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F@%$ Furry Economics, and F@%$ Patreon Leakers
8 years ago
So, I was in the process of uploading another streaming notification when I just had this passion to rant. So instead of doing it on a stream notification, I'll do it in this here journal.
To start off, I want to say I love this community but... it's got problems. I don't mean in the drama sense, but more the economic sense.
Trying to be better at something, like art, or any profession, is hard to do. Being self employed in that profession even more so. Taking something you love to do and making it your sole bread winning skill... Well, it's not for everyone, but it allows those truly passionate to spend more time and effort doing amazing things!
With art it means I can spend more time and effort improving my quality, help others realize the visions of ideas in their heads, and making amazing stories from my own creative head space.
But, there's a wrench, a double edged sword. Art being your job means it now has an obligation. You HAVE to do it or you starve, or loose your apartment, or go into massive debt. Probably more the later in this economy.
Right, so how's this relate to a fucked up furry economy? Well, the problem is simple but deep. Furry culture helps to brew up art at a massive scale. It creates a "Commission Economy" where non artists seek to make their characters and scenarios real via the help and service of artists. Then, the art can be showed off and shared. It's already been paid for, so there's no need to hoard or paywall the material right? After all, you get value from sharing your work. I don't fully agree with this concept. Because someone helping to fund a project you want to sell is also a thing that can exist. It's honestly how Final Feast happened. Without the help of Dezzy paying some upfront costs to allow me the time to take off to do it, it would not exist. But I couldn't afford to do the comic just on the upfront cost I charged. I'd have essentially made less than waiter's minimum wage without tip.
But, that's really not the big problem. What commissioner and artist decide to do with the art they make is up to them after all. But the general idea is it should be posted for free after it's done. Now, the real issue is that it bleeds over into personal projects.
You see, sometimes an artist wants to do something of their own creation. But, when your job is art, not a hobby, and you're looking to take A LOT of time to make your project a reality... how does it get funded? Well, unfortunately many people in our community believe it should just be made and posted for free just like commissioned work. This leads to a looped effect that we have now where ALL art apparently needs to be free or low cost.
So that's Main issue 1: our fandom wants art free or for next to nothing. This isn't new, many people want this in all fandoms and economies. But, it hurts this one because we're made up of a lot of single person businesses, trying to make a living or make money on the side with our art. We're not big corporations that can look the other way when someone pirates their shit.
So this leads into the second issue:
"Furry Art Pirates"
Sure, you can make whatever argument you want about how pirates on a whole don't hurt businesses. That they help. Or you're the opposite who think they completely hurt the economy. I'm not here to stress that argument. But when it comes to pirating work of single person businesses, of a guy trying to make a living making his art, that argument just is another beast entirely.
We're not big business that can look the other way when we loose a bit of sales here and there. And there's no two ways to take this topic. Artists LOOSE money to some degree when they are being pirated. They are just too small that the numbers, even a handful, impact them.
But, "Roco" some say "just commission art and only EVER do that. Then there's no problem. We get our free art, you get paid".
Some people can do that, only ever create what others want. But, I argue that for an artist to grow, improve, and mentally be healthy, they need to be able to do their own projects. Which this is incredibly hard to do when there are people out there who pirate off your projects for free.
Or, even worse, who make a fucking website that gives access to patreon creators work. Like... WTF!?
Patreon for artists was a means of trying to smooth over that issue we have with "Art must be free". It allowed consumers the option to choose what amount they'd want to pay artists to get first looks at the material they make (and exclusive access to certain other things for some patreons). In majority this meant that you get "Patreon First, FA Later" set up. Meaning you get your free art but that art gets sorta payed for slightly by crowd funding. It's in no way ideal for the majority of us artists. But it works for some, and others it's a nice supplement. It also is a great way for avid fans that wish to help their favorite artists out to contribute easily and get meaningful rewards for it.
But no, we have websites giving that shit away for free! Why!? Because you're so against paying 1, 2 or 3 dollars a month!?
I'm sorry, I have no, absolutely no redeeming thoughts about people who take from patreon artists. Ya, it sucks there's a paywall of sorts. There's a few artists I follow that I wish I could see their work they tease about but have to wait. It sucks, but it comes about eventually. (I would pay more artists on patreon myself but... ya debt and stuff, I'll get to that later).
Say what you want about Pirates and piracy and that whole argument. FUCK that when it comes to small business or self employment. They are hurting us and causing us to have to either force ourselves into the "Commission Economy" or fuck off.
