Ray Toh is a local freelance illustrator, whose artwork was used for the cover of teen-mystery book "Triple Nine Sleuths" written by Maranna Chan.

A few months ago, the illustrator created Fantastic Fox, a local crowd-funding platform for comic artists and creators. He hopes the platform will bridge the gap between the artists and readers and create a viable business pipeline for artists.

Mothership.sg asked creator Ray Toh five fantastic questions.

1. When did you start Fantastic Fox?

I officially “launched” it during this year’s Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention on August 31.

2. What made inspired you start Fantastic Fox? 

Being an artist who wanted to draw comics and make a living out of it in Singapore is hard. Only the few who are financially capable can try to do their comics.

The production cost is not too crazy but the returns are low - the distributor takes a cut, the publisher takes a cut and the book store takes a cut. It will take half a year or more before the money comes back and we may have spent half a year or more working on the comics. This is provided if the publisher loves your content at first sight. This is partly the main reason why there is not a lot of comic artists in Singapore.

The intention of FF is to change that. The basic idea of FF is to try to create a business model for local original content creators. Hopefully it can grow into a stepping stone for them to jump start as well as sell their eBooks to a bigger audience.

eBooks available for purchase on Fantastic Fox, click here to view. 

3. What is your vision for Fantastic Fox?

Hopefully it will grow into a website that can support original content creators; to be a place for comic lovers who are interested in finding something new instead of the mainstream comics available out there. I hope FF will grow to also support creators with their logistics handling. And I also hope it can be a place to hangout for anyone who has the interest in buying or creating original content.

4. Do you manage it alone?

I’m managing it with another partner at the moment. Hopefully I can grow the team as the business grows.

An ongoing project called "Cricket Joe". Support it by clicking here! 

5. How can one contribute to a project?

It is as simple as clicking on the “Back this project” button on the project page. You’ll choose the amount and the type of reward you would like to receive. Click on checkout button and you’ll be brought to a Paypal page. All payment will be done here.

Visit FantasticFox.Org here and here. 

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