Update // Merry Merchandise! (Important info on Rewards & Comms) (Patreon)

Alright, who was it? Who left the door open for December to sneak back in? And who thawed Michael Bublé? I swear, we’re all in the Matrix and someone’s sitting on the forward button and I do not like it. at. all.

Timewarp shenanigans aside, Merry Holidays you lovely folk. This update comes with a lot of promised and important updates, so please read it to the bottom so that you can then DM me with questions that you’ll have totally glossed over. Yeah, I know, I’ve got your number. But it’s okay, because I like you.

Onwards! 

Prints are now available on StarStickers

It has been a long time coming, but I am finally ready and so pleased to announce that you can now exchange your points for merchandise on StarStickers! This includes A4 prints, A5 prints, Bookmarks and Badges in different bundles at different costs.

To celebrate the launch of this part of the store, all physical rewards will be available at a hefty discount for the whole of December, after which they will go up to their true cost in January. Here’s a breakdown of what to expect (or you can click through to StarStickers and see for yourself):

Standard bundles:

A4 bundle: 35 pts at launch > 55 in Jan 2022  

Includes: x3 A4 prints of your choosing

A5 bundle: 35 pts at launch > 55 in Jan 2022

Includes: x3 A5 prints of your choosing

Badge bundle: 35 pts at launch > 55 in Jan 2022

Includes: x5 38mm badges of your choosing

Bookmark bundle: 35 pts at launch > 55 in Jan 2022

Includes: x5 bookmarks of your choosing

Fixed bundles:

Blood Lily bundle: 50 pts at launch > 75 in Jan 2022

Includes: x1 A4, x1 A5, x1 Bookmark, x1 Sketchbook - all featuring just the blood lily (minis the book which has other art in it)

Fanart bundle: 50 pts at launch > 75 in Jan 2022

Includes:x5 A4 prints of Remnants (Emet), Alisaie, Zhongli, Untamed (Link BoTW) and Heart (She-ra)

Special Bundles:

Surprise bundle: 75 pts at launch > 125  in Jan 2022

Includes: x3 A4 prints, x3 A5 prints, x5 badges, x5 bookmarks and a sketchbook  - the print selection will be random. Best choice if you just want stuff but are bad at making decisions

Combo bundle: 100 pts at launch > 150 in Jan 2022

Includes: x2 A4 prints, x2 A5 prints, x5 badges, x3 bookmarks of your choosing, plus  a sketchbook

Mega bundle: 150 pts at launch > 200 in Jan 2022

Includes:x5 A4 prints, x3 A5 prints, x10 badges, x5 bookmarks of your choosing, plus a sketchbook

A few important important things to note before you head over to buy ALL THE THINGS:

• All bundles will be shipped together at the end of the month they were booked in. So whether you purchase something on the 1st or 20th, all bundles will be packaged and shipped during the last week of the month. If you’re planning on buying prints as a gift or for an occasion, please plan ahead!
• Please make sure that when ordering, you input your personal details correctly and completely. Any packages lost due to incorrect/incomplete information will not be reshipped.
• This is very much my first time shipping merchandise, and thanks to the ever-changing geopolitical situation, there are a lot of unknown variables and changing conditions that I have yet to figure out, so chances are we may experience some minor hiccups. Patience will be greatly appreciated!

Overall though, I am very excited to be finally pushing this forward. It took longer than expected because we wanted to get it right, so a huge portion of StarStickers had to be overhauled to cater to a very different type of reward and that, on top of a manic workload, has taken a smidge longer than expected. Now that it’s done though, I look forward to getting my art into your hands. And if you were pledged in September, you will have now received a bonus of 15 points into your StarStickers account for my Patreon anniversary so spend them wisely!

And with that, we move onto the slightly more serious part of the update.

Custom art rewards hiatus

First, there will be no availability for custom rewards in December (aka, bookings for art rewards in March). I know this is probably going to be a bit disappointing, so I’ll try to be concise about why I’ve made this decision:

• At the moment, I’m working one month behind schedule. If you check my workflow, you’ll see that I currently have over 30 rewards and commissions to finish before the end of February. Although I’m working more and faster than I ever have, after a combination of October’s ComicCon, overbooking, sickness, and burnout, I have not been able to keep up with that pace. To have any chance of catching up to that list, I need to temporarily pause custom rewards on Starstickers and give myself some breathing room.
• In addition, it’s quite likely I will be going for surgery between February and April.  Recovering from that is going to take time, so by creating a bit of space here, I’ll also give myself some leeway to rest when that time comes.

