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USDN Podcast is a cinematic indie comics interview series hosted by the USDN_Chairman and the Council of Nerds spotlighting the creators, storytellers, and worldbuilders shaping the future of independent comics.
Each episode dives beyond headlines into the real journeys behind the books from Kickstarter launches and creative struggles to the philosophies driving today’s indie storytelling movement.
This isn’t about rumors or recycled news.
It’s about the people creating the worlds.
Through in-depth conversations, creator spotlights, and crowdfunding discussions, USDN explores:
• The rise of indie comics
• The business of crowdfunding
• The art of worldbuilding
• The realities of independent storytelling
USDN is where indie comics come to life for the fans, by the creators, and powered by the community.
You are listening to the USDN on the
DFPN.
Thanks for watching!
what is up everybody and welcome to the
united states department of nerds where we
are for the people by the people and
of the people some discoveries change
history others change the people willing
to risk everything
to uncover them.
Deep within an unforgiving jungle lies a
mystery that has remained hidden for
generations.
Ancient stones with unimaginable power
have become the center of a deadly
struggle, drawing explorers, mercenaries,
and those willing to sacrifice everything
for the chance to possess them.
But in a world where power always comes
at a price,
Every step forward brings new dangers,
and every discovery raises even bigger
questions.
For creator Frank Walt,
that mystery has grown into Hellstones,
a supernatural action saga in the making,
and a story with a clear destination from
the very beginning.
Rather than chasing an endless universe,
Hellstones was designed as a complete,
thirteen-issue journey,
one where revelations
where every revelation, every battle,
and every choice moves its characters
toward an ending that's been waiting since
page one.
With Hellstones number one into the frame,
now bringing readers deep into the world,
we'll explore what it takes to build a
long-form creator-owned series,
how mythology and action work together to
create lasting states,
and why some stories are best told with
the ending already in sight.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the Council of Nerds is now in session.
Frank, welcome to the USDN, my friend.
Hey, thanks for having me, man.
I appreciate it.
Absolutely, man.
I know we've been on the books for
a little bit,
and that light was driving me absolutely
insane.
Welcome, man.
Like I said,
you've been on the bus for a hot
minute.
The day of the show has finally arrived,
and I'm always excited on the day where
I get to talk to a new creator.
So let's dive into it, man.
Absolutely.
But before we dive into Hellstones,
let's start with you, Frank.
Your creative journey has taken you
through illustration, design, color,
and
and publishing before you arrived here
what originally inspired you to become a
storyteller and when did you realize you
wanted to create your own worlds instead
of helping bring someone else's to life
yeah um
you know i i've always been a storyteller
um i've always even even as a small
child i was always that a bit kid
that had a wild active imagination and uh
you know i'm also a forever d d
player uh and uh she should be back
there yeah absolutely so so storytelling
has just always been a part of my
life i just never knew beyond kind of
the the tabletop like
I would do with it even when I
wrote my original like story concept of
Hellstones It was just like a little
one-page concept.
I didn't know what I would do with
it and then ten years later I find
myself in the indie comic space as a
colorist learning the production side of
everything at the same time because you're
kind of in it start to pick things
up and
And that's when they hit me,
and I was like, you know what?
This would be perfect to tell in an
indie comic.
So that's what I did.
And I've just been kind of flying by
the seat of my pants ever since.
The whole adventure is that way.
But PikmaCast Studio has grown into much
more than a personal creative outlet.
What was the vision behind building your
own studio,
and how has that vision evolved?
Yeah, it's evolved greatly.
It's a cool name, by the way.
Yeah, thanks.
Yeah, I mean, by trade, I'm a colorist.
And, you know, I needed a space for,
you know,
my portfolio work and stuff like that.
So that's when PigmaCast.com was created.
And I used that as just kind of
my portfolio place.
You know once I started getting into the
production side deciding that I wanted to
work for myself It was it just made
sense to go LLC and to just keep
what I'd already built brand wise mm-hmm
and and go from there,
so yeah started I started with a
children's book got that produced and then
start with Hellstones and and
it's growing even beyond that i'm working
on an artist app for understanding and
utilizing color theory in an easy way as
well so that's cool to expand beyond just
the uh the comic book space really just
delving into everything that i love to do
dude that's that's that's really cool
especially the app because that is one of
those things where a is hard to do
yeah build the out but to build one
about being a colorist and how and just
color theory like
Geez I've seen those textbooks.
They're not yeah fine The entry and
understanding color theory is so complex
and vast But it just made sense I
was like you know I have the knowledge
I have the know-how and what I don't
know I have some good friends that are
you know are great coders and stuff like
that so it just made sense for my
way to just kind of give back to
everybody and just yeah make a
Other theory, easier to understand.
Dude, I like it, man.
I like it a lot.
But let's talk about Hellstones now.
This is a supernatural action series built
around ancient stones capable of granting
incredible power,
but it's also planned as a complete
thirteen-issue story,
which is a really cool concept in my
head.
What was the original idea that became
Hellstones,
and what made you realize it deserved an
entire series instead of a single graphic
novel or miniseries?
Nobody wants to see your booty Yeah,
like I said before I started as like
a one-page just writing exercise really I
was working a desk job,
and I was bored and You know I
was just like all right.
Let's use just some creative writing and I
thought it was really cool and But didn't
know to do with it,
and then I kept finding myself over time
coming back to it mm-hmm,
and that's That's what I knew that
This was going to be something I wasn't
sure what but it was gonna be something
and Then once I got into the indie
comic space and learned more about the
production side of things I was like,
this is the perfect fit this this needs
to be a comic.
This is the medium for this And I
didn't know how long it was gonna be
I
But I sat down and just started writing.
