Ferocious Qt.

Any sort of arts-related start-up endeavor is destined to be a challenge, no matter how strong the concept or talent behind the product is. This not because people don’t care about art anymore, but, rather, because there’s just so much of everything that finding an audience for anything has become quite the challenge. 

I first found out about Ferocious Quarterly, an arts publication based out of Fort Wayne, after stumbling into their excellent website, fe.rocious.com, on a fluke. After an hour or two of exploring the website’s blog - a dream come true for anyone interested in design - I found photos of the No. 1 edition of Ferocious Quarterly. Knowing of the reputation for quality of artist Nate Utesch (known by many for his work in post-rock band Metavari), the publisher and curator of FQ, I wasn’t at all surprised by how stunning both the website and book were. The printing, the paper, the artwork, the writing, the presentation - all top-shelf stuff.

By the time I made it to page 16 - a collage by artist Eric Stine - of the meticulously crafted 92-page book I was sold. Ferocious Quarterly is not a piece of work I like simply because it was produced in Fort Wayne, my hometown. And it’s not just something I believe in or want to share with friends, but something I can’t wait to get more of - and know more about. Yeah, it’s that good.

"Our elevator speech is simple: Ferocious is a curated quarterly publication that collects illustrators, graphic artists, short fiction authors and written text. And that's basically it,” Utesch told me in a recent interview. “It's somewhere between an art and culture mag (without the articles), a coffee table art book (without the over-production) and an art journal with some short fiction.”

When coming up with the idea, Utesch, who works as an art director for One Lucky Guitar, first thought of his longtime friend Matt Beers.

“I don’t want this to come off like it’s the Nate Show, because it’s not,” Utesch laughed. “Matt and I have been friends for more than a decade and we've talked about working on a short fiction/illustration project for literally all but one of those years. His mind is like nothing I've ever encountered. For what seems like my entire life I've been graced with stories from him that I've failed to produce illustrations for. Some of them were hilarious, some of them were children's book material and some of them were downright brilliant. None ever made it past thumbnail sketches. When the conception of Ferocious started breaching paper the first person I thought of inviting was Matt.”

After a month or so of planning Utesch came to the final realization that the project needed to be a cooperative effort, with himself handling the themes and production and Beers handling the organization and management. Both also contribute artistically for No. 1, which even includes a Beers/Utesch collaboration called “In the Shadow of the Standard and Hope.” It’s excellent.

In addition to Beers and Utesch there is a small team of people who contribute to both the website and publication - writers, editors and artists. These people also offer artistic contributions to the publication.

"We call this small handful of folks ‘The team,’” Utesch explained. “Scott Kirkpatrick and I handle the online operations; Scott, Steve Pepple and Drew Kora are the editors; and I'm the publisher and curator. And there are a slew more artists who I've either gotten to know over the years or call my BFFs who will be reoccurring folks in the issues."

To create a publication of any kind takes extensive planning. Endless phone calls, e-mails, layout concepts and designs. Each time you turn a page in a book like Ferocious Quarterly, you’re passing by a dozen or more hours of work. This in mind, I asked Utesch about the process of putting No. 1 together.

"I started with the printing concept. We exclusively use a Grabill, Indiana offset printer called Courier Printing - this amazing small town printer with impeccable quality and attention to detail. They are as excited about Ferocious as we are. So we start with a general idea of how many pages, type of paper and how it's going to be assembled,” Utesch explained. “Then I go back and forth with Courier, literally for days, with suggestions on making it more affordable and more efficiently produced. When we've got something we both agree on we can start pursuing artists and writers. Invitations are sent with a brief description of who we are, what we're doing and specifically what this particular issue we are wanting them to contribute to will look like.

“Weeks go by. Matt is the bump and the nudge and I am the question answerer. The rest of the process is pretty boring and tedious. The love/hate relationship that is figuring out the order of pages and how to fit everything together so that it doesn't look like a mess. Final art goes off to the press and the magic begins. Nothing better than seeing all the hard work come rolling of the printing presses. The smell of ink is literally intoxicating. It's tremendous."

