Thank you all for making my dream come true ♥★♪
Hello. First of all, thank you for sharing your art and work so freely with the rest of the world. Second, I want you to know my story so ou can understand what this site (and thus, the book) is all about. If you don't want to read it all, this is the summation of the whole text: "4!" IS NOT A COMMERCIAL WORK, BUT RATHER A PROTEST AGAINST TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING HOUSES THAT ONLY SEEK TO PUBLISH MANUSCRIPTS THEY THINK COULD RENDER THEM A GOOD AMOUNT OF MONEY. THE BOOK WILL BE DISTRIBUTED FOR FREE IN A COMPLETE PDF FILE AND ITS NARRATION WILL BE RECORDED AND SHARED FREELY THROUGH MP3 FILES. PROMOTION WILL BE MADE THROUGH PHYSICAL COPIES DISTRIBUTED FOR FREE, AND READERS CAN BUY COPIES AT PRODUCTION AND SHIPPING COSTS TO ALSO DISTRIBUTE IT THEMSELVES. IF YOU WANT TO SEE HOW YOUR WORK WAS USED TO PROMOTE MY INITIATIVE CLICK HERE. IF YOU WANT TO SEND YOUR COMMENTS TO ME, DO SO HERE. "4!" tells the story of a black Brazilian man who goes to Africa to fight for the conservation of the wild cheetah as he tries to find a purpose for his life.
ATTENTION: Regular copies of the book will also be sold, as well as a few promotional itens (mugs, t-shirts, etc) with the logo of the book so I can keep on investing on projects like this one. According to microstock policies, it's okay to print photos on covers or as illustrations in a book (as it's not the main element), but NOT in POD & promotional itens such as mugs and T-shirts (if it's the main element), so, in these promotional itens, ONLY 4! LOGOTYPE is displayed, as it was conceived/made by me. I hope you understand the purpose of this beautiful work of art is not to make money. Please read the full description below for more information, and thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for sharing your amazing work so freely with the world so other people, like me, can do amazing things as well. ♥
Thank you.
Vagner Albino, the author
My journey
My name is Vagner Albino. I was born in a small country town in southern Brazil. My parents were very poor, so they couldn't afford to buy me many things. I still remember the first book I ever asked them to give me. I couldn't read yet, but, for a reason, books fascinated me. Everything could happen in them, and I wanted to believe I was destined to experience great and beautiful things in life - fantastic even - worthy of amazing fairy tales; I mattered to the world.
Coming from a simple and poor family, my parents never thought I could ever be something as big as a writer. They used to say only rich people knew how to make art - or had the money to spare to do such things. So, naturally, they didn't believe I had the potential - or the means - to achieve it.
I grew older and wrote a few stories, but no one paid too much attention to them. Who would ever pay attention to a poor and simple guy coming from a place no one had ever heard of before? But I didn't let this bring me down. I quit college to devote myself to writing. My parents didn't like that, and we argued a lot, but they calmed down after I promised I'd resume college if, after two years, I still didn't have any luck with my career.
You guessed it. More than 30 refusal letters later I had to give up on my stories again to resume school. I wasted two years and a half of my life studying things I couldn't care less about. I was very unhappy and frustrated. No one wanted to help me out because they didn't really believe anyone could make a living out of writing books, and if there was no money involved, they weren't interested.
So I quit college again. I told my parents they could kick me out of their house if they wanted to, but writing was the only thing that mattered to me and so, that was the only thing I wanted to do. My father never accepted that, but my mother decided to give me some time, believing I'd eventually give up on my foolish dreams.
During the next couple of years, I self-published 7 books. In total, I sold about 13 copies, all at production cost, and didn't manage to sell a single copy of my last two releases. I was doing something wrong. I couldn't ask people to buy my books without reading the story first. It's just like music: you only buy a CD because you know the songs you like will be in it. But everyone is a writer, in a way. No one would care even if I distributed my stories for free over the Internet. And I didn't have any money to give away free copies.
I decided to change the way I made books. Literature had to change to follow the fast development of technology. Literature had to be multimedia. It had to be innovative, inventive, useful, while still being entertaining. I learned how to draw, program websites and edit photos. I wanted to make something striking, something that looked professional - just like those million-dollars American productions (I'm Brazilian, by the way) - but with the sole difference that I didn't even have a hundred dollars and I also didn't have a big team of devoted professionals. All I had was a computer, the Internet and the unending will to make my dream come true.
