December 15th Exclusive Poll!

It's titled this for posterity since there will not be a poll until next exclusive. January 1st's exclusive will still have a poll and it'll be touhou themed as is tradition. There is a poll at the bottom of this btw!!

Now that that's all out of the way, time to outline my plans for what this chunk of the month will be. I'm sure most of you guys know by now that this month holds my birthday, so I'm taking it to be very selfish with my art to the extreme. Everything that I draw this month is completely my choice including this very exclusive-- that being said I have no idea what I want it to be yet but I do have an idea. Will 99% of you guys like it? Yeah, I mean you guys are hopefully here for my art. Will the drawing still be WG themed? Yes.

Right now I'm working on a Yumian Christmas themed drawing that won't be finished until I finish this exclusive, and in a perfect world I'd shelve the exclusive until after I'm done with this Yumian, but I pride myself on a schedule that I have kept consistent since November 2019-- That being said I want to change things around a bit in 2025. Everything will retain it's normality even though I'm being very selfish this month, for now.

I alluded to it last time I did an update, but I want to change the way I run my subscriptions. I think I'm one of the cheapest subscriptions out there for the quality of exclusive content that I bring on subscribe star and patreon. I don't make enough cash to really put the amount of effort consistently into this stuff on top of that, it gets in the way of personal projects like Mochi Moshi and some art that I have a lot more passion for. Eventually I want to make fanart less and less until it becomes an absolutely rare occasion. I know some of you are probably afraid of that idea considering that you've been subbed for so long, but it's more the fact that I just don't follow media that has characters that are interesting enough for me to draw, relevant enough for me to cash in on and I fucking HATE drawing "what's hip."

I'm sure you've noticed by now that I didn't draw brazillian miku, that one femboy bikini hoodie thing that looked like shit, i don't do no nut november themed drawings, i don't do meme content, i don't do waifu of the month-- cause I just don't really care? Everyone else is doing it why should I add to the content when I'm making art. Now before you call me pretentious, there's hundreds of fantastic artists that contribute to bandwagon trends, and I've saved such images and enjoyed them as well. I just do not like doing it, I find no joy in it and I do not like using it as a stepping stone to advertise my other works. I had a huge huge huge update going on and on about wanting to do things without pleasing an invisible audience that people were very receptive of so I know you guys understand.

Now what this means is that I actually want to stop or limit the amount of fan art I make that has no inspiration. Even if some of your favorite pictures of mine are some of my least favorite, that's completely fine! I still made it and to find enjoyment from it is fantastic. It's just the reason I stopped doing commissions. Just as a note, I did enjoy drawing a lot of fanart I have made!

Ultimately the reason I brought up money earlier is that, right now I'm making 300 dollars a month to create 2 exclusive images and work on a project that has spanned over 3 years of development so far. I hope you all understand that the reason Mochi Moshi's development has taken this long is because of the resources granted to me and the fact that I do have another job. Thankfully the progress on that is beyond palpable and I never thought I'd get this far in this amount of time. Regardless I want to make better use of my time and allow myself to work on things I want to while cutting back on exclusives, so I want to ask you all a question.

What looks the best for my subscription service:

1) Payment options stay the same, Lower tier only has a single fanart exclusive while the second exclusive is removed all together
2) Removal of the lower cost exclusive tier and do two fanart exclusives drawings for the 7 dollar project tier
3) Payment options stay the same, the two fanart drawings are replaced with two limited time exclusive OC art, with small stories attached that folks vote on.
4) Payment options stay the same and lower tier has an exclusive oc drawing and project tier has the fanart drawing and the previous tier's drawing.
5) "I would rather unsubscribe than have options listed above"

I know this is a lot to consider, what wins this will not be what happens in the end so vote with your true intentions. This is just something I want to know personally. You will get a major heads up if subscriptions change! If you want to know what I want to do, it would be 1 exclusive oc poll drawing for 4 dollar tier, which is a CRAZY cut back that I think you guys wouldn't like. I'll add it as a secret option but I don't expect you to vote for it at all. If somehow I end up making 1000+ a month I legitimately won't change anything-- but I can't see that happening.

Yes this is a money thing, and I refuse to sugar coat it. My passions as an artist are to expand and continue my own personal universe I created, not make fan art for street performer money. When you have insanely creative folks who make infinitely more than me off of one of their characters, I can't help but feel jealous that I have to rely on trying to pull people in by drawing Totally Spies or 2B from Nier. Even if I like those characters I can't help but feel cynical.

Now I really really want to overstate that I actually like making art for you guys!!!! I love doing what I do, even if I'm making fanart!!! I love drawing art!!! I love you guys as fans!! Some of you guys leave really funny comments and I've grown to learn your personalities and I know that you love my original characters!! It's so fantastic to see the way you interact with me as an artist!! I know a few months back when I had that huge statement about wanting to do more things for myself it could have been read as lashing out, or being sick of people but it's the opposite! It's me realizing that you guys do just love what I make no matter what it is and I want to love what I make too. When someone says "No, do what you want to do," you gotta listen and this is what I want to do and, I want to not make fanart as often to illustrate the world I've been creating. 

The fact that I have any following, any amount of money from this line of work at all, the fact that I could produce merch and have people buy it (And I really hope that stuff gets sent to you guys soon), it's beyond me. I'm a great artist, I love what I do, but the fact that others see it that way is genuinely heart warming. There's no better Christmas, Birthday or Hannukah gift than everyday knowing that I have people who love what I do so much that they support me either financially or emotionally. Even if I'm not well off, or as well off as others, it's good to know that the fact that it is what it is brings a smile to my face. There's a reason all of my ocs have a smile in most of their illustrations. My happiness, my emotions, reflect onto the canvas. 

Thank you and have a wonderful winter solstice. You'll hear from me again soon, and I'll share my thoughts on the poll as well. And as a treat let me tell you what fanart I think I want to make for the 15th. I had an idea to do a fast food Pomni thanks to the cafe that they ran officially. Whether I go with it or not is yet to be seen, but get excited. Oh and please do not forget to vote in the poll!!

The question for the poll is "What looks best for my subscription service?"