New year! New plans! (Patreon)

Right, so this took a bit longer to write up than expected, aha...

Happy new years, folks! Another year behind us, another year looking forward! I can definitely say that last year was a pretty darn eventful one, with a menagerie of stuff going on with all of us. I haven’t really made it much of a secret that these last few months were messier than expected, but I won’t deny that this has also been a pretty productive one -- not just in terms of artwork and other projects like animation and music, but also personal development. I don’t wanna bore you with all my life’s details, but it’s been a mix of making new friends, reconnecting with old friends, accidentally ending up going out on dates with people (yeah that may need explanation later lol), and despite this being a lonelier holiday season for me (my parents currently out of the country to see extended family and my cat sadly no longer with us), I did end up managing to have a nice, restful period for this last week or so, giving myself some time to better think about what we’re gonna be doing next.

So with that, I just wanna go over some things I’ve been thinking about regarding future projects, how I wanna go about them, and this means for yall! Short of it: This month (January) will be back to normal with a monthly TG sequence poll and sketches, but I want to discuss plans on arrangements for working on more personal projects that I’ve been putting on for far too long.

Quick notice on tiers:

Okay, quick business matter just to get it out of the way. For most of yall, everything should be the same! Almost all reward tiers should be as is, expect the same rewards and privileges as usual! The only thing of change right now has to do with the Creator Crownie tier. I’ve stated that I’ve been meaning on increasing the price of the tier, and due to how this site works, that requires me opening a new one -- folks who have privately arranged to join onto the new term have agreed to hop on board with it when it’s been opened; if you haven’t contacted me about joining aboard the new term, please do not snipe the slots when it’s opened.

As for the current version of the $25 tier, it is partly defunct -- you will receive the rewards of all the tiers below you ($15 and lower, so sketch suggestions and such), but otherwise there is no exclusive benefit to it right now. I’m not sure if I’ll be deleting this reward tier or potentially repurposing it for future use (more on that later), but for now, the $25 tier is only if you want to donate to me a little bit more extra than the other rewards.

A slight shift in creative trajectory:

Alright, this is the part that took me a long time to think about over the last while, as well as why this post took me so long to write, haha

If you’ve been keeping up with me on social media or stuff you are probably aware that I’ve been wanting to do... like, a lot in general, lol. I’ve been trying to determine my personal priorities amidst my obligations, especially regarding my ability, as this year has been pretty useful in informing me my physical and mental limits when it comes to my work/life balance. I’ve been realizing that there are certain things I really want to do that are significantly harder than others, and I’ve been having to figure out what things are not merely things I need to prioritize, but what I am emotionally, mentally incentivized or capable of pursuing, and some of it... I feel like I should be more upfront with.

Let’s just rip the bandaid off: I’m going to be toning down on NSFW art for the foreseeable future. I will still be doing TG and trans-skewing art, but I’m going to be putting a soft cap in terms of the graphic-ness of my work to I think around PG-13, “shounen harem anime you can see on TV” levels, haha. That’s not to say that I will be abandoning it forever, it’s just that for the time being, I just want to focus more on being generally fun and creative rather than being saucy with my work.

I hope that this isn’t seen as a big deal -- my non-commission work has been a lot more comfortably SFW for a long while now, and I kinda wonder if folks have noticed that, lol. There’s a few reasons for this, deliberate and accidental -- one revelation I’ve had in the last few days is the fact that I’ve actually just found myself really really stressed lately because of a lot of personal stuff, and I don’t know about you, but it’s really hard to be horny when you’re stressed. I feel like when I put being explicit at the forefront of my creative process, I’m much more prone to stumbling and burnout from if I end up in a funk, and that’s resulted in me becoming a lot more stressed about my workflow because I become more impatient to stop being stressed, which makes things more frustrating, anxiety-inducing, and resulting in missed deadlines than I’d like. When combined with the burden of having to worry about censoring for certain platforms and potentially getting in trouble while I’m away on my day job, I ended up coming to a realization that lewds might honestly be too much for me to handle right at this moment, and I really shouldn’t be poking at that wound for now. Perhaps in time it will heal and I can return back to it, but for now I really wanna focus on being healthy again nad focusing on stuff I know for a fact I’m comfortable with.