Pauses are likely to become a more common/yearly occurrence as I expect to be attending more conventions and the occasional vacation as the world returns to normal, which will likely cause future delays and catch-ups. That said, it’s also quite likely this will give me a chance to add new merch and discounts to the store to pick up during downtime, as well as stabilise the commission schedule.

On the subject of which, while rewards are currently taking the lion’s share of my time, the last few times I’ve asked, people have generally wanted more commission availability, rather than more rewards. After the hiatus, I’m hoping to shift this balance back to be in line with what most of my patrons want. As for that:

Commission update

Finally, a long-overdue update on the status of commissions. You can view the current batch here.

While originally I had planned for a seasonal opening, it’s become increasingly obvious that this is not actually feasible while my workload is in its current state. As I mentioned above, this is one of the reasons I am pausing custom rewards on StarStickers, in order to realign my priorities towards commission work.

However, while we wait for the effect of that pause to make a difference, it’s safe to say that the next commission batch will likely be opening around early March 2022.*

I know this is further into the winter from what people expected and I do want to apologise for that. I will elaborate further on my personal take on this below, but for the informational part here I’ll also add that to make up for the delay I will be introducing a new 25% commission discount via StarStickers when the new batch launches. This should, for most of you, offset the cost of pledging for the duration of the delay.

More specific information about offered slots and commission types will be posted closer to the date of opening, so please keep an eye on these updates. For the time being, my sole focus will be on catching up to the current batch and pending rewards, as well as planning contingencies and changes for the future, to make sure I don’t have to delay things even further going forward. I will share more information on that in the new year.

*Tentative, specific to be confirmed at a later date

Closing words

This is probably one of the longest updates I have ever made, and I hope you trust me when I say it was probably the one I agonised over the most.

Over the last 4 years of captaining this ship, I have run things like a perfectly oiled engine. I just didn’t account for the fact that I am not, in fact, a machine, and because of that 2021 has been the year of injuries, sickness and burnout like I’ve never really experienced before. I actually looked up all my previous updates, from March 2020, and saw how it crept in progressively: the trickle of anxiety and exhaustion, permeating through the optimism and my nature as someone who lives by saying yes to everything. I was never entirely honest about it, though- most of my updates are exceptionally edited, and blanched to the point where mentions of struggle get boiled down to less than 5 words because it’s not in me to complain or alter the course of things for my own sake. It’s something that makes me intensely uncomfortable, so you can imagine me squirming in my chair as I write this.

And yet, I think it’s critically important to come clean now, because it’s nobody’s fault but my own that I am behind on things - and not because I haven’t been able to keep up, but because I wasn’t realistic or kind enough to recognise that I am just a single person, and that planning to sleep 3 hours a night, take no weekends and somehow finish 20 pieces in a month is not feasible. I have left so little room for myself to exist that the last time I decided to take a week off, I cut it short after just one day, because I couldn’t handle the thought of work piling up any further.

This leaves not only no room for my own needs, but even the needs of this business, as any space I make to improve or add things - like merchandise, commissions or, hate to say it, taxes - is time I’m taking away from drawing. It should not be this way, and this is why I’m forcing myself to make these changes and map the future a bit more sensibly.

It’s a first step in making a healthier living for myself and, through it, making healthier art for you. Because no good art can come out of a mind warped by stress and the last thing I want is phoning work in just to get it done. At that point, I may as well call it quits. And considering I’ve just celebrated 4 years as a freelancer, I’d very much rather continue onto the next 4 instead!

If you have read this far down, please know I deeply appreciate it (and that I am still squirming in discomfort). Also know that if these updates make you reconsider your own options, that is perfectly fine as well! I know that delays don’t always work for everyone (coughEndwalkercough), and  the choices we make should be wholly personal, regardless of someone else’s circumstances. While I will always try to be as accommodating as I possibly can, 2022 will be the year in which I restructure a lot of things and learn to set healthy boundaries for myself, my work and my life outside of it and I encourage everyone to consider the same for themselves.

And with that off my chest, I invite you to pop off to StarStickers and load your cart up (seriously, please, help me get all this stuff out of my house- I keep losing dogs in the piles of prints and boxes).

Once again, forever: thank you so much for being here and making this year so worthwhile. Stressed and tired as I might be, I do not regret a moment of it and I will be forever grateful that you all continue to trust in me and my art and that I can make a living off what I love.

Have a wonderful December and, if we don’t speak sooner, a spectacular entrance into 2022!

With love,

Ony