Final May sketch dump of Patron art requests! (Patreon)

Behold, this month's final "sketch dump" of (mostly) Clip Studio Paint sets based on art requests from miscellaneous tiers of Patrons! Also, read up below for some changes to and clarifications of Patron tier benefits.

First up, a few words on the pieces:

The CSP set above started out as a life drawing set with the first two images before I started tacking Patron art requests onto it. 

Note that I bungled the half-orc's ears in the ink test at upper right, drawing 'em as default "elf-type ears" instead of the proper, "folded-over" ears I normally draw her with. BTW, that CSP brush mentioned above is one I downloaded, and that sucker absolutely blows, as it behaves nothing like the Japanese "maru" (quill-type) pen-tip it's supposed to be emulating. I'll keep looking for a better maru digital brush, needless to say.

TBH, lost all interest in the Patron suggestions and just hacked my listless way through most of the set above, save for some degree of engagement on panels 1 and 3. I don't think I'll use the "six fan arts" grid again after this month, as the format seems to engender even less artistic interest on my part than usual.

Also: Whoops, only now realized that should've been "Awesome Girl," not "Action Girl" in panel 6 above.

Panel 2 above: Got in some much-needed life drawing with this one, needless to say.

Panel 3 above: After looking closely at the Titans: SPS one-shot, I only now remembered that the g-d biotattoo on Jamadagni's forehead cycles through a series of magic-related symbols, as opposed to the single example I've been drawing on her at every g-d convention for at least a decade. Whoops!

Panel 6: Note that I already ripped off that Shirow kicking pose for an action scene in the one-hot Dirty Pair: Start the Violence over 20 years ago.

The Patreon Party of Two art request above was, IIRC, more of a steampunkish Spelljammer request, but as I'm no great fan of "gears on tophats" imagery, I skewed the depicted gear in more of a generic SF direction.

And now, some clarification on Patron art requests and tier benefits!

Starting in June, I'm going to have to discontinue the option of regular monthly art requests for the $1 and $3 tiers, as I find myself swamped with suggestions overall and increasingly short on worktime to draw 'em. 

As I'm slowly ramping up to drawing comics full-time while writing other books on the side, more and more I just don't have the free time for general-purpose sketching like these art requests. Maintaining an every-weekday Patreon posting schedule—for the time being, at least—is time-consuming enough without tacking on additional "mini-commissions" for all Patron tiers every month.  

A large part of my rather weak rationale for continuing to take art requests en masse has been the idea of getting practice in working digitally. Howeva, now that I have multiple nascent projects in development such as Party of Two, I can get my Clip Studio Paint testing accomplished with sketch sets and comic pages that advance those projects. (Plus, if I can find some decent g-d CSP brushes, I'd like to get back to life drawing on a semi-regular basis.)

Down the road, art requests will probably migrate to the highest Patreon tiers only, just to cut down on the sheer numbers of 'em. You folks will still see most of the resulting "sketch dumps" regardless, though the $1 tier might see a few less of those compilation posts.

Wellp, at least I was able to keep the every-tier art-request bit rolling for over a year, even though that was mainly due to, uh, not having much in the way of "day-job" work deadlines, a situation which is (I hope) about to change. Hope you enjoyed the sketch sets, and sorry that I couldn't keep this option open for every tier.

Going forward: 

For the $1 tier, the weekly life drawing sets will continue indefinitely, along with access to an additional post or two (usually on a Friday) once or twice a month.

For the $3 tier, access to the current level of 4 posts per week (including the weekly life drawing sets) will continue for the time being, though I have to admit that fairly unprecedented—if not insane!—"firehose" level of posting will someday have to drop off. 

For the $5 tier, access to 5 posts per week will continue at least through June, including the weekly "DISTRESSED DAMSELS" feature of mildly kinky commissioned comics and illos. The tier's art request feature will remain in effect through June as well, though I might need to migrate that option to only the $10 and $20 tiers later in the summer if "day job" work ramps up.

For the $10 and $20 tiers, access to 5 posts per week (including the "DISTRESSED DAMSELS" feature) will continue for the time being, along with a special monthly post exclusive to these tiers that kicks off in June. (First up will probably be a verrry dubious scene I cut from Empowered vol.11, though I'm not 100% sure about that.) This tier will also get first dibs on art requests for the month, and very likely some limited access to "con sketch"-style commissions if I can carve out some time for 'em on a June weekend.

Note that I'll be adding these clarifications to the various tiers on this Patreon's front page, assuming I can puzzle my way through the new "sales tax" settings that adding such changes seems to automatically trigger.   

MONDAY ON THIS HERE PATREON: The usual double dose of life drawings from 2017 and 2018, as you'd likely suspect after over a year of such posts.