Zach H
patreon
State of Jackary - A Long Overdue Update and AMA
🕑 Added 2024-10-31 01:46:33 +0000 UTCHey everyone, I'm sorry for the dead month. I've been meaning to make this post for a while, but — you guessed it — I've been very busy.
But I have some big news about changes in my personal life, which will affect the future of my artwork, and by extension, my Patreon!
And don't worry — for those of you who love my artwork, it's not all doom and gloom! But I hope you'll take the time to read, despite this being a long post!
JACKARY'S GOT A NEW JOB
I've talked in the past about how my finances have been closing in on me for a while, and despite the amazing support from my fans and following, it just wasn't enough to cover the double-whammy of having a baby, and my wife quitting her job in order to take care of her. I needed to find a job, and fast.
Well, I've found one! And even better, it's actually a pretty cool job that I'm really excited about! I'm not quite ready to say who I'm working for — both for the sake of keeping my IRL business separate from my online life, and because I'm not sure the company wants to be publicly affiliated with a NSFW artist — but I will say that I'm officially working in the games industry! I'm NOT doing illustration for them (I'm in writing and marketing), but I'm quite excited!
AN EXPLANATION (AND AN APOLOGY) FOR OCTOBER
I began my job at the very end of September, and it quickly proved to be a demanding gig. I wanted to make sure I was appropriately focused in that crucial first month of employment, and there was also stuff I needed to take care of at home -- much of the month was spent fulfilling two months' worth of Print Club orders, as well as the metric shitload of orders I got from my 50% off sale last month, which left my workspace a complete disaster.
I eventually decided I needed to take October off from art, in order to acclimate to the new job, recalibrate in my personal life, and just take a breather.
I should have been more forthcoming with you guys about this, and for that, I apologize. The Archives posts dried up, I didn't run a monthly poll, and I had no artwork to post for the whole month. I kept wanting to post an update, but I just felt wiped out every day, and before I even blinked, I found myself at the end of the month.
I wanted to make this post before the month ended to apologize for my lack of activity and to set expectations for what the next few months will look like.
HERE'S THE CATCH... (OR, WHY THE PATREON MUST ENDURE)
The GOOD news is that I now officially make enough from my job to cover all of our bills. That is a huge relief! We're incredibly lucky to have a house and a mortgage, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't expensive as fuck. This job covers all of our mandatory payments, which is a big deal — that means I no longer have to resort to desperate art pushes to pay my bills each month, and can therefore focus on finishing the rest of my queue WITHOUT adding things to it that I can't keep up with.
But, here's the problem...
While my new job covers all of our bills, that's about all it covers. After taxes and bills, very little income remains for anything else, including food and essentials, which means I still HAVE to supplement my income, and will therefore keep my Patreon running.
I'm going to be honest — as much as I enjoy drawing, I would love to not have to do it. Although I would miss the income that Patreon brings, as well as my awesome supporters, it would reduce a lot of stress if I could just close the book on art and do it strictly as a hobby at my own pace, as much or as little as I choose. If the job paid enough for me to do that, I would. But the margins are tight, so I have to do what I must, until I can hopefully get a raise.
I wouldn't blame anybody who wants to unsubscribe at this point. That's totally justifiable and I appreciate your support nonetheless! But for those who DO want to stay, I cannot overstate my gratitude for your continued patronage.
WHAT THE FUTURE OF JACKARY ART LOOKS LIKE
Once November starts, I'll be drawing again. The #1 priority will be clearing out ALL remaining projects in my queue. Now that I have less time to draw, I don't imagine I'll be doing much drawing outside of queue projects for a while, since it'll take some time to get through those. This means I won't be having character/sketch polls (sorry), but I will try to fit polls in wherever I can, like voting on extra outfits or stuff like that.
NSFW ART WILL CONTINUE WHILE MY QUEUE REMAINS - the remaining projects I have are all "traditional" jackary pieces, which means cute girls in cute outfits, along with no outfits at all. So if you're primarily here for sexy soft girls, well, that's not going away yet.
I WILL LIKELY TRANSITION TO SFW ART ONCE MY QUEUE IS CLEARED - I will transition to being a SFW artist once my queue is completely cleared. Between getting this new job, having a new baby daughter in my life, and spending so many years drawing the same kind of content, the time is right.
Q: What can I expect from SFW Jackary art?
Good question! I would really like to get into more moody, atmospheric stuff as I've said before. I'll still be drawing girls while I have a Patreon audience, the pictures will just be focused more on vibes than sexualization, much like this Mythra drawing you guys liked a lot:
(NOTE: Once I transition to SFW art, I may still post unclothed alts to Patreon, so long as I still need to supplement my income)
Q: How much art will you draw each month for Patreon once your queue is cleared?
Once I no longer have a queue, I'd love to produce 2-3 drawings a month for Patreon, and I would heavily lean on user engagement (polls, suggestions) to determine who I draw to make things more exciting for you guys.
I see this being a reasonably realistic goal, as I finish drawings much faster when they're unburdened with the psychological pressure of being commissions. I could draw something similar to that Mythra in 1-2 evenings, rather than the immense amount of time it takes me to get through commissions. (can't explain it, wish I could).
Q: What About Print/Sticker Club?
Print/Sticker Club will continue as usual. I will use new artworks as the content, and if I don't produce enough new pictures, I will use older artworks that haven't been turned into prints/stickers (such as alternate outfits, etc).
