One artist that decided on commissions for patrons, was by a list. Month 1, the first two people on the list got colored pics. Month 2, the next two people. Month 3, the next two. And so on. Once the list was done, it would revert to the top of the list. That way, everyone could keep track of what month they would be scheduled. So could do something similar, maybe for high-end patrons, and just sketches for lower/mid-tier?

Early access is very common low level reward. Higher level rewards might be preferred access to the friday night stream commission queue. Say the first two chosen are patreon people, and the remainder are the usual random access.

Some artists have patreon participants accumulate points of some kind, based on total time and level, these points then can be used for various things. Artwork, subject matter polls, cameos in stories. i.e. for a thousand points, your character gets to be the center of attention of the sugarnutz girls comic of three pages.

How about drawing stickers, getting them printed and sendting them off to a sticker club?

Perhaps something to encourage your regulars on your drawing stream to join you patreon, you could have a tier where once a month, you randomly select a patron from that tier to choose the theme for a night.

if there is a cheap tier that gives me art updates sooner im probably okay with that
i dont really use Streams because they often dont line up with my timezone/shedule
i'll pay a little more if there is a comic i really like and get access to pages sooner like for example "the internship"

for me the decision to become a patron is always, TierPrice x 12 = how much money am i paying this artist a year to draw art thats not commissioned by me. some artists only get 12 a year, some get 36 and a few get 60 from me.

never really bother with tiers that give a free commission every 3 months or something like that because often because i rather commission the artist in the normal way

anyway thats my personal logic for it, hope that helps,.

It all depends on what you want to focus on!

If you want to focus more on personal artwork, comics and other content. You could also offer cameo roles to your supporters, basically use their characters as background characters in scenes where background characters are needed.

You could always use commission slots or commission discounts for certain tiers, low level tiers get sketches or a small discount while high level tiers get colored sketches with multiple characters or a substantial discount on a commission. Free art or discounts on art is a good incentive.

You can also do Patreon exclusive polls, letting your supporters have some control over certain things. Whether it be small things to do with your personal projects or about commissions and fan art.

I hope this is helpful!

Actually, cameos is a good one too.
But tier'd for picking is also good too.

One Patreon artist I follow takes suggestions(IE Parrot mimicking wizard accidentally summons demons, Mafia boss Yorkshire Terrier) then takes 3-4 of those ideas, has his patrons vote for 4 days, then does a sketch or minimal color image of the one with the most votes.

maybe you could have people vote on the themes for the friday streams. a friend of mine also does a sketch raffle where patrons send in simple ideas and they use a number generator to pick through them

That's a good idea, as well.

You're getting a lot of ideas here. I'll add one of my own thoughts.
Like streaming, Patreon is at least in part a way for a creator to reach out and entertain their audience (for possible remuneration). But time is zero-sum; the more you spend creating for Patreon, the less you do creating for other things. Devote yourself to Patreon based on your intentions or its revenue, whichever is lower.

Also, consider posting on Patreon with things you're going to make anyway, especially if the support seems low.

You've had a bunch of good suggestions already, so I'll relate my experiences instead.

I've been a patron to a bunch of artists who do it in different ways. Some of them do a blank monthly (or in some cases, every few months) commission slot that you earn by being a patron at a certain tier, like $25 a month or higher. In this case, you determine the timeframe and the level of work associated with the tier, and the customer has their choice within those limits.

Some artists take a monthly theme, like Rickgriffin. Each month, they post a certain theme, whether it's a concept like 'Getting Walked In On', or a location like 'At the Beach', and it's up to their patrons to provide a prompt that matches that theme, just like some of your themed Friday night streams.

And for some artists, they simply run streams or make offline art where they raffle their patrons, usually rotating who can get art based on recent history (also like some of your streams, such as the double buttshot theme you just had).

In my experience, these three are in order of enjoyment from best to average. Having a guaranteed commission slot is a pretty consistent thing on Patreon, and it doesn't even have to be monthly, it could be every two or three months. After that, having the themed raffle provides a chance to get creative and essentially compromise between what a patron is looking for and what an artist wants in their portfolio. Finally, the 'all-patron raffle' creates a chance for art while also ensuring the artist is less bound to provide a lot of art every month.

Take from that what you will, and feel free to reach out to me if you want any other experience/opinions/etc!

The problem with a guaranteed commission slot is that can end up in what I call the Pencil of Damocles effect. Artists that have that hanging over their head do anything they can to avoid doing the work, even when it would be quicker to just get it over with and be free than living with the dread. It's the #1 reason I don't usually do offline commissions. I don't think it's fair to customers to have to deal with such delays. I don't know that I would do that, but I see plenty of artist journals and excuses enough that I don't want to be that person. Could be just fine. I don't know.

If you offer a couple of slots at a tier level high enough that you're guaranteed a commission, that's basically buying the artist. I know that's fine, but it also rubs me the wrong way at times too. Someone with money can do what others cannot. That's how the world works, I realize. What if the person whom buys that slot is someone whom's art or preferences just aren't your thing? I mean, not everyone is in to 12th century spaceship designs of stone and thatch with aliens putting tentacles in Elvis's every orifice as he time travels with Bigfoot, right? If I were to do so, I'd have to rotate those slots so the same person isn't buying up the spot every month. Maybe a rule you can only do it 2 times a year and let others get a chance in there.

I need to whiteboard all these ideas and see how they mesh.

A bit late to the party...
Not sure if it was mentioned yet, but you can let patrons suggest and vote on themes for your streams. So, higher tier patrons could pitch some ideas while all patrons can vote on those. Downside being; you might end up with themes you aren't all that comfortable or confident with, but the overall votes would likely fix that problem.