You should do what works for you, since you are the one doing the work. If a few people get pissy that you choose to join Patreon, then they're not good fans. Plus, Patreon = more exposure, so you'll get newer better fans anyway!

One of those little yappy dogs with the huge ears that white girls carry in their purses?

Just send a link where we can find your comics if you get an account there.

Go for it.

If you produce some sort of work with a reasonably broad appeal and getting some extra money would free you up to produce more of it, then patreon is a great option.

You'd probably do well with it. "Fans" will always complain about any attempt to monetize your skills, so that shouldn't be a factor in your decision-making.

The biggest problem with Patreon right now is reneged pladges.

If something is behind a paywall, it's possible for a user to pledge enough money to get over the paywall, download all the content, then cancel their pledge and thus pay no money. Why Patreon hasn't fixed this, I don't know. (Since you're not going with a paywall, that's a non issue.)

We all want to see more of your comic, and setting up milestones for each page would be excellent.

You can also use it as advertising for commissions, by having, say, 1 slot a month at $50. Doesn't hurt.

Good luck! Put me down as a "yes" vote for anything that gets more cross-eyed bunnies.

As a Pizza Delivery guy with depression and anger-management issues, I can't really afford Patreon, but it seems to be doing good things for GoldenWolf, Fluff-Kevlar, and a few other artists I follow.

I'm loving Patreon for my comics. I get paid a bit more than $100 per page for drawing a comic about a lesbian robot with reality problems. It is wonderful. There's no pay wall; supporters just get to see new pages a little before everyone else. And get the odd WIP, or high-res copy of a big complicated page.

Put a small, polite link to the Patreon under every page. It'll start as little more than beer money, if that. Maybe it'll turn into a part time job, maybe not. It'll probably be more than grinding commissions in not too long, though.

btw, love the icon. ^v^

Thanks! I drew it for Halloween a while back and never changed from it. Because RAVE APPLES.

Keep in mind the people who do really well at Patreon do porn, or are super-popular comics artists, or do MLP. Most of the mid-list artists make $100-$500, if that. Of course $500 is nothing to sneeze at, so if you think you can handle the workload, you might as well try. Nothing ventured, and all that.

Give it a whirl in whatever way you want to do it.

I think the reason fans hate Patreon is because of how it's often used. Your work has value, and there's a couple ways in which you can work that. You can have a Patreon account which exists as a tip jar, like a sort of virtual busker. Alternately, you can use Patreon as a pay wall; this might generate some resentment, but it's your time and talent on the line, not your fans'. However, things start getting tacky and integrity goes out the window when you try to have your cake and eat it too, regularly posting censored 'teasers' and other nonsense as though FA were nothing more than your personal billboard. I'd say that if you want your reputation intact, avoid that.

It does seem like a good way to make a few extra dollars. But i'm greatly annoyed but all the artist who's lock half the content because your not a patron.

I get the idea. most artist don't do anything special of the unlock tier. It's just more of the same.

I would suggest doing it. But don't offer any rewards unless it really is something special.

I've gotten "Proposals" from fans wanting to "Patreon" me, but I had to turn them down because I don't have a Paypal account. One fellow came on to me like a creepy lurker too. So scrap that noise. Anyhoo, you're a highly talented artist, and I feel you could easily be one of the "Mid to High" listers Roz mentioned. Perhaps you might be able to give me a few pointers if this works out for you.

Depends on how are you going to handle it.

If you're going to use it the "wrong way", aka the "greedy way" or the "actually forbidden by Patreon TOS", then no.

If you're going to use it in a way that's not destructive for the fandom, you have all our support ^^

You should probably clarify what makes what which, for those not familiar.

I've also heard stories from artists about people who will sign up, download all the exclusive art, then do a PayPal charge-back. So the cheating works both ways.

Who cheats a cheater...


Regarding that, https://www.furaffinity.net/journal...../#cid:45926297 I hope this clarifies it! ^^

Ignore the fans who hate it. They're usually upset because they can no longer get the art for free. You don't owe them anything. Produce your art and support yourself as you see fit.

No, having content released only behind payment has always been done and everyone has always been cool with.

Patreon simply does not allow that, and it's not right (by the way it works) to do so in there. Doing it anywhere else, like has always been done, it's perfectly good, as it has always been.

The means are important.

Patreon may be a good way for you to do those comix which you like to do and we all love to see. I just hope if you go that route you won't completely stop doing commissions as well. Perhaps just limit the number of commissions per month or whatever unit of time?

I've been deabting patreon myself.

I've been leery because I am not at all sure I can manage to produce the art it would take, and all the horror stories of people who are abusing the system to download art and then bail without paying.


I figured I'd see if I could get back into the groove of drawing again, and maybe do a few things, like a few finished pics on patreon and inks or pencils of those in progress on FA.

Not that all my stuff would go to patreon only- Just a few a month.
(Using it more like a tip jar than a paywall.)

Hm....

Maybe smaller images on FA and larger high res on the patreon site?

I'd like to be fair, but I would love to actually be paid for the work, too.

