Today I backed this Kickstarter by husband and wife art duo, Mike Yamada and Victoria Ying! This project sounds like it's going to be great and is exactly the kind of project I'd want to put my money behind. 

Kickstarter is such a fantastic way to get your work out there. I’ve heard some people using the word “begging” in reference to some projects on Kickstarter, specifically the Amanda Palmer project. Amanada’s goal was $100,00 and when all was said and done she ended up with over a million dollars!

Now, I could maybe see it as begging if she (and others) had simply posted their videos and left it at that, but that's not how this works. There are pledge packages at the various levels and in most cases you're getting something back from your contribution and in many cases, what you're getting is pretty sweet! Check out the above image, for a pledge of $45, the backer gets a signed copy of the book, an e-book documenting their process, a Photoshop tutorial and some brushes. Some lucky Amanda Palmer fans are going to have her come to their house and perform for them for an hour and I'm sure if you were to ask them, they certainly wouldn't feel as if she had been begging (can you imagine all the work she's going to have to do to organize all of that?!) 

Of course people can donate a small amount and not get anything in return other than the satisfaction of helping something come into fruition and in my opinion, that is something.

-S