May Update - Monthly Round Up

Goodbye Winter! Hello...snow!? Anyway, update time.

April Content - Now Expired

The links for April's content have now expired. Tanis will be available on my website today for anyone who missed her. My Mini Factory emails will be sent out over the next couple of days (depends how long it takes them to publish the upload).

LINKS TO MARCH CONTENT ARE NOW INVALID - NEW ONES FOR APRIL WILL BE POSTED ON THE 3RD MAY.

Poll Winner - Lady Xiu, Grace of the East

The graceful Lady Xiu and the water guardian, Yangtze have won the vote. I will be sculpting her throughout May and releasing her in June. I'll share Work In Progress shots as I go.

Model of the Month - Bonnie, Claymore of the Night

The full release for Bonnie, The Claymore of the Night includes:

• 1:10 and 1:14 scale dynamic model of Bonnie hacking apart a zombie with:
 • 2 head options - bald and with hair.
 • 3 Zombie torso options - No blood, with blood, and with blood separate.
 • Combined, Multi-part and Pre-supported STLs
 • Single Piece and Multi-Part Base - The base is larger than usual, it has been cut into parts for the smaller form factor printers (5.5 or 6" screens), and a full single piece version is included for larger printers (8.9" screens and above)

• 1:10 and 1:14 scale artistic nude model of Bonnie ascending steps with:
• Combined, Multi-part and Pre-supported STLs

• 1:10 and 1:14 scale dynamic bust version with:
 • Simple and Special base options
• Combined, Multi-part and Pre-supported STLs

• 1:10 and 1:14 scale artistic nude bust version with:   
 • Simple and Special base options
• Combined, Multi-part and Pre-supported STLs

• Practice Texture Swatch - Practice painting the 6 most prominent textures of the model.

• 1:1 life size Claymore "Vae Victis" with:
 • Optional leather wrap - Enabling the addition of real leather instead.

• 1:1 life Corroded Axe with:
• Optional leather wrap - Enabling the addition of real leather instead.

Patreon Alternative

A while back I was looking for Patreon alternatives, mostly due to all the legal troubles Patreon were having.  Since then Patreon have had several layoffs, the CEO himself has said it isn't profitable and recently they secured another $155m in venture capital, which they shouldn't need if they're doing well.  

Mor worryingly, there have also been a few stories lately about Patreon themselves actually meddling with the content of creators with one NSFW artist saying that they demanded to see the contents of their Google Drive (like it's any of their business), while another more recently (some NSFW hentai game creator) has left the platform due to receiving an email from Patreon "suggesting" that they change the relationship between two characters in the game they're making as if they were their publisher or something. I don't feel it's Patreon's place to meddle with the content of creators, especially if the only benefit they provide is a paywalled blog. If they want to act like publishers then I'd expect promotion, advertisements and other benefits that publishers usually come instead of just being a payment processor for private blog posts.

Since Patreon seems to be moving ever more into the realm of puritanical big brother, I'd rather not keep all my eggs in one basket as I can well imagine them just outright dropping anything even slightly higher than PG-13.  I won't be leaving Patreon but I'd like some level of security. But anyway, I ended up looking at Podia (I'm fairly sure it's what Loot Studios uses). I will be giving it a test to see how it works out but from an initial look it seems really promising.

It allows digital downloads (including hosting of them) that can be tied to memberships, and it's possible for me to provide continued access to those downloads automatically without the need for claim links, emails, or other third party integrations. Secondly it runs on a monthly subscription for me rather than a percentage based revenue share that Patreon takes. It would cost me just under 15% of what Patreon currently costs me and will actually provide far more benefits for that cost (file hosting and the like).

Anyway, I'm not doing it yet. I've got some more testing to do, but I will post if I go ahead with it as it seems to be the best alternative out there (Subscribe Star is a nightmare when it comes to interface, even worse than Patreon).

Usual Content

Usual content will also be available on May 3rd (or earlier depending on the billing completion). Renders, poll sketches and Work In Progress Shots will be available through the Itch.io releases. For those who have already claimed the Itch.io Artwork and Trove release, they will be updated so you do not need to claim them again.