huuuug dont give up squishy cutie <3 as soon as i be able me would love to commish ya TWT <3

have you tried doing cute YCH's with flattening or more flattening of popular cute pokemons or characters maybe? ?W? like the cute animal crossing ones you did! >////< <3

Thanks a lot Aleph, it's definitely very pleasant to still see the blue Maf here even after so many years

The commissions are a very hard part for me because when I first opened them in my Patreon, I thought it would be something that people enter and leave when they have the money and stuff, I genuinely didn't expect the same exact people to stay there to this day, I really underestimated this aspect like a big dun dun. So now that I'm already making 5 fully colored and shaded commishes per month, I feel that I might be physically unable to take more than that QwQ
We'll see though, maybe I can try something "easier" outside Patreon, such as set YCH, uncolored lineart and so on. I definitely appreciate the intention though, you lovely Maf Maf

Honestly, I'm glad you managed to get all that out, and I think your flattening work is wonderful! You, Mabel, all of your Sona's like cotton. and I can relate, I try to be positive as well, and maybe sometimes it can come off as cringe, but that's because there's a part of me that actually, legitimately, wants to help them. (sorry if that is also cringe)

Also, you're not the only one with problems, nobody's perfect. I've got anger and father issues. Won't Trauma dump, all I'm saying is, I can relate, many people can. (hugs) X) Ya soft, moldable, talented artist you!

Thanks a bunch for the nice words too ATB, I always appreciate seeing you and your comments around too

Your welcome. Glad I could help. Thank you for all the wonderful work ya do, and colorful (crammed together) characters.

It's probably a mix of several things honestly. I'm just going to be speaking from my own opinions, take it for what you will. Not saying what I'm saying is the way to success or anything, or that what you're doing now is wrong. Just offering my two cents. ^^

I genuinely feel that in this toony furry community, there's an overwhelmingly large section of it that is lewd. Your art has always been on the more SFW-ish side of things, and while there's nothing wrong with that, often times people who are into more lewder art want to see more lewder art. There's a huge market for it, and I genuinely find that if an artist won't draw stuff I want to see, there's a vast number of other artists who I can go to who will draw what I want to see.

That being said, if you do art as a business, it kind of makes sense to try and tap into that market at least a little bit. Sometimes people just want to see more variety, and if what you're doing and have been doing isn't working in the same sense as it used to, maybe more variety can help?

As for characters, I think most of the characters you draw are appealing. Everyone loves Pokemon after all, and your Animal Crossing stuff is great too! I think there are a lot more furry bait characters you could draw that might spark more interest, especially ones from popular media and games that people are into.

The only characters that I don't really care much for (and this is just my own opinion) is the human / human looking ones. And that just comes from being a furry, wanting to see furries, and kinda being a bit icked out by seeing humans in my furry space. But again, nothing wrong with it.

And regarding commissions / Patreon, having only commissioned you once before, I kinda feel like it's a bit difficult to commission you. If I was someone new who was interested in your art, and wanted to get art from you, I would honestly be a bit turned off by not being able to do so easily. As far as I know you only do commissions via Patreon, right? And going there, seeing that the slots for art are already filled (and have been filled for some time now), like how would other people genuinely get art from you?

Doing YCHs might be a good way to generate interest, doing general commissions in a different way might help (like announcing openings, taking slots, etc). Making your art more accessible to people who want to buy it can only help honestly.

It's very thoughtful of you to write all that, thanks a lot for the nice words Foxen

I do quite like lewder stuff too sometimes, I just feel very shy of drawing that kind of stuff myself, most of the times I try my brain freezes like I have some kind of lock, only rarely I'm able to overcome that. Very silly I know, but at least I do think I'm starting to slowly feel comfier about drawing such things more and more over time!

And the commission part is hard, because when I first opened them in my Patreon I really didn't expect the same people to stay there forever, I thought that it's something we cycle through when we have money and stuff, but I really underestimated that aspect. Now that I'm already making 5 per month, I might be physically unable to take more and I feel it would be rude to somehow kick the current ones.
I'm not sure how I will ever fix this, maybe also making "easier" stuff such as uncolored lineart and pics like that. But we'll see, I do appreciate all your feedback foxxo!

Everyone else has given great responses, but I just wanna say a little something too…

I can’t tell you why you haven’t been getting as much traction lately (tbh, it’s been something I’ve been thinking about off and on, your work is so deserving of it). Your strength to have a positive and grateful attitude is admirable, especially in circumstances like this. I hope to continue supporting you monetarily in the future. Your work is impeccable. I could write a whole ‘nother paragraph about how much I like it, but that’s kinda getting off topic, isn’t it?

I’m also sorry to hear about your physical ailments, and hope you’ll have the medicinal access and whatnot to meet your needs.

I hope things will pick back up sooner than later! You’re not just an amazing artist, but an amazing person and friend. I hope things get better, and you can look forward to more support from myself later down the line. 🩵

Thank you so much for such awesome words blue foxxo, it really means a lot to me

Fortunately seeing all those great comments by you guys helped to show how little those potatoey numbers mean, I'm definitely feeling much better now! :pudgy_tail: