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First of all, thanks everyone for your support so far!

I am NOT declaring this Patreon dead or deserted or anything! But, noticing the slow but certain decrease in support that has happened during the last couple of years, I believe I need to do something about it.

I may not have mentioned this before, but I have been heavily overworking myself with the creation of my two comics ever since I started this Patreon. I've been hoping for years now that working hard on the quality of the content created here would be enough to attract more support on the long run and eventually I could stop underpaying myself for the work (I can share with all of you the actual math of this if you are interested). Sadly it would seem we have hit a ceiling during december of 2020 and the support ever only decreased since then. By this point I had planned for the support to be higher than it is, and I cannot keep hoping we'll get there when it's very possible that may not happen.

Sadly, I cannot afford to overwork myself like that anymore. The bad financial situation of the world in general, the terrible currency exchange that happens everytime Patreon sends it's payments and the decrease in support make it impossible now.

I intend to do two things based on that:

1.- Keep the rewards as they are now, for as long as we remain above the threshold of $1200 every month. Meaning I'll keep delivering two Moonlace pages, two Bethellium pages, one pinup and one memoirs page for the time being. But if the support decreases below that, I'll need to make adjustments accordingly.

2.- I'll reestructure this Patreon in order to attract more potential supporters and give it a very needed boost. Meaning you'll be seeing some minor changes soon.

So, in general, my regular patrons should see no major changes, but I wanted to warn you anyway that some things may change. You can already see a new banner on top of my Patreon adjusted to reflect this.

The biggest change you're gonna notice, is that I'll start removing every content post older than six months of the running month in order to motivate new patrons to remain regular and not pop in once every two years or so. Patrons who remain regular for six months will be able to ask me for any past reward of their respective tier anytime. Furthermore, you won't need to go back and redownload every reward of your tier, because I'll be putting together packs of images, videos, comics, etc. that you can download while I make these changes throughout the summer. I also intend to temporarily make these packs available to new patrons during a special offer campaign during July to attract more support, since it seemed to work fairly well during december 2020.

I will also stop entirely the creation of any additional rewards aside of the usual monthly four comic pages, the monthly pinup and the monthly memoirs page. If at any point the monthly amount collected by Patreon increases or decreases, I'll tell you immediately in order to adjust the rewards accordingly.

Also based on previous polls, I may shift the regular pinup into two or more less detailed pictures per month focusing more on NSFW, and start working on side stories of Bethellium just like with Memoirs, as soon as we're done with Jen's memoir.

My intention is to affect my regular patrons the least possible, but I sincerely apologize in case any of these changes affect you negatively. You know I'm always reachable here through comments or private messages in case you want to express your discomfort, suggestions or feedback of any kind.

Thanks a lot again for your understanding and support!

Comments

TM wolf

If you feel the change is necessary as the world and the situation in general changes, you should go for it. One should always react and adapt to changing circumstances. I shall keep my support to my favourite artist going for as long as it's feasible, and right now it looks promising in that regard! :3

Runefox

I’ve been wondering for how long you could keep up this workload and it’s admirable you’ve been able to keep it up for this long, but this is definitely for the best. I would say that your regular patrons will welcome this change, as you’ve always been very upfront about how you’ve managed your time and effort. I’ll be sticking around, and look forward to all your amazing content to come!

LaughingGrim

I've been a supporter for a long time now lol. Your work always comes out top notch so if I gotta wait longer to see stuff that's no problem. Don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon

KieferSkunk

I'm relatively new, but I've been enjoying Bethellium since you moved to Kemono Cafe, and I definitely still want to support you. I'll be sticking around. :) I think part of the issue might be that your tiers above $10 or $15 are all marked "limited" and with zero spots left. I understand needing to limit those rewards because of your capacity, but from my POV, that discouraged me from pledging a higher amount when I signed on. I don't have any immediate advice on what to do about that, but I would happily pitch in more to keep you going, and I hope others would too.

Anonymous

I am not going anywhere. And I stand 100% behind your decision. And like KieferSkunk, if there was a meaningful reward level above the $20 level I am currently at, I will gladly sub in for that. And I think others would support at a higher level as well. It tooks months before a opening in the $20 to open for me to get. I think you need more openings in the higher tiers. At any rate and any capacity, I am here for you.

