THANK YOU and a BA Update

Hello all my wonderful Patrons! This is just a follow-up to my post looking for help from my supporters back on Sept 22.

It's been a rocky, stressful, and emotional ride over the last month. But I want to THANK YOU to all the Patrons who upped their membership tiers!!! A few of you have been very generous in your upgrading! I have reached out to a number of you directly, thanking you for your increases. The Patreon system (at least, to my knowledge) doesn't make it easy to tell WHO upgraded and by how much (not unless I were to manually review every membership history).

If I missed thanking you personally for your upgrade, I apologize and wish to THANK YOU here!!

Many have reached out directly, offering ideas for new issues or stories. I have also talked directly with a couple other creators, getting their input on their product distribution. These later discussions gave me a bit of hope.

Adding another single project is not a feasible option, right now. While another project is another sale, I already have a plate full of projects (grOw cinema; Patreon; individual Commissions) that fills my time, requiring 55-60 hours to complete each week. So, for now, I am not going to pursue that direction.

What has happened since my last post :

I've messaged and talked directly to quite a number of people. I've gotten a lot of feedback, suggestions, and help.

I just stepped down from a volunteer position "IRL" that was causing me even MORE added work and stress. I was originally committed to the position until June 2025. Instead, I stepped down to a minor position until June 2025, and then I will end my commitment altogether.

I've reinvigorated my desire to work on animations for my expansion work.

I added a "TIP JAR" to the add-ons of the "Art of BustArtist" book at my website, and will attached it to most products. This was, if you are so inclined, you can add a tip to your next purchase!

I've put up the "Art of BustArtist" book that I had created for Exxxotica NJ 2023 for Patrons to purchase. Unfortunately, only 17* of 40 books sold so far, and a few prints and a handful of stickers. Starting next week sometime, I will open purchase eligibility to U.S.-based, non-Patreon members.
(*Originally 15 when I posted this, now up to 17 sold!)

We've cut back on excessive costs in our personal lives. I'm still working on paying off the recent debts forced upon us mentioned in my January 2024 post (and some afterwards).

I have announced my NOT attending SizeCon (2025), the first time I've bowed out since it's inception. While I admit, my not going is in large part due to my fear of flying, but also that the cost is too prohibitive for us right now. (And every Con has been a loss in terms of income.)

My wife and I also took the time to have a small "expansion community" gathering last weekend. It was hoped to have as many as 8 of us, but 4 had to cancel or couldn't make it due to other obligations. But it was a MUCH needed stress reliever.

What I am focused on going forward :

Expanding my reach, to gain more new (or old) customers so that I can focus on my current work, but with more support. I've talked to creators who gave me good insights on where I can do this.

Expanding my product to possibly include animation. This has a lot work to do on my part to get this up and running, but I hope to put extra hours (on top of the current 55-60 hours a week) to get that up to speed. Now, you might say, "BA, didn't you just say you didn't want to simple add another project (story or comic)." Yes. But I am looking for animation to possibly be a bigger draw for more patrons and to become an integrated aspect of my work. It may replace an image or two per month, but that's down the line. I don't know what will change until I get there.

Possibly streamlining Patreon. It has been suggested (by creators and Patreon itself) that too many tiers can actually harm a Creator's revenue stream, making it overly complicated and confusing. I am looking into dropping the lowest tier soon, and am mulling over a possible restructuring the other tiers. This second part probably won't happen for a while, and maybe not until I decide to add anything new, such as animation.

Offering more free images to entice more customers. Most of the work here will remain Patreon exclusives, but I will post more free (low-res) images of what we create here to hopefully gain more paying members. If you see such a post from me, I hope you will like, comment, and/or especially share on whichever social I post on (Twitter/X, Discord, Blue Sky, DeviantArt, Instagram).

I am crossing my fingers and hoping things work out.

I hope this change will help. I really wanted to continue doing what I've been doing since 2005 (the year the first "grOw" cOmic was released) into the future for as long as possible. The major decline to my income over the last 4 years that I mentioned in my first post has made that a slim possibility unless I can change things compared to now.

Your continued $upport — either here on Patreon, or at my website — is critical for this to be a success and I want to THANK for everyone who does pay for my releases and memberships. It may take some time to build up my following, so I hope you will continue to support me as I attempt to do so. ALL your $upport is GREATLY appreciated !

My wife occasionally sends me links to "real life" job postings in the graphics field. Some have been tempting, but I am not ready to give in just yet. If I can rebound, then I can ignore pursuing the employment route again and stay self-employed and continue to bring you oodles of expansion goodness! Unfortunately, it's most likely one or the other. If I do take a "real life" job, my expansion output would probably drop to 10% (if not 0%) of what I am doing now.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED $UPPORT !!!

I appreciate all your purchases of my grOw series!

Thank you for your memberships here on Patreon, especially if you've upgraded !

Thank you for sharing my social media posts, reviewing and saying how much you like my work on socials, commenting on them showing support, etc.!

Thank you for your purchase of my "Art of BustArtist" book, and any add-on prints and stickers. I hope you enjoyed your purchase!

Thank you for Commissioning me for your personal images! The commissions I've done this year have helped a LOT. At the current rate, the income from commissions have changed what may have been yet another 12% decline in income for 2024 (on top of the 13% decline in 2023 from 2022), to a possible small increase by 2%. This helped stop the free fall, but may not be a long-term answer.

Sincerely,
BustArtist