For me,
I had to commit to an entire story
in order to know that I was going
to see it through.
With my ADD,
if I didn't force myself to hard commit
like that,
I might not have never done it.
So that's what I did.
And I'm whittling it down to originally...
What was like twenty books and I was
like that's way too much Yeah,
and then I got down to like ten
books and say that's not enough And it's
just a whole lot of like adjusting and
draft after draft and I finally landed on
the thirteen books Plus book zero,
but you know also the theme of Hellstones
and all of that.
I was like thirteen that just made it
do this Yeah,
it's like that's just yeah
Then go back in.
So you did the prequel first, right?
And then jumped into issue one.
That's cool.
A lot of people get like to issue
five and go,
I have a lot of unanswered questions.
Let me do a prequel now.
That way people can kind of see how
we got to where we're at and answer
some of those questions rather than taking
a whole page or two pages out of
a current book to do a weird flashback.
Yeah,
absolutely I didn't want to do that
though.
It was it was an intentional thing because
people don't know me You know they don't
know health stones,
and I don't have that already baked in
audience That's gonna start reading it and
start asking those questions in order for
me to have the demands to do a
prequel Yeah,
you know it only makes sense for me
to just do a prequel now.
You know do something light it's only
twelve pages introduce you to the concept
of the characters and
and start to develop that relationship and
get that buy-in early in uh it's worked
out great dude no and i wish more
people would would do that in in a
sense that recognize it early or be far
along enough and along into their own
story written to go
I have questions at this point that need
answered.
Let me write a prequel to answer those
questions.
We've both been there.
We've read comic books from DC, Marvel,
Image, whoever it may be.
And you get to issue five of it
and go,
I have so many unanswered questions at
this point that I don't know what they're
trying to tell me right now.
There's so much shit missing.
Yeah.
And, uh, it's, it's annoying,
it's aggravating and it's just,
it makes you not want to keep the
book in your pools.
Right?
Sure.
Yeah.
But, um,
with so many supernatural stories out
there,
what did you want Hellstones to offer
readers that felt fresh and uniquely your
own?
Yeah, really,
Hellstones has kind of become a love
letter to everything that I've grown up
with and everything that I like.
narrator Absolutely Tomb Raider Indian.
I'm forty-five so The eighties the
nineties like all of that and and and
that's really what it what it is is
and I I Didn't necessarily think about
like what's marketable or what do I think
someone's gonna like I was just like man
I just this is just gonna be fun.
I think I have something fun,
and I hope people you know Agree with
me
i always say tell the story that you
would want to read right yeah that's like
the go-in philosophy is tell the story
that you would want to read have the
art that you want to see the vibes
you want to vibe with to me when
i see the covers and everything else i
get what if indiana jones was laura croft
Sure.
It's very Indiana Jones-esque,
but you have a female antagonist.
And I'm just like, dude,
that's the vibes I get.
And I told you beforehand,
I have not had a chance to read
it.
That is like my going in plan for
this week is to sit down and read
issue zero and issue one that I'm so
happy that you sent over to me because
I always appreciate getting the book to
read.
And I promise you,
they're going to get read.
I just had a weekend.
And I was telling you about my weekend.
Yeah, I'm not a plumber by trade,
but I've been plumbing all weekend.
But let's introduce everybody to
Hellstone's number one, Into the Fray.
And when's the get started for this start?
I don't know if I called that.
started july first so we're coming up to
the tail end of it okay well i
need to hop on it dan so help
the kickstarter is hell stones number one
into the fray which builds on everything
readers experienced in book zero for
someone discovering the series for the
very first time where does this issue take
sam's journey and what can readers expect
when they step into the fray see what
i did there beautiful
So, yeah.
So if you haven't read Book Zero,
you don't need to.
It's not required reading for Book One.
I do a little bit of a flashback
scene in there that kind of gets readers
up to speed.
But I do offer still Book Zero in
my campaign.
So if you want to get some more
of that delicious lore and character
building, it's there for you.
Mandatory, mandatory.
But...
Yeah into the phrase really about Sam
trying to locate her missing mentor That's
what takes her to Brazil.
That's his last known location And you
know as she's looking for him come to
find out there's someone else already
looking for him as well have a pack
of mercenaries out there looking for him
running through the jungle and
And Sam is caught right in the middle
of that whole thing.
And it's just action right out of the
gate in this book.
Which I had to do a book book
zero there was no action at all yeah,
but there was the promise of action So
I had to make sure that right on
page one where we're jumping in yeah,
so it's pretty fast-paced book It
definitely has that Tomb Raider Indiana
Jones like like action vibe mm-hmm,
especially with it taking place in the
jungle,
but I I
Yeah,
she's she's really forced on the reason
why it's called into the fray is because
she's Ultimately forced to have to
confront these mercenaries.
Yeah,
you know her whole gig with the Hellstones
is to kind of Stay in the shadows
stay on the move stay away from people
be undiscovered Because if she's holding
on to her Hellstone that means somebody
else doesn't have it but here she is
at a crossroads and she's forced into the
fray and forced to have to fight and
Dude, that right there,
that's how you give a quick two-minute
down and dirty right there.
That's gold.
What did producing book zero teach you
that directly influenced how you
approached issue one?
It's been a constant learning process for
me just because I'm not a writer by
trade, you know.
I'm a colorist.
So usually I'm like one of the last
people in the process.
So I'm getting handed completed products.
So I have to kind of work backwards
and figure out what it means to build
a panel,
what it means to set up pacing.
I'm used to determining mood and emotion
through color.
But I had to learn how to work
backwards on that and build that process.
So book zero was was great for me
to be able to do that and take
that into book one Luckily, you know,
I like a lot of like action movies
and stuff like that.
