IMPORTANT : Patreon Changes and 2021 Plans

Hello everyone, 

You may have noticed that I have been tinkering with tiers and rewards the past couple of days. I have uploaded some new tier images, changed the tier titles, and modified some of the rewards.
This post is about those changes, how they might affect you, and why I am implementing them.
I also go over some of my projects for 2021 and the exciting things I am working on. :)

This post is a little hefty, but I tried to go straight to the point, and divided it into sections that I hope will make it easier for you to jump to any topic you might be interested in.

All the changes mentioned will go into effect in April, and the last of the rewards I am discontinuing were published this last month. 

✦ WHY THE CHANGES :

✒  Organising tiers so they are cumulative

Over the last few months, I had a few patrons get in touch asking if they could either pledge at several tiers, or if I had a tier that included all the rewards they were interested in. It made me realise that my physical reward tiers weren't logically set-up in a cumulative way ; basically, each higher tier didn't always include all lower tier rewards. 

So I have now adapted tier rewards for physical tiers so that they are clearly cumulative, and make more sense both in terms of rewards and in terms of value. 

✒  Adapting my Patreon to how my process has changed since 2018

Over the past few weeks, I worked on a breakdown of how much time all my recurring monthly tasks take me, and if I were to fulfill everything I set out to do on a monthly basis at the moment, it would require that I work 29 days a month, with only 10 of those days allocated to actually creating art, which... isn't exactly what one would call a sustainable rhythm. XD

This has led to me struggling to fulfill some of the rewards I committed to lately, such as the sketchbook PDFs and the Process PDFs or videos. I have also delayed sending physical rewards a few times.
Most of that is due to the fact that my work process has changed drastically from when I first set up this Patreon in 2018 :
- My paintings now take me longer to complete and involve a lot more steps and are a lot more ambitious than they used to be.
- I also don't spend as much time creating complex sketches in my sketchbook as I used to.
My overall work process is more meticulous and slower, but also more complex and layered, and my art takes me longer to put together.
Therefore, everything I have structured around my production of art needs to be adjusted to fit the way I create now. 

I need to overhaul my workload and priorities, and put together a system that allows me to not only be able to create more art (which will mean more content to share with you), but also means I can keep up with all my work commitments around that. 

I have already changed how I work on Youtube, so I can upload less often but create higher quality videos.
My next step is implementing a few changes to Patreon.

Overall, it will not change much to what most of you experience with my page, but should hopefully help me create a better experience, as it will allow me to create more as well as keep up with rewards in a more sustainable and healthy way. 

Here are the Patreon changes that will come into effect on April 1st :  

✦ CHANGES : 

✦ Replacing Sketchbook PDFs with Sketchbook Dumps

[$1+ patrons]

While PDFs as a format are going away, I will still be posting my sketchbook pages for you to enjoy, but not in the form of PDFs. I will simply upload them as scans in Sketchbook Dumps posts.
As I mentioned above, I don't tend to work in my sketchbook as much as I used to, and I sometimes go a couple of weeks before I can fill a few pages. That usually leads to me not having enough pages to make a PDF worth its salt by the end of a month (I usually tried to have at least 5 pages worth of sketches to make up a PDF). 

The official rewards for the $1 tier will now be "Access to Patreon Feed" , which is a short way of saying "access to Daily Doodle Diary spreads and sketchbooks dumps". 

This also makes more sense given that my sketchbook drawings are more often than not exploratory exercises for bigger pieces, and I end up posting most of them in my Work In Progress posts anyway. 
This format will also allow me to talk a little more about the sketches than the PDFs permitted, so you will be able to read more about my workflow and thought process behind my work!

Same content, different format, basically. 

✦ Replacing Process PDFs with Exclusive Timelapses

[$5+ patrons]

The Process PDFs are probably the reward I have had the most difficult time keeping up with. Each PDF takes me about a full week of work to create, which is woefully unsustainable, and that doesn't even include the prep work such as taking the photos, sorting and editing them all, keeping track of my process and cataloging all my supplies and mediums.
Therefore, I am sadly going to have to discontinue this reward.
Old Process PDFs will still be available for all current and future patrons, but no new ones will be created after March.
I also am discontinuing the real-time videos, which I was also having a hard time keeping up with. Again, any real-time videos already up will stay up and accessible to all current and future patrons.

Instead of these rewards, I will be uploading an Exclusive Process Timelapse every month.
That means that the painting footage used in those timelapses will not be available anywhere else other than Patreon. Youtube videos might feature the finished piece, but will not show the painting process.

I have also now made the 10% store discount code accessible to the $5 tier!

✦ Mini-prints / Postcards : Discontinued

[$15, $20 and $35 patrons]

This change is to allow my rewards to be more logical and cumulative.
Here's how things are changing for physical rewards in April :

• $10 tier : NO CHANGES.