Gally

Tbh I'm just here for the Bethellium comic and it's lore posts. As long as I get that then I'm staying.

dark_blue_workshop

Thanks for your understanding! Believe me, I have no intention to drop these projects and hopefully I'll manage to increase their monetization in order to keep them alive for as long as possible :)

dark_blue_workshop

Thanks a lot both for the understanding and for your increased support! I do try to always be open and clear about my intentions with this project. It is in a way, as much yours as it is mine. Hopefully I'll be able to turn this inconvenience to our favor in the future. For now, it's time to resist for a bit longer. The objective is to see these comics correctly finished someday and I'll do everything I can to reach that goal :)

dark_blue_workshop

Thanks a lot for the understanding and support. Let's hope things make a turn for the better in the future. For now, I can at least promise I'm not giving up until these projects have a proper ending :)

Dominic Schwab

As long as i don't lose my Job i will support you. Even if you have to reduce the rewards.

Philly Okeechobee

You're one of my most admired and inspirational artists, Blue. Whatever goes on in your life, Patreon or otherwise, I'm willing to trust in whatever choices you make to better provide for yourself and your family. If I ever lower my tier, it's only due to my own financial situation at the time, not because of your rewards or subscription infrastructure. I want to support you because I love your art and comics, seeing bunny bits now and then is simply a side perk for me. I just like seeing you draw bunny in the first place 👍

Dimitri

You already do a lot on your Patreon, but you can't be a prisoner of it, you have to be able to have your life on the side, which is normal. I came to your Patreon for Bethellium, which I love, to be more immersed in its universe. And I discovered Moonlace also on your page which is just as awesome. Afterwards, reducing your workload would be normal, but why not center the page on its two comics, leaving those that are not less aside? less workload while remaining in his two projects. finally it's only an idea but why not something like this. and I know that the decision you will have taken, it will be good for you and your patreon (but don't let go of your comics, we love them :)

Iselwyr

Abd you do so much amazing content creation, I've often wondered if you were doing exactly this. Please do what you need to make this viable, you'll have my support in doing so

dark_blue_workshop

Thanks a lot for your feedback and support! I may need to reorganize the $20 tier spots to be more interesting in a way that everyone sees the value in them even if the cameo chances are not super frequent. I've been considering merchandise too. I'll make sure to give this a good look in the future.

dark_blue_workshop

Thanks a lot for the constant support! I will certainly give a good look at the $20 tier spots and see how I can make more spots work.

dark_blue_workshop

I have no intention to stop Bethellium at all. The lore posts are also important for future graphic novel print runs so they'll absolutely keep happening. But they may be worked on more slowly than usual until things get slightly better. I may also make the difference between Patreon and the public feed two months or more in the future, so I believe there are many advantages to stay at least at tier $2.

dark_blue_workshop

Thanks a lot for your kind support! I really appreciate the effort you're doing by paying every month. I promise I'll do my best to not let you all down :)

dark_blue_workshop

Thanks a lot, my friend! Yeah, there will be more bunnies in the future, promise XD Also I appreciate a lot the effort you're making by paying every month. I swear I'll do my best to never let you all down :)

dark_blue_workshop

Thanks a lot for your support! I am certainly now focusing entirely on Moonlace and Bethellium. I have no intention to drop them until I give them a proper ending. In the meantime I appreciate the patience and kindness you're all having with me. I'll do my best to not let you down :)

dark_blue_workshop

Thanks a lot for the incredible support so far! Yeah I need to stop overworking myself this much. Hopefully I'll find other tactics to earn me additional support in the future. For now I deeply appreciate the patience and kindness everyone is offering me. I will still work hard to bring more content in the future, just not as wildly as I did in the past :)

Gally

As long as they keep coming out at the same rate then you'll have my support

KieferSkunk

One thing I've seen some other artists do is to make tier-exclusive polls and requests that give patrons some additional level of interaction and influence in the stuff the artist makes. It would be up to you, of course, as to how much influence you want to allow, but having more direct interaction with a work, usually a side thing (like Chalo's "Ask the High Prime"), can be a very attractive option.

KieferSkunk

Also, have you considered switching to a per-page option, as opposed to monthly?

