1. Indiegogo Campaign of Raikadelanoche

ATTENTION, ATTENTION!

Fellow artist Raikadelanoche has asked me to share a little promo on her behalf. Her T-shirt production business is having some hicups due to a supplier changing his conditions, so they need some boosting.

Read all about it here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/.....rve-and-expand



2. Orbital vectors for Patreon

Those of you who viewed the submission two weeks ago already know I'm planning to set up on patreon. For those of you who didn't, here's a link to that specific submission for a read: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/16094488/

The reactions to just that submission were mixed and I expect an announcement that I set up on patreon proper will probably garner comments from both pro and con camps aswell. So I thank you all for what input you had for me, both positive and negative. It's given me a good deal to think about and I'm going to use this journal to clarify a few things and ask for some more input.

1. I'm not planning to set up a pay-wall.
My gallery isn't meant to migrate from FA to patreon for future uploads, which is what I've seen a lot of artists do and it bothers me on some accounts. Mostly because it makes me miss out on art which would be nice to view and I'd like to spare you guys of that.
My art will still be freely available on FA (and if I can finally get off my ass and update my other galleries, on other sites aswell), this is true for both general artwork and commissions.

2. Commissions will not count into patreon
As feedback from some of you suggested, some artists have tried to offer discounts for commissions if you're a patreon or tie commissions directly with patreon in some way or another. That's not going to happen, mainly because it's too much to keep track of and it can create resentment between customers.
Commissions will run at regular rates and will be posted to regular public galleries (unless you, the commisioner, specifically requests otherwise).

3. Patreon will mostly hold WIP, behind the scenes and tutorial style stuff
For the aforementioned reason, I'm not very fond of the idea of doing patreon exclusive artwork. It creates resentment between people, antagonizes the artist to some degree and it's a shame to lock artwork away. If I produce something nice, I don't want to have to limit it's viewer base. After all, I'm still running here because I want to showcase my work.
However, patreon would offer a nice opportunity to serve as an alternate gallery where I can upload the WIPs, character studies and similar stuff I produce outside of my finished artwork, without cluttering my regular galleries with it.
WIP sketches of the comics that are in production and general WIP of works of art I'm working on would then be available for patrons in that gallery. Any comic WIP would be sans text however, to keep the final product and plot fresh and exciting for everyone involved.
Traditional sketches from the sketchbooks I carry around with myself on a daily basis would also be included.
Since there seems to be an interest in it, I might do tutorial style stuff in the future, so you guys can see what my workflow is like, outside of watching me stream for hours on end :b I'm going to have to look into recording and cutting software for that though.

4. Things I'm considering including...

- Patreon stream&skype sessions
In essence, stream sessions where I set up a skype call for patreons of a certain tier while I work. Non-patreons would still be able to view the stream, but only patreons have access to the skype address.
A potential expansion of this would be to make streams of 'tell me what to draw' once or twice a month, or even 1on1 personal skype streams, if there's any interest in that, though it'll have to maintain a balance on how far the 'tell me' goes in order to not end up like a commission ... perhaps topic or quality limitations, this is where your input is needed for this to work.
Skype sessions for commissioners obviously remain non-patreon related.

- Ask the artist / ask the cast
I've seen a lot of guys do this and it looks like a lot of fun for both viewers and artist.
Again, everybody gets to see the final results, but the question asking would be limited to patrons, I'd just have to find a way to manage the questions in that way, perhaps with a dedicated skype group or some such thing.
This would also finally push me to make a proper character line-up and put more work into background material. I just hope it doesn't antagonize the patrons too much when uploaded. Trial and error, I guess.
The amount of questions asked/answered would probably have to be limited to one every week, or twice a month, both to allow for time to ask and for me to draw both the answer and other stuff.

- Pre-release access
This feels dangerously close to the patreon-exclusive artwork that I expressly said I did not want to do, but I know there's some people out there to whom this appeals for some reason, so I might include an option where certain types of completed content (most likely the comic pages) can be accessed before public release, say maybe a week or so in advance?

- Work files and high-/native-resolution files
Access to .psd saved files of my work and native resolution of completed pictures, so you can see all the ugly shit I cover up by shrinking the files :b
Since I work in openCanvas 4.06E Plus, most of you wont be able to open the actual original files, but I can luckily save them as regular .psd files, for those fo you who are interested in that.

- Open for suggestions

My idea for patreon tiers is as follows;

Tier 1 (1$+)
Basic access patron. This is what I suspect most of you will sign up for.
This tier would give access to all regular WIP artwork uploaded to patreon and qualify the patron for the question asking escapade, however that might pan out.

Tier 2 (5$+)
Qualifies the patron for .psd and high res file access. The regular upload versions still go in my normal galleries, but you can see all the gritty missed lines and pixels that nobody else knows about <.<
This would also include pre-release access, when available.

Tier 3 (10$+)
Qualifies patrons for all of the above and for stream&skype sessions. These spots will have to be limited to an extent, though I'm not exactly sure to what number and timeframe.
The following things have to be kept in mind;
- I live in Vienna, Austria, which is GMT +1, that is 6 - 10 hours ahead of mainland USA and any number of hours from other global locations. I work from 9:00 - 18:00 Mo - Fr, so earliest I can start is usually around 20:00 and last exit is 1:00, for me to get enough sleep. Plan pledge and availability accordingly.
- I don't want to limit this Tiers user base, but a certain amount of order has to be kept. Not all of those who pledge this amount will likely want to make use of the stream&skype feature, but for those who do, Skype can host up to 25 users in a group call. However, calls of 6 or more people tend to become clusterfucks really fast, so depending on how well you guys can behave yourself and take turns talking, 5 - 10 people may be active callers for any one S&S session.
Asuming there is enough interest in this, priority is given to parties who could not be present for the previous stream, not to amounts pledged.

- The only exception to this would be the 1on1 stream&skypes, though those will definitely be limited to one or two slots at most, happen once a month max for a prearranged time. Price will be agreed on separately, but can be expected to start at 30$. Whether or not these will be streamed with a public announcement is subject to the patron.

This is all subject to change, but it's a rough outline of what I'm considering doing. Suggestions are always welcome and any wishes for milestones or more Tier classifications can be dropped here. This is basically me calling out for help, because I don't know what I'm doing :b

Now then, let the shitstorm commence. Comments, criticism (constructive or not), love letters, hate mails, death threats, bills, tax declarations and other assorted messages on and/or off topic directed towards me go in the comment section below. Fire away.