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Unfortunate Life Update
6 months ago
LIFE BITES SOMETIMES
I've been dragging my feet on this update, listening for news and deciding on how I want to proceed, and finally feel that I know enough information to share the situation that I find myself in. Last Monday, the team I work for was told to halt production effective immediately, with little warning or information. The next day, we all received notices of temporary layoff. Information slowly started to trickle in; the grant that was paying for our production had suddenly been cut: https://kidscreen.com/2025/05/07/tr.....NWtCbgFl2Xg%3D To be clear, I am not sharing this with intent to start a political debate or to shake up the companies and people those choices led to my temporary layoff (please be respectful in the comments); I am simply stating a fact that has affected me and countless others personally and deeply.
If you've been a watcher for a while, you'd know that this is not my first temporary layoff. It is, however, my first temporary layoff to happen overnight, mid-production. It hits very differently when you don't have a chance to prepare beforehand.
Anyway, there is an actual reason for this update, so let's get to that. I want to preface the rest of this journal by saying that I am not in an emergency situation. I am fortunate enough to have a small emergency fund for these sorts of situations, that I was able to build up through adoptable sales and commissions. For that, a big thank you to everyone who has purchased anything from me in the past. More importantly, however, is that I have access to unemployment benefits, which will help me financially while I start trying to find a job in this crazy economy.
UH-OH ADOPTABLES (AND COMMISSION)
Unfortunately, while on this aforementioned benefit, half of any earnings I make will go back to them. This is a reasonable but unfortunate requirement, and means that for the foreseeable future (until I start a new job), I will no longer be able to offer discounted adoptables/ commissions. This includes YCH, design package commissions, discounted adoptables upgrades, and any other discounted goods. This also includes any base adoptable sales I had planned, and if we get that far, the price of silhouette adoptables. E adoptables will continue to be posted at the normal base price, but upgrades will only be available at the General Prices: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/50869996 As I find time, I will officially update all the adoptable/YCH/commission information, but there is a lot to change and I have more pressing things to focus on for the moment. So for now, this will serve as the official update. Charity adoptables, upgrades, and sales will remain unaffected, since no money goes through me.
PATREON? YAY OR NAY?
I have been thinking long-term as well, and have been considering the possibility of opening up a patreon/Ko-fi/DA premium/similar service in the future, if the job hunt dries up (for simplicity, I'll refer to this as Patreon from now on, though it may not be the service I go with). I've had it on my mind as a possibility for years, but never committed since I don't want to put anything I already offer behind a pay wall, and never felt confident that I would have enough to offer otherwise. Early access to adoptables/art was the main benefit I could think to offer in a consistent manner, but it felt somewhat shallow to me.
However, I have never offered livestreams or robust creature bases. I have been considering both, and especially the latter as an alternate method of income. I may not be able to offer new livestreams/bases on a monthly basis if/once I do find work, but my hope was that even when higher tiers are closed, people may continue to filter in and out to get access to the bases/livestreams that are available.
More specifically (when talking about bases), I was thinking that for personal use, 1 month of membership would give you access to all bases available at the time. If you wanted commercial rights to the base, you would have to keep paying any membership tier for as long as you were selling art created from the bases. If I can set it up, I also wanted to offer a pay-up-front cost per base for those who don't want to pay monthly, and a tier that automatically comes with commercial rights included for that month's base. I'd have to look into the minutia of this, such as the legality, structural possibility, and recordkeeping methods, before I commit to anything, but while I'm still in the concept stages for this idea, I'm interested to know if this would even interest anyone.
Please, if you have any thoughts on the matter, either as a potential buyer or as someone who has used a service like this, I'd love to hear your thoughts and learn from your experiences. Currently, my only limitation for reward ideas is physical goods like stickers; anything that has an upfront cost.
TLDR:
-I lost my job. Poo.
-If you wish to commission me or get an update with your adoptable, please refer to the General Prices: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/50869996 until further notice. (sales prices are closed)
-Charity adoptables are unaffected by this change.
-Thoughts on potential patreon (or service-adjacent) rewards is highly appreciated.