But you know, let's talk about Commissioning. Because that's issue 3:
To be quite frank, furry artists wholly undersell themselves and their services. Both project and commission based. I've worked with graphic designers and am friends with professional artists who do work for videogames and movies, they all agree artists in our fandom are underselling themselves. It's really tough to make artwork a self employed profession when people want to pay you less than minimum wage!
How do you counter that though? That's not commissioner fault entirely (though there is that issue with cheap or free art permeating the mindsets), I honestly blame that issue on artists. If artist A and Artist B offer similar quality work, but ARtist B is cheaper, then of COURSE you're gonna go with the cheaper option. But, in the end that person selling for less is hurting themselves and other artists on a whole. Sure, they might only do it as a hobby, maybe they can afford to sell so low cus they can photocopy like a printer. Whatever the case, you should charge what you're worth. Maybe you don't know what you're worth? That's okay, experiment. But getting less commissions for more money is better than getting more commissions for less.
Fuck those who think "Oh the exposure and the advertisement" for starting artists. Ya that's like fucking saying "Oh you're an intern, you don't get paid in money, you get paid in experience!" Ya fuck off with that notion.
Okay, there is a point when you're first starting out you gotta build a fan base and get your name out there. But still, even at the beginning you need to charge your worth. But you can't, cus every other artist at your level is trying to undersell to get commissions.
So this is where it all comes together. The 3 issues:
"Commission Based Economy" and the "We want art free or cheap" Mentality.
"Pirates who steal from self employed artists"
"Artists underselling themselves"
these 3 things are webbed together and make it REALLY fucking hard to be self employed as an artist.
But, now that I'm done with my rant, how's that apply to me? It came about mostly after hearing about a website giving out patreon content for free. I and many patreons are apart of that. Even before that website I knew about some people leaking my content. But after finding out about that website, It just sorta burst when I thought about the people who constantly ask when the free content will be posted. I know for most it's not the intention but it just made me mad when I hear "Oh, when are you posting that for free?" instead of "Oh sweet, can't wait to buy that comic!" like... my shit ain't worth a couple fucking dollars!? Again, I know that may not be the intent of people, that's just my mind projecting. But, it's hard not to see it as that.
Well, to be honest, even with all the stress of these issues I still love being a furry artist. I love the community. I love you guys! Cus, at the end of the day, I couldn't be doing this without you and the community at large. It's not perfect, it's got lots of improving to do, but it's awesome too.
I just needed to get these things off my chest. Cus money has been super stressful for me lately. With debt pilling up it's becoming closer and closer to the point where I either give up as a self employed artist or just do generic commissions endlessly. I... can't do that. I like drawing for people, I really do. But I can't just work less than minimum wage on projects that aren't my own ideas endlessly. So to that note, when I start commissions up again, I'll be raising my prices.
But, I really REALLY want to do my own things to. I want to make sprawling comics, maybe dive into animation and some ideas! I want to be able to afford more time for community projects like Consumers Digest and the like.
I can't do that on a waiter's salary sans tips. So, expect in the future more ideas on how I fund my projects. Whether it's some patreon / store page hybrid, or just general selling content. And don't worry, free content will still happen.
All that being said, what do you guys think? Am I being too over dramatic about these things? Do you share in these issues or have an intriguing argument to make against some of these ideas? I know I was pretty harsh towards people who leak patreon content. Maybe there's a valid reason I just can't seem to see?
I'm not against discussion, just keep it civil of course.
To start off, I want to say I love this community but... it's got problems. I don't mean in the drama sense, but more the economic sense.
Trying to be better at something, like art, or any profession, is hard to do. Being self employed in that profession even more so. Taking something you love to do and making it your sole bread winning skill... Well, it's not for everyone, but it allows those truly passionate to spend more time and effort doing amazing things!
With art it means I can spend more time and effort improving my quality, help others realize the visions of ideas in their heads, and making amazing stories from my own creative head space.
But, there's a wrench, a double edged sword. Art being your job means it now has an obligation. You HAVE to do it or you starve, or loose your apartment, or go into massive debt. Probably more the later in this economy.