SwiftKitten

i would have to have a horrible financial situation to go anywhere i will say im not a fan of the more change to only show the small preview of the pages though.. that's was a very annoying change having to download a file every time a try to view a new page. i absolutely love bethelium and moonlace though.

dark_blue_workshop

Thanks for your constant support! Presently I'm only using thumbnails for NSFW stuff and sneak peeks, but any other SFW page is usually posted directly. Hope that was what you mean. In the end I intend to keep working on Moonlace and Bethellium for a long time :)

dark_blue_workshop

I used to post a " Questions and Answers" doodle every month based on questions from my patrons. Sadly I had to stop that reward in order to focus on the comics. Right now I couldn't afford any additional reward, with or without the participation of my patrons, sadly. Also I don't want to switch to a per-post model because that would destroy my work schedule even further. I've been trying to avoid that as much as possible,

KieferSkunk

Makes sense. Thanks for considering the feedback. :) One other option is to simply add a perk to mention the patron's name on comic pages or in posts as a "thanks to my patrons" thing. Getting recognition can be attractive too. I noticed that your pages on Kemono Cafe mention SubscribeStar and Discord, but not Patreon. Could help to add the link there since I know people tend to use only one or the other of those services.

KieferSkunk

Sorry, should clarify: You have a banner below the comic for Patreon, but you specifically mention SubscribeStar in the text and not Patreon.

Anonymous

I am happy to support your work, and am not worried if you need some time off to recharge every so often. I'll be here at whatever tier, waiting to grab a higher one when its available...once every blue moon. =^_^=

sig1290

I haven't been around too long so I might not know how you wish to run your monthly pin-ups. But if you are open to suggestions, maybe there could be opportunities for supporters to make suggestions on poll options for monthly pin-ups? Maybe every so often you could make a post where people can offer their suggestions of what they would like to see in the comments. You could open this up to a new $15 tier, and of course those in higher tiers have the perks of the $15 tier. Now these suggestions would remain just as that, mere suggestions with no obligation to actually do any them. Though you might need to clearly state that on posts just so there is no confusion. But it could be a way for people to voice their ideas. With other people I support, the ability to put out my ideas was a big draw for me, and something I was always looking forward to doing. And yes, I would gladly up my contribution to a new $15 tier if it was made.

dark_blue_workshop

Thanks a lot for the constant support! I'm thinking of ways to include new tier spots for everyone. I appreciate the feedback a lot too :)

dark_blue_workshop

First of all, thanks a lot for the support! Yes, someone else has suggested including an option to allow patrons to suggest ideas for pinups or sketches, maybe even short comics or Q&A. It would certainly be placed between the $10 and $20 tier. I suppose it could be worth a try to open a $15 tier and see if people is willing to pay for the opportunity to suggest ideas at the beginning of every month and seeing a winner idea being created by the end of the same month. Thanks a lot for the idea! It makes a lot of sense.

sig1290

Short comics and other additional works would certainly be something I'd love to see. But for context, the thought was to add potential supporter influence to existing content so its something you can do with hopefully minimal change to the overall workload. That said, going further with new content is certainly be awesome, but I'm just keeping in mind your predicament with your existing workload. A different approach to existing content would be easier to implement.

dark_blue_workshop

Yeah, what I'm thinking is that people could offer their ideas in multiple formats, and that could be done by the end of the month instead of always doing a pinup or a comic. Some people may suggest a super popular idea for a Q&A for example, and people may decide to vote for it instead of a pinup. That's how I picture it :)

sig1290

Its a good idea, and you can still set up rules or boundaries to keep things reigned-in. After all, I think we all know things can delve quickly into the NSFW side if left completely open. But hey, maybe thats a good thing! I'd be all for it.

Anonymous

all things considered; these are pragmatic decisions you've outlined. You're a phenomenal writer but to see that for the art it is too it takes some effort from the reader as well and that kinda feedback does not always manifest and spread to new viewers very well within sub-cultures like this one nor does it entail fat monetary awards. Pick an awesome writer or artist from history that didn't get super popular until waaaay after they died. I understand it, I hate it but its understood but I digress.. You've got some great fans tho, real decent folk around here, I say. People with good taste and can recognize quality and I'm quite proud to apart of the bunch. Its not just topless catgirls (ha ha)

shay

How long have I been here again? XD