It's alive! It's aliiiiiive!
Patreon! It's a thing! I know there are probably A LOT of questions about how Patreon works, so let me break some of it down for you:
- Q: What is Patreon used for?
A: Patreon is a funding platform for creators, makers, musicians, artists, and storytellers of all kinds to share their work with a community of patrons who help support that creative work. Sort of like Kickstarter, but for sustainable fundraising over a longer period of time and not necessarily associated with a specific project or campaign.
- Q: How do I become a patron on Patreon?
A: You can sign up right from my account by clicking the Become a Patron button on the right side of the screen OR by clicking on any of the reward tiers right underneath it. You will be asked to add a credit card or Paypal account. My rewards are set up as monthly contributions, so you will be charged one time each month of $1, $3, or $5, depending on the reward level you choose. (Patreon has a simple guide to walk you through the steps.)
- Q: What do I get for my financial contribution?
A: Every Patreon is set up a little a little differently. In my case, I'm asking for contributions to help pay for higher grade art supplies, and later I may be able to use contributions to participate in art calls and events, as well as expanding to better audio/video equipment and software to record process videos. In return, all patrons will receive access to exclusive content I will only be sharing on that platform, including discussions of process, how I come up with ideas, and the opportunity to see progress images before anyone else, for starters. I will also send out an initial welcome package to every patron who signs up, regardless of the support tier they choose. Second and third level supporters will receive physical art in the mail. In the beginning, if I don't have many patrons at those levels, all tier 2 and 3 patrons will get mail, once a month (schedule TBD).
- Q: If I don't want to sign up to be a patron with Patreon, are there other ways to support you?
A: Of course! The easiest thing is to share my stuff! You can share posts from my Facebook page or my website at any time. That will help me reach more people, which is really important. If you have any pieces of my art that you love, let people know, and send them my way. Let them know that I have prints for sale on Society6 and Redbubble (the direct links to those shops are on the About section on my website). You can also choose to contribute to my supply and art-book collections by sending me items from my Amazon wish list. Whatever you choose to do to help with this effort is greatly appreciated, from encouraging words to actual financial contributions - it's all meaningful and helps keep me motivated.
So now that I've made this leap, the next steps are to start posting updates on Patreon and work on making some graphics for myself, like banners and buttons to use for cross-promotion. I have a tendency to do things in reverse - launch the thing and then work out formatting, structure, and all of those elements that help make it all cohesive and less like a slapdash attempt. I'm likely going to mirror this post there as an FAQ overview. I'm open for feedback and ideas for additional tiers in the $5 - $10 per month range, so let me know what you think.
As always, thanks for taking the time to stop by and thank you to everyone who has supported me over the last couple of years. I literally couldn't have done this without some of you. I may get discouraged sometimes and have occasional visits by the Fraud Police, but you give me encouragement and sometimes the kick in the ass I need to keep going.