Hi! I'm Christopher. You might already know me as C.W. Foxfaer or as Chirasul Inky-Cap. I'm an artist and storyteller. I've worked in the animation industry for 6 years, and I also make a lot of comics and art using the computer. And I need a new computer!
Here's a reel of some things I've worked on in the animation industry: https://youtu.be/u1WTDBUmmxg
I've also published a graphic novel (Coelary ), an anthology (Mothboy Monthly ), and released countless comics, illustrations, and short animations since I've started working. And I have a lot more where that came from, too!
I've worked on a lot of amazing animated productions over the years, but I've never had an in-studio job. So everything I make and do is just from my computer at home. I built my current computer while I was still in art school, way back in 2016. It's almost ten years old, and has started to show its age badly. It runs slow, it crashes, it overheats, it has errors and issues that make it very difficult - and frustrating - to get my work done, and hopefully to enjoy doing it. I've been able to keep it working well by cleaning it out and performing whatever maintenance I can (I used to build and repair PCs professionally, before getting into art) but unfortunately I've reached the end of what I can do to keep my system working well. Based on the errors and problems I've been encountering, it's only a matter of time before something fails catastrophically and I won't be able to work at all, which would be very bad. My job requires this computer, which means feeding my family depends on my computer working reliably. The video card seems to be the component likely to fail first, as graphical issues started appearing two years ago and have only become more frequent and more intense. Which makes sense, as my day job in the animation industry usually revolves around compositing in After Effects, and other video-heavy production work. It has helped me make a lot of amazing things! And I think it needs to rest.
When a big expense like this comes up, my first instinct is to try and take out a loan or put the debt on a credit card and then pay it off over time, which is what I've done in the past. But I realized that when I do that, I'm putting my trust into a bank (who stands to profit from my misfortune, and doesn't care about me, or my art, or what happens to me at all) instead of putting my trust into people, people who love me and care about me, and who want to see me succeed. That's why I am asking for your help this time. I am admittedly very bad at asking for help, so this is new and scary for me.
People who know more about this than me have told me that it's very likely that PC parts and other imported electronics will get much more expensive after Trump takes office, due to his big tariff promises. So that's kinda scary, and that's one of the main reasons why I'm doing this gofundme now instead of waiting for my current workstation to explode.
Here's the breakdown of what I need:
- Motherboard
- RAM
- CPU
- Storage
- Video card
Since this computer is for work and is a big expense already, I try to make sure I get the best possible components, so that this build can last me another 10 years or more. When my PC is my lifeline to work, to fun, and to socializing with my friends and family, and especially for paying bills and putting food on the table, it becomes important to not cut any corners on it. Especially when every computer component basically has an invisible number of hours it will work before it dies... getting cheap or used parts is a gamble I don't want to take, and wouldn't be a good use of anyone's help.
Here's the list of the expenses and 1 possible stretch goal:
- Motherboard $220 (MSI PRO Z790-A MAX)
- RAM $370 (G.SKILL Trident Z5 Series 48GB x 4)
- CPU $433 (Intel Core i9-14900K)
- Storage $360 (SAMSUNG 990 PRO 2TB SSD x 2)
- Video card $1600 (GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4080)
- Subtotal: $2,981.06
- Tax: $267.40
Computer total: $3,248.46
If, for any reason, I get any more than that, it will go directly to debt relief to help ease my family's financial burdens.
Here's some possible questions that I anticipate people might have for me:
- Can you get used or cheaper components?
- I could, but as I mentioned, this isn't just for a gaming computer or a casual use computer; this is going to be my 40+ hour-per-week workstation, and it will do a lot of multitasking, a lot of rendering, and a lot of processing every single day. It's going to work hard! A used component will have a shortened lifespan, and cheaper components result in future problems or failure that I need to do absolutely whatever I can to avoid, because my computer is my income. It feeds my family. That means it is imperative that I invest a little bit more than usual in order to get things that are guaranteed to work well and last a long time. It's the reason why my current computer has lasted so long and worked so well until now: I invested in great components, and they returned that investment with a long life and few problems.
- Do you really need [x part]?
- I do a lot of research before I buy parts. As mentioned, I used to build and repair PCs professionally. For the production pipeline I need to work in, I think the parts I selected are the best fit. There are no doubt better components and worse components I could choose, but I think what I chose is the best compromise between performance and price.
- Are you going to use this computer for gaming?
- Yeah, of course! While I don't do desktop PC gaming as much as I used to (I look forward to getting out of my office more these days), I will absolutely use it to play games, particularly multiplayer games for socializing with my friends, or playing VR games. But the amount of gaming I do is a small proportion of what the computer will be mostly used for. As mentioned, I work 40 hour weeks, and I probably only game on the PC maybe 2-4 hours a week. So the overwhelming majority of the hours I spend on this computer will be work.
- If you don't make your goal, what will you do?
- Well, I'll probably take out a loan or buy the parts on credit. I have to get the parts either way; this gofundme will just determine how much it'll hurt.
- What will you do with the old parts?
- I'll probably build them into a gaming/media center PC for my wife and child, and just use them until they disintegrate.
- Why not just take commissions to pay for this?
- That would be a hell of a lot of commissions to take on, and I just don't think it's responsible. Plus, I need to practice just letting people help me instead of making every interaction into a transaction.
- Are you offering any rewards or anything?
- Well, once again, I need to practice not making everything into a transaction..... BUT! I do have a bunch of Coelary ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) that I think would be a really cool and interesting reward for anyone who donated, say, over $100. They're like the beta edition of Coelary, what I would send out to readers for reviews before I kickstarted the graphic novel, and the interior pages have a much higher print quality than the final book (AND some errors that got corrected in the final book) so if anyone wants a rare and limited piece of Coelary ephemera, I'll give those out to any $100+ donator who wants one. I'll also dig around in my merch to see if I have any other special artifacts to give away.
Organizer
Christopher Fairfax
Organizer
Spokane, WA