-Badger-

If you want to use it as an incentive generator do it like most comic artists would.
Put up a lvl of pages finished and posted according to how much you is in your Patreon
"jar"
Like say $30 would get a page a month, 50 a page every other month, 100 a page every 3 weeks and so on.
That way if you keep up a decent schedule and your story really starts to get going you can get maybe 500 for a page every Sat and Tues because at THAT point it might be worth it to do it full time. :)

For you, and getting paid for the Comics, I would say, yes, do it. If it won't be a paywall, that's fine. Just grant Patreon members early access, and viewing of WIP and that sort of thing. the important thing to you, is make it a regular thing and keep to a schedule so hat people feeo they are getting their money's worth.

"...the important thing to you, is make it a regular thing and keep to a schedule ...

THIS

Once you have crossed the line and gone into anything which has the look and feel and expectations of a professional setup like this, and which has the appearance of pay-for-service/performance, you are then pretty much committed to all of the professional standards of providing that service - such as being bound to a regular and reliable update schedule.

"I can't afford to take time away from paying commissions to do personal art" seems to be one of the more common reasons for having a Patreon, and I think it's perfectly valid. Over the years I have watched a lot of artists burn out from doing only commissions, and they knew it was happening, but commissions paid the bills so they didn't have much choice and sometimes it got ugly. Patreon offers a great easy, automated way to support an artist to do whatever they feel like -- as long as they don't promise too many rewards, which ends up making Patreon just another kind of obligation. There's a balance to be struck: offering only early access may reduce the amount of pledges you get, but it keeps the effort required low enough that it doesn't become self-defeating.

That is so cool of you, sharing your art, regardless of ability to pay.

If I had the funds available, you'd be one of the FIRST artists I'd be supporting that way!

Unfortunately, all I got is well wishes and lots of gratitude. Doesn't spend well, sadly.
If you want a pic done in a style your art had a big part in shaping, hey, fire a note my way and I'll do what all I can to make it happen! Dustmeat art was rather influential and all for me, dun'cha know.
(?)


...despite me being absolutely destitute, I would dare say giving fans the chance to show some financial love would be a good thing for everyone.

I’m probably the last one on FA to give advice on this, as I’m still kind of a newby and I do my art as a hobby, not a job - and not much more than that.

But I will say that if you did get a Patreon I would happily sign up to support more Ninevah art. She has a lot of potential for ongoing stories and cartoons! And I just want to learn more about her, she seems to have an interesting life!

But on the other cloven hoof, I think the problem you could have is patrons who are unreliable, and repost your art to sites like e621.net, undercutting you and reducing your subscribers.

Though as I said i am a newby and have no idea how big a problem that is; you might want to have a look at your art that others have uploaded there at https://e621.net/post?tags=dustmeat&searchDefault=Search and see for yourself.

I don’t care for how people just repost, without asking the artist. And personally, while none of my art is there, some of the art I’ve commissioned from others is there and it bothers me that they don’t attribute the characters to their owners.

Anyways, that’s my uniformed two cents….

(Although I will say that while it shouldn’t have been reposted, the pic of yours with your tigress, the zebra, and the lioness that I found at E621.net is really awesome! Any chance you can post it to your FA gallery?)

Oh, forgot one suggestion- watermarks for your Paetreon art! That would help a little on the repost problem, I bet.

Oh the castrate pic! That thing is legendary

Hun, it's positively epic! And I have a weakness, I confess, for Dantean imagery, which that definitely seems to be. Hell, that tigress would make a fine succubus.

~She gets her pink princess phone and nightgown~

So there's obviously a delicious story that goes with that pic - so dish, what makes it so legendary? :D

I caught a LOT of flack from the Burned Furs for posting that picture online back in 2000

Oh, honestly. Didn't they get the memo about furries being really open about sex?

I was going to ask what BurnedFur was since it was before my time but no worries, I'll look it up. And probably be terrified by what I find.

OK... I have read up on Burnfurs, and wow, I am a very sad succubus now, to know that people ever had such large sticks up their asses, and took it out on other people.

Well... to give the devil his due, the public behavior at cons (ConFurence, in particular) was getting out of control, so something like the Burned Furs was virtually inevitable as a reaction to it, really. Unfortunately, much like furry fandom itself, the Burned Furs weren't a coherent, unified group with well-defined goals, and there wasn't any central authority or committee who could speak for the movement as a whole and categorically state "this is what our group advocates, this is what our group does not advocate, and anyone advocating the latter is not part of our group, no matter what they claim." So, a lot of people started running around with their hair on fire over rumors and exaggerations of what they assumed the BFs intended to do, while other people claimed the mantle of the movement for themselves to push their own agendas, and some of the BFs themselves were not exactly the most temperate and diplomatic people to begin with... so, the end result was a lot of unnecessary Drama which, to quote the Bard, was "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Ah.... "Give the devil his due..." Very nice touch, and one a succubus much approves of.

Thanks for the informative note! I gathered much the same, from what I read, and it sounds like it was quite the tempest in a teapot.

And oh Hell, did I find some rather interesting stories, about what (supposedly) went on at Confurence. I used to sometimes be sad I missed out on those paleolithic way back times of the 90's and early '00's in the fandom, but after hearing about this and how an artist got flack for their (well done and very nicely wicked...) art?

To Hades with that. I'm beginning to see how some graymuzzles went gray.

Patreon eh? Hmm well I say do it. It will either work for you or it won't. If it doesn't you are no worse off than now. If it does work for you, that means more free time for creation. Which will make both you and your fans happy. Even Michael Angelo got paid and no one to this day holds it against him.