I've been dragging my feet on this update, listening for news and deciding on how I want to proceed, and finally feel that I know enough information to share the situation that I find myself in. Last Monday, the team I work for was told to halt production effective immediately, with little warning or information. The next day, we all received notices of temporary layoff. Information slowly started to trickle in; the grant that was paying for our production had suddenly been cut: https://kidscreen.com/2025/05/07/tr.....NWtCbgFl2Xg%3D To be clear, I am not sharing this with intent to start a political debate or to shake up the companies and people those choices led to my temporary layoff (please be respectful in the comments); I am simply stating a fact that has affected me and countless others personally and deeply.
If you've been a watcher for a while, you'd know that this is not my first temporary layoff. It is, however, my first temporary layoff to happen overnight, mid-production. It hits very differently when you don't have a chance to prepare beforehand.
Anyway, there is an actual reason for this update, so let's get to that. I want to preface the rest of this journal by saying that I am not in an emergency situation. I am fortunate enough to have a small emergency fund for these sorts of situations, that I was able to build up through adoptable sales and commissions. For that, a big thank you to everyone who has purchased anything from me in the past. More importantly, however, is that I have access to unemployment benefits, which will help me financially while I start trying to find a job in this crazy economy.
UH-OH ADOPTABLES (AND COMMISSION)
Unfortunately, while on this aforementioned benefit, half of any earnings I make will go back to them. This is a reasonable but unfortunate requirement, and means that for the foreseeable future (until I start a new job), I will no longer be able to offer discounted adoptables/ commissions. This includes YCH, design package commissions, discounted adoptables upgrades, and any other discounted goods. This also includes any base adoptable sales I had planned, and if we get that far, the price of silhouette adoptables. E adoptables will continue to be posted at the normal base price, but upgrades will only be available at the General Prices: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/50869996 As I find time, I will officially update all the adoptable/YCH/commission information, but there is a lot to change and I have more pressing things to focus on for the moment. So for now, this will serve as the official update. Charity adoptables, upgrades, and sales will remain unaffected, since no money goes through me.
PATREON? YAY OR NAY?
I have been thinking long-term as well, and have been considering the possibility of opening up a patreon/Ko-fi/DA premium/similar service in the future, if the job hunt dries up (for simplicity, I'll refer to this as Patreon from now on, though it may not be the service I go with). I've had it on my mind as a possibility for years, but never committed since I don't want to put anything I already offer behind a pay wall, and never felt confident that I would have enough to offer otherwise. Early access to adoptables/art was the main benefit I could think to offer in a consistent manner, but it felt somewhat shallow to me.
However, I have never offered livestreams or robust creature bases. I have been considering both, and especially the latter as an alternate method of income. I may not be able to offer new livestreams/bases on a monthly basis if/once I do find work, but my hope was that even when higher tiers are closed, people may continue to filter in and out to get access to the bases/livestreams that are available.
More specifically (when talking about bases), I was thinking that for personal use, 1 month of membership would give you access to all bases available at the time. If you wanted commercial rights to the base, you would have to keep paying any membership tier for as long as you were selling art created from the bases. If I can set it up, I also wanted to offer a pay-up-front cost per base for those who don't want to pay monthly, and a tier that automatically comes with commercial rights included for that month's base. I'd have to look into the minutia of this, such as the legality, structural possibility, and recordkeeping methods, before I commit to anything, but while I'm still in the concept stages for this idea, I'm interested to know if this would even interest anyone.
Please, if you have any thoughts on the matter, either as a potential buyer or as someone who has used a service like this, I'd love to hear your thoughts and learn from your experiences. Currently, my only limitation for reward ideas is physical goods like stickers; anything that has an upfront cost.
TLDR:
-I lost my job. Poo.
-If you wish to commission me or get an update with your adoptable, please refer to the General Prices: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/50869996 until further notice. (sales prices are closed)
-Charity adoptables are unaffected by this change.
-Thoughts on potential patreon (or service-adjacent) rewards is highly appreciated.
yes to patreon!! run it as a tip jar even - i see a lot of potential in that for people who want to support you. i know a lot of peeps use ko-fi subs similarly and post high res images or other stuff to those platforms if they so please and a good place for announcements and stuff too. i personally put scanned high res sketchbook stuff on my patreon, but that doesnt stop me from posting some of those sketches in other places
Thank you so much for the insight. I will make sure to consider all this as I continue to work through the details/possibilities available to me. The tip jar idea has certainly crossed my mind in the past, and it might just be my opportunity to go through with it. Ko-fi is the place I'm considering the most right now, but I have a lot of research left to do on everything from fees, to accessibility, and so on. Maybe it'll be both, who knows.