2018 and Beyond (Patreon)

It's almost hard to imagine another crazy year go by just like that. On a personal level, when the year started, I was consciously aware that my living situation would be up in the air by the end of July. During that time, I had scrounged up enough savings from my Patreon earnings and online book sales to invest on a new laptop, for the possibility that I may be shifting out of the country, and having realized only with 2 weeks' notice that the studio extension for where I used to stay, was a no-go.

Despite the deadline, I had been fortunate enough to have found a suitably decent room to rent, one with electricity, air-conditioning (something you really can't do without it in Singapore), hot showers, roof and bed, and most vital to the survival of my business, WiFi. It's easy to sometimes forget that these things don't always come by without strife. While my rent has been the lowest I could possibly find, which includes all of the above said benefits (of not being homeless), paying for a place to stay has taken up a large portion of my Patreon earnings with little remaining for savings.

In between all this, I had been funneling whatever extra I could afford to my driving lessons - a lifelong skill I personally felt would be good investing into myself with, should it ever come to a point where I have to make deliveries, or taxi people between places. It is with a huge sigh of relief that, I had finally passed the test and gotten myself a driving license early this December - and no longer having to divert more funds to lessons.

Get a Job

"Why not take up a part-time job?" This is an alternative that I certainly have tried before, doing retail and working front-office as a hotel staff. It had not been easy, juggling between content creation and another job, with my output dramatically decreasing in that time. For anyone who has dabbled in comic-making on a serious, professional level, you'll realize and understand just how HARD making comics can be, on top of a second part-time job. It quickly became increasingly challenging keeping audiences engaged on a regularly basis, during which I experienced high rates of subscription dropouts and attrition to my Patreon earnings.

What my part-time gigs did teach me however, is that whatever it is I am doing now on Patreon, is a full-time job and a legitimate form of self-employment. It's incredibly easy, especially if you live in Asia which traditional, cultural and social expectations of what a "proper" job should be, to be pressured into following the herd. And it took a fair amount of self-persuasion and acceptance, despite operating alone and without job securities, that I was part of a larger and growing "gig economy".

Folks have turned to Uber, Lyft, AirBnB (just to name a few globally recognizable brands) and a growing plethora of digital platforms to empower and create a living for themselves. While the success of every individual varies greatly, I am vividly aware, on a daily basis, of how my current livelihood would not have been possible just a handful of years ago, before Patreon ever existed. NONE of this, would have been feasible, let alone a sane option.

To My Supporters With Love

Things have been tough without a doubt, but I have never thought myself as having it worse off than others. While my foreseeable future has been generally foggy with little guarantees, I find that I still have much to be grateful and happy for. Life without struggle has no meaning, and I can confidently say that I've been able to experience a meaningful existence thus far. 

I may not be what Patreon depicts as financially successful creator, let alone one of the many creators who sit in the upper echelons of Graphtreon, but there is no doubt that I have been blessed with a very generous and dedicated group of supporters who truly want to see me succeed, and who wish to aid me in sharing my world of pervy cartoon furry characters with the rest of the willing fandom. And for that, I am deeply humbled, and immensely grateful for your support. Thank you.

Schedule Projections for 2018

It is now my responsibility as a creator to inform everyone, as of the foreseeable future, my Patreon project will undertake a risky and unusual diversion between Jan - Apr 2018. What is projected to happen is that Meatier Showers "SUPERSIZED" will be entering its completion phase, which for the most part is good news. However, this also means that content release of "SUPERSIZED" will gradually dwindle. In its place, I will be returning to Fangra, a series that has been on hiatus since July 2015, and needs to be concluded. While it is without a doubt, enticing to hop on newer, bigger projects, it is still a professional responsibility to my readers, as well as fans of the series, to see it through and give it the ending it deserves.

What to Expect

For those of you who are here primarily on the basis of the Meatier Showers series, we will be switching gears back to preproduction. This means that instead of receiving regular comic page updates each month, you will be gaining behind-the-scenes snippets of early drafts, thumbnail previews and story outlines.

Fangra will then take stage, with projected updates of 3 to 6 pages per month, from February to April 2018. It is my personal hope that, during this of transitioning projects, that the following season of Meatier Showers (tentatively titled), "Hard On Collider" would have simmered long enough to enter its own production phase.

As of this writing, I can only project till August 2018, where I will finally be of legal age to apply through the government, for housing of my own through the "Singles Housing Scheme" of HDB, Singapore. This will mark another major milestone in my personal journey, with several future decisions hinging on the results of that application.

In Closing

For now, I ask not only for your continued support, but patience and understanding in the matter, and the creative choices I've made, to undertake Fangra as my Patreon line-up, and having to switch between projects. If you know anyone else who may be keen in either projects, please kindly recommend and share my work to them, because every little bit helps.

With all that said, I would like to wish everyone a MURRY PURRY HOLIDAY SEASON and a HORNIER NEW YEAR.

Snares,
Dec 2017