2009 Petopia Calendar
The 2009 Petopia Calendar is now available from Mania’s Arcania Emporia, my awkwardly-named CafePress shop!
This year’s calendar features twelve gorgeous, original works of art based on twelve of my favorite pets, both old and new. Some of my favorites include a jormungar (January, shown here), Blacksting (September), a fiery orange dragonhawk (May), and of course Loque’nahak (June). You can see the entire calendar with all the artwork by hitting the link above or to the left, then choosing “View Calendar Pages”.
I may eventually be offering posters and other items (mugs, shorts, etc.) with the individual monthly art, but with the calendar you get all twelve images at once.
The 2009 Petopia Calendar costs a mere $19.99 (US), plus shipping. CafePress ships most places and Economy shipping in the US seems to be $5. If you are ordering one for Christmas and plan to use Economy shipping, you will want to order by December 9th in the US or December 4th outside the US. Or you can order much later (up to December 22nd, depending on where you are) and pay for faster shipping.
Although I haven’t received my own copy yet, I was pretty pleased with the quality of last year’s calendar — also printed via CafePress — and I expect no different this year.
A Word on the Art
The art in the 2009 Petopia calendar is all the work of one of my favorite professional artists, Aaron Perez.
Last year I started the Petopia calendar too late and Aaron was only able to complete a handful of images (including my iconic ghost saber and Mazzranache). This year, however, I got a slightly earlier start and Aaron was able to create images of all twelve creatures I requested.
Next year, I’d like to see what we can do with art from our very own community of Petopia and Arcania readers. I’ve seen some of the amazing stuff that you guys have created, and I’d be proud to showcase it on a Petopia calendar.
But that’s next year. This year I selfishly decided to finish the calendar I had envisioned but failed to complete last year.
A Word on the Price
You may or may not be familiar with how CafePress works. In short, I upload the art in the proper format for one of their products and then if anyone wants that product they will print it on demand and send it to you. They set a base price for each product which represents their charge for the physical product, printing and shipping; a seller can optionally add a markup on top of that.
I’ve set the price for this calendar at $19.99. Of that, $14.99 goes directly to CafePress. The other $5 comes to me … and I immediately send it back out to pay Aaron, the artist. (Actually, that’s a fudge: I already paid Aaron. But it does get deposited to fill in the hole left in my bank account when I paid Aaron. If I don’t at least partially fill that hole, then my husband gets no Christmas presents.)
Last year I almost but not quite broke even with the 2008 calendar. This year I have absolutely no expectation of breaking even — I bought twice as much art and cut the markup on the calendar in half. Since I knew I wasn’t going to break even, I’d rather lower the price on the calendar and give more people get the chance to buy one. (I’d go lower if I could, but Eric will pout terribly if he doesn’t get any presents.)
That may have been more information than you wanted, but I thought I’d better explain what’s going on with the money side so you don’t think I’m trying to gouge you! *grin*
41 Comments
Absolutely love the are, especially for Septembers picture :3
*art…fail :c
Oh how cool!! And Loque is my birthday month pet! Schweet!
Only two OPs? (Original Pets) Where has the love gone? :)
‘View Calendar Pages’ seems to only display the worm and the cover… but I’m sure they’re fine!
yay, my Worms on my birthday, “Go fuzzy sea cuccumber on steroids!!!” (if you’ve even seen those worms swim, you’d understand)
Great Calander Mania :3
Awesome calendar, and I lurve that all my favorite pets are on my favorite months somehow, (Rhino in December, Loque in June)
Oh, there’s also a small typo on the cafepress page. World of Warcraft is written as World of Warcaft. Just thought you should know :P
Um… Where can I see all the drawings of the calendar? :>
Lol fail nevermind :>
I like wow-insider comment:
Which may seem a little expensive, but Mania breaks the price down on her site: of the $20, a full $15 goes right back to Cafepress for printing costs and their profit. And of the $5 she gets, Mania sends it back to the artist for his work, so she doesn’t even really expect to break even. Which is too bad — there’s certainly interest in these, I think, and it would be nice if we could set it up so the money goes somewhere besides Cafepress (but of course, then Mania would have to find a different printer and a different way to sell it, and who knows how much that all costs).
Kaljin: Thanks for letting me know about the typo. It should be fixed now.
Nachtwulf: If you click on “View Calendar Pages” it should bring up a popup window with a larger image, where you can click between all twelve months and the cover. At least that’s how it works in Chrome — I’m not sure about other browsers.
shibumi: I actually spend some time a few months ago pricing other options. I found that unless I can sell more than about 500, CafePress is by far my best option. To put that in perspective: last year I sold just under 30. And 4 of those were to myself. *grin*
It is quite unfortunate that you won’t break even : ( I will try to scrape some money together in a valiant effort to get a calendar, and provide your terribly pouty husband christmas gifts :)
*LAUGHS* I might have to buy a couple now, just to support more Mania….
poor* not more….. more Mania? What the…?
