sfmdh

Progress Report, Future Plans for this Patreon, 21/05 - 21

Added 2021-05-21 11:19:03 +0000 UTC

Hello everyone and welcome to another progress report, with some crucial information pertaining to what we're doing here, and will be doing here, in the near future.

Several things have happened at once in my life, and I'll try to summarize them as briefly as I can here. Firstly, I have recently been contacted by the government regarding my company form and the manner in which I file taxation, and so forth. The general gist here is that the reason my commission earnings been cut so heavily into (something that has confused me) is because whenever I send someone an invoice, even outside the country, they are supposedly subject to VAT - which I haven't added previously. Swedish VAT is 25%, so sadly, also owing to the tax bracket I am in, I will need to raise overall prices of commissions (once this round is over) to reflect that, and add VAT on top in order to give myself, at least, minimum wage standards with the hours that I pour into commissions. This might explain why some creators are almost prohibitively expensive, and why I've been able to keep my prices low before. This means I have been paying VAT for my commissioners before, meaning a 25% cut to my earnings, and then taxes and fees on top of that. Again, this is a change that will come into effect for future commission openings, so not for those already promised slots in the present.

Second, my daytime job is becoming increasingly unmanageable. For those who don't know, I work in government security, and the mental and physical toll is slowly making me deteriorate as a person - looking forward towards your pension in your mid-30's with a brain swimming in stress and an aching body isn't a good spot to be in. To be honest the main reason I have maintained this job in the past is that it's steady income and I am somewhat struggling with debt, which has somewhat bound me to it - but it has over the years become increasingly unbearable, and I have realized I rather lower my living standards significantly over working myself into an early grave.

Thus, I have come to a fork in the road. I am awaiting information from the government what new tax bracket etc my patreon work makes me end up in (with an additional rule change happening on July 1st), and then I will seriously have to evaluate my two primary options: quitting my current job and taking a different job (and if I'm lucky on taxation, perhaps a half-time one) on the side of this patreon, or making the jump and try to truly make something out of this patreon of mine by doing it full-time. The first does not mean much change for you people here as updates would happen just as usual, but the second option would of course translate into, hopefully, higher quality work and significant strides being made weekly towards project works and the likes - as well as probably requiring me to do consistent, monthly commissions to pad out my strained economy. It would also bring other considerations - more on that below.

My future approach with Commissions, regardless, will also change, where "first come, first serve" will no longer be the case, and I will instead try to consider what is manageable within my schedule before blindly accepting slots. In other words, ideas will be pitched up-front, and I'll have to make a judgement (instead of giving people a blank slate from the get-go) regarding how feasible their idea(s) are, before they get a slot.

In the event I go full-time with Patreon, I need to figure out how to retain a bigger following as well as, somehow, as cynical as it might sound, simply make more money. I've considered matters such as opening up a $10 tier with special perks (though I am yet to figure what those are), and even switching from the weak and unstable Dollar into the Euro (translating into $0.22 extra cost per month for $1 dollar patrons here as the new minimum tier would be €1) but I imagine that wouldn't be too popular a move. Regardless, I will be warning everyone, well ahead of time, in the event where I do anything drastic, but the more I think about it the more unlikely it is that I rock the boat too much - I honestly rather keep the amazing support I have now, as things are now, and just try to grow even bigger instead.

This was "brief" for me, I hope, considering how much I can rant. But I digress: Government handling time for this stuff is 3-6 weeks, and I was contacted just a few days ago, so I currently do not know what will happen, and I cannot make a decision here regarding this until I know how things will look. July 1:st might also bring some small surprises owing to the law changes then, but we shall see. Exciting but also nerve-wrecking times.

Phew, alright, that's enough of that. I'll keep everyone posted on these matters, and will let you know as soon as I decide on, well, literally anything regarding this.

In terms of actual progress on stuff here, I've done a deep-dive into the more technical side of Blender and model rips, particularly dealing with OBJ and FBX files to make them work in-engine, along with rigging and even some texture painting. In the thumbnail is a ripped Draenei with what is, possibly, the best sculpted ass I have ever seen on them (owing to WoW modders like Allynsia), which I hope to utilize in my work. I've managed to figure out the actual technical manner in which I will create my Warcraft comic in Blender, making the jump from SFM, and really all I'm waiting for right now before I begin work in earnest is the orc model by Bangfri.

I am however, looking into how to make my own, effectively from scratch.

Additionally on the engine front, I finally have functional procedural (jiggly) bones in Blender, which will alleviate a lot of pain in terms of animating larger projects. Behold, a very simplistic example:

https://www.redgifs.com/watch/trivialrunnyhomalocephale

I am currently in the talks with commissioners about their current commission slots, so things are underway there. Once I am finished with their work, or they opt out of their slots, I will move on down the list - so if you've been promised a slot, expect me to, hopefully, get to you in the near future. It is, as always, heavily dependent on correspondence times, which can be brutal.

TL:DR:

Government wants my money and I am quitting my job. Looking into doing this full-time or part-time. Commissions will increase in price and include VAT in the future. Within 3-6 weeks, plus a law change in July, we'll know how I proceed. Technical work with model rips have been main focus this week, but I also now have boob jiggle mechanics in Blender.

And that, finally, as they say, is that. Thank you, everyone, so incredibly much for your continued support and for all of your kind words. I cannot stress enough how crucial your support here is for what I do, and how much it means to me in turn. Though summer's just around the corner, there's a chill in the air that makes you want to stay indoors, all while the sun, scorching the outside of your apartment as it is, calls out to you. All in due time, and come what may.

Take care of yourselves, and never to forget, each other!
/DH