Quick thoughts on Patreon plans starting next month

I was originally considering doing a public survey to gauge folks' takes on these ideas, but after further consideration, I think I'm just gonna go through them and yall can let me know what sounds exciting, haha. Exact details will be in flux (especially the prices), but these are what I'm most likely to do once SCHOOL SPIRIT and UNHOLY BLISS are complete/nearing completion.

New $25 Tier for Frame-per-month TG Commissions!

So if you're familiar with MeowWithMe and how they do this, I'm gonna try experimenting with this format: I'm gonna open 5 slots for $25-Patrons, who can pitch an idea for a maximum TG sequence/comic that goes up to 6 frames. Each frame will probably consist of a character pinup getting gradually TG'd into a Patron-suggested idea, along with some dialogue and maybe other characters/backgrounds within a certain scope, with a batch of each content expected to come out during the mid-late portion of each month.

I'm expecting to open up-front commission details next month alongside this Patreon overhaul, but those will be for big and costly short-term projects. This Patreon tier is ideal for folks who are willing to wait for longer sequences that will ultimately save them in the long-term. 

Depending on how well it goes, I may add more slots or expand to other monthly gains like fuller comic pages or more frames per month. For now though, I will just be limiting to 5 slots around June 1st, and we can discuss further expansion later :D

The Future of Longform Comics (and Other Long-term Projects)

(for context, I consider a "longform comic" something that takes up more than 4 pages and would be released gradually over time rather than at once)

I'm happy with how SCHOOL SPIRIT is turning out, but as my first major Patreon-backed longform project, it's also been a learning experience for things I wanna correct with future projects. I may have pitched at some point while SCHOOL SPIRIT was starting out that I would immediately work on another longform project after it, but due to a variety of factors, I'm gonna be working on a different trajectory. Just going by in point form how I intend to operate:

• Future longform comics will be designed to be for a relative shorter-term. For some reason I supremely underestimated how long it'd take to draw a 20 page comic part-time, and while I'm happy with its actual content, I didn't mean to prolong its development. For now, I guess the ideal is that I'm keeping future comics within a 10 page limit, just so I'm not locked into the same story for over 2 months, and I can move onto different and exciting story ideas later on. If I am able to reach a high-enough income level and open my schedules/bandwidth way more (more on that just below), I may rescind this cap, but until then, this is the plan.
• Future long-term projects (over 10 pages) will launch upon reaching certain income-based goals. Once SCHOOL SPIRIT is over, I really wanna get to working on other smaller projects, from commission jobs to just smaller sequences without having to worry about a long-term ongoing series dividing my time. For a while I haven't been able to really prioritize commission stuff, and while I was really excited to get to work on SCHOOL SPIRIT asap with a healthy platform, one unexpected issue is that I haven't been able to tremendously grow this Patreon, which may have to be as a result of me not fully being able to commit to art as a full-time endeavor. That, in turn, is likely due to me actually launching this series too early and lowballing myself in working for it in lieu of pursuing direct growth.
  
  I'm still very happy with SCHOOL SPIRIT and am proud of where we're at now, but the short of it is the next time I do a project of this size again, I want to be able to work on it more reliably and efficiently, and that would be predicated on me being able to afford to, possibly once I get past the $1k-per-month milestone (and realistically, I'd probably need to be around the $2k per month mark to consider this like a "fulltime" job haha)
• Future longform comics will receive staggered public releases, rather than limited to after the it's 100% complete on Patreon. This is probably my biggest personal regret with SCHOOL SPIRIT, and largely the result of me again underestimating how long it'd take to get this done. The idea I had with SCHOOL SPIRIT releases being exclusive to Patreon until it was all done was that it'd entice folks to hop in early, but I think I might've led to the opposite effect, in large part bc it doesn't allow me to promote as much to the public. I guess expect future projects to be like, public receives comics 5 pages late before on Patreon. We'll see how that goes, hopefully that has the desired effect of making folks go "oh gotta see what's up early 👀"

Thinking About Other Future Projects/Endeavors

While I'm here, wanna just discuss a few other things I wanna get to at some point soon, although as mentioned above, this will be largely dictated on my personal working bandwidth and level of interest:

• I'm strongly considering starting a personal website as a hub for ALL of my content... not just NSFW TG stuff, but also more experimental stuffs I do in my offtime like music, SFW art, video projects, long texts (maybe short fiction or just personal blog posts), and whatever else I think would be cool. Still unsure how much time and money it would take for me to launch a site and make look good for my intended purposes, but I really think it could be fun, as well as a convenient means of access for stuff I don't wanna clutter social media with.
• In a more short-term thing, I'm also considering opening a Discord, though unsure if I wanna start an actual community or if I just wanna leave it as a read-only newsletter. I'm not sure if I'm able to maintain and moderate a community for folks to chat in (or keep it lively and active), I'm primarily just thinking of making one for the same reasons as starting a website: I can update yall on my various types of content and other announcements without forcing yall to scramble across various social media platforms.
• In terms of REALLY long-term endavors, I would be fascinated to do a TG visual novel or other type of interactive fiction. I've been receiving comment on maybe doing a game-like project based on the highly positive reaction to my RPG-style TG animations, but learning how to make a game and then actually developing for one would probably be something I can only do once I'm well past the "I can comfortably work on TG content full-time" mark lol. I would REALLY love to do it, but yeah, definitely something I would be reserving for way later lol
• Speaking of interactive fiction though, I had considered doing a different sorta interactive Patreon project once SCHOOL SPIRIT is done: anyone interested in a CYOA comic? Maybe like every few days for a month, folks can vote on the next frame of a choose-your-own-adventure kinda TG story, and we could do something really really stupid and funny. I would need to work on a long script for the potential paths to take, but if that entices you, I can totally work one out and we can decide upon it :O