The Future of my Patreon - 2020 Edition (Patreon)

We're nearing the end of 2019, and like every year, that means it's time to reflect on what has happened and look forward to the following year. My Patreon has come a long way since it started 3-4 years ago, thanks to your support, and I hope it will continue to get even better.

In order to move forward, I need to stop and ask myself some questions.

What do I want?  

More and more, I find myself asking "what exactly do I want out of life?"

It's easy to put aside and think "I'll worry about that when my business is more successful." But the reality is: the more successful your business becomes, the more problems will arise and the more time you need to spend solving them. But that's also probably not going to happen any time soon either. I feel like the quality of my life won't improve much beyond what it is now. Which is, admittedly, pretty disheartening. So, I must ask, to what end is it all really worth doing?

Although we like to encourage the idea of working to live (as opposed living to work), it's hard to do so when you're not making enough TO live. But the fastest way to burn out is thinking you'll solve all your problems by doing more.

That doesn't sound like what I want out of life. I just want to create great art and consume great art. So, I'll need to make some adjustments.

Looking back

First, let's look back on the year. What have we done?

• Introduced Concept Art & Discussions to Patreon.
• Began moving in the direction of quality over quantity.
• Created the Beaumont Prototype comic.

It is important to recognize our developments as we move into the new year. The details above are, essentially, what my "creative character arc" for 2019 might look like on paper. It is the evolution that I've experienced as a creator.

Time Distribution  

Earlier this year, I made a shift towards slowing down to allow more breathing room between posts on Patreon. Since doing so, I've been taking better care of myself and even cleaning more often.

Having said that, I think I can use my work hours more efficiently. I've taken this opportunity to illustrate how I might divide my time between work during a hypothetical 4 week period.

Although not entirely accurate, it does communicate the basic idea -- the concept art posts take the most time to create. I think this is far from ideal, as most of my time should be devoted to creating ACTUAL content. I think the breakdown of my time should look more like the chart below.

What about Concept Art?  

I like creating concept art posts, and I think you like reading them. That being said, I do need to change my approach.

These posts consume a lot of my time, distracting me from working on more important work -- and it's tiring. Concept Art & Discussion posts began as a way to bring you closer to my work and design process, but has quickly become about entertaining you. It feels like I'm routinely inventing content purely for the sake of these posts, and then padding them as much as I can. It's just a little less natural.

Somewhere along the way, I began raising the bar of quality required for each post and they began demanding more of my time. I will try to keep them shorter in length from now on; like these. [1] [2] [3]

I just want a bit more freedom and breathing room to be flexible.

Dungeon Master  

I'm also introducing a new membership level to the Patreon experience; one I'm currently dubbing "Dungeon Master." It will be $50.

This membership level will only have 2-3 available slots, and will contain absolutely no exclusive content. You will not be losing any content if you do not pledge to this level -- it's just an additional option to support me.

The reward will consist of a commission-like experience, although limited to my own characters. Qualifying patrons are then given the freedom to take these characters into any direction they'd like, and I will create an illustration based on their direction as though they were stream commissions.

It's like an evolution of Patron Sketch Suggestions, but with more interaction in the relationship and a guaranteed piece coming out of it. I do get some say in what happens, but it's a compromise between what I want and what you want.

I will be keeping this reward in limited quantities because I don't want to get overwhelmed. This is just an additional method of helping to keep me financially afloat. This direction was suggested by a patron, so I figure we could give it a try.

This reward is planned to officially open in January 2020. If you have any thoughts about this reward, feel free to leave them in the comments below and I will look over them. 

Additional Changes

Together, you and I have made my Patreon experience into what it is today -- and it's an experience that works. So I see no reason to drastically change the formula right now; these are just adjustments. Speaking of which, a few additional adjustments have been made to the Patreon experience, and I've detailed them below.

• Monthly Dropbox Archive

Artworks from 2016 & 2017 have been added to the dropbox archive, allowing you to easily view some of the earliest works posted on my Patreon. The archive still needs further organization and a few more images need to be added.

I am considering adding a directory to the dropbox archive to make searching for content easier.

• Tags

I've gone through hundreds of posts and un-tagged many of them to allow for an easier browsing experience when the new year starts. It's a bit like a "soft reset." I hope to create a better organization system that puts our best content at the forefront.

What Else?

In addition to all of that, there are a few other things I'd like to keep in mind as we move into 2020. Think of this like a generalized short-term roadmap to help me transition into the next phase of my creative career.

• Updated Presentation

My Patreon page hasn't changed over the last few years, and it is not particularly exciting to look at. Perhaps a revamp is needed? One that better communicates the experience & also helps to acquire new patronage?

• Reasons to Support

My Patreon has been in a state of slow decline over the last few months. In order to combat this, I need to make supporting me more compelling.

The Beaumont comic was a good first step, as is the promise of Female Link comics. It is easier to be invested in narrative-driven content -- provided it's a good narrative, that is. Perhaps I also need to diversify my content? Or push my pornographic work into more ambitious or extreme subject matter?

Whatever I do, I'll need to create something concrete.

• Practice, Practice, Practice

My previous work schedule seldom afforded me the opportunity to practice new skills or brush up on fundamentals. I'd like to make practice a regular part of my creative output so that I can improve the content I produce.

Afterword

As we move further in this direction, I will, no doubt, have to learn how to best accomplish a different set of goals. So it might take a bit of time before I've maximized my efficiency.

I've made self-care a priority for the last month or so. I hope I'm able to maintain that and still be able to provide quality content. As always, be sure to let me know if you are ever worried about the Patreon experience so that I can address your concerns.

Thank you for your support.

Don't forget to eat & sleep.