More Patreon Thoughts (Patreon)

I'm sorry January's been a bit of a slow month - winter's not a good time for productivity... Here are some thoughts I've been collecting during the week.

--- PATRON SKETCH SUGGESTIONS

After having tried the Patron Requests/Suggestions thing last week, I've developed some further thoughts...

Rather than having a week-long session for Patron Sketch Suggestions, I think that it should instead span over the course of an entire month. This design approach gives me the freedom to draw your ideas at any point in the month, rather than squeezing them within the confines of a single week, and as a result, allowing me to complete more than just a few should I want to (I wanted to do a lot more than I did this past week).

Another concern worth dealing with is the prompt aspect. When I introduced the concept of patron suggestions, it was under the framework of me providing a prompt, and then patrons adding more information based on that prompt. Although this approach helped to maintain a sense of control over suggestions, it, by it's own nature, offered very little freedom. What if, instead of Link, a Patron would much rather see a sketch of the Bodyslide Girl, Amaranth, or some other character? I want to feel a sense of freedom with my creative pursuits, so why shouldn't I offer the same freedom to you?

So instead: at the start of the month, you can share what YOU would like to see sketched during the month, or comment on someone else's idea, perhaps adding to it if it's within your interests. Keeping in mind that these are still only suggestions, and I'm not obligated to do every single idea I see. Furthermore, if it is more relevant to MY interests, there's a greater likelihood of me doing it. 

I think this new approach would be more enjoyable for you than the previous one, and it gives me plenty of time to consider the ideas.

--- NSFW PATRON SUGGESTION PROMPTS

Rather than completely removing Suggestion Prompts, we can find another place for them in the $10 NSFW Patreon Tier. By following a more controlled framework for NSFW suggestions, we can revisit certain fetishes & ideas every so often with themes like:

- Bodyslide Girl Transformation
- MILF build
- petite goth
- disproportionately large breasts

- Brellomascot Dress-up
- revealing apron
- sexy muffin costume
- string

- Link's Met with a Terrible Fate...
- armor eaten by a Likelike
- turned into a stone statue
- surprise breast expansion spell

- Character Hypnosis
- steal the Triforce and serve as Ganon's Concubine
- "What? Of course I'm wearing clothes. Look!"
- "Moo."

Though these are just examples, they are solid ones. The prompt itself could be determined a week in advance by a voting poll, or on a whim, dependent on what I feel like drawing that month - so definitely some potential for variety. These NSFW Suggestions would only last for 1-2 weeks at most, as I still need to ensure I spend my time on other things.

Not yet sure what my criteria & formula would be for this one, however.

--- COMICS

A year ago, when I first joined Patreon, I wanted to incorporate the creation of comics into my work-flow. Sadly, I did not draw many comics, and the few I did draw either lacked creative depth or were simply commissions. I would, however, like to make comics a more-regularly occurring type of content among my creative exploits this year. 

Given that the $7 Patron Tier already receives access to work in progress updates, the work that goes into comics can be shared with Patrons, and also viewed in their entirety through the Dropbox Archive before being posted publicly.

Now whether those comics are longer narratives, with several pages and a few months of work, or shorter 2-page stories - I'd like to play with sequential art as a medium for creation & storytelling. I've definitely had a few short FemLink story ideas last month, but there's also potential for characters who've received even less depth, like Amaranth or the Bodyslide Girl.

Comics are tough and often require good planning and thought beforehand. However, perhaps I will benefit from this added creative depth and develop as an artist. Additionally, although I don't have any immediate plans or ideas for how to handle doing so, Patron influence for comics could also be a thing too, maybe? I don't know, we'll have to see!

--- STREAMS

On the subject of looking back to the past and planning for the future, I refer my thoughts towards live streaming.

I USED to stream my art pretty often (nearly every day), but I stopped doing so several months ago. Although I made the decision to stop because reasons, streaming was a good way of maintaining discipline - working on art every single day. With that in mind, I think it might be nice to stream regularly once again, perhaps even daily. 

I used to stream for as long as 13 hours a day, however, and my days became little more than just "stream, goof off for a few hours, sleep, repeat..." Let's try to NOT do that. Instead, in an effort to better complement my desires to feel free as a creator, I should consider a more casual approach with my streams - maybe just a few hours at a time, or even just 30 minutes in the morning when I feel like creating for example. Making it regular, but less of a chore that I grind for half a day.

I might even try streaming some art on Twitch, like painting landscapes while taking short breaks from Breath of the Wild gameplay. We'll see!

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Outside of that stuff, which I'd like to integrate into Patreon this February and March (the latest), I'm hoping for a general re-branding. Cleaning up how I handle my stuff, prettying the graphics on the Patreon page, being more awesome on social media, and generally just being super cool and making cool stuff and things.