comics, graphic novels and books. In addition, I hope to expand this idea to aid in a much needed sector of the creative community; funding and employment but that's a long ways away for now. Let's focus on that top part.
Though it's gotten better, there's still this idea that adults don't need fantasy or that if you are an adult who enjoys fantasy, you're just a childish person who refuses to mature. On top of that, when you do get adult fantasy, it's either very sexually explicit, grim and gritty or just realistic fiction. None of those are bad and demonizing those things doesn't really help in the long run but the adult demographic needs variety in their fictional media. Good news is, that variety exists. Bad news is, a lot of those stories and ideas don't get to see the light of day or aren't picked up buy any publishers or studios or get buried in the algorithm by more popular, well-known creators. That's why I decided to do this. Adults like fiction and our fiction doesn't have to just be gritty brutal grimdark slaughterfests or spicy romantic rompfests (though a lot them are good) we can have silly and whimsy or just unique and out there.
Young adult fiction and fantasy gets everything under the sun, but that variety of stories doesn't have to stop once the YA demographic reaches adulthood.
Alright then how are you gonna do this? Don't you need money and attention to run a studio?
So my first idea was to work to get the money and that idea, well ... worked. Well it would've but my so-called family hates me and have always found ways to intentional sabotage my efforts to become idependent ever since I decided to become an artist. The last straw was them intentional pricing me out of my last job and causing me to end up 15K extra in debt. So I have to get creative and that's where you all come in.
This shop is how I'm gonna do it. All revnue I get from this shop will go towards the intial funding and expenses needed to get my idea off the ground. However, as the saying goes, "Man can't live on bread alone" and this shop can't be the only thing I have to raise funding.
I also have a ko-fi and I have my own socials for both this and my own art and life. There are other things that will come later but for right now, following me on my socials, donations, buying merch and spreading the word is the best we have so far. I'll also try to find other means but these are the best guaranteed ways to make it.
Cool. Where can we find you?
All links for the business: https://linktr.ee/theafterhourscoven
Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/theafterhourscoffee
And of course, this store. I currently have some stickers availible for purchase and memberships are open.
And my own twitch channel: https://twitch.tv/byxhabi
So that's it. I'm open to any questions and concerns you might have. This all new territory to me so I'm figuring things out just like you all.
Oh, one last thing; all future updates about the company will be done via Youtube https://www.youtube.com/@theafterhourscoven
Thank you and let's make some magic. Until next week, bye~