patreon rewards & schedule

this right here is a post explaining how this patreon works, what you're paying for, etc.

recurring, scheduled functions:

the stuff with a routine structure and deadlines.

FIRST DAY OF EVERY MONTH - update post with relevant news and a poll for stream subject matter (all tiers)

FIRST 7 DAYS OF EVERY MONTH - a halt in all patreon functions (this is my cumulative "weekends" of the month combined)

MONDAYS - side comic update ($15 tier)
(NOTE: these pages usually go up pretty late; anywhere from 9-11:30 pm PST. if you're not a night owl, you can basically consider this a tuesday update schedule.)

FRIDAYS - fresh meat update at midnight PST (all tiers)

SATURDAYS - art streams, usually starting in the range of 5-8 PM PST and lasting 2-3 hours (all tiers)
i archive a decent amount of my streams on youtube.

THE 2 WEEKS FOLLOWING THE END OF EVERY SIDE COMIC: preview and poll for the NEXT next side comic (all tiers);
a large overview/analysis post of the just-finished side comic ($10 tier);
and a switch to sketch comic updates on mondays to prep the next comic's first few pages ($15 tier)

sporadic/spontaneous content:

i make on my own time when i have it. they're usually pretty beefy little projects, which is why i don't maintain a schedule for them.

$15 tier - sketch comics unrelated to the running side comic, usually put up on wednesdays.

$10 tier - character or individual page analysis; tutorial posts; and miscellaneous thoughts on the writing/art process not applicable to a single page or story, usually queued for tuesdays or sundays.

$5 tier - Very Big character polls; infrequent extra streams depending on the poll results of the month and/or my Inspiration Level.

commissions/"thank you" doodles:

there used to be a $25 tier reward which offered a monthly commission. it was later scrapped. please note that pledging $25 despite the lack of the tier will not convince me to draw you a commission.

any patron who had unspent points can request commissions with them until ~june 2019. after that, you can test the waters, but i make no promises.

regarding one-time thank you doodles: i generally spend about 1-2 hours on these. this generally means a small sketch page, a full body image of a character with a simplistic background and cel shading, OR 2 ~waist-up characters with flat shading... you get the picture (no pun intended).
please note that i can't quote you on anything if i don't have an idea of what you want me to draw! refs sooner = better. these DON'T have to be doodles of my characters by any means, but they can be. it's about what you want.
these also don't have a deadline for me anymore, but i generally try to fit them in my schedule somewhere within 30 days.

regarding request streams: request streams are a frequent option on the monthly stream polls. they are to compensate for the removal of the $25 tier, but any patron can request things during them. the only restriction is that the subject matter is PG, and it is a request that can be drawn in a 2-hour stream (ergo, no "slap me with a monet gray")
they are NOT commission streams. you don't have to pay anything extra to request something during a request stream.

charge questions: 

patreon will charge you up-front immediately for signing up or switching to a higher tier. please keep this in mind!
you'll be charged on the 1st of the month regardless of when you signed up. this means if you sign up on the 30th of one month, you'll be charged for 2 months in 2 days.
this also means that this patreon is time-based. you are not paying per-page or per-post, so you don't have to account for it.
you do not have to send me a heads up, explanations, or apologies for bouncing on a pledge. please note if you're having financial troubles, patreon will keep trying to charge you through the month. it might be in your best interest to unpledge if you bounce from sudden money issues that aren't very brief and temporary.

main vs. side vs. sketch comics:

this sounds confusing, but the differentiation is pretty easy to wrap your head around. there are 3 kinds of comics that i switch between putting out, descending in the amount of time they take.

"main comics": these are bigass stories like drop-out.
they have a 15-panel minimum, full color, and rendering.
they take a bare minimum of 40 hours per page, and years to finish.

"side comics": these are shorter supplementary stories to give characters who aren't in a main comic some limelight, because main comics take so long to produce.
they have 4 minimum, 5 maximum rows of panels (about 12-15 panels per page). they are colored with a limited 5- or 6-color palette.
they take about 16 hours per page, and anywhere from 1-3 months to start and finish.

"sketch comics": these are one-off (usually very tall) column comics with little to no color, just sketched in red. they are self-contained single scenes, usually focused on comedy or backstory, and don't have multiple pages.
depending on the size, they usually take about 8-20 hours per comic. i usually post these as placebos while larger comics aren't updating.

why i used to update more/why i have week-long breaks:

my art used to be less refined and i used to have less concern for my health. that's the gist of it. here's what my work schedule looks like:
sunday: sketching monday's side comic, about 9 hours, and writing/scripting for a minimum of 2 hours. rest of the night is used to catch up on whatever i'm behind on.
monday: lining and coloring the side comic page, if only coloring, about 7 hours, writing something interesting for commentary, anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours.
tuesday: sketching the rest of the main comic update if it's not already done, and lining it. usually takes about 11 hours. if i finish early, i usually start putting down some base colors.
wednesday: coloring main comic, which is comprised of choosing the flat colors, and then putting down cel shading. takes about 14 hours, give or take, depending on the current scene. then, another writing session with a minimum of 2 hours.
thursday: dedicated entirely to rendering the main comic page. shading and rendering used to actually have 2 days in my schedule because it takes so long. ~14-16 hours.
friday: sketching the next main comic update! also about 12-16 hours. seems like ~1 panel per hour sketching speed, but a good chunk of time is dedicated to figuring out the panel and shot layouts and writing legible dialogue bubbles. i also usually take fridays to respond to various comments and messages and edit the writing done over the week.
(i also have d&d sessions on fridays, which last from 2-5 hours.)
saturday: streams!!! 2-3 hours. the rest of the day is usually spent on writing or concept art, specifically brainstorming/worldbuilding, refining scenes and continuity checking, or chipping away at a more thoughtful post, as opposed to just scripting more.
back to sunday.
the week off is generally either used to recover, take care of my real life affairs, work on prep buffers, or just draw things for leisure and practice that i've been putting off for the last month. i usually have at least 2 days in this period dedicated to working on, well, work (commonly thumbnail buffers or transcript backlog, which take about 30-60 minutes per panel description as well).
sooo, that's why. i don't have a lot of extra free time, but i'm working on fixing it. if the schedule isn't decked out enough to seem worth pledging, everything aside from the analysis gets released for free eventually!

hope that clears up any confusion!