FA+
Shop
Is the TF drive a failure?
a year ago
General
Current queue: Medieval YCH(Nezmog, Jespe, TaurusProductions, Microcub ), Olivia, Jespe again, Edwin_at_work
We are one week from the end of the Pokémon TF Drive: Back Home. A story 26 years in the making. And even though I lowered the goal, we are still only 16% there.
This means donations now total $40—and that's including patreon which is kind of double-counting since they still get their rewards. This makes it the lowest that an opening I've done (and continuously promoted) of any sort (commissions, daily pokémon, etc. included) has gathered.
I currently have enough money either for a replacement computer or groceries. Don't get me wrong, we are nowhere close to starving like we were a year and a half ago, but it has caused analysis paralysis.
Now, I'm aware this month was exceptional. The news from Venezuela, Bangladesh, Elon Musk, and the US election, sucked up a lot of oxygen. Then the death of Dragoneer happened. Then the hijacking of FurAffinity. Drives usually pick up at about the halfway point but that is exactly when all these things were affecting!
However, I thought that if I had an engaging, heartwarming story, I might be able to reach enough people. Especially enough people who could spare a dollar or two. Especially a story which I have polished this much.
This is very hard for me to write, since there's clearly a lot of you following along (I see you, people who fave all the pages! 😊) I am, of course, very happy about that! I have also noticed that this comic has more views on all platforms than any previous comic I've done had by this point!
But I feel like I also need to stop and take stock. Put this in the "pensieve" ...so I can actually finish.
And I am heavily reminded of the situation earlier this year with the macro march drive where I had to ask myself: what did I do wrong? Did I not promote it enough? Did I pick the wrong story? Is color hurting it? Am I that bad at drawing humans?
Or is this "the new normal"?
I am painfully aware that all my "equivalent" points of comparison (August 2021, August 2022, August 2023, the last Pokémon TF drive which ran in December...) were all, not only heavily reliant on Twitter, but also influenced by the pandemic. But I guess I thought I was "good enough" for that not to matter ...I was wrong.
The really sad thing is that I'd planned to open commissions next month, but commission openings have, thus far, always attracted less people (and therefore less money) than the drives. I will probably become very busy with the start of the school year soon (and I kind of have some unfinished commissions I need to get back to) so I'm seriously asking myself: would opening for commissions be worth it?
This means donations now total $40—and that's including patreon which is kind of double-counting since they still get their rewards. This makes it the lowest that an opening I've done (and continuously promoted) of any sort (commissions, daily pokémon, etc. included) has gathered.
I currently have enough money either for a replacement computer or groceries. Don't get me wrong, we are nowhere close to starving like we were a year and a half ago, but it has caused analysis paralysis.
Now, I'm aware this month was exceptional. The news from Venezuela, Bangladesh, Elon Musk, and the US election, sucked up a lot of oxygen. Then the death of Dragoneer happened. Then the hijacking of FurAffinity. Drives usually pick up at about the halfway point but that is exactly when all these things were affecting!
However, I thought that if I had an engaging, heartwarming story, I might be able to reach enough people. Especially enough people who could spare a dollar or two. Especially a story which I have polished this much.
This is very hard for me to write, since there's clearly a lot of you following along (I see you, people who fave all the pages! 😊) I am, of course, very happy about that! I have also noticed that this comic has more views on all platforms than any previous comic I've done had by this point!
But I feel like I also need to stop and take stock. Put this in the "pensieve" ...so I can actually finish.
And I am heavily reminded of the situation earlier this year with the macro march drive where I had to ask myself: what did I do wrong? Did I not promote it enough? Did I pick the wrong story? Is color hurting it? Am I that bad at drawing humans?
Or is this "the new normal"?
I am painfully aware that all my "equivalent" points of comparison (August 2021, August 2022, August 2023, the last Pokémon TF drive which ran in December...) were all, not only heavily reliant on Twitter, but also influenced by the pandemic. But I guess I thought I was "good enough" for that not to matter ...I was wrong.
The really sad thing is that I'd planned to open commissions next month, but commission openings have, thus far, always attracted less people (and therefore less money) than the drives. I will probably become very busy with the start of the school year soon (and I kind of have some unfinished commissions I need to get back to) so I'm seriously asking myself: would opening for commissions be worth it?
Have been seeing the drive going, but between a bunch of other things, FA happenings, I kept thinking "oh, I'll take a closer look later", and still haven't done so T_T
But if I had to say if there's something "wrong" with it? Mmm... not really. If anything, yeah, it's cute, heartwarming, colors are nice, etc... So I don't know. Truth be told, promotion or not, social factors or not... it's just the nature of things, I fear. Sometimes it's just truly baffling how the things we put the most work in end up tanking the hardest... It's tough, truly tough... T_T
But it's important to not internalize it, I think. Do what you think is best atm - open for comms, work on current ones, sort things out before classes start, etc. But take things at your pace, and don't worry too much. As long as you're getting by, and still able to do what your heart tells you, it will never be the wrong choice, regardless what the numbers end up saying ^^
Best of luck, man!
It really is bad timing, even on my part to follow - the FA hacking cut my phone browsing experience, and I kinda like to keep focusing irl-stuff in the morning/early afternoon now on + I've entered into a new relationship, job and looking of new appartment - so it's been busy for regular folks as well, unfortunately
For opening commissions; it's really up to you. I might say that building a long que has it's dangers that people expecting fast return (I don't mind at this point and couple months isn't even that uncommon, but some) can feel dissapointed waiting long commission wait. Would say, it's up to you if you can manage that
Regardless - reading your comics has always been plesant delight ^ :__: ^