I thought you were saying that you’d pay to see more of me — well, more of my posting, I hope. My sister is the stripper in the family, not me. *grin*
Some how me thinks both my girlfriend and your husband might have a few rather not nice things to say about me paying to see more of you, Mania. *LAUGHS* And somehow I don’t think the proceeds spent on your sisters, uh, ‘hobby’ would find their way to you. I’ll stick to buying pretty calenders to support you…. *Grins*
A rhino in Decemeber! I win!
mania - too bad it’s so slow for you. perhaps the photo and write up in wow-insider will boost sales? I’ll probably pick up one or two, like I did the cup and stuff. only one thing wrong with ghost saber cup - WAY too small for coffee. need a subset of a 35 gallon container for *real* coffee drinking. but it’s nice to look at :)
mine is moth. :( I was hoping it would be the Vargul Blighthound - to me, that is most über. Still I need something to scribble down dates and times for stuff :) And if it helps get the artist paid and hubby something other than underwear and socks for a present, it is a good cause. (just like receiving kitchen stuff - disgusting, don’t ya know).
LOL “Thank you for your recent purchase from CafePress.com! Your Order Number is 72133131″, no under-roos for hubby this year!
oops, hit the send button to fast - sorry.
Thank you Mania for the calendar. It is pretty and will be used. I went to the artist’s web site and he does amazing art. No wonder you like him. Good luck with the sales of it.
Hello, i’ve never commented before and im not sure if this is the apropriot place to, but i thought i’d mention theres a few sites including wowinsider that said the Mysterious Egg item you recieve from becoming revered with the Oracles can somtimes rarely hatch into Reins Of The Green Proto-Drake, so you could possibly add that to warcraftmounts.com in the news if you wished
http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/11/30/the-oracles-mysterious-egg-is-a-must-get-for-pet-and-mount-coll/
could be fake, but i certainly hope it isnt =)
Hey, another new commenter, cool. And I read that. If its true, thats probably my best bet at getting a proto-drake….
Meh, figures that scorpids had to be for march…i hate scorpids, why couldn’t it have been a cute kitty instead?
I heard that september got Blacksting, and was upset because Blackstin g used to be my favorite pet, and September is my Brothers Birthday month (And he never plays hunters!)I didn’t read the top right away, and had a bad feeling that the cursed spirit beast would be November. However, I saw that November was Narumoc and was much better :) Not to mention anawesome picture of him, too. This is Awesome Mania, Grats! I also sent in my first screenshot into thottbot for the Sapphire hive Drone, called him fang as a guild joke… long story, but I’m really excited about that!
I hope you do manage to break even, Mania… or at least close to it. :)
husbands need xmas gifts? what for? :P
A very nice team effort putting forth the calenders. I am curious if you’ve plans on recruiting other artists for upcoming projects, or do you plan on sticking with the same artist?
I’d definitely not mind submitting a piece and I know other artists (and friends) who are hunters, would probably love to submit.
I’d love to help, and have those cute little fuzzy moths on my wall, so I’ll see if I can get one. ^_^
Those moths are really fuzzy. REALLY fuzzy. Why aren’t they like that in the game? :P
Rhinos for December… Well, hey, it could’ve been a diseased wolf, so I’m happy. Or a green tarantula… EEEW!
Good luck!
Defiantly gonna get one! Loque’nahak is my faviort hunter pet, and hes on the month of my birthday. woot, but you should sell them after chrismas, that way i have money to buy one
No worries, Nenva — I left the 2008 calendar up until October 2008 or so. :>
The scorpion is absoulutely adorable, with his little flame. I cn almost imagine him going”So warm…<3.” However, if you haven’t planned next years, may I suggest Rak’shiri/Shy for December? And, the black armored worg for August. (August is my birth month, and I LOVE them, and Rak’shiri seems all wintery.)
P.S. I have a Rak and a worg, Iorek and Moonlight respectively. *shifty eyes*
P.P.S- Bonus if you can get where Iorek’s name comes from.
Ack! The Rak’shiri is Moonlight. *fails*
MAKE A WOLF ON A SHIRT THAT SAYS WoW
Beautiful art
Okay folks - if you haven’t picked up one of these calendars - DO IT! I received my first one yesterday, and it’s fantastic! Very, very good artwork throughout the calendar. The print is great quality and there’s plenty of room on the dates for notes and scribbles. As a side note, it does have a mini 2010 calendar on the last two pages. Buy them as gifts!
Aww, you didn’t use the Silithid-style wasp model? :( Silithid Wasp > Firefly Wasp :(
Ursinus: I’m glad to hear your calendar arrived safely! And I’m thrilled that you like it. :>
Rilgon: Maybe, but I really wanted Blacksting represented. *grin* There’s always next year!
well, I got mine yesterday and haven’t opened it yet. Can’t decide to keep it for myself or give it to my ganddaughter for Christmas. Bigger than what I thought, heavier. A suggestion - maybe next years should be the small pets :) that would be nice seeing the little guys.
@Mania: Alright, but the Sapphire Hive Queen better have her day in 2010! /cry
Why this web site do not have other languages support?
Do you mean Arcania or Cafe Press?
Arcania is in English because that’s the only language I know, and I’m just a hobbyist when you get down to it.
Cafe Press … I have no idea. :>
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