I’ve been slowly uploading stuff to my Patreon page, including the first Patron-only item. The process has made me aware of two very important complementary ideas:
- There needs to be enough high-quality content on the public creations page to intrigue a potential patron
- A Patreon page means I’m committing to unique content for a certain group of people (those who want to give me money), which means that I can’t (or rather, shouldn’t) simply dump my output here willy-nilly anymore.
I think that could be worth it, but it’s funny how handcuffed I feel at the moment. As I said before, I’m not ready to put this stuff out in the world; I simply have to do it now, in hopes that it might allow me to forego finding other gainful employment.
What that means, though, is that I can’t simply lurk here in my dark corner until my art gets better. I can’t quietly create a web comic. I have to be out in front of my beginner’s pen, have to drink the cocktail of vulnerabilities required when in that position, have to shake off any ill words that might come my way as a result. I’ve never been one to keep my stuff quiet, but I’ve been a lot quieter these last few years than I used to be, and I think opening up things I actually care about, things that aren’t really in a comfortable place, is personally risky for me.
Luckily, at the moment, there’s a dull silence around all this. Whether that remains the case…well, we’ll see.