GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS + upcoming change in 2023 (Patreon)
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Hey folks, it's time for a little State of the Bird (tm) update. I'll try not to make it too rambly, and I'll get the quick stuff out of the way first:
-SKETCH STREAM for Batch 2 of October's patron sketches will be taking place at 7PM EST on Sunday, November 6th (the Twitch channel is UndergroundDawnIII for anyone who hasn't attended before!). Relatedly, I'll also be putting up the submission post for November's sketches up sometime later today.
-COMMISSIONS... it's been over a year since I last opened them. I'll be talking a little bit more about that further down in the post, but firstly I wanted to give patrons a heads-up that, as I am officially caught up with the backlog, I will FINALLY be opening up FIVE commission slots sometime within the next week or two (exact date tbd, but I will be announcing it ahead of time on FA so keep your eyes peeled). That said, because it's been such a long time and I frankly need to kind of ease back in, these slots will only be for commissions involving the Compass Point characters-- either pics featuring them alone or them interacting with the commissioners' characters. Future commission openings will be for all commission-types!
-RE: CONTACTING ME for any reason-- this is just a general announcement that the BEST place to contact me (for the sake of organization and my sanity) is DISCORD! While it isn't perfect, it's currently the easiest thing for me to use when it comes to one-on-one conversation (whether it's hashing out information or just chatting). My username is Phantastus#1919; please feel free to add me and don't be afraid to reach out. I'm not ALWAYS at the computer when my little online indicator is lit up (sometimes I'm just checking my phone for the time, lol!), but those who have spoken with me before know that I generally respond as promptly as possible.
-General Life Update, and what that means for Dirtybird going forward: so, onto the more complicated stuff. I've been mentioning having a bit of a tough time IRL for awhile now-- truth is, I'm almost ALWAYS having a tough time, but lately it's been particularly rough due to a combination of factors.
As usual, I'd like to acknowledge first and foremost that you guys have always been incredible, and that Patreon has made it possible for me to actually make a living doing art. It hasn't been easy, but I am both proud and extremely grateful that I've been able to stay afloat doing what I'm passionate about. My life, even in these difficult times, is infinitely better than when I was working in food service/retail, and the struggle has absolutely been worth it.
That said... I'm dangerously close to burning out (as some of you have probably been suspecting for awhile, haha). I'm working almost ceaselessly yet can never seem to catch up enough to have breathing room.
On top of this, for the past five months, I've been struggling with an ongoing pet health issue that has me worried sick, and between paying for medication and vet visits, I'm just... not making enough to pay for more than bare necessities (rent, utilities, insurance, meds, groceries). The cost of everything keeps going up, and even though I've got a great customer base and no shortage of work, I'm still essentially walking a thin line between 'just enough' and 'not enough'.
To be clear, I'm not in danger. I have a roof over my head that I'm not going to lose, and my friends and family aren't going to let me go hungry.
But, if I want this career to be sustainable, I have to start doing something differently.
-Patron Sketch Tier update: Starting in January 2023, I will be raising the pledge cost of the monthly sketch rewards from $20 to $25.
This was a really hard decision for me to make, as I know the sketch requests are honestly the main draw (pun fully intended) of my Patreon to begin with. I don't want to limit slots or price anybody out of getting the requests-- whether it's characters I've gotten to know well or being surprised with brand new ones, getting to see and participate in everyone's creativity is a genuine joy in my life even in the middle of total burnout crisis mode, and I don’t want to lose any of that.
But, I can no longer ignore the fact that doing these sketches takes up 90% of my time, to the point of stopping me from taking on other work like commissions, or that the level of refinement and detail in them has changed DRAMATICALLY from when I first started offering them (example: a sketch from the very first batch ever back in 2019, vs. a sketch from August 2022).
Many of us are struggling financially, so I want to state in advance that I understand if anyone is unable to continue supporting me at the sketch tier once the price change goes into effect. Obviously, I hope you can all stay and have me continue to draw for you! But I also know that when money is tight, money is tight. Hopefully having a couple months' advance notice will give folks time to think it over without feeling too much pressure.
The other tiers will be remaining the same for the time being-- I'm not opposed to fiddling around with them in the future (the interactive art tier has been unused for basically ever, lol) to give patrons more options, but for now, this is what’s up.
If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask them here! Thank you all again for bearing with me.