Just so you know, I wasn't a proud or arrogant writer. I asked for help countless times before, but no one knowledgeable of the ways of the publishing business or professional artists gave a damn about the dreams of a Brazilian simpleton. I may be simple, I may write in my own style and refuse to copy the ones of famous writers (art is not about being inventive and creative - expressive - after all?), but I am a living being, and, like all living beings, I matter.
Two years went by and here I am today. 4! will be officially released on July 15th, 2011, and you have helped me in a very important way: you, the one who freely shared your talent and material with the world, has allowed me to make such an amazing work (and the website to showcase it!) true today. And now, just like you, I'm also sharing my talent freely with the world, hoping that my voice will be finally heard. I really admire you for what you have done, and please know you have my deepest gratitude. I wish I could send you all a print copy of my book once it's released - even though it's in Portuguese - but unfortunately I can't. I still live with my mother (my parents are now divorced) and I don't make any money at all. I devote myself completely to art, even though that comes at a cost of not being able to hang out with friends in bars, or going to movie theaters unless they’re willing to pay for me as well. This, luckily, happens more often than not. But I'm happy. This is something I've wished I could do for all of my life. And here it is today, thanks to my unending devotion and your priceless contribution. I wouldn't have been able to get where I am today without you.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart,
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS:
For the website:
(in alphabetical order)
| NAME | DESCRIPTION | REFERENCE NUMBER |
|---|---|---|
| A. Hulme | Lined paper, ripped | 615801_53320725 |
| Afonso Lima | Brazilian money bills | 514468_25210330 |
| Ahmed Al-Shukaili | Compass | 649877_37690032 |
| Amyah | Tiger on deck | 505617_10596637 |
| An Phan Van | Sketches of social networking sites | N/A |
| Andrew Beierle | Old and colored manuscript | 831355_96083551 |
| B S K | Little people toys holding hands | 887006_63662379 |
| Barbara Schneider | Lion lying on his back | 619062_50506830 |
| Christer Rønning Austad | Woman in front of a grey horizon | 595702_14433699 |
| Christine Gehrig | Tiger face | 7035956 |
| Cyberchaos05 | Favorite star icon | N/A |
| Daping | Nebula (for wallpaper) | 1106947_10142208 |
| Darren Hester | Smiley face on yellow little ball | 277152_9449 |
| Davide Guglielmo | Scotch tape | 204621_9028 |
| Davide Guglielmo | Egyptian oasis | 225966_3364 |
| Davide Guglielmo | Key | 226815_3589 |
| Donald Cook | Cheetah standing in front of green plains | 886255_45690264 |
| Double-J designs | Bubble icon - Wordpress | N/A |
| Eduardo Schäfer | Hand holding little sprout | 1005737_78279829 |
| Everaldo Coelho | Firefox icon | N/A |
| Giuseppe Acquaviva | Cursor | 1137332_24454684 |
| Iconfinder | Computer screen icon | N/A |
| Icons Land | Magnifier | N/A |
| IconShock | Icons of social networking sites & PayPal | N/A |
| Iva Villi | Thoughtful lion staring into the horizon | 478892_70785165 |
| Jenny Rollo | Couple of lions taking a nap | 712211_95236611 |
| Johan Van Den Berg | Hands held in the shape of a heart | 372945_3032 |
| John Mason | Tiger in a cage | 16793_4306 |
| Jonathan Liedtke | Couple in green plains | 593096_59425564 |
| Kriss Szkurlatowski | Cheetah among tall grass in savanna | 1211201_37752905 |
| Ltterry | Cheetah face | 4399218 |
| Lucian Coman | Black man smiling | 11634921 |
| Lucian Coman | Black man smiling | 1801494 |
| MagicMarie | Little lined paper, ripped | 963940_37716634 |
| MagicMarie | Sketch of thumbs up | 963932_45159178 |
| Maira Kouvara | Cell phone | 601060_55603620 |
