Tier Updates and Upcoming Plans (Patreon)

Howdy, all!

I've made a number of changes to the reward tiers, some of which I forewarned about, the rest of which are a net positive for you lot. Let's get into what's going on around here!

Peepers: The Peepers tier is unchanged.  This is the tier for basic access to finished work and backer-only variants, and I've no intention of changing that!

Imp Squad (Formerly the Naughty List): Let's be honest: the $5 tier was a bit shit. I didn't post WIPs all that often, and more likely than not I'd just put them in the Discord channel or something instead of on here.  Consequently, this is the most radically overhauled tier of the bunch, so let's get it broken down: 

• Changes to Previews: I'm going to start showing a bit more behind the curtain here, especially with regards to Thralls and its progress.  I've a lot of balls in the air that I'm trying to juggle right now, so who knows what'll pop up here, but it's not going to just be half-baked preview sketches once in a blue moon. It'll still probably be like spotting a unicorn, though, ergo...
• Monthly Patron Streams: I need to get the logistics of this sorted all the way out still, but I'm just gonna go ahead and call our long-standing backer goal "close enough" and start doing private streams for patrons. These'll hopefully be fun little affairs where I can take suggestions from you lot and doodle some nonsense while we have a pleasant evening. Should be fun!
• Polls: I've done a few of these in the past for pin-up suggestions and the like and it's been sort of a mixed bag. (I've still got that Chain Chomp girl like three quarters done on the side between tasks all this time later!)  Going forward, I'd like to build a sort of bestiary for Thralls, which I'm dubbing The Enyclopedia Karna, and I'm gonna let you lot vote on what we cover next from a handy list I'll pop up betwixt pages! We'll talk about that thing in a bit.

Hopefully that all gives the $5 tier a little more bang for the buck!  Finally, we have our old favorites,

The Kitty Titty Committee: The KTC has been broken down into two tiers, one for bust sketches and the other for full body!  Slots for both tiers are presently limited to 4, and I'll adjust that as I get a better sense of the workload I'm in for. You can also now trade in the monthly sketches for a proper render every three months if that's your fancy!   That said - and this is a rather important note - I am no longer promising to do these on streams.  I know that's a deal-breaker for a couple folks and want to make it super clear.  I'll get into that below.

That's the changes to Patreon out of the way, so let's talk about changes to other things going on:

I'm going to be aiming to greatly raise the priority of Witches' Thralls.  Since we've already mentioned Encyclopedia Karna, let's start with that!

Encyclopedia Karna is an informational handbook chock full of information on the various denizens of the world in which Thralls takes place!  You'll learn about the creatures, locations, magics (and probably wieners) of Karna, with interesting side-notes and sketches from a mystery co-author calling themself only "A.R." I've been showing glimpses into the process so far over on Discord, but the first batch of pages will be on Succubi, and should be dropping soon!

Witches' Thralls itself, meanwhile, has come out of the gate swinging much slower than I'd intended, so it's clear to me that I need to set some sort of schedule for myself to adhere to.  Further, I'm seriously considering only posting any further completed pages here on Patreon until the entirety of the first chapter is complete.  I need to sit down and play like a proper comic artist, scripting and thumbnailing this thing in full and coming up with a schedule.  My goal is to finish Chapter 1 before 2021.  We'll see what that entails once I get the full script and layout in place instead of just sitting with this first scene like I have been for like two years (!!!) now.  Kaz has been offering to jump in and help me get the ball rolling, and I should probably take her up on that. (For those out of the loop, she handles every step of Lonely Hooves that comes after sketching the thing, so the resumé checks out.)

To that end, I need to adjust where I'm dumping my energy, which means I've had to consider where it's even going in the first place.  My most consistent and concentrated stint of time for creative output is the weekend, which I've been spending on Commission Streams for a few years now, and over the last few months in particular I've been unable to deny that they're really bringing me down. To that end, Commission Streams are probably going the way of the dinosaur. I'm hoping the backer streams help make up for this a bit, but overall I think my energy is better spent in other ways (and I think anything I do stream will be more entertaining overall as a bonus).  As for commissions themselves, I'll probably have those defaulted to closed outside of backer sketches unless stated otherwise somewhere for a few slots now and then.  I know a handful of folks will really hate this, and I understand that I'll be taking a hit on a couple fronts for this decision, but I think it's a move I really need to make.

I think that about covers it.  If you're a Lonely Hooves fan, no worries! Ed'll be back after the holidays.  I don't know what this'll do to tiddy pin-up output, but my whims are strong and frequent so I can't imagine those'll disappear in the chaos.

Things are changing, but overall I think it's for the better.  Thank you for your support!

- Z.