Updates: July 2023 (Patreon)

Hello everyone!

(Sorry for this wall of text, but this is very important to me. Thank you for taking the time to read the whole update.)

My anniversary as a stock model and photographer is coming up soon (24.07.) and I always take some time during this month to think about my plans for the future.

The last months have been challenging for me and I’m still trying to catch up with all the stuff I have to do regarding my wife, the house I inherited and also my work here.

I’m finally at a point where I can take a step back and really think about where I want to go with my work.

I want to focus on smaller projects again with interesting and creative themes, because people seem to like them the most and I love making them.

Seeing artists being inspired and excited because of my references is my greatest joy. I love helping and supporting other people. It’s what motivates me to keep getting better at what I do. Being able to spend so much time doing exactly that is a dream come true for me. And I want to keep that dream going.

To do that, I will have to make some small changes here that should not affect the amount of content in a negative way – it should even be the opposite.

I want to keep more of my content free again. So instead of a surprise mini pack for patrons I want to work on more small free sets throughout the month. There are some ideas that are very specific or not big enough for a premium pack, but I think people would like them. There is unfortunately not enough time to work on these additional sets with all the exclusive content that I have to work on every month for Patreon.

I am so thankful for your support here and I always fear that I seem ungrateful when I make changes like this. But my hope is that you all are in favor of me making more of my content accessible to artists that are not in a position to buy resources like this.

This was – and still is – the main point of this Patreon page. That we together can give more artists the opportunity to work with high quality references.

If I could, I would just make everything available for free. But sadly, I’m in no position to do that. Especially now without my wife.

That’s why I tried to find a good balance again and I hope that these changes don’t bother you.

Here is a quick summary of the changes:

Pose Requests: Very few people actually used this reward, so it will not be an “official” reward anymore. Feel free to still ask about a pose and I will see what I can do. I will gladly work on specific poses when I have the time.

Surprise Mini Packs: I will work on smaller free sets instead of one bigger pack that’s exclusive for patrons.

Themed Packs: They stay the same and I will focus more on them so that I can finish these packs sooner and with more variety.

Birthday Packs: They stay the same. I love working on these packs. It’s such a joy to learn about your OCs and projects you want to work on with my references.

Video References: I want to focus more on my figure drawing videos and learn more about video making and editing before investing time in the video references. Right now, I feel like I’m only making them because they are a monthly reward and not because I feel excited about making them. That’s why I don’t want to keep them as an “official” monthly reward and instead work on a video reference when I feel inspired to do so.
There are a lot of ideas for figure drawing references and other types of video content that I want to try out instead, because a lot of people seem to like the figure drawing videos and I enjoy making them so much.

Behind The Scenes Content: I want to finally do more BTS content. With my new studio it’s a lot easier to record my process because I have more space to actually set up a second camera far enough to get everything in frame.
It will probably take a while before I have the time to record and edit stuff like that, but it’s something that I really want to do in the future.

These changes should give me more freedom and time to work on other projects as well.

Patreon and Ko-Fi alone will most likely not be enough to stay a full-time freelancer for much longer.

Owning and taking care of a house alone requires more money than I’m making right now. I am in the fortunate position to have some savings right now, but these won’t last forever, and I don’t want to rely on them.

That’s why I’m trying to find more income streams. Youtube and fine art (prints) are possible options and I want to advertise my commission page more in the future.

There are some more things that I would like to try but for now I will make sure that I can provide you all with inspiring and creative references photos and videos.

All these changes may be a bit risky, but I only had two options:

1. Keep everything the same for a somewhat steady income but without much potential of growth (and risking another burnout and unhappiness)

2. Risk the somewhat steady income now with the potential of growth (and the chance of trying more and new things)

It was an easy decision in the end, and I hope that you can understand.
A lot changed for me this year. Changes out of my control that hurt me and left a lot of scars.
I think it’s time to make changes that I can control, and I hope they will also help me to heal.

Making and experiencing art always saved me when I was in very dark places throughout my life. And I have the hope that’s the case for other people as well. That’s why I want to make most of my content available for free and as interesting and inspiring as possible.

I want others to be able to heal, learn and grow through making art.
Being an artist right now is stressful enough with social media and the unethical use of tools that should help artists and not try to replace them.

That is the reason why I also want to start working more on my Discord server.
I want to provide at least a small place of peace, kindness, and support for all the people that create art to make our lives more color- and meaningful.

I’m not an activist – as much as I would love to be. I do not have what it takes to stand at the frontline and protect artists rights like others do.
In videogames I always want to play the role of a heroic defender, but I end up in the healer or support role. That’s who I am. And I finally want to embrace that.

Thank you for giving me the chance to do so. I will do my best.

Take care and stay creative. 🌺