Thank you/Follow-up (Patreon)

Since I'm finding I can't reply individually to everyone who commented on my hiatus post and elsewhere, I'm posting here instead.  So many of you have been so supportive and understanding, and I want to thank you.  Like, some of you nearly made me cry, and it really means a lot to know that you guys are invested in my work.  DOTU is still my pet project and something I care deeply about, and you guys are my motivation for sharing it publicly instead of just keeping it in my head.  Even if I need a break from it, I don't *want* to have to give it up.

I also want to thank those of you who have pledged or increased your pledges since my hiatus announcement.  I need to reiterate that my plans for the future of the comic aren't resolved yet, and I never want anyone to overextend themselves for my sake, so I hope I don't let you guys down.  But in the meantime, I'm incredibly moved by the generosity, and it does make my prospects for the future of the comic that much more hopeful.

To address an issue that's coming up - I appreciate the suggestions for ways outside of Patreon to diversify my earnings, and I do also need to clean up my Patreon page to make clearer what I'm offering.  But I am not looking for suggestions of more Patreon rewards to add to my workload.  I can't do more than I'm already doing.  That was kind of the point of my last post.  I can't add anything without subtracting something else, and subtracting WILL result in a loss of pledges.

I'm a comic writer-artist, and if anyone here is comparing my output to another Patreon creator who's a comic writer only, please understand that a comic page I can write in under 15 minutes takes me over 16 hours to draw, ink, and shade.  I just have more work on my plate than comic creators who outsource their art, so I'll never be able to do the extras they do, especially with significantly less pay.  And as a reminder, this is what I'm already offering on Patreon:

-larger pages

-a gallery of 260+ past voting incentive images and minicomics

-exclusive wallpapers, including wallpapers on request

-WIPs, process gifs, process videos, concept art

-a prose 3-novel series that already has more than 150K words posted

-Roughly 120 personalized monthly letters from Pogo, 60+ by snail mail

-over 450 total original sketches posted to all patrons and mailed to $10 patrons

-a monthly full color illustration

-a gallery of my inspiration photos

-spoilers and background/world building information

-custom DOTU card portraits

I also understand that NSFW tiers are pretty much always lucrative, but that's not really an option here.  I don't feel it's appropriate to commodify the sexuality of any minority group I'm not a part of. (and the one(s) I'm a part of... don't have much NSFW appeal.)  I'll happily sell well-rounded characters and stories and worlds and extras that include sexual content when relevant, but I just can't sell sex in and of itself.  I know this limits my earnings, but my beliefs are important to me, and that's not something I can easily throw away.

Anyway, here's another horribly long-winded post, but I just wanted to follow up here so I don't turn into a broken record in the comments section.  Again, thank you for your support and your patience, and I'll keep you updated on any future plans.