State of Saunter (July/Aug 2021) (Patreon)

Well!
It's been a while since we've done one of these (and hopefully, we can start doing more of these as I get better at communication), but it kinda needs to be done.

Why now? Because, I'm going some major life changes that will temporarily affect production and publication on this Patreon and SaunterWing in general. Nothing so crazy as to affect needing to halt production, but posting will be a little wonky.

TL:DR:
I got a new job in a new state, and getting acclimated to everything will take up the rest of the month, though I will try to continue to make art worth your while until things settle. Also, I will be working towards a new publication schedule to be implemented in September.

Storytime/the Long version:

So, at the end of last year/beginning of this year, I lost my most recent job.

I didn't really know how to deal with it, and the circumstances of which, I am a little ashamed of, which is why I didn't make it public. Thanks to some savings (a part of which were your patreon contributions, so thank you all for that), I was able to function independently for 6-7 months while job hunting and wallowing away in my apartment (I did not really take care of myself mentally as well as I could have, and thus didn't use the expanded free time as efficiently as I could). That was something that could not last; part of the reason I even went job hunting for my previous job is that financial independence through my independent ventures (Patreon, commissions, sales) wasn't (and still isn't) tenable. I'd need to make 3-4x what I'm making via Patreon and other ventures for that to be feasible.

That being said, last month, I found a new job at my old graduate alma mater (the school where I got my Master's degree), and was accepted as a professor of 2D pupeteer animation! Yay!

However, this meant moving. Again. From the middle of the country, to the south. Of the US. For those not in the US, this is/was weeklong trip. However (again), I didn't go straight to my new job, but instead stopped at home for week and a half (to take care of some lingering logistics), before making the 11hr trip down to my new state of residence this Mon/Tues/Wed.

You can see how that would change things.

I will be in a car for 11 hours next week, and then apartment hunting, and then (after setting up basic utilities) internet hunting. The week after that begins a two week long 8hr bootcamp before classes start the following month (which I will also have to be prepping for).

Bring it on.

But that being said, it means that I can't guarantee the same rate of production and publication I have been doing, at least, not until things settle (sometime before/in/after September). I will try to guarantee at least one illustration post/week this month (which I'd like to either be commissions or suggestion thread pieces), but I cannot guarantee any animations, at least, beyond the level of the sketchimations.

So that's where things sit for the time being. It'll be a little slow, but we'll get back to the new normal.

Which brings us to part two:

The New Normal:

Since I started my last job, I've been a little disappointed with my output. Not in the sense of the quality of what I'm making, but in terms of the content itself. The two major attractions of SaunterWing are the animations and the comics (and, to a lesser extent, "storytelling"). While I've been able to keep pace with the former (animation), I've been very lax on the latter, primarily because those comics don't tend to do well relative to the amount of time/effort that goes into making them. But I do want to get back into them, albeit, at a higher production level than what I was doing before, because part of what makes what I do sexy is the storytelling and context of how/why Abby gets into the situations she does. 

In addition, I also browse the dropbox, and I don't like seeing the number of pieces per month go down the way it has. I like having full monthly folders.

To that end, I've crafted a new production schedule I hope to stick to going forward, until the next major status quo shift for SaunterWing:

The New monthly publication schedule:

• week 1: one illustration (preferably a suggestion thread/or commission piece) and the monthly wallpaper 
• week 2: one illustration (preferably a suggestion thread/or commission piece) and a Dommey Dayze comic 
• week 3: one illustration(preferably a suggestion thread/or commission piece) and an Abbycomic 
• week 4: one illustration (preferably a suggestion thread/or commission piece) and a Game Over.

First off: the goal is to continue to output at least one illustration per week, as well as one monthly exclusive (for that week). 

Secondly: the goal is to get back to making comics and Game Overs without adding too much additional strain, BUT ALSO to not output so much content that it devalues the last thing you saw. When I put out 4 game overs a month (60 game overs/year, give or take), it keeps each individual piece from feeling special, and the same with 4 comics a month. Hopefully, not doing one weekly will rectify that, as well as give me a little bit of breathing room.

Thirdly: You might have noticed, I did two comics starring these gals:

Links if you're curious:

• Dommey Dayze: Dominatrix Discipline! 
• Dommey Dayze: Flexibility Frame-up! 

The thing is, Nacha and Kelly have so many unbelievable bondage stories (Yes, they're real people) I had to turn some of them into actual comics, and so the idea of Dommey Dayze was born, where Kelly, her mistress Nacha, and her two subs, Mikky and Mercedes get into hijinx either trying to tie each other into pretzels or avoiding the wrath of Ms. Nacha. Can they do it without too much trouble? Probably not, but it'll definitely be kinky!

Between the new comic, the wallpaper, the new Abbymation anicomics, and the Game Overs, I think that makes for a productive production schedule for the SaunterWing name.

That being said, this will all take time to set up, so this all won't officially start until September, with August being used to set up posts. 

so....

yeah...

that's what's up.

I'm going to try to get stuff set up early (Suggestion thread, Dropbox, etc) before I leave, and hopefully, in September, I can work on Early access, at least for the weekly illlustrations.

But I'm going to need some patience from you guys (not that you haven't already been super generous with your patience). Things are moving forward, and they will continue to do so. The only question is whether or not you'll be here with me when they do.

Love with all my heart,

-Saunter.