[Important] December plans + Reward changes

  Hey peeps, how's it going today? I've only got two more reward pics to finish (reminder: I'll be updating that post when they're done), so I figure it's about time to discuss what I wanna do with my Patreon and art going forward.

  I've written up this post so many times and in so many different ways over these past few weeks that I almost don't know what to write at this point. There's quite a bit to say and I don't think it's possible to condense it (lord knows I've tried) because I want to explain my reasoning for why I'm changing things up.

  I know this is a lot of reading though, so there will be a tl;dr at the bottom of this post.
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  So, first off, December. Once these last two pics are finally out of the way and no longer looming over me, I think I'm just gonna take some time to chill, to be honest. And, no, it's not going be another hiatus. I just want to take some time to do my own thing, draw whatever I want, and not worry about obligations for a while. After the rollercoaster that was this year, I can't express how relieving that sounds, lol.

  I've been doing this Patreon thing for 3-4 years now and it's been a fun challenge to hear all of your ideas and draw so many different characters and scenarios. It's helped a ton with developing my skills and taught me numerous lessons about what I should/shouldn't do, as well as learning my limits.

  So, seriously, thank you for supporting me and encouraging me along the way because there have definitely been times where one of the few things keeping me going is the fact that you all love my art so much. I know I tend to go quiet when I'm feeling down, but I really do take all your comments and messages into consideration, thanks.
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  That being said, I think it's time to take things in a different direction. Other artists can keep up the pace, make more content, make better content, but the reality for me is that I often feel "trapped" by this monthly reward system. Ironically, it's a bit like all the kinky shit I draw, in that the scope of what I should be doing has grown out of control.

  The core idea of the vote is simple enough: I draw the winning character and expansion option. Easy, right? Well, that didn't seem to be appealing enough to attract new supporters, so I decided to start doing growth sequences. That meant more support, great. But, secondary choices would lose repeatedly (which people weren't happy about), so I started doing extra doodles on the side to try and give a little something to everyone. Suddenly one reward has turned into a large project and multiple others. and I would generally have about 2 weeks to get them all finished before having to take suggestions for the next vote. Not fun.

  There aren't too many ways to cut down on the workload without making some kind of compromise. Either y'all are (understandably) dissatisfied, I draw single pin-ups and don't make as much money, or I simply don't have enough time to get everything done (not to mention having little time for personal projects). The whole thing turned into a big ball of stress and that's ultimately one of the major reasons why I ended up taking a 2-month hiatus, I just had to stop and give myself some room to breathe.

  As you might guess, the point of all this is that I think the monthly vote has to be retired. I can't keep up with it in its current form and, more importantly, it's not fair to any of you or healthy for me to teeter on the edge of burnout and stumble my way through making content.
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  So, what's next for the new year and onward? Well, I think the aforementioned "do my own thing" mentality is important to both the quality of my art and my mental health going forward. I keep asking myself what I want to do and, quite frankly, I just wanna draw my OCs being dumb and cute, draw random fanart whenever I want, and just have fun with art again.

  To that end, I'm going to keep my Patreon rewards simple for a while, with the primary focus being to just fund everything I do. I'm kinda curious to see if I can be like one of those big-name artists who are known for their OCs and create a bubble of support from that. A few of you always say how much you love Kat and Elara (which is still a bit surprising), but I feel like I could do so much more with them if I actually, y'know, give them some attention. So, I wanna try to do that.

  That being said, I know rewards/incentives are important. You'll still get high-res pics and access to the monthly round-up posts, those are staying for sure, so there's still some benefit to supporting me if you wanna keep up with everything I make and see giant curves that fill your entire screen.

  As for early access and giving y'all some kind of influence, I'm considering recycling the monthly vote into more of a personalized idea poll thing as a $5 tier reward. The idea being that once or twice a month, I'd make a poll with various ideas I've wanted to draw (kinda like Press's Picks from a while back, if you remember that). These ideas could be for my OCs, for fanart, short comics, growth sequences, maybe doing follow-ups to my old pics, etc. My hope is that if I want to draw everything on the list, then I'm probably gonna enjoy drawing anything from the list. You'd get to pick a winner, I'll draw it, then you'll get the 2-week early access benefit. And, for the ideas that don't win? I'll still probably draw a few of them anyway, they'll just be public immediately.

  Personally, this feels like a good balance between doing the things I like, giving y'all some kind of input, and not overworking myself to death, but I'm honestly hesitant to confirm it as a reward right away simply because I just don't want to fall into the same monthly "trap" again. As long as I stick to the plan, I think I can make it work, but for right now, I just want to know what you all think of the idea first.
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  TL;DR:

• The monthly vote has gotten out of hand and become a large source of stress, so it's being retired.
• I wanna have fun with art again, so I'm to do my own thing for the remainder of December. I want to focus on drawing my OCs being dumb and cute, random fanart, etc.
• My Patreon's main goal will be to simply fund everything I do, but you'll still get some perks such as high-res images and monthly round-up posts.
• As a replacement for the monthly vote, I'm considering doing a personalized idea poll once or twice a month as a $5 tier reward. I offer my own ideas, you pick 1 winner, I draw it, you see it 2 weeks early. Easy for me, bonus for you. This is not a confirmed reward yet.

  This was a hell of a lot of typing, so hopefully most of you made it through with the help of the tl;dr and bold text. I would really appreciate if you could leave a comment with your thoughts on all of this or, if you prefer anonymity, take a second to leave a vote below!