November 2016 (Patreon)

Wow, what an amazing time in history to be in (for better or worse.) I've been wondering the past couple of days what would have been the best tone to start this month's newsletter with, and kinda figured I'd just go with the usual. While we can already feel the weight of these consequences and effects to come, and mentally & emotionally ready ourselves for them, the only solace I can offer, as a content creator, is a sense of normalacy in escapism, by continuning to create safe spaces in my own worlds and stories, and to share some form of comfort in the characters I breathe life into.

Progress Report

During the time I was in Melbourne taking my week off and connecting with the local Australian furs, I had delegated the color phase to Donryu which I'm happy to share has been dutifully completed. As of this writing, all flat colors have been laid out with minor amendments here and there. We are now proceeding with the next phase where Donryu will be working on the toning (lights & shadows) for all character elements, while I begin work on background colors and color adjustments later this week (once I've cleared my commissions backlog.)

As we do not phsyically meet in person, it is always a challenge, especially when it comes to creative collaborations, to communicate the project's needs and directions. In order to delegate tasks properly, Donryu and myself liason through Telegram and instructions scribbled all over the comic pages in red. These include pointers like technical notes, mood and lighting directions.

For subscribing patrons, you'll see an example of this page in a following, seperate post.

The Road Ahead

While another year draws to an end, I am already charting a roadmap for next year's Patreon projects. The current "Buff Patrol" 16-page comic is expected to complete late Jan 2017. Once that is complete, we will officially begin the Groover growth story collaboration with Graveyard Greg. This project is expected to last between Jan - Jun 2017.

Plans are hazy beyong Jul 2017 as this is the time when my current studio lease is up, and I could be anywhere between Malaysia, someone else's home in Singapore, or if things work out, Gold Coast, Australia. It will be another moment of freefalling through life from that point on, however, should my phyiscal location stablisize, the project timeline would be as follows:

From Aug 2017 - Dec 2017, the Groover growth story will lead onto a short arc tentatively titled, "The Talk". This is a key story arc for Meatier Showers as the cast work out the intricacies of a polyarmous relationship. Once that is laid out, and if I'm still doing ok... (nervous laugh) ...we'll be working on a weight gain / fat growth comic, details of which are too early to disclose at this point.

How To Help

Patreon has reached a point of saturation where most active supporters have already settled into their preferred content creators. Movement and patronage between other creators has decreased over time, and the rate of new patrons doesn't cover the rate of attrition and dropouts (for whatever reasons it may be.)

While I could continue to raise the pledge amounts and include more rewards, as I mentioned before, my goals are long-term and not to deter supporters with financial commitments that quickly become a burden. It's not in my best interest either to include rewards that detract me from accomplishing my main goals, by adding more overhead labor to create those fancy rewards.

The only thing I can ask of everyone who continues to believe in the work I produce and the world that is Meatier Showers, is to continue spreading the word that this comic exists, and share it with friends you think might too enjoy its content.

Just hitting and maintaining that $600 milestone would ease up a lot of financial strain on my part, and ease up the amount of commission I have to take per month to supplement my income.

To those of you for continue to support and have faith in my work, that means a lot of me. I know I've dug a very difficult path for myself, especially working on content that's relatively niche even for the furry fandom.

While I may not be a commercial success by any quantative measure, I think that being able to do what I love and believe in the most, is a personal success I can be proud of. And for that, thank you again.

Nov 2016

Snares