So yeah,
I quickly realized that the beats the
beats and the pacing of film really worked
well for comic books and storyboarding and
so I was able to lean on that
a lot and
So it's a constant growing, learning,
evolving.
I don't want to be censored on YouTube
later, so please forgive me.
But you're the creator, writer,
colorist on Hellstones,
which means you're involved nearly every
stage of bringing this book to life.
Take us behind the curtain for a minute.
What does the production pipeline for a
typical issue of Hellstones look like from
the initial idea all the way to a
finished comic into reader's hands?
Yeah, sure.
So, yeah,
it started with me writing about three
hundred pages of just standard story.
And then from there I had to,
you know, like I said before,
kind of break it down into what made
sense as far as how many books it
would be.
And then
Take that three hundred pages and kind of
just break it into thirteen chapters so to
speak And then from there.
I've got to do storyboarding And I do
storyboarding or scripting first really I
take all the converted the text and
convert it to script yeah And then once
I have that then I start doing
Storyboarding and I'll do storyboarding
just down and dirty.
I'm not the the line artist on this
I hire somebody else for that and
So that's where that communication and
relationship really is important.
Because, you know,
sometimes I might just throw a stick
figure on a panel or I might even
just write some text on there.
That sounds like some shit I would do.
Yeah, stab guy in face, you know,
and hope that they understand it.
And then I send it off for,
you know, pencils.
And then they come back and I give
my editing notes and then we move on
to inks and then
I get that and then of course I
got a flat it color it letter it
you know do all that fun stuff,
but if it makes me wear a bunch
of different hats As I'm doing I mean
I'm doing the letters on this I'm doing
the final polish you know editor and cheat
I'm doing it all it's just easier to
say writer creator colorist,
but yeah except for the line art really
I
um but then as an indie creator you
kind of have to do what you can
to to save cost yeah we're paying for
the stuff out of pocket we all have
our day jobs as well so uh you
do what you got to do to cut
corners uh on cost where you can oh
no i feel that a hundred percent like
yeah no everything it
yeah same same i i feel that stress
and with me wanting to write a couple
of books myself i'm like how do i
how do i do that you know yeah
how do i fund a comic book while
also doing this which i don't make any
money off of you know it'd be different
if i was making some money off of
this to offset cost of stuff but i
don't this is this is me and uh
at this point it's for the love of
the game right
right and um but now hopefully someday
this will fund my books and everything
will be gold but until then keep paying
me please um as both the writer the
colors and uh letter do you ever find
one role influence into others in ways
that readers maybe wouldn't think about
Yeah,
I'll absolutely absolutely I mean well
left Hellstone's number one is there's a
lot of green and yellow and orange And
that's me as a colorist writing for that
you know I know it's gonna be
You centered around Sam and her green
Hellstone,
so I want green to be a big
focal point Yeah,
but I also it's also action so in
order to evoke that like fast pace and
high energy you have those yellows and
oranges and those exciting colors so as I
am writing I'm also compartmentalizing and
balancing with my colorist brain at the
same time and
And so I I know almost Immediately as
I'm writing like what color is gonna be
used what my palettes gonna be and things
like that So a lot of that stuff
most people aren't gonna even notice Yeah,
but yeah,
but that's definitely how my brain works
Dude,
that's actually really cool like I I dude
I've read hundreds if not thousands of
comic books and
and probably you know and i'm not even
talking kickstarters and indie books
there's probably another hundred plus
right there of just indie books and
kickstarters but um now i would have never
like put two and two together and now
it's got me rethinking things like i want
to go back and reread some bullets now
to see you know like do the colors
match
what's going on in the book because I've
never thought about it.
Right.
It's more of the technical side of things.
As a reader,
you just want something that's going to be
eye catching or whatever.
If a sad moment feels sad,
that's great you might not know exactly
why it's feeling sad is it the words
on the page is it the expressions of
the characters is it the color is it
a combination of everything and it likely
is but as a reader you don't need
to know the technical you just need to
feel it and connect this is what i
love about these types of interviews and
getting to talk to people from different
walks of life you're a colorist so you're
literally sitting here telling us how you
approached colors on your your book
And now it has me thinking like,
I need to go back and look at
some other books just to see if it
matches, like,
like find a sad comic book or a,
a horror comic book.
I know in horror,
you get a lot of blacks and purples
and reds and yellows and those mixtures of
those colors.
But now I want to go back and
read like some of the other stories that
have sad scenes and just look how they,
how they did the colors are action comics.
I have and see how they did the
colors in those calls.
Now I'm curious, like,
do other colorists do this as well?
I mean, I'm sure they do.
Yeah.
But from a psychological standpoint now,
it's like now I have to do this.
I have to pay attention to this now
because it gives me another aesthetic to
think about in terms of comic books.
Right.
Like I always look for Easter.
It's like people talk about reading comic
books.
Oh,
I read a comic book in ten minutes.
That's cool.
It takes me like thirty to forty because
I'm literally like I'm sitting here like
bring the light over.
I'm looking at the page.
I'm looking for Easter eggs after I've
read it.
I'm looking for those little nuggets of
things that maybe maybe will influence a
few pages later, you know.
So now I'm going to start looking more
at the colors as well,
because that's such a cool thing that
you're doing or you just told us that.
Now I have to pay attention to colors
now because before like you said as a
reader the colors are cool But the colors
are what's you know?
It pops it you know yeah,
and uh the the the The of the
um what am I trying to say I?
The in color theory like that's I mean,
that's that's like the emotional side of
it is Is so important.
I mean in part.
That's why your Superheroes classically
are our primary colors.
