April Update (Patreon)

Hello patrons! I have something that's been on my mind for quite some time now, and I think I should act on it.

Tl;dr - I'm changing the drawing per month count to 5/6 for the sake of mental health and personal life conflicts.

Simply put, two-ish drawings a week is a lot for me to keep up with. Given the time I have to work around, a drawing will take 3 days, give or take. That's not counting exporting all the images and scheduling posts, narrowing suggestions down for polls + making them, and sometimes I must wait on polls to end because I didn't time it well to when I can start on the next drawing. Sometimes personal obligations seep over my work time and I must tend to those matters, and other times I can't work at all. I didn't have the hindsight to think of all these steps when I first started -- I thought all I would be doing is drawing. It's all a lot to keep up with and I've been keeping myself going from drawing to drawing for a while.

I guess I have been alright with overworking myself and working within the confines of a strict schedule because the pandemic has limited what I can do. The industry I got my degree for was hit hard, like most others, just before I graduated and the job market is practically non-existent for entry level graduates like me. I have not been able to work at other places due to medical concerns, as pre-existing conditions make me especially vulnerable to COVID-19.

As a result, Patreon and commissions have been my only source of income, and I'm grateful to have it. 9 months in and I think it's been going really well, and I have you guys to thank for that. But I've been feeling so fatigued the last few months and the break I took in January/February was a good reprieve. Unfortunately, the fatigue is already on it's way back. I think I overextended myself back in July by starting with so many drawings. It set a precedent that I have to keep up with and it gives me little free time to draw things I want to or just not draw at all and enjoy something else.

So, I'm changing the drawings per month count to 5-6. I think it's reasonable and still a fair price point, and the extra time will let me work on content that I've been wanting to for months, take a break, and experiment with my own work.

Three more additional notes:

• I set up a goal way back in July about adding another drawing to the monthly output once we reached $1,500 -- that's changing to a short form mini-comic whose characters and prompt will be decided by you guys via vote! The goal's been set to $1,000 now.
• I am retiring the OC Box for $12 patrons because it wasn't being used very much, save for a small handful of people. While I enjoy drawing your OCs, I'm replacing it with a different benefit that will be more practical for everyone in the tier
• Apropos $12 benefits, the tier will be getting bonus alts in some of the drawings as they apply. This benefit is already in effect this month. The alts can range from different clothings, additional props, etc.

I'm always trying to expand on patron benefits, so if you've got any ideas on how I can make this whole thing better I would love to hear them. Thanks for understanding, and I appreciate your support!