Can you find stuff on my Patreon? 🧐
In 2022 I started this Guide & Archive Post that consolidated everything on my Patreon into one HUGE document. I broke things down by categories and tried to include keywords to make the doc a big searchable.
I've been updating that doc every month adding the past month's posts to the appropriate sections with the hopes of it helping folks be able to find what they need rather than dig through 11 years of the archive.
That being said, 11 years of content in one document is uh - it's a lot. :P
I'm thinking about some ways I might be able to update the organization that will split it up a bit more but that also means having more than one post/collection to check to find what you need.
Patreon's search has improved a lot in the last few years so I think probably that is also helpful!
I would like to know:
How often do you visit my Patreon looking for something specific?
If you do this, how easy is it to find what you need?
If you can't find what you need fast, what would you do next: give up, message me, something else?
Do you think the Guide & Archive Post is fine as is and I should keep making it bigger or would it be more helpful to make a series of posts that are in a collection?
If I break up the big post into a series of posts for a collection archive then I would probably consider either having:
⭐ Content sorted by year (so each year's post would include links to that year's content separated by types aka Themed Packs, monthly downloads, free sets)
OR
⭐ Content sorted by type (all the themed packs in one post, monthly downloads in a post, free sets in a post, etc.)
This is all kind of boring housekeeping stuff but it will affect how people access and use the past catalogue here so I'm really interested to hear what you think! ♥
Comments (17)
I actually never really think to search your Patreon for stuff x'D I usually just go to your website or ask around in the Discord. I mostly think of the Patreon as a support thing in the background, I forget there are rewards lmao
This is me with most of the people I support here 💕🤣
hi 💕 i also run a ref pose account and the struggle is so real!!! 1. rarely, because the searchability is bad. i will actively look for a theme pack, but thats it. i just save any weekly refs that speak to me as they are posted. 2. if im looking for a specific thing, can i find it easily? sort of / sometimes. the themed packs are great for this! if what im looking for happens to be a general theme (flying), then yes, very easy! but if its something more specific (ex: two people kissing) then it is much harder. sometimes i can tell it will be somewhere in a specific theme pack (ex: couples pack). but the variety posts, which are SO wonderful for a weekly release posts, unfortunately REALLY suck for searchability after the fact. when you search something, only the first image of the group is shown. so if im looking for kissing poses and its the 3rd pic in a collection of 5 unrelated poses. then i cant see it, even if the post shows up in the search list. and clicking through everytime to see the specific post that is related, is annoying, and i just dont so that. (personally, ive opted for posting fewer poses per week and making them all seperate posts, to boost the ease of searchability. that way when folks search for X, they can scroll through the results, and its all visually right there, they dont have to click through to see if the pose hidden in a group is one they like. but i dont know any other pose artists who do this. most do it like you, single weekly post with a variety of poses all together. probs because posting 5-8 individual posts all at once feels spammy, which it is, but it makes the searchability waaaay better.) 3. if i cant find it fast? i would just give up. 4. the master post is great as is, even if its super long! having all the theme packs listed in one place is great. list of monthly dowloads with a few keywords of whats in them is also helpful.
This is great feedback! Thank you so much for taking the time ❤️ Do you think going back to having the variety monthly posts be a screenshot with a zip download rather than individual images would help with the search problem? Then you'll be able to see all of the images that are in a single post at once. I could even front the post with the screenshot and still include the individual images if people prefer to download them that way 🤔
I honestly just search the patreon when i'm looking for stuff; i didn't even know the masterpost existed! I think the more useful masterpost for me would be the second idea of content sorted by type, since I'm usually vaguely aware of what I'm looking for ("I want to draw a mermaid today" "I need a magic caster sort of pose" etc), and finding a big post of all the themes would be more useful to me.
Ohhhh I hadn't even considered by theme 😮✨
I love having the master list with the links to all the collections, and the keywords are SUPER HELPFUL. (If you ever wanna hire a taxonomist, I have a brother. 😉)
I often am looking for specific stuff, whether than be specific types of poses (stuff with particular weapon types or particular actions) or stuff with a number of people like couple stuff, I try to be on top of downloading stuff i think ill use and organising it myself on my own hard drive by type but its hard to keep on top of! I have found the search is getting better, honestly sometimes the issue is more on me for not knowing the right wording for what im after. If I cant find what im after from you depending on what it is I'll either search on other sites or try and do the stock myself with my webcam
Awesome! Please remember that you can always ask me! Patrons also get requests if I can't find what you need 💕
I really appreciate the masterpost, but I have floundered a little in the past trying to find a good reference. I've found myself wishing there was a website where I could search with filters for individual images (model, pose, prop, angle, etc) that would let me search through what's available without having to download the zip files. (I mainly draw on my tablet so managing zipped folders of image files from there is A Process and I have limited memory.) I'm not really sure if there are websites that allow patreon login access or anything like that though, it's just one of the things that I've thought about in relation to finding the right reference.
Have you looked at the pose gallery on AdorkaStock.com? I admit the sorting and searching is a bit of a mess right now as I'm in the process of importing ~3000 images from the old DeviantArt gallery but it should in theory be sortable and searchable. ♥ https://www.adorkastock.com/pose/ As for here on Patreon, that's kind of what I tried to do with the master post in that I've tried to include a lot of keywords so that a Ctrl + F might help people get to stuff faster. I also try to include keywords in my individual posts so that a regular Patreon search is more likely to pull up what's needed. That being said, there's a lot of older posts that don't even have preview images nevermind keywords because search just wasn't a thing when I started haha One of the downsides to having been here since 2015 - so much has changed! :') And in the future absolutely for sure if you can't find something you should feel free to message me or ping me on discord if you're in there. I know my stuff best and I will likely be able to point you at it faster than most site searches. Sometimes other Patrons get to it faster then me too :3
I think one way to potentially manage the insanity of the content is by creating collections? You could employ some trustworthy community volunteers to cluster posts by theme or by number of people or w/e for easy browsing. If I couldn't find something, I would honestly just tag you in Discord and wait till you're around to see what you said.
Yeah!! I did collections for free posts, videos, and themed packs when I got access to them. I was thinking about other collections that might be helpful though I feel like those three really are the core of what most people would be looking for. I could make the Master Post it's own item in a single collection just as another way for people to find it?
I think its fine if the Master Post is long, but if you DO split it up, by type is definitely preferred. I dont really sort things by year when looking for references, im trying to either find something fun and free, or im looking for a specific pack or type of pose.
That really does make sense. I know there's a certain type of person who likes to do stuff chronologically but I'm def more categorically 8D
I really appreciate the way you sort your posts currently! I just joined the patreon recently, after using your poses for basically my entire art journey. the keywords are especially useful, but I love that the master post links to every pack too. Personally, I wouldnt change a thing!
Ty for the feedback! I really think one big post is helpful when you're looking for stuff I worry about the long-term functionality 🥲