Trust Graphic Novel — Update #1
A Progress Update for Supporters
Thank you to all of our supporters! Your donations, and the support of Consensys Grants, Gitcoin Grants, and the Interchain Foundation are making blockchain education accessible and fun. We are well on our way to reaching over 1 million African youth!
As a reminder, Trust is a graphic novel that tells the story of Moraa, a young Kenyan woman who learns about blockchain and uses it to transform her community. By using storytelling to educate readers about blockchain technology, we hope to inspire African youth to see a bright future and provide them with the training to create it. The book will link to online blogs and other learning resources to help readers take the next step to becoming crypto users, entrepreneurs, and developers.
My co-author, the incredible artist and storyteller behind the book, Chief Nyamweya is now dedicating his creative talents to the project on a full time basis. We wanted to update you on our progress towards our milestones since the last matching round.
The Storyline
The graphic novel process begins with the development of a storyboard. Chief has imagined the characters for the book, the world they live in, and the challenges they struggle with. From there, he plotted out what each page of the graphic novel would look like in a rough sketch.
In ‘Trust’, we also need to look at how we will incorporate the educational elements into the storyline. We developed a breakdown of what elements need to be included in the book for someone to go from having no knowledge of blockchain to having a basic understanding of the technology and some of its use cases.
The Artwork
To create the artwork and bring life to the characters in the storyboard, Chief started by creating a Pitch Bible that includes sketches of all of the characters. Here is the sketch for our hero, Moraa.
Chief then created a set of pencil drawings to sketch out each page of the book. This process enables us to review and craft the entire story before setting it permanently in ink. Here are pages 2 & 3.
Each page takes about one day to complete from start to finish. The finished novel will contain about 100 to 120 pages. Chief has completed 12 pages so far!
Our Partners
There’s an African proverb that says “If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together”. Partnerships are a key part of our strategy to distribute the free digital version widely and to ensure readers have access to high quality educational and training opportunities after reading the book. We’re so thankful for the financial support of Interchain Foundation, Consensys Grants, and Gitcoin Grants.
We’re also thrilled to welcome Africa Blockchain Institute, Blockgeeks, and Consensys Academy as educational partners!
The Website
We launched the official Trust Graphic Novel website! In line with our goal to use African suppliers wherever possible, the site was built by Mathew and Martin, Kenyan web developers from Trio Digital.
Please take a moment to visit the site and sign up for our email list!
The Next Page
We’ve made great progress in our first few weeks, and we are looking forward to the next quarter! Here are some ways you can continue to support the project:
- Gitcoin Grants round 6 has started — make a donation and have it matched using quadratic funding formulas.
- We are looking to raise an additional $12k, which would enable us to create a print version of the book for areas with limited internet access. Further fundraising would go to creating translations of the book. If you have leads on funding sources or other grants, please email me at: anne@anneconnelly.ca
- We are looking for tech and education nextworks across Africa that can help with the distribution of the free digital version of the book. We would love any introductions you are able to make.
Chief and I would like to extend our sincere thanks once again to you for making ‘Trust’ possible. We believe that by inspiring the next generation of blockchain developers and entrepreneurs, we can promote open source, educate about Ethereum and other blockchains, and build a better world.
