Has it really been this long...? (Patreon)

So I don’t know if anyone’s told you yet, but 2020 is almost over. I literally found myself yelling at the light-up reindeer in someone’s lawn yesterday before realising it’s only 4 weeks to Christmas.

In that impasse, I also ended up scrolling down year-old memes on Facebook before I was graced with this memory:

This, my friends, was the very first illustration I made for Patreon. The post that started this whole adventure. And if you’ve clocked the year, then you know that this means:

It’s been 3 whole years since I yeeted myself into this bizarre little adventure of mine.

That’s three years of doing what little me - who used to draw on pads, paper plates and the walls when those ran out - dreamed I’d be doing by now. Three years of working my hands raw to live up to the expectations I set for myself. And most importantly, three years of being uplifted and supported by all of you.

It still stuns me daily that I have people who believe so hard in what I do that they stand by me month on month, often year on year, allowing me to do this full time. I feel incredibly privileged to wake up every morning to a community full of people from all over the world, who were brought together by my art but have developed into one of the most wholesome groups I am fortunate to be a part of.

It has also been my pride and honor to see so many of these people develop their own art over these years. My artlings, as we call them, who’ve put so much time and effort into working on their craft, pushing past their inhibitions and sharing it with the community, learning to receive and give feedback and helping each other out to improve together. It’s absolutely wonderful to share the same space with all of you and help you all in the hopes that one day you’ll be able to do what little you dreamed of!

I could probably gush about this until I give you cavities, so to spare you the dental bill, I’ll instead announce a couple of bits I’ll be doing to say thank you to everyone:

Patreon Anniversary Point Bonus

The best way I can think of saying “thank you” to everyone is by giving you all a handful of extra points on StarStickers, so as to give you a little boost towards whatever rewards you’re hoping to cash in at some point!

So in December, along with your usual point allocation, you’ll receive an extra 15 points into your accounts! This will also apply to any new patrons who sign up in December, so if you have a friend or you’ve been lurking here for a while, this is the time to join!

Please note that you must have a StarStickers account created to get these points. If you haven’t created one yet, please do so now here (Patrons only). These bonus points will not be allocated retroactively if you create your account after December!

Introducing the Artling of the Month

As I said above, the community we’ve built over time is full of wonderful individuals who are always there to say a kind word, support each other or actively participate in any way they can. It means the world to me when I see these people helping me maintain the active and positive spirit I’ve tried to build into this Patreon over the years, and so I will be introducing an Artling of the Month feature to reward individuals who go out of their way to be extra involved.

The AotM could go to someone who’s been especially active in giving feedback to other artlings, or who’s posted useful resources, or who’s made a point of making others feel appreciated and heard in the Discord. It could also go to someone who pushed past their comfort zone and take up art or any other skill, or who produced a lot of art or participated in multiple activities in the Discord. Generally speaking, there’s no specific criteria or expectations as I don’t want this to become forced behaviour, so the feature will go to anyone I have personally perceived to have been especially wholesome and/or dedicated in a given month.

Whoever gets picked will be given an extra amount of StarSticker points (the amount may vary depending on contribution) and will get the option to be featured in my social media channels (this is completely optional).

With that, I also reserve the right to pick more than one person in a month, or to pick none if I feel there’s been no substantial participation. This new feature will be introduced from December.

Artling Features

Speaking of Social Media- I kept wondering if I should do something special to celebrate the Patreon anniversary on Twitter or Tumblr (two of the channels that helped me get this far). Then I realised that those channels are all about me every day of the year and that perhaps it’s a better idea to celebrate the people who brought me here instead.

So, in December, I would love to celebrate and feature the art of my artlings instead! If you are a Patreon supporter and a creator - whether you draw, write, photobash, cook, sculpt or build origami - and you’d like me to showcase your work on my social media, then please fill out the following form by December 15:

[Artling Feature Form]

My intent is to dedicate a separate post to anyone who fills in the form throughout the month of December, with the hopes of netting you a few more followers or getting your craft seen by a few more people. While I don’t have oodles of followers myself, I am always more than happy to share those with you and give you a well deserved boost!

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One thing that definitely hasn’t changed in 3 years is the length of these updates and I promise, I am restraining myself from writing another 5 paragraphs of mush about how much I appreciate and love you all. Regardless, I hope you know just how grateful I am to have you all here and how much I’m looking forward to another year of making art for everyone.

Please do say hi in the comments- I love speaking to you all - and remember that my DMs are always open if you want to chat with me or give me your thoughts on what I could be doing better.

Have a wonderful week my lovelies!

Much love,

Ony