"What happened to Early access this weeek?" (Also schedule change) (Patreon)

So, You may/may not have noticed, but there was a distinct lack of early access content this week. That's unfortunately because I've been physically and subconsciously drained the last two weeks from over-extending myself. Specifically, trying to output four animations in the past two weeks, the ludicrousness of which I didn't realize until thinking about it this past week. So when I started working on early access for this week (in addition to trying to revitalize my SFW content (a Sample)), I had no energy and just coasted on what was in the buffer.

The problems are two-fold:

• No clear definition of Tues/Thurs content
• Scope creep

In the former case, I've never really been able to fully define what I should be publishing on Tues/Thurs, due to animation being my main draw, but also being versatile in my ability range between sketch, pencil illustration, monochrome drawing, full color illustration, and 2D animation (and, full disclosure, HTML anicomic) Tues/Thurs were initially for pencil illustrations, but well... the second problem reared its ugly head...

I like to take things as far as they can go, and being pretty versatile artistically means there's no real hard limit until you get to interactivity programming (which I have considered for Abby). And taking things as far as they can go with no regard for the time cost often means taking things up until bedtime with no time for anything else. That's kinda what happened with "Snap my choker" and Abby's NachaPlaytime (Note: Nacha (if you catch this via Trevor), no regrets; it was a fruitful learning experience) I was so excited by the prospect of what it could be that I didn't think of the appropriate the resource budget (in this case, time), and thus didn't give myself enough physical and emotional recovery distance to dive into the next thing. 

This wouldn't be a problem if I was a full-time independent illustrator, but ...I'm not, and sometimes I subconsciously forget that, and I forget that 5-6 hours isn't really enough time, with 1.5 of those hours dedicated to next-day prep, food consumption and going to sleep.

In an ideal world where I'm physically capable of running at 100% all the time, I wouldn't need any wiggle room.  The last two weeks are physically possible, and possibly sustainably so, but not by me, and not for as indefinite a period of time as I intend to keep this going. And even if it was, it doesn't allow me the leeway to consider other projects for expansion (like longform animations or interactive media).

Luckily I had a buffer, but that's run out, and that lifestyle isn't sustainable anyway.

 If its something you've noticed, I appreciate your patience in that regard. I haven't dealt with it as constructively as I could have (you'll note that posts on Patreon have kind halted because I though I could catch up... and I didn't), but that's also the reason for this post. I'm trying to get in the habit of "full disclosure," so you guys can know what the dealie is, for better or worse, and react accordingly. And counter-productive as it may be, I feel guilty about it, and I think you guys deserve to know the truth when I don't hold up to my end of the bargain. 

To that end, I'd like to discuss the new schedule I've mentioned earlier, and hashed out with some of you guys on Discord (Sidebar: how frequently do you think you'd be on the server if I had one?). It allows me a little bit of leeway, as well as squirrel away some exclusives for Patreon, to increase the value of what you guys are paying for.

•  Mon: Abby Comic 
• Tues: Pencil drawing (Patreon) 
• Wednesday: Loop/color illustration 
• Thurs: Pencil drawing (Patreon) 
• Friday: Game Over 
• Sat: Patreon Promo 

Note the "(Patreon)" behind Tuesday and Thursday. That's for two reasons:

• I'd like to incentivize joining my Patreon with more, more-easily-produced exclusive incentives
• Pencil illustrations tend to do better with dedicated fans than general laymen.

I don't want to (and have always hated the idea of having to) gatekeep my content behind a paywall. Its counter intuitive to growing my audience (why should you help/follow me if you can't see why you should help/follow me?), and runs counter to the ethos of keeping my art as easily accessible and consumable as possible. That being said, much as I love EVERYTHING I make, that same love doesn't exist in a general audience. And for good reason; there's a world of difference between my pencil illustrations and my animations, without even getting into competition between my content and everything else you consume for your attention. 

So, if there's something I like doing that doesn't get a lot of press, I'd like to save it for the people who'll appreciate it the most. 

Also, I've gotten rid of WiP Wednesdays. They tend not to do as well as the other posts and, on Patreon, are rendered redundant by the process gifs. In their place, I'd like to migrate and slot in a Wednesday looping animation. Those should be fun and unique right?

Hopefully, that should mitigate the scope creep, allow me some leeway time to do things that aren't SaunterWing related, and reintroduce my SFW content back into my life.

And that's how I've been. What do you guys think?

Seriously, thank you for your patience; its been really frustrating coming home this week and relaxing through the last two week's burnout, and the frustration has only been matched by the slow realization of its cause, and that I do, in fact, have limits. So, again, thank you guys for being my precious patrons. I'ma do right by you guys. I promise.