Yeah,
and the villains are the the complementary
colors to that one because printing
capabilities,
you know back then or whatever you were
there and
but also because those are the colors that
excite and that tickle your brain in in
those fun ways and you never know you
someone might never know why they're
excited by something uh until you talk to
someone like me dude now that is cool
part of my language there but no that
that's freaking cool
And just like another feather in my hat
now as I read comic books to pay
attention to.
And I love learning cool shit like that.
That's my favorite part about these
interviews is learning cool shit like
that.
Yeah.
But what part of producing an independent
comic do you think readers or maybe even
aspiring creators underestimate the most?
And to me,
what you just told us about colors is
like such a fantastic answer.
But if you want to give another answer
to that.
Yeah, I would say maybe in general,
it's both a lot harder and a lot
easier than you would think.
It's so easy running with scissors and
hoping you don't fall yeah, yeah Yeah,
because I mean it's it's the barrier to
entry is so easy Just just create just
do it don't you're never gonna have the
perfect moment No one's gonna knock on
your door and say hey, buddy.
It's time.
You know so just just do it It's
easy in that regard
But if you want to do it at
a certain level,
it's harder than you think.
There's a lot more that goes into it.
There's a lot more considerations as far
as you have to be willing to take
feedback and have a thick skin.
You've got to be willing to learn and
grow and
be wrong and pivot.
And the financial side of it is,
is a heavy burden.
You know,
I'm a fan of comics first and I
back Kickstarters.
I back crowdfunding and stuff like that.
So I know what it's like to be
on the receiver.
I got my super backer badge.
Awesome.
So I know what it's like to be
on the receiving end of that.
And sometimes you're backing a comic and
you don't know if you're ever going to
get it.
You know, it just happened.
I've not had that issue, man.
So I know recently only, um,
a video that one of my chairman's cuts,
I was telling you about somebody had
mentioned it was a Ben Lee from the
Ben Lacey interview about finishing the
book first.
And like somebody had commented on that
particular one saying, hey,
it's cool that he is finishing the book
first because that guarantees the backer
they're going to get the book.
He's like, I've been on both.
And I understood where he was coming from.
But like, thankfully,
I've never had that issue.
Now,
have I waited a year for a book?
Yeah.
Yes.
A hundred percent.
I have.
But also that creator was like every
month, hey, here's the status.
Here's what's going on.
We had a problem with this printer.
We have to flux to this printer.
And, you know,
we were expecting to be able to use
this type of paper.
So we're having to flex and use a
different type of paper now.
And they were like spot on.
every couple of weeks once a month they
were like updates updates updates updates
there was no doubt in my mind that
i was not getting this book because they
gave updates like even if you just said
hey haven't heard from you this month you
think you can give us an update he
was like boom next thing you know twenty
minutes later post so they did a freaking
amazing job at like just keeping people
updated
Yeah, well,
those are also reasons why it's both
easier and harder than you think.
Those little production pipeline bits that
you might, oh,
I'm just going to send it to the
printer, we're good.
Well, what happens when there's a hiccup?
Did you learn about what paperweight you
need and how to pivot?
A lot of people don't think about
paperweight until it's time to actually go
to the printer with it.
And then they're like, wait, paperweight?
What the hell is paperweight?
Guess what?
You're about to learn something.
You got your weight on the covers.
You got your weight on the pages.
How do you want them to be?
One influences the other and one costs
more and one costs less.
None of it's cheap though.
No, no,
but But just to kind of circle back
to what you were you were just talking
about I fund all my comics up front
mm-hmm for that same reason for that same
reason I don't want people that want to
read my stuff to have to wait and
I understand that Kickstarter was
originally built for Kickstarting
something like getting the funds to hire
the people to make it happen.
Mm-hmm But with indie comics,
it's it's a lot harder to to do
that You know,
it's a lot easier to build trust in
in your product and in your brand and
in your book If you've already told
everybody hey, I have skin in the game.
I footed the bill for this in advance
So you're going to get it.
The only thing we're raising funds for is,
you know, production costs and shipping.
And then beyond that,
anything that I can recoup would be great.
So back into the next book, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
And I've seen both sides of that story.
You know,
I know people who are kick starting to
kick start.
Yes.
Yeah.
They funded the first five pages to give
you a proof of the concept.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Which I think is great.
and then if that kickstarter didn't fund
that book was never getting made then
that's the bummer right there it is the
bummer right there but at the same time
i see both sides of the coin right
where a lot of people go oh i
bet this book like yeah but the book
didn't fund so you got your money back
so it's not a big deal it's not
like your funds were stuck in purgatory
right you get the money like immediately
back i've had that happen
Yeah.
I've had one that didn't fund.
And guess what?
My money was back in the account within
twenty four hours or whatever it was.
Yeah.
So it's not like as soon as you
make your pledge,
they give the creator that money.
That doesn't work that way.
No, no.
The way I see it, though, is
This is a story that I'm going to
tell regardless.
It's something that I want to get out
there.
I'm doing it purely for myself,
and I want other people to enjoy it
as well.
It's the kickstart.
Come along for the ride, right?
Come along for the ride.
So that's why I'm also okay with...
Fronting everything myself first and then
trying to recoup on the back ends.
I'm gonna tell this story anyway You know,
they'd be great if I can make a
little money back And if I don't that's
okay.
It sucks,
but I'm gonna still keep going Stop me
saying that's what cons are for Yeah,
those that's a whole different beast,
but yeah
I mean, but yeah, I mean, granny,
you got upfront calls at cons too.
And I know I had a great conversation
with Javon Stotes at Visually Stoked Media
about that, exactly that,
how he was doing thirty two cons a
year.
Yeah, that's like the entire East Coast.
That's crazy.
Insane.
