may rewards update + some upcoming changes!

Hello hello my friends!!

I know I've been rather quiet throughout this month so I wanted to check-in and give you some dates for the May rewards:

• sprouts: the May freebie will be going up hopefully on Wednesday, but absolutely before the end of the week !!
• strawberries: the May sketchbook tour will be up on Friday, 5/27
• bluebells: the first May podcast will be dropping tomorrow!! with the second going up next Monday, 5/30
• tangerines: the May postcards will be arriving this Friday, so Javi and I will be packing and sending out tangerine mail next week :o)

Now, for those aforementioned upcoming changes! It's nothing serious, but it is a significant change to tier rewards:

After June, I will unfortunately be discontinuing the "freebie" reward from the $2 sprouts tier. When I started my Patreon, and up until the start of 2021, I had the "monthly printable" reward as a way to keep me thinking of new sticker/product ideas, and it was a great way to test out new styles, product designs, packaging things, etc. However! My workflow has changed substantially since then, as I'm no longer working on shop things, and focusing more on my personal illustration practice, and I've been finding more and more that the monthly freebie is the reward I keep falling behind on, and therefore it tends to conflict with my monthly rhythm (along with other personal brain things, but those I’m working through in therapy hahah) So, unfortunately, I'm going to have to stop offering the monthly freebie.

The $2 sprout tier will otherwise keep existing as is, but it'll be more of a tip jar -- you'll still get early access to YouTube videos, all the behind the scenes stuff, random little videos/blogs here and there. I'm starting to lean more into Twitch again, and I would love to share all the processes of what it means to set up my overlays and stuff as I upgrade my streams hahah. You’ll also, of course, still retain access to the entire freebie archive, so you can still go back and redownload freebies from months past !! :D I may also upload a fun digital freebie here and there when the inspo strikes, but I will no longer be offering it on a monthly schedule.

Like I said above, I'll still be uploading a May and June freebie, but that sprout perk will be going away come July. I completely understand if you want to change/cancel your pledges — I am thankful for y'all's generosity and understanding as I try to figure out what a long-term sustainable workflow looks like, as I learn what is and isn't right for me. I’m finally starting to let go of the “But I’m not doing that much!! I’m doing basically nothing!!” thought trap, and instead accepting the fact that I maybe have too much on my plate after all ;;

Also! I was thinking of posting a monthly schedule for y’all at the start of every month — external accountability does wonders for my ability to stick to self-imposed deadlines lol, and I’m hoping it might offer some more structure to my months. Would you like that? Or should I keep it to myself?

Full disclosure: I’m rather embarrassed that I’ve been self-employed for almost 5 years and am still having trouble finding a routine that works for me, but I’m trying to be gracious and patient with myself, instead of berating myself with criticism, which usually doesn’t get me anywhere.

Anywho!! Onward and upward my friends <3 I hope you’re doing alright!

Love, Chey xx