Right, so how's this relate to a fucked up furry economy? Well, the problem is simple but deep. Furry culture helps to brew up art at a massive scale. It creates a "Commission Economy" where non artists seek to make their characters and scenarios real via the help and service of artists. Then, the art can be showed off and shared. It's already been paid for, so there's no need to hoard or paywall the material right? After all, you get value from sharing your work. I don't fully agree with this concept. Because someone helping to fund a project you want to sell is also a thing that can exist. It's honestly how Final Feast happened. Without the help of Dezzy paying some upfront costs to allow me the time to take off to do it, it would not exist. But I couldn't afford to do the comic just on the upfront cost I charged. I'd have essentially made less than waiter's minimum wage without tip.
But, that's really not the big problem. What commissioner and artist decide to do with the art they make is up to them after all. But the general idea is it should be posted for free after it's done. Now, the real issue is that it bleeds over into personal projects.
You see, sometimes an artist wants to do something of their own creation. But, when your job is art, not a hobby, and you're looking to take A LOT of time to make your project a reality... how does it get funded? Well, unfortunately many people in our community believe it should just be made and posted for free just like commissioned work. This leads to a looped effect that we have now where ALL art apparently needs to be free or low cost.
So that's Main issue 1: our fandom wants art free or for next to nothing. This isn't new, many people want this in all fandoms and economies. But, it hurts this one because we're made up of a lot of single person businesses, trying to make a living or make money on the side with our art. We're not big corporations that can look the other way when someone pirates their shit.
So this leads into the second issue:
"Furry Art Pirates"
Sure, you can make whatever argument you want about how pirates on a whole don't hurt businesses. That they help. Or you're the opposite who think they completely hurt the economy. I'm not here to stress that argument. But when it comes to pirating work of single person businesses, of a guy trying to make a living making his art, that argument just is another beast entirely.
We're not big business that can look the other way when we loose a bit of sales here and there. And there's no two ways to take this topic. Artists LOOSE money to some degree when they are being pirated. They are just too small that the numbers, even a handful, impact them.
But, "Roco" some say "just commission art and only EVER do that. Then there's no problem. We get our free art, you get paid".
Some people can do that, only ever create what others want. But, I argue that for an artist to grow, improve, and mentally be healthy, they need to be able to do their own projects. Which this is incredibly hard to do when there are people out there who pirate off your projects for free.
Or, even worse, who make a fucking website that gives access to patreon creators work. Like... WTF!?
Patreon for artists was a means of trying to smooth over that issue we have with "Art must be free". It allowed consumers the option to choose what amount they'd want to pay artists to get first looks at the material they make (and exclusive access to certain other things for some patreons). In majority this meant that you get "Patreon First, FA Later" set up. Meaning you get your free art but that art gets sorta payed for slightly by crowd funding. It's in no way ideal for the majority of us artists. But it works for some, and others it's a nice supplement. It also is a great way for avid fans that wish to help their favorite artists out to contribute easily and get meaningful rewards for it.
But no, we have websites giving that shit away for free! Why!? Because you're so against paying 1, 2 or 3 dollars a month!?
I'm sorry, I have no, absolutely no redeeming thoughts about people who take from patreon artists. Ya, it sucks there's a paywall of sorts. There's a few artists I follow that I wish I could see their work they tease about but have to wait. It sucks, but it comes about eventually. (I would pay more artists on patreon myself but... ya debt and stuff, I'll get to that later).
Say what you want about Pirates and piracy and that whole argument. FUCK that when it comes to small business or self employment. They are hurting us and causing us to have to either force ourselves into the "Commission Economy" or fuck off.
But you know, let's talk about Commissioning. Because that's issue 3:
To be quite frank, furry artists wholly undersell themselves and their services. Both project and commission based. I've worked with graphic designers and am friends with professional artists who do work for videogames and movies, they all agree artists in our fandom are underselling themselves. It's really tough to make artwork a self employed profession when people want to pay you less than minimum wage!
How do you counter that though? That's not commissioner fault entirely (though there is that issue with cheap or free art permeating the mindsets), I honestly blame that issue on artists. If artist A and Artist B offer similar quality work, but ARtist B is cheaper, then of COURSE you're gonna go with the cheaper option. But, in the end that person selling for less is hurting themselves and other artists on a whole. Sure, they might only do it as a hobby, maybe they can afford to sell so low cus they can photocopy like a printer. Whatever the case, you should charge what you're worth. Maybe you don't know what you're worth? That's okay, experiment. But getting less commissions for more money is better than getting more commissions for less.
Fuck those who think "Oh the exposure and the advertisement" for starting artists. Ya that's like fucking saying "Oh you're an intern, you don't get paid in money, you get paid in experience!" Ya fuck off with that notion.