Fifty two weeks a year, thirty two,
thirty two to thirty five cons a
And we're talking like Comic-Cons,
like farmer's markets, you name it,
he was doing them, right?
And then you look at it and go
anywhere from a farmer's market is
probably fifty to a hundred bucks,
maybe a little more.
Sure.
A convention is a hundred to five hundred
bucks a table, small table.
Yeah.
And he was fronting all that himself.
That's that's bananas.
You know,
that's like eighty grand just just for the
booth Not to mention food travel hotel all
of that.
Yeah It's hard out there Yeah,
and that's what we all go through as
indie creators Mm-hmm,
and that's why people don't look at that
side of the house like me as a
media person
And this is my first year covering cons
as media.
Yeah.
I ended up with two back to back.
I mean, granted,
I've applied to other years.
This is just the first time they said,
hey, yeah, sure, here's your media pass.
I was like, wait,
are you fucking with me?
You pulling my leg?
No, no, they weren't.
I'm actually going to cover two
conventions as media, and I'm excited,
and I'm scared, and I'm nervous.
That's awesome, man.
I'm stoked for you.
That's cool.
But I'm excited as hell,
like just to go up there and just
kill it, show them what I can do.
And, but yeah, that's travel, gas, hotel,
equipments, you know.
Yeah.
It was just a whole nother type of
equipment you carry, cameras, microphones,
you name it.
And I'm like, was I prepared for this?
Yes, but God.
Thankfully, I've been slowly but surely,
okay, I'm building this media kit, right?
This is what comes with me when I
travel to go to these types of things.
I've been pre-gaming this for years.
And now I'm like,
now that I actually have it, I'm like,
oh,
I actually have to purchase a few more
things before I can do this.
So there's a cost on top of it,
on top of the travel, the food.
And thankfully I'm not a big eater.
Well, I am,
but not like in the sense of like,
I'm good with the sandwich.
You know what I'm saying?
Right, right, right.
Give me some sandwich and some cool ranch
Doritos.
I'm good.
And I diet Dr. Pepper.
I don't need a steak and lobster and
all that stuff.
Like why?
Yeah.
I can survive on sandwiches and Pop-Tarts.
Right.
Is it healthy?
No.
It'll work in a pinch, though.
But it will work when you need to
pinch a few pennies.
But no, that's a great segment, dude.
Thank you.
That's awesome.
But let's launch a Kickstarter, though.
Building enough confidence that readers
are willing to commit to a planned,
thirteenth-issue journey is something...
very entirely different than actually
creating the book.
How do you earn that trust from your
audience while keeping them excited for
the road ahead?
Yeah,
I think it has to do with not
doing a disservice to the to the reader
You know not not hand-holding them through
certain things letting them to discover
some things on their own Treating the
reader as the you know Likely adult that
they are We can hope yeah,
and then also just because producing an
independent comic doesn't mean I'm not
professional and
and I think that's what's really important
as well is to When building the
Kickstarter campaign and building this
book is trying to put my best foot
forward in all aspects So not just good
art not just good storytelling But a good
Kickstarter campaign a professional
Kickstarter campaign Putting together a
good trailer reel hiring a voiceover
artist things like that because it speaks
to your character and
People buy into you.
They're gonna buy into your book.
They're gonna buy into yourself having to
say And so I really stand on just
being as professional as I can in in
that regard And people can trust me for
that
Dude, I love to hear that.
And those are all great points on a
great Kickstarter landing page.
I say this frequently and I will continue
to say it until I'm no longer in
this business.
How you present your book on Kickstarter
on that front page when you land on
it says everything I need to know about
you as a
creator.
I don't even care about the trailers.
I love them.
I think they're the coolest thing ever and
I always appreciate them.
But when I get there,
is it laid out professionally?
Do you have the proof of the concept
five to eight pages of your work?
Boom,
right there on the page that people can
visually see and go,
this is a real thing.
What's your description?
What's the plan?
Who's the creative team?
I want to see all that stuff.
Like, what's your add-ons?
What's this campaign look like?
When's it ending?
When is it beginning?
Is shit spelled right?
Did this person take that extra two
minutes to hit spell check before they
copied it out of their Word document and
put it onto that Kickstarter page?
Because if you didn't, you'd look lazy.
I'm just saying it now.
Exactly.
If you don't spell check yourself,
it looks lazy.
And that's what I'm saying about holding
yourself to that professional level.
A hundred percent.
Because people will notice.
And mistakes get made.
I get that.
But guess what?
You can go back and edit your stuff
anytime.
Shit slips through the cracks, right?
I get it.
I get that a hundred percent.
And, you know, I'm always like,
there's been kit starters that I landed on
the front page and I was like,
Yeah.
No, no,
I don't think I'm going to be doing
this because you didn't take that extra
five to ten minutes and double check
yourself to go.
Is this spelled right?
Is this.
is my page laid out is stuff legible
like is it centered where it should be
centered if is it left a line where
it should be left a line does does
it make sense yeah you know well that
you know sometimes you got to swallow your
pride a little bit and go you know
what maybe maybe i don't know as much
as i think and ask to get some
extra set of eyes on your campaign i
have said it before and i'll say it
again right now if you want me to
put eyes on your pre-launch page
Please either send it to me in a
chat.
I prefer you emailed it to me at
the chairman at USDN podcast dot com.
And I will put eyes on your Kickstarter
before anybody else does.
And I will tell you if it is
good or not or if you need to
go back and do some work.
I have no issues whatsoever doing that.
And I'll do it for free.
People, take him up on that.
That's the best advice I can give you
in this whole podcast.
I'm not going to edit your comic book
for free, though.
But if you want me to put eyes
on the Kickstarter, yeah, I got you.
There you go.
