Well said.
I have made the experience, too, that an artist had one piece I really liked and then the rest was not to my personal taste.
It is well and good to support someone's work, but you shouldn't be forced to take a gamble.

as much as i would love to support people but paywalls in any way are not my thing..
like ya said not paying money for the change i might find something i like

And keep some examples of current work out for the public to see, too.
I have joined a Patreon before only to find that "Oh, lol! Yeah, I don't draw that kind of art anymore."

Absolutely big mood on that one.

Also sick as hell of the amount of advertisements constantly in my inbox over here on FA too. Would love for a required checkbox on advertisements at risk of getting bapped by moderation.

I've seen a lot of artists that I used to follow either reduce their presence in free spaces online ( like this one ) or go completely behind paywalls. It was inevitable once Patron sites became a reliable vehicle to monetize artist's work. As a content creator myself I'd thought about doing Patreon until I got my current job that allows me to pay the bills and still do art.

I've been in the fandom for some time and from what I've seen the best model seems to be the two releases approach. Some artists do higher resolution stuff and post to their pay site/s first. A few weeks or months later they post slightly smaller sized versions of the same content to free sites for everyone to see. This gives the patrons first viewing and allows everyone else to see it later, possibly generating future patrons.

Spottycat mentioned how they got a lot of adverts about new paywall site posts, I used to get that too. I started unfollowing those who would post horrible (or very teasing) cropped images of new uploads when they didn't post on free spaces anymore. ( It was also no surprise to me when a skimming site like Yiffparty came along and started posting paywalled content for free. )

Absolutely 100% this! I'm not going to take a gamble if I don't know what type of content that artist posts, for all I know it could be "dooky-to-the-nth-degree" or they could be a great artist who's into fetishes I might not be into, so I'm sure a few examples wouldn't hurt. Hell, some artists on here post their Patreon works a week or a month after they release on Patreon (or a smaller res-version). That way everyone is happy: Early adopters get to see their work before they post it PLUS: their works are 'out-there' for people to see (and possibly getting them to subscribe too). It's a win-win for everyone!

On the "Showing no examples"-part: I even 'assumed' some artists went missing, I.e. closed up shop and/or went to greener pastures / the professional industry only to find out that: Oh, they were still around... but on Patreon only. Which is just frustrating (and a huge discoverability problem).

And I totally agree with Nodd on showing at least current works, having an artist drawing stuff that you really enjoyed... only to find out they no longer draw that and you might be wasting your money that way.

But the worst example I can think of was of an artist I really wanted to comission (not naming any names for obvious reasons). Now as some people know, I'm the kind of person who RARELY, if EVER comissions other artists but I wanted a comission from them simply because I really liked their works and was a huge fan... but I was refused! Why? Because I wasn't subscribed to their Patreon. Mind you, I was ready to drop $700,- on them to draw my comission and they REFUSED simply because I wasn't subscribed. That shit just turned me off from Patreon artists altogether and the artist whose works I used to like now leaves a sour taste in my mouth whenever I see their name. Bad business practice all around. If I wasn't subscribed then, I (as a customer) will surely NEVER subscribe now. =/

And don't get me started on the advertisements, it baffles me to no end that so many artists complain about "getting bombarded with advertisements" only to then turn around and do the exact same thing with their Patreon pieces and then wonder why they're losing subscribers... ah yes, it must be "because they're poor" and/or "are freeloaders", NOT because they're constantly getting bombarded with advertisements, nope, no siree! That can't 'possibly' be the case... nah! It must be 'something else' except of course the obvious and glaring problem right on display... /s

I watch artists because I want to (spoiler alert!) see their art, not constant advertisements. Don't get me wrong: Advertising yourself is good but when the only thing you're posting are: "please subscribe to my Patreon"-pieces, don't be suprised when a lot of people clock out.

So yeah, I do sincerely hope some of them wise up if they're really taking Patreon (and their business) seriously.

Sadly everyone is trying to get that passive income stream from Patreon, like why give for "free" anymore... But what I hate even more are "teaser" pics they upload on FA with a big PATREON watermark plastered all over it. Like why do you do this to your viewers if almost ALL your artwork is paywalled?
Many times like you I wanted to join someone's Patreon, I open their page and all I see are locked posts. So how do I make the judgement then if I want to become a patreon or not? I just don't. I'm guessing it's more important to artists nowadays to have a paying viewers, instead of just viewers.

draxi I agree here. If it's (the Patreon nudge) watermark sized, that's ok, but don't cover the entire art piece!

Fully agree here.