Okay, there is a point when you're first starting out you gotta build a fan base and get your name out there. But still, even at the beginning you need to charge your worth. But you can't, cus every other artist at your level is trying to undersell to get commissions.
So this is where it all comes together. The 3 issues:
"Commission Based Economy" and the "We want art free or cheap" Mentality.
"Pirates who steal from self employed artists"
"Artists underselling themselves"
these 3 things are webbed together and make it REALLY fucking hard to be self employed as an artist.
But, now that I'm done with my rant, how's that apply to me? It came about mostly after hearing about a website giving out patreon content for free. I and many patreons are apart of that. Even before that website I knew about some people leaking my content. But after finding out about that website, It just sorta burst when I thought about the people who constantly ask when the free content will be posted. I know for most it's not the intention but it just made me mad when I hear "Oh, when are you posting that for free?" instead of "Oh sweet, can't wait to buy that comic!" like... my shit ain't worth a couple fucking dollars!? Again, I know that may not be the intent of people, that's just my mind projecting. But, it's hard not to see it as that.
Well, to be honest, even with all the stress of these issues I still love being a furry artist. I love the community. I love you guys! Cus, at the end of the day, I couldn't be doing this without you and the community at large. It's not perfect, it's got lots of improving to do, but it's awesome too.
I just needed to get these things off my chest. Cus money has been super stressful for me lately. With debt pilling up it's becoming closer and closer to the point where I either give up as a self employed artist or just do generic commissions endlessly. I... can't do that. I like drawing for people, I really do. But I can't just work less than minimum wage on projects that aren't my own ideas endlessly. So to that note, when I start commissions up again, I'll be raising my prices.
But, I really REALLY want to do my own things to. I want to make sprawling comics, maybe dive into animation and some ideas! I want to be able to afford more time for community projects like Consumers Digest and the like.
I can't do that on a waiter's salary sans tips. So, expect in the future more ideas on how I fund my projects. Whether it's some patreon / store page hybrid, or just general selling content. And don't worry, free content will still happen.
All that being said, what do you guys think? Am I being too over dramatic about these things? Do you share in these issues or have an intriguing argument to make against some of these ideas? I know I was pretty harsh towards people who leak patreon content. Maybe there's a valid reason I just can't seem to see?
I'm not against discussion, just keep it civil of course.
"I want to commission but i'm poor"
This is part of the reason why some pirates are so successful, I'm not saying this excuses them, in fact that makes them more vile because it's like they're taking advantage of the fact that not everyone has a lot of money and in fact the majority have hardly any. That's where Patreon comes in right?
So the poor person buys a commission for cheap which fuels the need for artists to undersell themselves which then in turn leads to the 'sell art for cheap or free' mentality.
It's a royal pain....
I don't blame people who have little money but still want art. I know how it is, I feel the same with videogames. But there is a balance. Art is a commodity. It's something you want but don't need. If you can't afford it, then best to save up till you can. Like me and wanting to buy the new Assassin's Creed... heard many good things about it but I just can't afford it at $60. I'm willing to wait till it drops to like $30 or my finances are better.
I can relate a lot. I carried FA on my back (and wallet) for almost a decade. It sent me back into so much debt that it's hard to quantify. I've seen how things affect people over all those years, and people who rely on their month to month commissions and contributions getting burned. Patreon and Ko-Fi help but some people have no respect for what people do, nor the time investment it takes for them to do it.
It's an amazing community but so many go out of their way to spoil it for others.
Also... really sorry to hear about all the stress. >.< I wish I could get your art more often, but when I cannot find a job in my country due to ridicolous requirements and incompetent hiring system, I am stuck with a paycheck that dont me much room to wiggle around with. Unless some big fortune happen somewhere. <.<;
Oh my god yes. Seriously. My gallery is pretty much a story of artists who needed to raise their prices, or still need to. I can name at least a dozen artists that I've commissioned and then said "seriously, you need to jack up your prices." I constantly see artists whose commission queues fill up to the brim in 2 minutes tops when they open, because they're so ridiculously underpriced for the quality of art they produced. You've been in some of Dweet's art - I think I make a semi-annual habit of yelling at him to jack up his prices more.
>It's really tough to make artwork a self employed profession when people want to pay you less than minimum wage!
YES. THIS. EXACTLY FUCKING THIS.
So many artists don't realize just how much they put, time-wise, into commissions that hardly pay jack. Nek0gami - a fucking Guest of Honor - put probably 7 hours into my first commission, for $200. If he had himself priced down to where he's making $30/hour, what chance do most people have to make a livable wage?