But, no, that's perfect, dude,
because that's one of my big pet peeves
when I land on a Kickstarter page.
Is it right?
Like, is it laid out?
You know, so, no,
that's freaking amazing stuff there, dude.
into the free has successfully funded
correct that's right it was a hundred
percent funded within the first forty
eight hours money dude that's what's up
right there amazing i and when i wrote
this question i i looked like it had
funded but i wanted to that's why i
said it as a question instead of the
fact
Now I will say it as the fact.
Now Into the Fray has successfully funded.
What lessons from this campaign will carry
forward into future chapters of Hellstones
and Kickstarters?
Yeah.
You know,
I try and take something away from
everything that I do.
And this campaign really differed from the
first one in the sense of marketing.
There's that key word.
Say it again for the people in the
back.
That's right.
You've got to market your stuff, people.
It sucks.
It's not fun.
Social media is a toxic place,
and I don't really care for it,
but you've got to work it.
Working like your mama gave it to you,
friends.
That's right.
And that's exactly what I did this time
around from the time before.
And the lessons I'm learning now are not
only, yes, absolutely market,
but refine your marketing skills.
Know what works and what doesn't work.
lean into the marketing tools that are
already there.
Even like Meta, Facebook and Instagram,
they have built in advertising tools.
Use those,
get to understand those and how they work.
I'm telling you,
five dollars in marketing will go a long
way on Meta.
And it will put it in the eyes
of people who are the ones supporting
these anyway.
The algorithm is telling them who looks at
Kickstarters, who's in the comic books.
And Meta will literally take your five
dollars and put that advertisement into
the eyes of people who are already going
to be potentially back in your comic book
anyway.
But this is guaranteeing they're getting
eyes on it.
And I will say it again for the
people in the back.
you have to be willing to spend that
five, ten,
twenty bucks on Instagram and Facebook to
get it out there.
And I promise you the reach is there
and they will put it in the eyes,
in front of the eyes of people who
need to see it.
They absolutely will.
Yeah.
They've been collecting our data for
years.
You tell them you want a comic book
audience.
They know exactly who those people are.
Yeah.
a hundred percent they will make sure they
see that kickstarter advertisement that
you are wanting to push out to people
and uh i know people like dog shit
walk you know meta for everything and i
get it a hundred percent yeah but from
a marketing and advertising standpoint
they are fantastic
and i will give because youtube uses
google advertisements and i will say they
also do a hell of a good job
of putting your product in front of the
proper eyes who are who are wanting to
follow things like you do so talk about
them all you want but give them that
fifteen to twenty bucks and see if they
don't
Put your product in front of the eyes
of people who want to follow you or
back your Kickstarter.
Absolutely.
Just saying that that's my soapbox and I'm
off of it.
We'll keep, uh,
we're going to talk about building a comic
universe now.
Sure.
So one thing that has stood out when
I was going through your social media and
stuff, even I do it, not just meta.
I do it too.
You've publicly committed to telling a
thirteenth issue story
From the very beginning,
when you started this journey, you said,
I'm telling you a thirteen issue story
with a prequel.
Which most people though,
I don't know when it's going to end.
Twenty, twenty five, thirty.
You have said thirteen.
That's your number.
In an era where so many creators talk
about building endless universes.
What made you decide that Hellstones
deserved a defining, a defined beginning,
middle ending from the get go?
Just I'm doing thirteen in a prequel.
Well, I mean Hellstones itself, you know,
like the actual stones and the world and
everything is great That's just kind of
the catalyst to tell the story.
The story is really about Sam the stories
about her journey You know
on this story arc and that's why I
was completely okay and With being
thirteen books and having a beginning
middle and end to it because maybe it's
not the end Necessarily of the Hellstones
universe per se but it's this it's the
end of Sam's story We're gonna tell a
story and that's what we're doing I
haven't committed myself to telling any
more Hellstone stories beyond this or
anything like that,
but I
the the lore is there i'm setting up
the world for it so if someone else
you know wants to write or anything like
that i'm happy to discuss it or whatever
at the at the end but um but
yeah i just had this one story that
i really wanted to tell and uh come
hell or high water i'm gonna do it
dude dude i love that that's the attitude
right there i love that and knowing where
this story ultimately ends changed the way
you
just doing them now.
Yeah, so no,
it's all done up to the scripted level.
The only thing that's not done when I
finish this Kickstarter and move on to the
next book,
the only thing that's not done is the
storyboard.
Gotcha.
So I can pick up the script,
start creating the storyboard,
and start sending it off.
But all of the main beats,
all of the plot points,
everything's there.
Now,
it's one of those things with a comic
book that
It's not done until the art is done
things will change You know just just
because I have thirteen books and I have
it all written I have it all scripted
doesn't mean that on the day of when
I go to sit down to storyboard something
isn't going to change because I get to
you it will and
It's not going to be anything major,
but it might be an adjustment or a
tweak.
Yeah.
This is one of those questions where I
always ask,
like sometimes the art influences the
story in some degree.
Certainly.
I mean, that's always a factor in it,
too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You've got you.
You've got to learn to be flexible for
sure.
And you said before, you know,
you've got to be willing to communicate.
Absolutely.
So there's a point where creating comments
and running an independent publishing
studio becomes two completely different
jobs.
What has been your biggest challenge
balancing the creative side of Hellstones
with everything else required to actually
publish and promote it and work a
full-time job?
Really,
it's just it's just for me It's just
the balancing act of all of that because
I mean aside from having a full-time day
job Pigma cast studio is a full-time job
in and of itself So, you know,
I'm working, you know,
sixty plus hours a week But I'm also
a husband and a father and I like
to you know,
try some semblance of a social life That
doesn't really work out.
