The way of the hedgehog

Greetings everyone.

So the last few months I had quite a turbulent time. I finished my apprentanceship, got a full time job at the company afterwards, and it SUCKS.
Damn..

Also I am a bit sad, because my apprentanceship was supposed to teach me a lot so I can find a good job. But it was a horror and I know basicly nothing and feel a bit useless what so ever.

In the last 6 months, as an artist I also made barely any progress. I uploaded my currently most impressive work and several comic pages and made like no progress on the follower count. Wich also contributes to the feeling of worthless. Or at least to the feeling of being stuck and somehow trying to get out of it.

Therefor I had the recent discussion about me drawing copyrighted stuff wich... still feels highly uncomftable. Not only because it is a crime and I just feel uncomftable about it. But also because it cuts ressources from my main projects.
But I decided to stay on my own path for now and more invest into quality. Learning more, analysing more and stuff. I know many artists who don't do copyrighted stuff but succeded massively. I still think TQFQ can become this massive jumping pad, once it reaches the dungeons and the sexual stuff, getting a bit more interesting in general. (Bad timing, that this explenation chapter hits into this for me bad time)

But this is not the only change, that is cumming. (pun intended)
I plan to use Patreon more. Because, let's be honest.. I dump a lot of time and energy into the comic and my artworks, and I want a bit more of reward for it. Once again going into this "I feel stuck/worthless" idea.
Now I always said my art is for free and It will stay free! But a bit later. My plan is to delay the upload of my comic pages and some minor free artworks for a certain time. And allow early acces due to my patreon. Simple enough! Afterwards those artworks will be uploaded free by pirates, and a bit later uploaded by me too!
I also plan to make 2 Tiers. One for viewing early and one for some minor extra stuff, like speedpaints, scetches, or the early acces to the chapters scripts. Maybe even an idea pool or some polls.
Of course these changes won't come sudden and I plan to use this system in June first.

I also plan to make a fixed amount of comission slots each month. (Outside of IB of course) to not get into some massive collisions of work shedules. (I still might spray in a YCH or so, if I have the time left.)

And of course there will also be free content, like my pinups, or gifts, wich will be launched on IB and PA (Patreon) simultaniously.

Currently these are my plans. Feel free to comment and give me your thought about it.
So far nothing is final and I give me this time till June to reconsider it.

Viewed:	82 times
Added:	1 month, 1 week ago 13 Apr 2024 23:41 CEST

4 Comments on this Journal

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MeganBryar

1 month, 1 week ago

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I'm sorry the whole apprenticeship/job thing has been such a disappointment. Maybe, if you can stick with it, this will turn around. I know it has already been a few months, but maybe as you can more experience and maybe some on the job training, it'll be at least more tolerable and you'll start to feel more confident in yourself. I know that with every job I've had, I've felt a bit lost and useless at first, too, until I'd been there for a while.

As for the art, I think releasing things early on Patreon, and maybe having a few little exclusive treats there, could be a good idea. I know you want to keep your art free, and I admire that. But releasing comic pages and art/pin-ups a month or two early there couldn't hurt. And maybe you could have some bonuses like rough sketches for the comic pages, or votes on themes for pin-ups, that would draw people to Patreon, too. It certainly couldn't hurt to try, and you could experiment a bit with different things to see what's most popular, too.

And here's hoping TQFQ will take off, too! I think it's a great little comic and deserves all the attention it can get!

Karmandel

1 month, 1 week ago

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The things that I mostly see artists successfully offer on Patreon and/or SS are early access, PSD files (or what the CSP and SAI equivalents are) recordings, and ridiculously high resolutions. Don't offer monthly reward in the form of commission credits or the like, that is a sure fire way to burn out. Raffle off icons or cameo spots when you have time, but don't promise anything.

Personally, I will much rather sponsor an artist who produces something like TQFQ on a regular basis, just to help bring it into the world. Early access is nice, but not essential, and recordings are interesting. But the other stuff I mentioned isn't worth that much to me; I've never downloaded a PSD file myself, so I can only guess at what people want them for.

ZwolfJareAlt306

1 month, 1 week ago

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*offers hugs*

Tampa

1 month, 1 week ago

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You need to stop valuing yourself based on numbers that are driven partially or completely by chance. If you play numbers games then you lose yourself both as an artist and as a human.

Of course the apprenticeship was a disaster, that's the current work world for ya. It's awful at the best of days. Thing is, most folks you work with equally just wing it hoping no one notices they only know half of what they talking about either. If it is an area you are interested in you basically have to learn stuff on your own these days. Yeah it's not how it is supposed to work, but in the long term it is how you can put your foot down, get raises and find a better environment.

If you want more reward for the work that's fine, but it is easy to get lost in that as well, which would drive away some people. Careful balance on that. Things like pages early and exclusive things are fine if they don't take away the very basis that built the following in the first place.

Don't force things. You are driving yourself insane of having to constantly move forward much like corporations expect constant growth in a finite market. To evolve you first have to actually be happy about the milestones that you have reached. If they feel hollow and meaningless to you then you'll never have the mindset to balance where you and where you want to be. Either putting way too much effort into low rewards or half-assing things.

Why not pick something new each month and practice that, improve it as best you can without setting a goal of "I wanna draw like XYZ". Putting yourself under the stress of achieving specific goals without being able to be happy with how close you have come is going to burn you out. Speaking from experience.

That's the best advice I have. I hate seeing you frustrated with yourself over things that aren't half as bad as you make them out to be. Don't make yourself crazy.

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