Patreon HAS gotten some people to raise their prices, and that's good! When you have someone that people want to commission have a limited number of slots that produce a commission as part of the rewards, and the artist prices it a bit high figuring they don't want to get overloaded and those slots still fill up right away, that tells other artists "hey, this person's able to command $x, and I'm just as good as them, I should start asking for what I'm worth!"
You're not being overdramatic. you're speaking your mind about a very real issue.
But aswell I only been here for 2 years and to my knowledge no one has coped my art or tried to steal it
You have the artists who make the low-paying or free watchers happy with cheap commissions, streams, Patreon and that sort of thing.
Then you have the artists who make the 'whales' happy with auctions for big, extravagant pieces, YCHs, adoptables or highly coveted closed species.
I feel like there's a healthy balance to find in there for a more sustainable way of making it in the fandom 'professionally'. You find ways to sell your art packs and such to 'high rollers' (AKA willing to spend $30 or something on an art pack) early on, then maybe slowly ease in the cheaper bunch, and entice more buyers with some peeks at what's inside. Put those things on a platform like itch.io so people can 'pay what they want' but you still can set a minimum. Maybe entice more low-tier Patreon support by making art packs available on there after long enough. Same with overall Patreon-gated content - after long enough you can toss it up in your gallery for free, link to Patreon and say 'hey, higher res is up there'. Run some YCH/auction stuff, but limit how often and find a way to make it truly special - a consistent, predictable event that you make enticing to participate in. Keep up a nice mix of Patreon-based and normal commissions - gotta pay big for nice commissioned work but Patreon provides cheaper work, maybe with less control of what you get.
Just tossing ideas around there, really, but the mobile analogy really helps put it in perspective. Free watchers aren't happy when everything you put out is expensive paid or YCH type things, and you can make good money off both the whales and those willing to pitch in just a little at a time, as long as you have ways of keeping both satisfied. A lot of artists might balk at the idea of having to figure out how to monetize and sell themselves and their work, but that's just the path you must take if you want to make a living doing art for furries.
So you simply need to make as much money as possible from the people who are willing to pay. And you do this by making it as easy as possible for them to pay you. This is how Steam thrived in the "rampant" world of PC piracy. They made a platform that provided games better than how the pirates would provide, and made it very easy to pay them for it. Or developers made free to play games - games where the concept of piracy was completely irrelevant, and instead made their money on the small percentage of people willing to pay a lot, while most people playing it paid nothing and would never pay anything if forced to.
And I know how much they undercut themselves. The sad fact is, even at $300 they're still not even making half as much as a properly paid artist. Sometimes those pieces can take 10 - 20 hours, usually more for higher quality stuff.
Doing art for a living is not easy, that's a fact. And that's not going to change. You want to put a lot of time into big, personal projects? That's great. But the economy doesn't care. You can't do that and expect to succeed as a business. Drawing things for yourself is important to stay mentally healthy, indeed. I've heard several cases of other artists trying to draw for a living, and becoming emotionally crushed by the massive work load and the inability to decide their own content. Their passion becomes a chore, and they lose sight of why they loved it in the first place. And there's nothing sadder than that.
If you want my advice, I think you should get a day job. Let your art be a hobby instead of trying to make it a business. Draw things because you want to, rather than because you need to to survive. You can make decent money just drawing stuff in your free time, plus having a reliable income to keep you afloat.
I had been hoping Patreon would work well, since in theory it sounded like a solution to the problem: Individuals may not want to pay a ton of money for art pieces, but enough fans chipping in could offset that... so I'm really disappointed to hear about the piracy going on.
I really hope that some sort of solution can be reached that helps everyone. Except the pirates, fuck 'em.
The problem of having people wanting for free art is like selling bread for free from your bakery and those demands really what tears my motivation apart.
It's why I rarely do requests or... "free art". It feels cheap and for what cost? I'm sacrificing my time and energy for a free art that's most likely focusing on someone's OC or a franchise character that I don't care about.
I've heard about people using bots or being the "patron" to share Patreon exclusive materials to people but a "website"... that's taking things to a lower level and plus, you really have to be aggressively drawing in order to gain patrons and money from Patreon but at the same time, those assholes come in and make it free. It's why I quit using Patreon. It's stupid as an artist, it's very tiring, especially when you have college and family up your ass, and I know there are other contents that aren't Patreon Exclusive that I can enjoy. Hell, I already have people stealing my content in DeviantArt of all places, the site where they don't give a damn about piracy and content-stealing!
