Welcome back!

Hello lovely people! I am back after a brief respite for the holidays and as is tradition I like to open the year with a post sort of going over general thoughts, ideas and hopes for the coming year on the patreon as well as new things I want to try with the platform, you as the audience and myself as creator. So I will do my best to keep it concise and clear but as those who've been around here for a bit are probably aware, I am a rambler. So let's see how it goes!

First up, hopes. My hope for this year on the patreon is pretty simple really. I hope to continue to grow the community here, to provide work and insight to the process that is informative and entertaining and to grow the audience for my work. I think I am at a fun spot creatively with some of the stuff I have going and I think with some of the stuff coming up we can find even more folks who are into the type of work I am doing and the community we have here.

Now what about the general month to month operations? Things won't be changing too much here. The postcards and stickers will still be happening and I will continue to try and create fun illustrations for everybody with them each month. As mentioned last year though I also want to try and push those bounds with new stuff occasionally whether it was the dungeon map from last year or maybe a set of cut out minis for the monthly card this year maybe, who knows. But the desire to try and see what I can do with those restrictions is there and I think it is a fun way to continue what we have been doing but find new ways to experiment and grow. As for the other stuff we've been doing I want to speak first to the sketchbook posts. These are fun but I also find they can be a bit odd when I have months where I just haven't sketched much or don't have much to share so in line with a personal resolution to sketch more in my actual sketchbooks I am going to shift this to either a quarterly share of scanned pages or maybe wait until the end of the year, scan the whole thing and release it as a PDF. I am undecided yet but if you have a thought feel free to let me know in the comments. Lastly, Shirt Club. Man do I love doing Shirt Club haha. It's always a fun time coming up with a design and I think with the implementation of an overarching theme last year it really gave me just the slightest bit of restriction I needed to find a nice groove. That will continue this year with a new theme that I will reveal with the first SC post which may come a bit earlier than usual, thinking maybe the month before delivery month that way folks can see more of the progress, it's not as tough a sprint to get everything done in a short time and can give folks an opportunity to join up if they want the shirt that is coming together. One facet of Shirt Club I haven't cracked yet though is what to do with the designs after they have their exclusivity on the year for rewards. I mentioned before that adding them to the general shop was an option in some way, whether limited time or something else. I'm not sure. It's always something I think about but also want to make sure I am respecting the patron of that tier who were there the whole time and their choices. Something I still need to decide. I think though like the postcards and stickers they would not be offered within the same calendar year as they were originally made. This keeps that separation I think of the supporters throughout the year and those who maybe came after or discovered the work generally via my socials or something else.

Alright, that was a lot. So now onto new stuff! Or at least some thing I want to try out throughout the year and see how we get on.

Firstly, I really miss streaming. As some may remember I used to stream art on my twitch channel M-F for a couple hours a day just to hang out, answer questions and share what I was working on. Things change and I have been away from that for a long time now but I have been trying to think of a way to get a bit of that back but in a more sustainable way for myself and I thought about spinning up a (to start) monthly stream where in maybe I collect some questions or something ahead of time or folks ask in the chat and could serve as a Q&A hang out/community draw session and just general chill time. I still need to iron out details and things but of course you all here will be first to know on where/when things happen.

Secondly, blogging. I have a blog on my website that I had all intentions of using but that sort of fell off a cliff as I kind of just started using the patreon as a blog to a degree. So that won't really change but I will be more cross posting things between the two places. Things that focus more on my work and projects will be posted here and there and things that are more thought pieces, my ideas about maybe games or a movie or something that I take in and want to chat about I will put there. It's going to be a bit messy probably to start as I work out all the bits of what belongs where but I guess the best way to think about things is if you are mainly here for my art/projects you will still get that here. And if you want more Teeg in your life and the character limits of social media are not allowing for that hunger to be satiated than the blog should help you spell your appetite.

Lastly, podcast? I don't know how many people know this or not but I actually did a weekly podcast with a buddy for a couple years where we talked about games and sort of general nerdy/pop culture news and stuff. It was not big at all, we mostly did it for fun and as a means to have a scheduled hang. I miss it dearly. I think to me my favorite podcasts are the ones that are about something but also about nothing. There is a premise and a format but it also allows for banter, random tangents and things like that. Now of all the ideas and plans for the year I have this is by far the least fully formed but I think for me it would serve as a shorter form way to deliver a thought, have a dialogue with the audience that is a bit more personal and just kind of connect with everyone. I have no idea how it will end up or spin out but I want to at least give it a try. And if it becomes my dream scenario of The Rewatchables but for video games at some point that could be neat too haha.

Anyways, that is a lot of text and I applaud you if you made it all the way through. I truly appreciate all of the support you have shown me and my work over the years and the continued interest in what I have going on. Sharing the works and maintaining the patreon is some of my favorite things I get to do month to month and I am truly grateful for you all whether you're a free member, tip jar subscriber, art mail appreciator or shirt club enjoyer I am blessed to have you here. If you like the work, I would love you to share it with family and friends who may as well. But just having you here is all I could ask for.

Be good to yourself. Be good to each other.

- Teeg