A new year is coming!

First and foremost, I am incredibly grateful for the support that has been afforded by wonderful patrons over the first few months of this Patreon page being open! I'm still kinda coming to terms with the fact that there are at least 20 people that have pledged support so far in the first three months of being active.

Secondly, I know that there has been a little bit of a lull in overall content being released to Patrons, but I am waiting just as patiently on Blender to do its thing with several high-res renders that I've got in mind, of which I will be releasing a couple of new-ish renders that I've not uploaded anywhere just yet! I also have quite a few models that are either at retopology stages or nearing that, so the first couple of months of 2019 should see a steady influx of new, full-featured models being released.

Now, on the topic of 2019, there will be some pretty interesting developments that will hopefully come to fruition. I do have some incentives that have been met, and I will absolutely be working to fulfill them in the new year! But before that, a little bit of context about the tiers that I've got up for this Patreon:

The two basic tiers (for $2 and $4 respectively) are essentially akin to tip jars, while the higher tiers (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond respectively) offer much more substantial rewards for a limited amount of people.

Essentially speaking, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond tiers contain a cumulative reward for continued patronage, that being a full commission per interval. Obviously this is a very lofty goal to have, but that's okay! They're incredibly limited in number, since it is a considerable investment for patron and artist alike, and I can only do so much with the limited amount of time I have. The offer of discounted commissions will also be provided for those patrons consistent with Silver Tier patrons.

2019 will see the introduction of video-on-demand of commissions that I work on. Unfortunately right now I don't have any brand new commissions to do, but that's okay! As soon as I get another one, I will be recording that process from start to finish, although I don't think people would be wanting to watch some 20-30 hours of work, so they will be sped up in places. I will absolutely try to cover all bases in regards to my workflow, though my approach should definitely not be taken as gospel; it's always worthwhile observing multiple approaches to get a solid idea of how to achieve something! Of course, I will also be aiming to provide a couple of private streams for Bronze Patrons and higher, of which links to those streams will be provided through the relevant Discord channel I have set up. As far as availability goes, I will initially only supply the final cuts of my VoD files to those patrons, however after one month, I will then upload those videos onto my public YouTube channel. The good news on this front as well is that I've now got hold of a shiny new microphone to better record with! Just gotta get a mount for it now...

The other big item will be patron-funded models! The idea of this initiative is a cumulative goal (since it seems Patreon doesn't yet have that sort of functionality). It is essentially dependent on how much is pledged per month, and builds up as a pool until it hits the goal of about $720, which is the standard rate of one of my full commissions with the 10% discount applied (so technically it's $800). The models I produce will be provided free for non-commercial usage for all patrons for the first month of release, then it will also be made public in a package including recordings and renders. As of right now that goal is at $275, but should the current amount pledged per month stay as it is, the incentive proper should be met in April!

So yeah, that's about all from me for now! Hopefully this helps provide some insight into the way forward with this Patreon page for 2019. Here's hoping to a very productive, exciting, and amazing 2019 for everyone!