Even if we're open for commissions whether it is a hobby or as a professional, I believe people just want to be rewarded or have some sort of pleasure and getting low-cost and free art makes things "better" and satisfying for them. I mean... it's not fair that we artists and writers have to bust our asses to satisfy their needs.
We can go aggressive about our policies and such but does anybody give a damn? Especially involving explicit art?
I wish so.
The art commission business is extremely competitive. Especially in the furry community. When you're a working artist, you are competing against others to see who gets that customer's money. I know that sounds blunt, but people need to face it that, well, that's how the economy is.
I agree with you on most issues. I wish it was that way, but unfortunately it isn't.
The best you could do to prevent piracy of your works is to file DMCA takedowns.
If it doesn't work out, try getting another job as a means of making safer money. Being a working artist is a risky business.
Here's where I have to politely give a counterpoint here. This is actually going a little off topic, since in no way am I defending piracy by saying this.
However, one thing that has always irked me with Patreon, is I feel like there might be a small disconnect between artists and nonartists/supporters when it comes to patreon.
I hear this similar argument made by many artists. "You mean you can't or are against $1 a month?"
The problem here is it's really NOT $1 a month, not on a whole. Maybe to support YOU directly, yes $1 a month. But how many folks do you know who just support a single patreon? I'm sure they are out there, but there isn't many.
I for one have always enjoyed this community and its artists, and I try my best to support any way I can. The problem comes with the more artists I support, the more my monthly patreon bill goes up at the end of the month. Sure, $1 may not seem that much when you just look at your own patreon, but one thing I feel artists sometimes forget is that when you open a patreon, you are competing with every other patreon out there.
Patreons with exclusives are, imo, gonna see more support than those that offer just 'early access' because everyone wants that exclusive stuff, the stuff hidden behind a paywall, the stuff that gets teaser images posted with big patreon logos slapped over the juicy bits.
This ends up becoming a predicament for supporters like myself. Say I really enjoy Artist A, and Artist B.
Artist A offers up WIPs and early access to new comics that will be posted for free later on FA for $5.
Artist B offers exclusive artwork that can only be seen on Patreon for $5
I can only budget one, so in the end I go with Artist B because the exclusives sound like more of a deal.
Now my problem comes with artists that never release their exclusive stuff later, nor do they give you access to it if you join a few months later. Like say it was part of a January pack that gets sent out. You join up in March? So sorry, you don't have access to that pack.
One thing I like to recommend to some artists with patreon exclusive art, is maybe to open up a Gumroad account, or something similar for past exclusive artwork, that maybe one can buy later at a set price.
I've seen a few artists, some outside the furry community, that do this, and it's actually really nice that I'm able to support them and get the patreon exclusive stuff anyway at a later date, without having to strain my patreon bill further. For reference, my bill is currently at like $40 a month, and that's from quite a few artists that are 1,3,5 dollar a month patreons. It adds up, and this is something I feel like artists as a whole tend to dismiss when they don't understand why supporters aren't willing to drop $1 or $3 a month on them.
I also kinda wish Patreon had a way to set up a payment plan where you as a supporter get charged for an artist, on the same day every month that you signed up for them, similar to a regular pay site.
For example, if I signed up for Artist A's Patreon on July 3rd, and Artist B's Patreon on July 12th, I would get charged for a month's worth of support for Artist A on August 3rd, and Artist B on August 12th.
I understand this would seem wierd for some artists with how they have set up, but my reasoning for this is then the payments would be split up, and it would lighten up the burden. Then you would have like maybe $10 this week, and $15 the next week charged, rather than the whole cumulative amount charged at the end of the month.
This is also why, while I don't condone it and wish it weren't there, I'm not at all surprised that patreon works get pirated, especially with all the exclusive stuff that never gets released either free later, or set up on a shop later to be paid for separately. It gets lost and never seen to many who may not be able to support every artist that does it, so then all we have left to see are teasers for images that we missed out on because we just couldn't afford to add that artist to our patreon list at that specific time when that art was being posted. Limited windows of release is what I'm saying.
Like for example, as much as I love your work, I just can't afford to add you to my monthly bill as it sits now with all the other payments I have going on.
However, by releasing your recent Zootopia comic to your shop as well, I've been able to pay for it and send you my support another way, since Patreon was not an option for me to support you with.
I hope this all makes sense, and sorry for all the wordiness. :P