Quick Update (Patreon)

Hi Everyone!

I know it's been a really long while since I've had the opportunity to post anything on my Patreon page. It's been a busy year adjusting to new schedules, environments and challenges. Moving towards the year 2020 (the future is here!), I'd like to take a moment to share some initial thoughts on the direction I want for my Patreon page, and what the process may look like as we gradually shift gears into a different model.

New Financial Goals

With my existing salary, after paying for rent, groceries, meals, insurance, phone bills, transportation etc. I am barely left with enough for personal savings - which for the most part are set aside to pay for my future mortgage.

While I am hoping for a positive performance review in April 2020, I don't really want to wait on the vague probability of getting a pay raise then, before going about my new objectives. The primary purpose of me rebooting my Patreon is to fund two key areas of my lifestyle:

• A full-year premium subscription for Picarto (for live streaming and recording videos)
• An active gym membership to attend dance fitness classes (e.g. Zumba, Sh'bam, Body Combat)

I am currently setting a Patreon goal of US$200 to pay off for the two things that matter the most to me at this point (sharing art, live streaming and staying alive - physically and metaphorically). 

December Trials

Starting this month, I will resume my (outstanding & overdue) commissions and attempt to clear my current slate. As I normally go about doing these, I usually stream on Picarto in an effort to connect with my audience and followers (despite my own introversion). Every now and then, I will usually start a stream with warm-up sketches, and sometimes on occasion end with some bonus personal sketches for my own indulgence.

With my Patreon page, I hope to archive these sketches and recorded stream videos and make them available here. For the month of December, these updates will be available to existing patrons. If everything checks out, I will begin a new cycle of billing, starting January 2020.

The gist of it is that I'm turning my Patreon page to more of a donation platform (with exclusive content) to support my Picarto activities. That seems to be the most natural and logical synergy based on how I regularly conduct my online presence.

Projected Reward Tiers

$1 - Basic Access to Stream of the Month
$3 - Club Access to Weekly Sketch Dump

Admittedly the wording is a tad bit confusing for now, so do feel free to post your questions here while i further streamline and revise the offerings. It seems counter-intuitive at first to be placing a premium on the sketches, but that's what I feel has to most value (compared to the video recordings).

The What Now?

For those of you who aren't aware, after my return from FurDU 2019, I signed up for a gym membership and realized the dance fitness classes were something I truly enjoyed (I felt great even after an exhausting work week) and it allowed me to maintain a certain degree of physical fitness. Unfortunately, given the upkeep and my sudden jump in rent, I was only able to maintain the gym membership for only 4 months. And... I can really feel the difference with and without going for the dance fitness classes.

So yes. Among my to-do list of completely rebranding my Patreon page (which will take between Dec to Jan) and trying to better communicate my new goals... the main objective of my Patreon is to fund my passions. Even though doing comics isn't exactly feasible now, I am still trying to keep this up to literally afford my interests.

That's really it.

Hopefully, I'll be checking in soon with content and updates once I'm back from FURUM 2019. I am long overdue for a proper holiday.

Snares
Dec 2019