General Announcement: $50 Commission Slots (Patreon)

Thanks again for a great month, everybody! I want to say I'm sorry I haven't had time to continue Original Life. It may just not be in the cards, despite me trying to put the time aside. I have so many hours in the day I can work before my work starts to suck, or become uninspired. It's hard for me to even tell what kind of a schedule I can maintain with it. I wish I had more time, or didn't have to sleep, or something... I may keep trying, though.

Secondly, concerning the $50 commission sketch slots. I'm flattered with how eager people are to get in on them. But there's a phenomenon cropping up where people are saving their pledges up and then asking me for additional levels of finishing on top of sketching and shading, like color and what not. I'm going to have to lay down some rules about this (and the commission slot in general):

1.) After September, you will not be able to "save up" your $50 pledges and then dump on me the task of doing color commissions. As commissioners notice other commissioners doing this, more people are starting to ask for it. What I thought would be one here and there, is turning into a trend, and it's stretching what I can comfortably get done in a month. The reason I limited the slots to 10 is because I envisioned 10 one-and-done sketches I could do as warm-ups in the mornings before work. If people pile up their contributions and then expect me to produce 2 or 3 full color commissions in the course of a month, it's going to eat into everything else I can do during that month, especially when they start stretching and pushing the included details, saying things like, "Three character full color right? Right?" and I can see their expectations heaped up because I wrote "three-ish characters" for the sketch commissions, imagining they'd be simple sketches with minimal backgrounds.

One YCH commission goes for *way* more than $150. You will not get a "fully finished" piece, full color, clean crisp lines, full background, for three months worth of pledges.

2.) Some people have wanted to divide the progress of their piece per month. This is more tenable because it breaks up the time involved, rather than trying to dump a whole color commission on me after months of build up. I'm not the biggest fan of this because I don't like pictures to linger, but at least I can plan for it. If commissioners want to me to lay colors on a black and white shaded sketch I did for them in a prior month, I don't mind doing this as their commission for this month.

3.) After September, you have to get your commission info to me in the month when your commission is expected. It puts a rush on me when someone fails to contact me and then next month says "you owe me for two months". I have a lot on my plate and I can't keep track of everyone's individual owings and doings. I can't send out messages and friendly reminders every month to people who seem blithely uninterested in getting in touch with me about the commission slot they're sitting on. This is your responsibility. If you fail to get with me on a month, we might be able to work something out if it's simple, but I won't take a rush, and won't let you pile on two commissions in one month because you reserved a slot and then went on vacation in The Yukon without the internet for 5 weeks.

I send out requests for commission information to commission slot holders early in the month, usually around the 5th. Please respond in a timely fashion.

4.) Lastly, not really a rule, but just a reminder: I can't "manually" create or manage commission slots for anybody. Patreon's system does that, and it's the *only* thing that can do that. I can't take Paypal payments, or whatever, for commission slots and commissions, because your card was declined or the bank messed up, or your paycheck is late, or whatever. Patreon controls this system and they're entitled to their cut. Paypal isn't. I can't reserve slots for people, or create them, or work "under the table".

If you're always on the wire, not saving any money from month to month - if you're waiting on paychecks before you can fulfill your pledges - if you're hoping the money gets in the bank before Patreon processes your pledge, it might be in your long term financial interest to let your slot go to someone else.

Thank you all!