looooong post regarding Rewards (Patreon)

Edit: it glitched out and repeated a later paragrhaph, love you patreon!

The past 2 months have been the most stressful and tiring physically. i want to specify that it was PHYSICALLY EXHAUSTING, i still love illustration. I had to balance work and school and i prefer trying my best when i work on something.

And, honestly, i feel like i´ve been botching the reward posters. While i was uploading everything up on pixiv, i was looking at what i had done for the past months, and while there was a good quantity of content, the quality, for my standards, was quite subpar. The only poster packs i SORT OF enjoyed were last month´s posters, and it´s only because i was studying color theory and i was playing around with colors. the line art and overall illustrations i did were not good, once again, for my standards. I know i can do better.

I´ve been mulling over how to handle rewards for months. I was aware of how the requests kept on, and still keep on increasing, but as I do, i never asked for any help or suggestions, til recently. I spoke with some other creators and some of the patreons, and in the process i realized that in trying to satisfy as much people as possible, i lost control of my handle on time, and then this semester was surprisingly insane. With a filming class, 3d modelling, photography and a design class that could substitute for a full time job, i was overwhelmed with work, but i wasnt gonna let it get to me, and so i kept working as hard as i could. I think it all hit me, 2 weeks ago when i got a small break from assignments to get ready for exams and final projects. My body shut down and i got extremely sick, i felt like a cliche salary man from a slice of life anime. I was overworking, and not being satisfied with the work i was doing. So im going to fix that.

Starting January 2019, there will no longer be a $5 or $10 tier. Im still contemplating whether the $2 tier will remain as well. There are a couple major reasons im making this change, starting the new year

1. Im probably gonna have to look for a job(im only doing freelance, currently), to prepare for my following semester, which will be working in the field, meaning i will be spending an entire semester working an actuall job....yuck.

2. I love doing comics more than working on posters.

3. I need to learn how to regulate my work.

It boils down to getting more free time, i guess.

IMPORTANT!!!

I´m still offering posters, but as commissions, that way i can decide on how many i will accept per month, and i also want to offer short comics as commissions as well.

I really enjoy doing the small comics, because sometimes i have so much stories and scenarios in mind, im surprised i havent gone insane. I also want to put out content i can actually be proud of. I want to improve on the poster packs i share every month, and yes, i still plan on making enough posters to be able to share poster packs. But i dont want to have the reward posters, hovering over my head, nudging at me, keeping me from doing short comics or distracting me from other responsibilities i have, like comic commissions, which by the way, is all on me for not knowing how to manage my time, only to deliver on some poorly made rewards.

The other day i saw an artist charging up to 50 bucks for a greyscale bust of 1 character, and i thought to myself "i should also do THAT".

By "that", i mean offering commissions instead of rewards, small poster packs, if you will, or 3 page comics like the one i shared earlier. offer the same reasonable prices like the ones from the tiers, because i honestly dont believe i should charge more than $15 for a sketch of a single character in greyscale, especially now that i dont work for any established firm or am an established artist, per say.

So, that´s what´s gonna happen in 2019, Aarokira will no longer offer reward posters on patreon, but will open up poster or comic commissions. Im still working on the prices and options that i will make available, but i can guarantee that i wont be charging over 15 bucks for a single color poster.

I understand if this will upset some followers in the higher tiers, because i only recently made changes to the reward system, but to me, the money is not important. I absolutely appreciate the $1 tiers because they have no reason to donate but they still do, and the higher tiers are no excpetion either, because ya´ll came to the conclusion that my art was good enough to pay extra for me to draw something for you. IT'S INSANE!

One last thing i wanted to make clear as to why i decided this change, is that patreon was the reason i was able to garner the amount of followers i have right now, but i have to admit that there is a dark cloud looming over my head, everytime i make a post, and while it might not bother some people, it does make me extremely weary of whatever i share or post on this platform.

To end this novel of a post, thank you for all the support, and i hope you all still come back to read the comics i draw. If you want to leave, however, no hard feelings either. and to those who stay and decide to still donate a single dollar, you will have my eternal gratitude, and as long as i can feed myself and live well, my art will remain free for everyone. December is the month of giving, and according to the internet, its also "Destroy Dick Decemeber", so i want to close out the year with the final Reward Poster Pack and a the usual monthly reward comic. Just wanted to let you all know with time, that changes will be made.

that is all for today. Happy sunday.

-Aaro