• $15 tier : I AM ENTIRELY DISCONTINUING THIS TIER.
Because of the new cumulative system I am trying to implement, this tier does not make sense anymore, and will no longer exist as of April.
($15  patrons, you should have gotten a message in your inbox from me about this already, don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions at all).

• $20 tier : The 4x6 print will be replaced by the 2 stickers $10 patrons get every month. The 8x10 print reward stays the same. 

• $35 tier : The 8x10 print and stickers remain the same, while the 2 mini-prints are being replaced by 1 exclusive-to-patreon 5x7 print. The artwork for this new 5x7 print will vary, and can be a sketch, a daily doodle, a painting, a study...It will depend on what I have found the time to create around that time. While the sticker designs and 8x10 print designs will often make their way to my public shop, these 5x7 prints will only ever be available via Patreon.

I also created brand new tier images! :)

Ok! So that is it for the changes for this update!

Let's move on to the projects I would like to tackle this year! ^^

I always have so many ideas for new projects! T_T

Here's a small overview of the type of things I would like to tackle in the next year or so...

Some might not happen, we will see how it goes, but if they don't happen this year, I will probably work on them at some point anyway. 

✦ NEW THINGS :

✦ New online store

I spoke last year of wanting to switch my shop to my own website instead of using Storenvy. This is another change that needs to happen this year, and I have been working on putting that new store together for the past few weeks.

I am still a little ways out of being done, but before I launch, I might need a few people to help me try it out to make sure all works smoothly?
I will let you know closer to the time and if anyone would like to help and get some cheap prints at the same time, then I would be eternally grateful!

All patrons will get early access to the new store to browse and purchase anything before the public launch. You will get first pick of new prints, stickers, and most of all originals!
I will uploading a huge batch of originals to that new store, spanning the last couple of years.  All patron discount codes will be valid on the new store, of course.

✦ PROJECTS :

✦ Book of Sketches

I have spoken about this a few times the past year, and I was hoping to work on this in 2020 but...well...2020 happened, and I ended up having neither the time nor the funds to properly delve into it. But I would really like to spend more time trying to get it done this year.

I would like this to be a book similar in format to my Inktober booklets, if not better, and I would aim to have it ready to print for Christmas 2021. 

I will most likely need your input on design decisions, as well as the choice of sketches, layout, etc, so I look forward to working on this with you! 

✦ Themed Zines

As my body of work grows more substantial, I have started seeing common themes and imagery reoccur in my pieces over and over again.
This sparked my desire to create small zines in which I could display all my sketches, doodles, and finished pieces that revolve around similar ideas and concepts. 

For example, I have been exploring trees and branches growing out of people quite a few times, and I am considering gathering them all in a small booklet centered around the theme of "tree" or "forest". 

This is not a project that would happen overnight, and is more of a long-term, perpetually ongoing type of idea, but I would definitely like to try working on at least one of these booklets this year.

✦ Skillshare Courses

I know I have spoken about this a fair amount the past couple of years, without anything happening yet, but this is me putting my foot down for myself and committing.

I need to start making some online courses. 

I plan on hosting these on Skillshare for now, but might also make them available as single purchases on Gumroad, and they would most definitely be available to probably $10+ patrons on here also. 

Online courses take an abominable amount of time to put together, so I am mostly aiming on getting at least one done this year, and will advise from there.

I have started the writing work on 2 courses so far, one all about how to achieve a translucent/transparent effect in paintings, and the other (much more complex) on how to draw hands.
The hands course is quite an undertaking as I am trying to be as comprehensive as possible with it, and will likely come out in installments, so I am focusing on the transparency course first. 

Let's see how that goes!

✦ Enamel Pin

I promise I haven't forgotten about the pin!
That project was another casualty of my lack of time and funds.
It has been floating in the ether for a while now, and it has gotten to the point where I feel like the design could be improved on quite a lot.
I will be revisiting it in the next few weeks and will see where I can go from there.  

This will probably involve asking your input and some polls, and I will try and involve you in the design process as much as I can!

This is one of those tasks that is a lot more work that it might appear from the outside, as information on exactly how to design pins for manufacture is oddly hard to find, and it takes a lot of time and energy to find a manufacturer. 
But I am determined to make this happen, hopefully in the not too distant future. 

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So here you go!

These are my Patreon plans and art projects for 2021!

I hope this wasn't too much too quickly, and that you will consider continuing to support me as my work process evolves and changes, but I also completely understand if this is not what you felt you signed up for. 

Regardless of whether you stay or go, I am deeply and sincerely beyond thankful for your continue support and ever present kindness. Each and everyone of you has helped me build this career and has contributed to all my body of work so far in more ways than I can say. 

I hope you know that you are genuinely appreciated for your support, time, generosity and everything in between. 

Thank you ever so much for reading,
I hope to have the joy of your wonderful company for a while to come, 

Take very good care, 

M