That's usually a sacrifice.
Yeah,
but really it's just about juggling all of
that and
Making sure that I'm I'm keeping a good
calendar for events because yeah You know
you get lost in the weeds especially
someone with ADD like if I don't write
it down It will not happen and promise
it.
That's so it's just staying on point is
the hardest part for me and and I'm
laughing with you because I
I can't remember if it was you or
if it was somebody else,
but they hit me up on Messenger or
on Instagram messages, one of the two.
And they were like, hey,
I want to book a date to talk
about this comic book, blah, blah, blah.
I'm like, hey, this is great.
Email me.
Because this message is going to get lost
in the fifty others.
Right.
Email.
They're like,
but we can just do it here.
I'm like, no, you don't understand.
Email is official.
You want to officially book a date.
You got to email me.
Yeah.
That way I can go, OK,
here's my available dates because I don't
have those available dates on me.
Or, like, yep, I can do that.
Here's your date.
You're scheduled.
Now, boom,
I need all this pre-production stuff.
Well, why do you need all that?
Do you want to be on the show
or not?
Thankfully,
I've not had that issue to where people
just go, oh,
I'm not going to send you all that.
Like, well,
then you're not going to be on the
show, man.
I don't ask for much.
I ask for the easiest stuff,
and it's already on your computer.
You just literally open an email and drop
that shit in and pop it to me.
Yeah, exactly.
I got one of the easiest,
like it's the easiest shit in the world.
Like I am not asking for your firstborn
because I don't want them.
I don't want kids.
I got one.
So, you know, indie comics is, like,
both the easiest and the hardest thing
that you'll ever do because you won't –
as a creator, you're not thinking of,
like, oh,
I got to put together a press kit.
Yeah, dude.
What is a press kit?
Say that really loud for me.
Say that really loud because there's so
many people out there who do not have
a press kit.
Yeah.
And I know you said that, Jimmy, but,
like, again, I'm like you, dude.
Yeah.
Yes,
you sent me everything I needed and I
want it.
Thank you.
But in my head,
I still have to send you that
pre-production email.
So you probably got that pre-production
email twice.
I apologize.
But in my head, there's a checklist.
And that checklist has to be done.
Every step has to be done.
Sometimes you get the same email twice.
And please, by all means,
if you get that email twice, go, hey,
look about three emails up.
It's there.
And I'm like, oh, okay, cool.
Then please disregard what you got to do.
Yeah.
And I know I get it.
People don't like to use email.
They just want to talk on messenger and
stuff like that's great.
I cannot operate that way.
No, me either.
I prefer email.
Email is a hundred percent because it's
business and it's management of my time
properly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Plus everything is right there.
My calendar is right there.
Everything is right there that I need to
be scheduling anyway.
And like normally,
like especially going later into this year
in like October,
I'm only doing one interview a week.
And it's a lot of it is just
me.
Like I need the me time back.
I need to be able to want to
do better.
I want to produce better episodes.
I mean, granted, don't get me wrong.
My shit is good, right?
Like, I love it.
But I do want to learn newer ways
to do that.
So I'm going to be doing some classes
and editing and stuff like that.
Probably going back to school here soon
for journalism.
And yeah,
I just need some more free time to
be able to pursue those things and to
do more for the show.
right like i want to do some new
segments i want to do about indie comics
and that kind of stuff and i can't
do that if i'm spending all day every
day as soon as i get home from
work chopping up videos and the social
media associated with them and i love to
do it don't get me wrong that is
like my favorite aspect of what i get
to do i love this it's a lot
though
but it's a lot and eventually it starts
to play in your health and your mental
health and you do have to pump your
brakes a little bit and do what's best
for you overall so that's my mental health
statement for the night didn't mean to
give it but but yeah it's true though
it's absolutely true it's a hundred
percent true and it plays into what we
were just talking about and just giving
yourself back some time
It's important, and you'll thank me later.
Right, absolutely.
I'm at that point where I'm trying to
get at least one book ahead.
That way I can afford to take those
moments of downtime and not feel so guilty
about it.
And it's one of those where I want
to get to the point where I record
a video, I download everything,
I immediately start editing,
I start preparing it for that
post-production phase where –
it gets that polished you know it gets
polished it gets made into the long form
content it gets made into the short form
content it gets branded it gets all these
great things and like i said i want
to do better and be better at editing
and doing the short form in the long
form content and making it look more
professional like you see so many other
youtubers have
Only they're paying somebody to do it.
I don't I like money too much to
pay somebody else to do something that I
can teach myself or learn myself how to
do.
And that's what I want to be able
to do.
Yeah.
And maybe someday if this starts paying me
well enough, then I'll get me an editor.
Sure.
But until then,
the chairman does it all right.
But let's talk about what's coming next.
And it's not our mental health break or
our health break.
Hellstones number one into the fray is
only the beginning of a much larger
journey.
Why should the Council of Nerds be
watching for Nets from Hellstones and
PigmaCast Studio?
So yeah, Hellstone itself, like I said,
it's just warming up.
It's just getting there.
I like to tell a very character-driven
story.
So there's going to be moments where,
like in book one, it's fast,
it's action-paced, and then, you know,
the next book is a little tidbit for
you.
You know, book two,
that's going to be a little bit
slower-paced.
It's going to be a little more character
development.
That's what I was about to say.
At some point,
you've got to develop characters, right?
Yeah.
It's not just Sam in this story.
There's other...
There's a protagonist and other
antagonists in the story,
and you can't just drop them into the
story.
You've got to build those characters.
Absolutely.
And it's okay to kind of yo-yo back
and forth a little bit.
Some people might complain because they're
like, ah, I'm just here for the action.