Speaking of which, the affirmative reasons! Most of my personal projects of interest for the last many months have been passion projects for reasons that go beyond SFW/NSFW divides -- they’re just concepts I think are gonna be really exciting and personally fulfilling. Presently I’m working on character arts for my real life DND group as well as FRIENDS ON ANOTHER SIDE (we’re about to get into the really good stuff!!!!), and I’m very stoked to get those done as soon as I can. In addition, there’s other things I’ve been wanting to get to in the form of character art and other conceptual work: My Rumiko Takahashi-inspired scifi adventure work RUNGUNBUN, an untitled supervillain school project (tentatively calling it “ANTI-HERO ACADEMIA”, probably won’t stick bc it’ll make folks think of that other anime lol), and my personal longterm pet project UNTITLED CYBERPUNK MAGICAL GIRL PROJECT. Some of these have more TG goodness in them than others, but they have ALL my passion and attention, and I really want to get to them as soon as possible.

I will be busy as usual, I figured that with all my various physical, psychological, and emotional bumps in the road I’ve dealt with last year, I think it’s better that I really treat myself better with doing more stuff that I think will be much kinder to me in those regards, and I’m looking forward to be able to make time for it. There’s just one last thing on my mind that may need consideration, though, and it’s something I’m still waffling on.

What to do with the monthly TG poll?

So, as I said, this month, the poll is definitely happening! As per tradition for January, CosmoCon 2024 is coming to town, perfect opportunity for new cosplay TGs >:D Looking forward to getting back into the rhythm of this again, as well as starting the sketches! Both of the submission posts will be up and available ASAP, am excited to see what we’ll be up to from this!

Now with that said, I have been considering the future of this specific practice, and I’m unsure if I’ll be doing more monthly sequences starting February. I’m not saying I’m dropping it for sure, there’s just a lot of variables I need to consider. On one hand, I love the frequent participation and community from doing this and seeing the creativity of your suggestions as they manifest in new comic! (plus discontinuing it might throw some tier rewards a bit out of whack, aughhhh) On the other hand, I already am keeping a pretty rigorous schedule and set of deadlines per month with a page of a comic every week and work on 10 comics every month, and I really don’t want to become known for chronic lateness. I want to be able to do regular, scheduled content on a recognizable basis AND I want folks, especially those generous enough to donate to me on a regular basis, to be involved with my creative pursuits and helping in making decisions, but I also am still trying to find out what’s feasible and -- to put it frankly -- what’s realistic for me.

I’m very much in need of feedback to decide what to do with the monthly poll. Should I keep it as is? Should I modify the kinds of content I make with it? Should I handle the submission period/polls or stuff in a different way? Do you think there’s a viable alternative for a monthly project? Let me know what you think! You and what you expect from me is very valuable for all of us, and I greatly appreciate any feedback you may have on the matter! Whatever comes of this, I will be sure to let yall know publicly in another post down the line!

Conclusion

Woof... again, this took a lot longer to write than I expected... 😅

Anyways... to summarize everything, this might be an interesting transitionary period for me; I wanna keep as many things the same as I can while also changing enough to make my life a little easier while not having to sacrifice everything yall guys want from me. I say this time and time again but I truly mean it: thank you so much for your generosity and support. Sometimes I genuinely can’t believe that people know, respect, and like me for what I do, and to the degree that yall do, especially in a monetary sense. It’s tremendously humbling it has not gone unnoticed; I want to do my best to retain that respect from yall and ensure that your ongoing attention and kindness is duly rewarded.

If you have any thoughts on any of these current plans, by all means, leave your feedback below. I’ve admittedly been quite stuck in my own head for a while and want to get back into being “normal” again, and that involves engaging with folks and respecting what you want while also becoming kinder to myself.

Happy 2024!