I unfortunately have no new artworks to use for October Print/Sticker Club, so stickers will be existing drawings that haven't been turned into stickers yet, and prints will likely be outfit variants of popular drawings in my backlog.
AMA (ASK ME ANYTHING)
Okay! I think that's all I wanted to say! That was a huge post, and thank you so much if you've stayed with me up to this point. To conclude, I wanted to give you the opportunity to ask me anything!
Your questions can be in regard to my situation and what the future will look like, but they can also be about anything else at all, like my favorite type of bubblegum. I haven't done an AMA in a while, so I figure now is a time to do it, with these big changes coming up in my art, but you can also use it to ask me literally anything, so don't be shy!
Comments
Spike Jonez
My zero-suit-on-other-character list just got decimated lmao But for reals, super happy you found something to take the money stresses mostly away, and look forward to seeing whatever comes down the road, whenever it does^^
Roamnesia
I'm too happy for you and simultaneously devastated by the loss of sexy cute Jackary cosplay girls. I'm gonna need a minute for the happy tears.
DrakeyC
I'm so happy to hear you got a new job and things have been going well for you. I've been in that crunch where life and finances and employment are all working in tandem to bring you down, but I managed to escape it and it's fantastic that you have too. I'm fine with hearing you'll be transitioning to SFW art, while your NSFW has been great, the SFW stuff is just as good too and imho your style lends itself more to adorasexy girls than explicit content. I've no major questions to ask, but I'll wish you the best moving forward and hope things keep working out for you :).
StarRoadWarrior
I am honestly happy and proud for you I hope for your continued success! I do have one question. Do you have an ETA of the Kat alts?
PolkuCow (Josef)
I'm so proud of you! I have always been around to support you, and then extra content and NSFW stuff is just a bonus. I know I too have been not as active and not around as much as life stuff got in the way so I understand the feeling. I dont have any spespecific questions right now, but I wish you the best of luck in everything and will continue to support for as long as I can!
Andrew N
That's a really thoughtful and well put answer! Makes perfect sense, thank you!
Zach H
Thanks Mavey, you've been awesome, I really appreciate how outspoken your support has been and after all these years it's still something really special to see certain names that always appear in my comments. I've gotten really bad at replying to everyone, but I really do love to see people who like my art so much that they're always in the wing rooting for me, it means a lot! And yeah, art is really cool when it's paying the bills, but quickly becomes VERY stressful when the finances start closing in and you have to take on more commitments faster than you're able to complete them. It's going to be really nice eventually reaching the point where I can draw whatever I want, whenever I want!
Zach H
Oh, good question about NSFW stickers/merch! Honestly, I have nothing against selling them. Literally the ONLY reason I haven't is because it takes so much damn time to get them all "merch ready," and time is the asset I have in least abundance. Each drawing has to go through a certain process to be "print ready," and even more of a process to be "sticker ready," and then I have to upload them to my shop and make listings for them. This isn't awful when I'm only doing a few at a time, but a big reason why I've slacked so long in offering NSFW merch is because I'd have to upload a bunch at once to get the store started, and that would take hours and hours and hours :') it's definitely something to think about though! I wish I had a better gauge of how much demand there was for it. If it was extremely clear that it'd be worth the time investment, I'd do it. But for now it's a bit unclear.
Mavey
Honestly, I don't have any burning questions to ask. I've been following you for... I don't remember how many years, but it's been a good handful, and at the end of it all, I, personally, just want to see artists be happy and live comfortably. Through it all, you've pulled back the curatin JUST ENOUGH to show that you're just a person like the rest of us - which is a great thing to show - all while keeping your privacy safe. It's extremely respectable! I was never subbed here for the NSFW; that was just a nice little treat. I subbed here because I made enough to help an artist I like out. I ain't going anywhere 🫡🫡 All that being said, I'm SUPER relieved to see you be able to make this something that makes you happy, as opposed to something you HAVE to do 🔪or else🔪.
Zach H
LOL I was a little bummed there were hardly any more outfits than what we saw in the trailers, but it was still fun seeing them. I've been doing a spoiler-free playthrough and I still haven't even found half of them! I want to say Gerudo outfit because it's CRAZY that Nintendo was finally ballsy enough to do that (though those cat suits might be even more crazy LMAO), but that's too easy. tbh, I really like her adventuring outfit! the one you get after she loses the disguise. It was fun seeing Zelda's "traditional" outfit repurposed into something functional, and I'd love to take a crack at illustrating it sometime. Her white dress is nice, but didn't feel groundbreaking since we got a huge dose of something very similar with BOTW Zelda.
Andrew N
First off, congratulations on your new job! I'm sure it's a huge burden off your shoulders and we all wish you the best of luck, regardless of how it affects your drawing/patreon. I do have one question semi related, as far as I know your sticker club has been only SFW/mild lewd art/alts, and with your transition to total SFW this may be a moot question, but do you plan to/would be open to having NSFW stickers/prints/etc?
Zach H
That's so kind of you, thank you! I'll only be drawing outside of work hours now, but hopefully that'll be enough to have something new to post soon!
Antasma1
I understand with your situation and congrats with the job!
Sturgess1A
Alright. I’ve got a great question for you: What’s your favourite outfit for Zelda in Echoes of Wisdom? Mine is the cat suit. Easily
Jazz
Such is life; glad you got your feet under you a bit more! As long as you keep drawing, I'll hang around~ (tiddies are just a bonus)