Utesch, an incredible artist in his own right, found artists far and wide for No. 1, approaching both his friends and heroes - world class talent - with fingers crossed and hopes high.

“A huge thing that comes directly from working with the [now defunct] Soma Gallery is the process of e-mailing a stranger to curate work from them. Not just approaching someone I know, but, you know, someone I've never met whose blog I've followed for a year and doesn't know me from Adam. The process of trying to figure out how to word things for certain people and keep it direct, that comes directly from my Soma experiences,” Utesch explained.

“The first time around almost half of the people we contacted were either not interested or never responded. You know, it's like, ‘who are you and what is this that you're doing?’ So for our second go around, almost everyone we approached wanted to be involved. People immediately said 'yes.' All I had before was the website, but now we have the first book to show as an example."

The second issue, which Utesch and Beers plan to put out in October, will be different from No. 1. For starters, they found a way to make an even bigger book for a lesser price.

"The second issue will be published as two books, an idea that started out with us trying to find a way to do this cheaper - but without cheapening the quality. There will be one book printed in blue and black ink and one printed in red and black ink, and the paper is going to be awesome. The artists and writers are divided into these two books and the issue is called 'Purple Halves.' Each book is going to be saddle stitched with about 40-50 pages and have its own dust jacket.

“The second issue will also have a lot of outside-of-Indiana collaborations. Pairings of writers and illustrators. For example, we have an illustrator I love from the UK illustrating for a writer from The Believer.

“Also, No. 1 was unlike what any of the others will be. Not knowing what the response from artists would be, we didn't concept a theme or ask artists to contribute new work. It was simply a curation of existing work for the publication. This way there wasn't a huge amount of time required from contributors and we hoped that'd mean they'd be more likely to humor us and give us the goods. Now that the ball is rolling and we have No. 1 to prove that we mean business, from here on out we are asking for artists to create work specifically for our publication.“

Utesch and Beers are excited about No. 2, as it will feature an even higher profile crop of artists, including an artist for Image Comics, an illustrator for the Wall Street Journal, writers for Believer Magazine, a visual artist for Ghostly International Records, an internationally renown painter and vinyl toy artist and an illustrator for Nickelodeon Magazine and Hallmark Cards. The list goes on and on.

So, going back to that opening statement: you have a good product, but how do you get it in the right hands? And if you can’t make some sales (FQ is ad-free) of your publication, how do you afford that second book?

"Yeah, this project is all still really new and scary for us. We're thus far coasting off of our online traffic, Twitter feedback and our artists' followers, which unfortunately won't be enough to support the cost of future books,” Utesch said. “So we're still figuring out how to promote it. To the average person, you know, it's like 'yeah, it's a book but why do I want this and who are these people?’ So far the blog on our site has been key. And early on I could link almost every sale to an involved artist talking about the book on their Twitter account. Scott Kirkpatrick, who heads up the blog with me, is our resident Comicon-er. He's developing a plan for book fairs and conventions in 2011 and what it's going to take to get us in 'em."

In the meantime Utesch, Beers and The Team are brainstorming, coming up with ideas for ways to raise funds for No. 2. Utesch throws out some of the ideas - dance parties, DJs, projected art and discounted issues of No. 1.

“You’ll have to wait for the details,” he adds. “I saved for many a moon to fund issue numero uno. And we are blindly counting on sales, fundraising and an occasional bank robbery to fund it from here on out. No investors, no ads. We’re not opposed to the former, but if there were ads in FQ ... yeah, never mind, there will never be ads in FQ.”

Support this great new artists endeavor by heading over to fe.rocious.com, checking out the website and ordering your copy of No. 1. At only $12 (plus shipping), it’s a steal, full of diverse and inspiring work as good as any you’ll find. Become part of the growing audience for this amazing Fort Wayne-based project.

Written by G. William Locke