A new year / A new experience (Patreon)

Hey Hey Hey!

So, 2018 was quite a ride. The main focus for me was to create LUST as a comicbook series, and to have a successful Patreon page, as I saw many talented gay artists creating adult content having a real audience & fans supporting them.

I gave it my best, all my talent & energy, also on promoting hard on the social networks, but the results are there: I failed. Big time.

Honestly, I thought I'd have around 50 patrons when reaching LUST comic 2, in the beginnings of 2018. Having a bit more of 30 last summer was quite okay with me, I believed  things would go nice & slow. Boy, how I was wrong. By august I started losing lots of patrons, and I got a weird turn over that never helped to get back to 30 or more. Nothing could stop the fall: Lust comic 3, launching LUST comicbook 2, the fantastic reviews I got, the  continous promotion.

As you might guess, it's impossible for me to get a living from my art. I fought HARD for the last 3 years & more to make this dream come true, counting on my personal savings, now  all gone. I was patient, hard working, talented enough to get praise, greetings, signings, exhibitions, comiccons etc. But not enough to get the Patreon page really working.

By the end of 2018, I had to look for a day job and fortunately I got one now to help me pay the bills, the food. It's a a part time job, so I can still work on my art, but not as much as before, not as rewarding as it should have been.

What's gonna change for my actual faithful patrons? Nothing, although I cannot guarantee a new page each monday as before, I will do my best to make it happen each week, starting next week. Plus as usual sketches, step by steps, fanarts, etc.

What's gonna change in the game is the social networks: as I have much less hours to spend on my art, I'm gonna take most of this time from the promotion and the networks. I posted so much there for so many years, trying to find the right formula, the right hashtags, the right way to make people come to the page, hoping they'd support my art. Few likes, few shares, few new followers, gone soon, that's it. No more. If my art, my style is not good enough  to make people support me at least one time, then they aren't good enough to see my art for free as they used to be. From now on I'm gonna post very rarely on the networks and not showing much. It's not gonna change a thing but at least it's gonna buy me some time that I can use for creation, and creation only, plus my job.

It took me some time to be at peace with this big failure, I was so upset, unable to understand the reasons, how unfair this was. But now it's okay. I do know my art is worth it. I do love drawing & making comics. Even if it's for a few good people. And there are so many things in life far more important than getting bitter because you fail.

So, stay tuned for page 12 of LUST comic #3, sneek peeks of the Deimos comics, the Ambrose Spellman fanart, the next comiccons & more!