[IMPORTANT] I will up the Sketch Tier price (Patreon)

I finally got around to write this post. I wanted to change the Sketch Tier price for a while now but I forgot about it. Now I want to follow through with it because I got more and more frustrated with how cheap I am selling those sketches. I segmented this post into multiple chapters:

1) Why am I upping the price?

2) What's the new price?

3) How will the migration to the new Tier work and can Sketch Tier Patrons keep their spots?

4) I only supported you with the Sketch Tier because I wanted to give you more than 5€ a month, how can I still support you with those 7€ when the Sketch Tier isn't as cheap as it used to be? (for those who supported me but never requested sketches)

1. Why am I upping the price?

It all started with this exit survey from November:

It reminded me that I wanted to change the Sketch Tier price for a while now. Why? Because it's nowhere near being priced fairly. I implemented the Sketch Tier in February 2020 and I wasn't really valueing my art properly back then.

It's been a while since then, my skills increased and the sketches themselves became more elaborate. What were kinda rough and messy sketches in the beginning turned into cleaned up sketches with greyscale fills.

Once I realized that I became more and more frustrated with sketching the monthly sketchdumps, last month was the pinnacle of that frustration.

I began meassuring the time it took me to sketch the whole sketchdump:

You can say it's an average of 55 mins.

I live in Germany with an minimum wage of 10,45€ per hour by the next year. I think that's self explanatory why I have to change the price of that Tier ASAP.

But it doesn't end there. You also have to take into account that you also get the 2€ Early Access and the 4€ Downloads and Fanart stuff. Which leaves us with 3€ for the sketches. 

Quick calculation: 3€ are around 17.2 minutes for each sketch. This would be enough for the rough sketch in most cases.

Another thing peeps don't take into account is that I am drawing for quite a while now which is increasing the price once more and that those aren't sketches but basically greyscale commissions.

Of course you didn't ask for greyscale commissions but sketches but I want to keep it that way. I will still handle them like sketches, no worries.

2. What's the new price?

I need one hour to finish the sketch: 10,45€

Early Access and Downloads: 4€

13 years of practicing my drawing skills, 3-4 of them professionally: 4€

Let's just say we make the new Sketch Tier price:

18€

You will of course get access to the Sequence Tier benefits as well.

3. How will the migration to the new Tier work and can Sketch Tier Patrons keep their spots?

Patreon doesn't have a feature to make Tiers private for some time before making them available to the public.

I will implement the price change in January. Sketch Tier Patrons get the chance to migrate to the new tier troughout January. Every other Patron who tries to pledge for that tier during January will get refunded immediately. I want the Sketch Tier Patrons to keep their spots if they wish.

With Patrons leaving I will lower the Sketch Tier Patron limit so nobody new can join in the tier. (I can't delete it as long as Patrons are in it.)

Once we reach January 31st I will kick the remaining Patrons from the Sketch Tier to delete the tier and avoid them paying for February 2022 and welcome anyone to join the free spots for the new tier in case there are any left.

Important: I know you pay your 7€ as soon as we hit January but when you join a higher tier with an active pledge you only have to pay the additional cash to reach the pricing of the new tier instead of paying for the full 18€ price.

4. I only supported you with the Sketch Tier because I wanted to give you more than 5€ a month, how can I still support you with those 7€ when the Sketch Tier isn't as cheap as it used to be? (for those who supported me but never requested sketches)

A Patron told me that they support me with the Sketch Tier but chose the option to pay more so I looked it up.

Turns out that there's a feature where you can pledge for a tier but decide to pay more while still getting the benefits from the tier you pledged for.

Here's the link to this post:https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000126286-Editing-your-membership

Some last words

That covers about all I wanted to talk about and all the questions I thought you might have. I will be in close contact with all the Sketch Tier Patrons from January till Feburary to answer questions and organize the next steps based on if they decide to leave or want to migrate to the higher priced tier.

If they want to leave but already payed 7€ I will gladly refund them up until one week in. Else you already received some WIP-Tier and Poll-Tier perks and aren't eligable for a refund. I also have to kick you out at the end of January if you decide to stay in the tier so I'm finally able to delete the old Sketch Tier.

You can leave your comments and questions down below, I will come around to answer them :)

I tried to be as detailed as possible to prove my point that a price raise must happen. There might be people who might have a problem with that. Be civil in the comment section :)

Have a nice weekend and see ya with another WIP post later today,

Aron