| Marcelo Terraza | "Trecho em obras" sign | 640049_20535788 |
| Marek Haiduk | Tape recorder | 370243_3943 |
| Marie Lumiere | Man hugging cheetahs | 7734709 |
| Matthew McClintock | Info Icon | N/A |
| Ned Benjamin | Cheetah walking in the morning | 86120_6714 |
| Nino Satria | Planet and space flare | 1155281_67190503 |
| Oliver Scholtz | Opera icon | N/A |
| Omar Z | Notepad | 525693_73624950 |
| Patrick Bürgler | Cheetah lounging on a rock | 790029_67903494 |
| Paul de Bruin | Young white tiger "smiling" | 539393_76425196 |
| Paul M | Strips of ripped paper | 1235905_26760768 |
| Philippe Ramakers | Man in front of lake and mountains - desaturated | 10147_1604 |
| Photoshopedia | IE icon | N/A |
| Potato Tree | Tiger walking among rocks and vegetation | 294031_8165 |
| Radek Bayek | "Magical" book | 53302_1233 |
| Robert Aichinger | Manuscript in perspective | 839855_20247821 |
| Roger Kirby | Very old world map | 1207518_65204033 |
| Sergio Sanchez Lopez | Question mark icon | N/A |
| Svilen Milev | Stack of colorful books | 1187879_67337222 |
| Turbomilk | Livejournal's pencil icon | N/A |
| Valentin Santarosa | Colorful stickers | 1178783_90733895 |
| Webdesigner Depot | Draft of Google Buzz logo | N/A |
| WebIconSet.com | Envelope icon | N/A |
| xline | Little ripped note | 984950_67567201 |
For the book cover:
(in alphabetical order)
| NAME | DESCRIPTION | REFERENCE NUMBER |
|---|---|---|
| Anke Van Wyk | Lion running | 23577292 |
| Barunpatro | Planet outlined by strong light | 986801_75906617 |
| Daping | Nebula | 1106947_10142208 |
| Dennis Donohue | Tiger running | 23572504 |
| Eric Isselée | Close on a lion's face | 17632987 |
| Huw Morgan | Mysterious forest | 687878_25358102 |
| Julia Starr | Logotype texture 01 | 1222618_51041350 |
| Lilyana Vynogradova | Human running | 29164147 |
| Lucian Coman | Human making an atack pose | 3801604 |
| Naama y.m. | Logotype texture 02 | 424649_50808867 |
| Photobar | Cheetah running | 2384072 |
| Radovan Spurny | Close on a cheetah's face | 3506087 |
| Stephen Meese | Close on a tiger's face with his eyes closed | 3140849 |
| Wojtek Wozniak | Moon | 707106_51945363 |
For the book back cover:
(in alphabetical order)
| NAME | DESCRIPTION | REFERENCE NUMBER |
|---|---|---|
| Bruno Verbeken | Light among clouds in African landscape | 947638_53004883 |
| Caroline Keyzor | Cell | 437224_42996238 |
| Czesznak Zsolt | Tiger asleep in a cage | 8366125 |
| Dominic Morel | Lake, vegation and mountains | 568550_85797082 |
| dp Photography | Orange African scenery | 12439354 |
| Guillermo Ossa | Radiant lion (frontal) | 1216973_81246717 |
| John Mason | Tiger in a cage | 16793_4306 |
| Lucian Coman | Black man smiling | 11634921 |
| Lucian Coman | Black man smiling (full body) | 1801494 |
| Marie Lumiere | Man hugging cheetahs | 7734709 |
| Mattox | Footprints in sand | 1180858_54901012 |
| Sias van Schalkwyk | Cheetah yawning | 1145416_83385588 |
| Stella Bogdanic | African sunset with palm trees in the background | 567906_11811616 |
| Volker Schumann | A cheetah with copyspace | 602967_34103230 |
And also Damien du Toit for the jQuery's plugin to get Twitter's updates;
Alan Levine for the code to get RSS updates from my blog;
Nymphont for the font "Champagne & Limousines" used on the help panel;
Kimberly Geswein for the font "Waiting for the sunrise" used everywhere else on the site;
Apostrophic Lab for the font "Desyrel" used on titles;
Sander Kessels for the font "Centabel" used in the book`s interior.
Luiza Maria Oliveira Albino for the stock images I couldn't find for free;
Raquel Oliveira Albino for buying the domain name "onumeroquatro.com" for me;
and Delamar Teixeira Albino for renting a shared server in Web Hosting Pad.
And finally, the following FREE services
(with the exception of Web Hosting Pad, Shutterstock, StockXpert and iStockPhoto):
