snares

Sep 2025 Diary

Added 2025-09-18 14:06:22 +0000 UTC

Hi everyone,

Thanks for sticking around! While I continue preparing the groundwork for the next project phases, I just wanted to drop in to share some thoughts and maybe discuss a couple of choices. For most of August, I'd been busy with an "internship" that was just less than pleasant to talk about - mostly as a financial stop gap to cover for this uncertain period will my Patreon billing has been paused. Fortunately, a friend recently shared a news article online that explains what I had been this past month, and pretty much encapsulates the state of the local creative industry as of late.

In all honesty, I've definitely been changed on a fundamental level by all that's been happening around me, be it on a global or regional level. The world is changing far more rapidly than any normal person can healthily adapt to, and often times not for the better. Even trends and practices within the furry fandom have been shifting, and unless you're constantly on the pulse of the zeitgeist, you'll easily be left in the dust of obscurity. It's why you often hear about YouTubers and content creators burning out, simply because this level of production is not sustainable in the long run.

To that end, I've been reevaluating my own practices and strategies - notably after around Dec last year, I couldn't envision long-format stories in my mind's theatre anymore. Thankfully, the weight-gain short story had already been drafted, leaving a bulk of the work in its actual production. However, something in me had broken by this point, having hurled myself over a harrowing hurdle in October. It's as if everything bright and optimistic in me was channeled into ensuring my safety beyond that point, and now I'm slowly recovering from the damage inside.

Today

While I'm currently not plagued by anxieties, I do still have to ensure that on the baseline, I am able to financially cover for my mortgage and daily necessities - which at this point, choosing not to extend my "internship" further, means fully relying on commissions and Patreon - and as you can imagine in turn adds to a different kind of pressure. While working on my short-form comic strips, it's been difficult to avoid my inner voice - if you've ever known an artist friend, you'll probably realize they are their own strongest critics. Regardless of my own reservations and reasonings, the bottom line is clear - I need to roll out content by October - which is to say, do be aware that all Patreon billings will resume 5 Oct 2025.

What to Expect

As of now, I have enough material to work on for 6 months. Rather than rushing through everything, I'll be slowly inking and coloring one strip every month - while making room to work ahead with the other 6. This is important because if you haven't already heard, times are a-changin' and I'm renewing my efforts on Bluesky while it lasts. This means you can expect to see older comic pages being uploaded weekly on my socials, while enjoying early-access to new comic content here.

A Different Model

Another major shift in strategy is the fact that instead of billing $3 per month for comic updates, I'll be billing the same $3 per month, however, for sharing 3 of my favorite stream sketches of the month and maybe a bonus color pic. Once the 12-month short comic format is complete, I'll be phasing out comics as the core product. The reason for this shift is that every time a major life event happens, it often disrupts the flow and momentum of my Patreon projects to the point that I usually have to either freeze billing for several months, or in the worst-case scenario: unpublish the page entirely. As you can imagine, this is just bad for business in general and restarting Patreon requires a great deal of energy to break past that inertia.

Sketch Dump Collection

There are some things in mind that I want to do, but don't have a solid answer for at the moment. I'm not ready to share plans at the risk of disappointing folks when things don't play out. For the most part, my Patreon will continue to serve as a donation site for folks who enjoy my streams, or folks who miss my stream and want to collect the sketches which I may not always publicly upload. Over the course of the following months, I'll be creating monthly Sketch Dump Collection folders for folks which can be accessed by 2 different means - either monthly support (which ensures that you get everything), or purchase by folder - paying only for the batch that you're interested in for folks who may have tighter finances but still wish to support. I'll be testing this out starting Oct and seeing how things go.

Comics on the Side

I will still endeavor to offer comic stories on the side as a value-added service. The key difference here is that I would like to shift the weight off comics production so that it's more sustainable to run Patreon without having to constantly hit the brakes abruptly. Offloading the pressure on comics production will also allow me to tinker with longer-formats quietly in the background. The greatest challenge last year was trying to do too much with a single title and in the end seeing it fall apart. The short-format will provide a means of safely test-driving this new model as I figure out the marketing tone and language needed to clearly communicate my intentions.

So that's really what's been on my mind lately, in the rough. My Patreon project will take a 12-month gradual shift from comics being the main product to serve as a donation-support site for my stream sketches and sketch dump folders. If any future comics do happen, they will exist as value-added content down the road.

Patreon Content Schedule