Welcome (Back) Lovely Patron! (Life Updates + New Plans)

Howdy everyone!

Welcome to new and returning patrons! I would firstly like to say a HUGE thank you for those of you who are supporting me and have been supporting me since I started this little endeavor! It's been an interesting couple of years with a lot of bumps in the road that lead me to neglect this place. A lot of changes in real life have happened (two whole moves and adjusting to living on the opposite side of the country, getting to move in with my lovely boyfriend, trying to find a job...) but despite it all here we are! Trying in spite of tough times to make something of ourselves right?

(((I want to give a little history here and be transparent with some general life updates here so if you don't wanna see that feel free to skip past this to the ALL CAPS line)))

I have taken some time to reflect and ask myself how I really want to run this space. What turned me away from this before and look at what works for others in the same sphere as me! I felt the weight of being independent hit me all at once and I wasn't prepared for it. The system I started out with was a simple deadline for ideas each month for a set number of patrons. I told myself it would be simple but it became apparent that the workload and demand was too taxing on me and I hadn't accounted for things like being given ideas I didn't know or want to handle. I struggled to say no because I needed the money but all that did was cause me to push ideas out longer. Before I knew it I began to have a backlog looming over me. I had to quit and give myself time to finally lock in to delivering all of my dues. It took time but eventually I did it! And then I had to try again with a newer system that could help alleviate the work flow while still giving me the freedom to pursue commissions as those were my foremost form of income.

The token system came into play and I thought it would fix my earlier issue with deadlines for several projects at once feeling overwhelming! I would let people inform me when they would like an idea rather than them rushing out a concept for the month! They banked up tokens monthly allowing for lower tier folks to get access to rewards similar to the higher tiers just over a longer period! This system itself was flawed in a new way that I soon discovered. Because there was no set deadlines, I neglected to keep track of the difference between my two sets of work; Commissions and Patreon Rewards blended together and I told myself so long as I was producing the art I was making progress. I'd focus on one stack and then neglect the other. I would try to incorporate schedules only for my whole system to take a shock when IRL events would leave me feeling hopeless. The system fell apart and it was my fault because I sunk to a deep depression and felt like there was no hope for a future. Just like the first system I was overshadowed by a mounting number I kept track of. Token counts climbed higher each month and I knew I'd just gone in a huge circle leaving people unsatisfied once again. I just focused on commissions to keep money coming in but eventually that fell apart too.

I was scared to stop because I NEEDED to keep making money. But I had no drive to. I neglected a lot more than just this place and you lovely people. I neglected myself physically and mentally. I neglected people putting their trust in me. I neglected my own personal projects. I just felt hopeless and told myself I need to do something to cheer myself up. My days just became distraction and chasing after any little boosts of dopamine I could find and telling myself that this was progress. I realized recently thanks to the help of close friends that I've been in a rut and I need to dig myself out. I can't let myself fall apart when I feel hopeless. There is always something to pursue and something to keep on trying for! I just needed to sit down and think what I think I can offer to people without neglecting myself to cater for a quick buck.

I've come to realize people are here to support me and not demand things of me. Those who have ideas they want me to portray already have an avenue to do that and that is my commissions! My patreon is a space when people want to support me in my own endeavors and the rewards are a sign of gratitude and a little bonus to the support! People are here because they like my ideas, my style, and my expression! I shove those away because I feel undeserving on working on them because I tell myself it does nothing to help me. But those are the parts I should focus on that drew people to me in the first place! I want to be experimental! I want to create for myself! My Patreon will be that avenue for myself going forward! People tell me my best work is born from the things I'm passionate about when I'm making them! So I'm taking that to heart when trying it this time~

TL;DR I GOT OVERWHELMED BADLY WITH BOTH ITERATIONS AND GOT REAL DEPRESSED BUT I'M RECOVERING!!! MY PATREON WILL BE A PLACE TO SUPPORT ME AND MY PROJECTS WHEREAS MY COMMISSION WILL BE WHERE PEOPLE ASK THINGS FROM ME

Okay! All that having been said, here is the plan going forward! You guys can expect at the very least 3 pieces of art each month! Two Character poll driven comics (One for my own OCs & the other of established IPs) and an experimental/indulgent piece (Toybox Doodles)!

All 3 pieces of art will be uploaded to the Discord Server attached to this Patreon as well as on here before they are uploaded to my other socials! To access said server you must at least be in the Fanatic Tier! For those who want to participate in the polls here when they do happen consider the Zealot Tier!

For those in the Oracle Tier, I have added a clause into my Terms of Service to explain the terms of the Toybox Doodles and your options regarding participation! You will have 2 weeks time to opt in or out of any given idea for the month! There will be two ideas on months where I plan to do more niche scenarios as to accommodate everyone unless stated otherwise! Please review the clause in the link below:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vAZ0T4pPwSrLPZRRHi3OuYXlQNy_DQXoWb2Ml0RtYOA/edit?usp=sharing

I will publish more info as it comes out but that does it for the general updates! Keep your eyes peeled for more updates and thank you for your time, consideration, and patience! I hope to see you guys around more and if you need anything from me, you know where to find me!

Sev out! <3