Looking Ahead: A New Year (Patreon)

   This year has been full of challenges, but also successes. Over the past year, I've maximized my efforts to bring as much content as possible; I can't even remember the last time I took a day off. And you've all been here to support me through some difficult times. My work has been able to improve at an amazing rate thanks to all of you. For that, I appreciate each and every one of you, more than you know!

   I've also had some failures. Monthly Mini animations sounded like a good idea. Then it became my main focus, working on them for almost the entire month... sometimes ending up with over a minute of fully edited animation in a matter of weeks... but it always takes away from something. Shrinking Nightmare releases slowed down. Then I tried to shorten them, but got too attached to the projects, and nothing changed. 

   Now I've started with Live Action. I didn't make a new tier and charge more for it. I wanted to add value, but ended up losing some support. Now, filming has been made difficult due to the pandemic. It's a rough start. Thankfully, I have a lot of footage left to edit from the first sessions. 

   Overall, regardless of effort, some things don't always seem to get much attention, or turn out the best. A lot of it boils down to one thing: "not enough time". A second part to that problem: "not valuing time".  I've come to realize what may seem obvious: The tier pricing needs to reflect the amount of work put into the tier. And if there's content that no one cares much about, I can't risk spending time on it. If I can't spend time on it, I shouldn't offer it. I should think of something new.

   I say all of this to illustrate the point that I don't want to be complacent. I want to fix those failures, simplify things, while also adding some new ideas in. I also want to make sure that I'm satisfied with my own work. So here are some ideas in regards to improving things and staying on track in 2021:

• Mini animations will now be mini, but more of my time and energy will go to Major Animations. Tried this before, but now going to give myself only a certain length of time to work on mini animations each month to avoid crunch and burnout.
• More time and effort put into Comics and Live Action.
• Easy, new types of bonus content that don't distract from my main projects. Ideas include: Gifs and looped animation snippets, Random quick-renders that aren't as "serious" or have no story, Behind-the-scenes WIP previews, "Lens" stories for mobile, Other things?
• Shrinking Nightmare Season 2 will conclude in 2021.
• New Major Animation Project will begin in 2021.
• Live Action needs to steadily improve and include longer clips. I plan to continue learning and working on my FX skills, and upgrade software and equipment as I get used to the new format. Feedback will be very helpful going forward.
• Yearly/Discounted Subscriptions... *Maybe* before the end of the year? If not, then January...
• Some changes to tiers and benefits?

   And of course, that's just the early plan. Your feedback, ideas, and suggestions will continue to shape my work through 2021.

That's all for now. Hopefully this gave some insight into what the next year will look like and where my head is at going into the New Year!