UPDATE: PLEASE READ AND SPREAD (Patreon)

I’ll get straight to the point:

By the end of February, I will officially be unemployed.

My managers called me into the back office yesterday to inform me that the company is “restructuring to better meet our customer’s needs”, blah-blah-blah. Long story short, after more than nine years of service, corporate decided there was no need for a full-time position within my department. I was given two options: either reduce myself to a part-time position, or to accept a severance.

Part-time employees are scheduled a minimum of eight hours a week, and a maximum of 27. They also see a reduction in annual benefits, including health insurance, which is currently taking care of both myself and my wife. With severance, however, I would receive a lump sum of base pay, equivalent to two weeks for each year of service, taxed at 40%. I also receive six months of company-paid health insurance, which would be an immediate savings being that I’m not paying for it at all.

I was given time to call my wife and discuss the possibilities, seeing as this was a decision I had to make then and there, no later. It was a lot to have thrust on me, and I could tell my managers weren’t thrilled to deliver the news in the first place. But taking a reduction to part-time was too risky. As you’ve gathered, I opted for the severance. Eighteen weeks’ pay up front is nothing to sneeze at, even with the steep 40% tax I’m paying in. It also allows me time to look for employment elsewhere.

My managers were kind enough to grant me these next two weeks off, utilizing the last of my PTO hours to do so. My last paycheck will be arriving on Friday, February 26th. My wife, however, remains unemployed since May of last year-- certainly not for lack of trying, mind you-- and also has not received a single unemployment check in over two months. At the start of March, Patreon will literally become our only source of income.

I come to you now, friends, to ask that you please consider pledging your support to my Patreon. These coming weeks are promising to be incredibly stressful for me and my wife, as we both must now search for work during an ongoing global pandemic. We’re going to need absolutely all of the help we can get, and you guys are our best shot at this point in time.

To all current patrons: if you’re able, please consider upgrading your pledges, even if only temporarily. I know that my NSFW tier remains my most popular, and I can promise that more NSFW content is on the way, having already started on some NSFW MamabitoxPapabito sketches only a few nights ago. If that’s something you’re interested in, know that this content will always remain Patreon-exclusive, and you’ll be treated to all previous Patreon tier benefits on top of it.

To all current and future patrons: as has always been the custom, new pages of Memories of Arcadia will be shared first here on Patreon, then uploaded the following Saturday at noon on deviantART and Twitter. However, after this current page is completed, work will begin on the final page of this series. To celebrate, I’d like to host a Patreon-exclusive art stream where I begin work on the next page from scratch, so everyone gets a chance to see how a new page comes together. You guys will all be able to see the last page take shape before your eyes, and I’ll be engaging with the viewers to chat and answer any questions you might have! And, once the comic is completed, there’s still a lot more to come!!

Around this time last year, I was placed on furlough through my employer, and was able to use much of my free time for drawing. At that time, I was knocking out a page of Mamabito’s story every week! While I don’t anticipate I’ll be moving quite that quickly now, it’s true that with this extra time I’ve got to spend at home, it should be much easier to get comics done. That said, I fully intend to get Memories of Arcadia completed before Animal Crossing: New Horizons’s one year anniversary. It’s been a long ride, and we’re finally going to see it through to the end... and beyond!

To those of you reading this, thank you for getting this far. To those of you who still can’t join my Patreon for your own reasons, know that I understand, and I sincerely appreciate you hearing me out. If it isn't too much to ask, please spread this post with friends and via social media to get the word out. And finally, to all current and future patrons... Thank you for your support, sincerely. We’ll get through this, and I’ll do all that I can to make it worth your while! Let’s get this done!!