August Updates

Hey all, I hope that, regardless of everything going on in the world currently you folks are hanging in there and enjoying your summer in spite of it. 

I felt like this was probably a good time to update everyone on my own situation as I've said before, I believe in being open and honest with all of you and even when things aren't ideal, you should know that too.

My husband was furloughed from his job about two months ago now and was supposed to be back to work a month ago. That hasn't happened and there is no news on the horizon about it happening soon or possibly ever. We're concerned about it obviously, and he has actively been scouting for new work but, well we all know how that's going these days. For those who don't know: The main reason I am able to work on Patreon as my full-time gig is because my husband was making enough to reasonably sustain both of us while my business picked up. With him bringing in less than half of that on unemployment currently, that situation has certainly changed.

What does this mean for my Patreon? At the moment, nothing is changing. I still plan to work my butt off every week to provide great, fun, high-quality illustrations to everyone here. It helps my mental state to stay busy and working on stuff that I love. It also helps to see and feel the support that you all provide me month to month. 

However, as Covid world continues to impact all of us, there is very clearly a new, downward trend of losing more Patrons than I bring in monthly. So, I wanted to say firstly, if money has become too tight and you can't reasonably continue supporting me or other artists through this platform, I completely understand. I genuinely would not want anyone to have to make the choice of eating or paying bills vs. seeing the latest smut I make on any given day. I want each one of you to be safe and healthy and happy. If you need to put a pause on your support here, I absolutely understand and don't want you to feel any guilt over it. We all have to do what's best for ourselves and our loved ones right now.

I haven't started looking for another more stable/higher-paying job yet because I really don't want this ride to end. Of course depending what the future holds that could become the reality. I don't want that to be the case, and I'm going to fight tooth and nail to make this work but I would be remiss if I didn't mention that it could become a possibility. I might have to make slightly less patreon-specific content and do more commission work to help bring in a little extra each month. The point is, not much is going to change currently, but I may need to consider doing more with my art to make ends meet. I also set up a Kofi account for anyone interested.  https://ko-fi.com/dudebulge 

Lastly, to everyone who is still able to offer their ongoing financial support as a patron, please know that I am indebted to you. These are crazy, unpredictable times for everyone, and being able to still offer your patronage to me through this is incredibly meaningful. I'm going to stick around for as long as I am reasonably able to do so, creating new content, polls, art streams, comic pages, you know what you're getting from me. :) Anyway, this is not a doom and gloom post, just an update. My husband could receive fantastic news about a job opportunity tomorrow, or... Not. We're doing our best, and I hope all of you are too.

Stay safe, keep healthy, be happy. Thank you very much for your continued support.

-Dudebulge