I've been considering changing my Patreon to be not just about Prophecy of the Circle, but to be about all of my art. Prophecy of the Circle is still, by far, the largest part of it and always will be. By default it will always take up most of my time because it has to be up every weekend and those pages take hours upon hours to plan and to make. That's a constant.
But how would you guys feel about other art and stories here, too? For example, I have a science fiction novel about isolation, found families, terror of the dark, and a driving need to leap into the abyss in order to escape oblivion that I wrote most of for NaNoWriMo last year that I'd like to hash out further. There's a fantasy tale featuring magics and swordsmen, a rip into the underpinnings of reality, and one fellow who has a curious ability to Persist. I've got far less developed stories set in the modern day, and others that I started years ago that have potential but need to be ripped apart and built up again from scratch using all the same parts. All just for example.
And as for art, I want to draw things that aren't necessarily tikedi. I like drawing from real life. I like drawing fanart now and again (although original works are still definitely more my cup of tea). I like exploring other crevices in my head. I'd like a place to show them all off instead of quietly toiling away and wondering if they're even worth showing.
What do you guys think?
I have a proposal for how the new reward tiers would work. A few things actually would get cheaper! Other tiers just get new content added on in addition to what's already there:
Public * Finished Art and News
Finished artwork (like this stuff) that would normally be posted to sites like DeviantArt, Tumblr, and Instagram would be posted publically on Patreon as well. Out of all those sites, I'd likely post it here first, so even for those who aren't interested in donating there'd still be content to watch for. General news and updates would also be posted here publically and probably ever so slightly early.
$1 * First Dibs
The early Prophecy of the Circle comic pages would get bumped down to the $1 tier along with the already existing wallpapers and any other goodies that I think of. I'd also include early access and discount coupons for any merchandise or published works that I create here.
Patreon rewards always stack, so at the next tier you'd also get:
$2 * A Look Inside My Head
At this tier I'd post the pencils, inks, and textless pages for Prophecy of the Circle instead of at the $3 tier where they are now. I'd also post little doodles occasionally, like the funky art I occasionally mock-up on post-it notes when I'm on the phone.
$3 * Work In Progress
This would be the general work-in-progress tier for my general artwork that, when it's finished, will eventually make it's way into the Public posts. I'd post pencils, inked pieces, progress shots as I color and, if I ever figure out how to rig up a camera and get Tim to give me a few tutorials on using Premiere Pro, maybe even exclusive time-lapse watch-me-draw videos. If I can get myself back into doing digital art instead of just straight up traditional I might even do livestreams, but I need to do a bit more research first so I get it right. Still, if I do, that would show up starting at this tier.
$5 * World-Building and Suggest-A-Sketch
This would basically be the tier where I start thinking out loud about story and world development for Prophecy of the Circle, my other novels, and any other creative adventures I decide to set forth on. While the previous tier is just for WIP's of general art that will eventually be shown to the public, this would be for character designs, details about worlds and universes like flora and fauna, weapons, environments, etc. There might be story drabbles and Meet-The-Character write-ups as I sort things out before and during writing novels, etc.
As always, I'd aim to keep major spoilers out of this but you'd get a pretty good view of story premises and a lot of material to speculate from before anyone else. This is almost guaranteed to be exclusive outside of artbooks (and there's no guarantee that I'll ever be able to afford to publish one of those, so it might be truly exclusive).
At this level there'd also be a monthly Suggest-A-Sketch post, where you guys have the opportunity to give me ideas to draw from for both this tier and for the $3 tier. There's no guarantee that I can sketch them all, but I'd sure as heck try. :)
$10 * Storytelling
Just like it is now, this is where you get to read what I write as I write it, but it would be all of my stories instead of just Prophecy of the Circle related stuff. It would get pretty busy during NaNoWriMo season! This would all just be rough drafts and will definitely go through changes afterwards before anything is deemed finished and publishable, but it's a good place to be if you like to read early works and offer feedback.
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That's essentially the plan, but of course it's open to suggestions and thoughts. I really wanted to go over this before making it live because it's a pretty big potential shift. I'll leave this post open, and if I hear nothing or I hear positives, I'll make the switch on October 1st. Until then, we'll keep things the way they are now.
Let me know if you've got thoughts and feelings! I'm genuinely curious.