Hi again. I am back with one last update for this month – which encompasses a few rather big changes. (Warning, large text post… but it is warranted/necessary.)
Quick general update, November was really messy for me, both for real life and health reasons – and I did not have time to do the latest anniversary mini-set yet. I have been putting forward all the time I could on the monthly mini-set, and even that is not quite where I want it to be. (Again, so much that I want to do, but so little time/energy.)
Bigger picture – and long story semi-short, I am changing how my Patreon page operates, and therefore how I will operate with this project. Things are just not working out even close to well enough right now… nor have they been for a fair while. I have effectively been putting forward a solid part time job worth of hours for around $30 a month for almost two years now… which is just not justifiable. (I think my renders/work have improved in quality greatly in the past year alone – but this seems to have had no effect.) I had hoped things would be better by now… but they aren’t. That being the case, something needs to change.
So… starting next month, December 2021 – there will be no new mini-set every other/even month; people in that Patreon tier can instead choose any existing one they want to receive… you just have to note me with the number. Following that, there will be a new mini-set made in January, and then again in March, etc – all the odd months. And starting with next month, new patrons to the $15 tier will only get either the current mini-set, or one of their choice each month – no other/older mini-sets will be included any more for newer patrons. (I originally gave out a years worth of mini-sets, very early on when individual sets were small and not great – then toned it down to six months, and then three… and now I think one of the sets I have made recently is more than enough on it’s own – given the overall increase in size/quality.)
I changed my old plan for many reasons, but there were two main reasons that I moved it up a month. First, all the holidays I usually do side renders for seem to take place in even numbered months – so this new plan accommodates that far better than if I had done mini-sets in even months, as originally planned. Second, I could really use a break for the holidays, and this will allow that. I have been making new content every single month for seven years; and while I know a lot of the old stuff wasn’t great, it is still a lot of work and very draining – so I am hoping this new system will help offset the immense weariness I feel at this point.
I really also hope this new plan will lead to more time for side/general content, as well as better content… which may finally lead to things getting better for my art – but we will see what happens. I have additional ideas if things are not better by mid-2022 – but… more on that around that time.
As for the $8 tier, I plan to make the bonus mini-set thing that currently exists in cases where I have not made new “main” content a general benefit, that always happens. (Currently they can pick any from my first 50 mini-sets, but I plan to bump that up a bit – maybe the first 65-70 or so.) Not 100% sure what the updated mini-set selection for the $8 tier will be just yet… but I am fairly certain that I will make that one free mini-set per month a thing. (Which is basically already has been, but with a condition that I plan to do away with soon.) The $2 Patreon tier likely will not change, and I may leave the higher, commission tiers as they are as well… not sure yet.
As for my current situation – I could “finish” the latest mini-set today or tomorrow, and just send it out as it will be at that time; but that would mean cutting out an additional two scenes that I want to put in, at the very least – as well as some alternate renders. I have done things like this fairly often, and not always put in all that I wanted to (rarely does much of anything we try to do end up being all that you planned for it to be, lets be honest here) – but in this case, it seems like such a shame to cut it so short like this… especially when I will have extra time in the near future – so I can’t help but think to just not do that. Since I am going ahead with my plan to change my (overall) long standing Patreon system – I think I may as well start by changing this a bit, and waiting another week or so to send out the newest mini-set (aka send it when it is “done”) – rather than cut it off before the end of the month.
To the dozen or so people that might actually care about this, sorry I did not publicly say something more concrete about all these changes sooner, but I literally just decided to move it up a month last night – I had originally planned to start it in 2022 near the start of this month, when I first came up with the overall framework. So… if anyone wants to get this last mini-set batch before I do away with the batches, you have about 24 hours. (Also, about 24 hours left to use my black friday gumroad coupon…) I can only assume anyone who might care would check this main site and might see it in time – it seems unreasonable to update all of my many pages with this when it is so close to the change.
Otherwise, I will be back in a couple days with the revamp of my Patreon page, as well as the new polls. (I also plan to try out a new poll plugin thing, since the one I have been using for years seems so have been abandoned, and is having problems due to no updates in over nine months) As noted above, there will be no new mini-set preview tomorrow – as I am changing my mini-set system to be every other month from now on. I did also post the second preview for the Elf/Orc mini-set from last time, for those interested. We will see what else ends up happening in the coming weeks – as I have so much that I want to do, and I might finally have the time/energy to do some of it.
To end this month, if by some chance anyone else out there would actually like to help support me and/or my work on all sorts of new content; and/or get access to this last batch of mini-sets and/or lots of other rewards too, like the remaining finished story sets, and larger versions of the completed animations I have made/posted, and/or the full games I have also made, (the micro VN and Salune’s Slave Training are still available via my Patreon page; not sure what else may come in the future at this point…) check out my Patreon page!: https://www.patreon.com/redleatherart
Any interest, comments, follows, likes, votes, or support really does help. It is hard to keep making new stuff when nobody seems to care. Following me on DA/slushe/pixiv/twitter/whatever doesn’t cost anything – and that all does help spread the word about my work… so please consider doing some of that if you haven’t already…