Well, you know what?
Screw them.
They'll catch back up.
Game of Thrones did the same thing.
Come on.
How many of those episodes in Game of
Thrones that were an hour-plus long
it was just character development and
nobody will have about it because i didn't
it's like at that point we're in season
five i'm like why do we have a
hour episode of character development when
that dude's story was developed in season
two or whatever sure i'm like there's no
point we're in the final stages here just
kill some more people dragons yeah white
walkers call it good yeah that's how done
i was with by the time we got
the dude season five of that one i'm
with you
Hell stones is you know this first book
a lot of people are you know?
Understanding what I was putting down as
far as like the Indiana Jones Tomb Raider
vibes,
but that's not the case for the entire
story We get wild There there's I'm really
looking forward to telling the last three
books of this because we really starting
to get some dark almost like horror and
body horror aspects
you know,
we just got to start here at the
beginning to understand how we get to the
end.
And it's just as simple as that.
It's no different from any other Indiana
Jones movie or Tomb Raider movie.
You slow, fast.
Slow it down a little bit more,
fast again.
Come on.
I mean, we all watch anime.
How many episodes of anime do you do?
Is it just like
wait this isn't like what what what oh
we're characters developing okay cool then
i know my very next episode is going
to be like all out balls to the
wall action that's right you know but yeah
it's one of those where the same thing
has to apply to comic books right we
we it's in our movies and it's in
our tv shows
It's got to happen at some point.
Absolutely.
You know, even if it's like the first,
you know,
twenty pages are our character
development, you know,
at the end of that book is probably
going to get to that point where we're
like, oh,
the action is about to pick up.
Right.
And then we're off to issue three.
Right.
Or issue two in this case.
Yeah, you got it.
So that's what folks can look forward to
out of me and out of Hellstones.
And as far as Pikmin Cast Studio as
a whole, Hellstones is my flagship series.
That's what we're focusing on right now.
I did acquire an IP for a short
story about a year ago that I've been
working on scripting into a one-shot,
probably a .
I love a good one-shot.
Twenty-eight to thirty-two pages,
just one hell of a good story.
Yeah, yeah.
i'm really excited about that it's just a
matter of just finding the the right time
to kind of jump in on that the
last ronin series just dropped the one
shot i see it and then it turned
around and announced new york i was like
dude i'm like and it's the final it's
the in the end of the trilogy or
whatever it is yeah and i'm like i'm
like i cried during the first one the
second one okay
Then they've dropped like a couple of one
shots in there and they just dropped that
one shot.
I think last new comic, but they,
and now they were like, okay,
the turtles have been run out of New
York.
They've done their thing.
We got this one shot last week and
now we're returning to help retake New
York.
I'm like, oh, motherfuckers.
I'm like, do it again.
Right.
Right.
But, dude, that was their breakout, man.
To me,
I think it re-sparked the love of Ninja
Turtles for a lot of people,
but it's neither here nor there.
But anything else PigmaCast working on?
Are you working on anything for any other
creators right now?
No, not at the moment.
I had to kind of close the commission
space, the freelance space for color work.
Just so I can put my nose to
the grindstone on this But like I said
once I get to that stage to where
I'm at least one book ahead I have
one in the chamber I really want to
open myself back up to that and I
try and I try and make time just
for some collaborations Just for the hell
of it because it's fun.
It's something yeah,
but even that's kind of few and far
between mainly gotcha When readers
eventually reach the final page
Issue thirteen.
What do you hope they say about Hellstones
and the journey that you have taken them
on?
Yeah, I hope it's a deep breath.
And what the hell?
I really hope that's it.
I hope that's the moment.
Yeah.
I,
I live for those moments from when I
was a kid,
like sitting around the lunch table and,
you know,
just read the latest episode of X-Men and
I'm talking to my friends and we're going,
what the hell just happened?
Yeah.
Well, you know,
and it sparks that conversation.
Yeah.
And that that that joy and and that's
what I that's what I want.
I want to I want my characters to
feel real I want their their Decisions to
have weights and I want to make my
characters to bleed and I want the reader
to question whether or not The choice that
was made by that character was right or
wrong and I want that what the hell
moment That's what I'm striving for yeah
No, that's freaking a perfect answer, man.
But Frank,
for everyone watching and listening who
wants to support Hillstones,
back to Kickstarter and follow everything
you're building through Pikmin Cast
Studio, where can they find you at?
Yeah, absolutely.
The best place really to go is to
go to pygmacast.com.
You're going to have links to all the
things that I'm up to.
You're going to have all the social media
links there as well.
If not, you know,
you can search W Frank walk or pygmacast
on most platforms.
You'll find me or just Google Frank walk
or pygmacast.
You can find me on Google nowadays.
I don't know when that happened,
but you know,
I was surprised my first time too.
I love it, dude.
Also,
all those links he mentioned are down in
this description below this video and will
also be on the podcast version when the
podcast releases later,
probably later this week or next week.
But ladies and gentlemen,
I want to thank our guest, W.
Frank Walk,
for joining us today to talk about
Hellstones One into the incredible work
being done at PigmaCast Studio,
which is still just such a cool name.
If you enjoyed today's conversation,
make sure you check out the Kickstarter
campaign.
Follow Frank on social media and support
independent creators who are bringing
original stories like Hellstones to life.
And if you enjoyed today's interview,
be sure to like this video,
subscribe to the channel.
and ring that notification bell so you
never miss another great conversation with
the incredible creators shaping the future
of independent comics.
From all of us here at the USDN,
where we are for the people,
by the people, and of the people,
this has been the USDN Podcast,
where indie comics come to life.
The Council of Nerds is now adjourned.
Y'all be safe out there.
Right, dude.