gerhard96
patreon
Launching Monetization on My Patreon
🕑 Added 2025-09-06 22:00:27 +0000 UTCTL;DR
Tuesday, Sept 30: Gift link closes and paid tier launches
Main content: Remains free on Pixiv & DeviantArt (5 posts per week)
Patreon bonus: 2K version of the main image + 6–10 extra variations + request priority
First paid set: Wednesday, October 1st
Price: €3 support tier
Sharing My Older Content for Free
I opened this Patreon page around mid-May 2025, so it’s been about four months now. I had already been creating AI-generated content for more than a year, so I wanted to upload a lot of my older work here for free before starting any kind of monetization. The idea was that giving away these images would help grow my Patreon and bring in traffic (especially since they were already available on Pixiv and DeviantArt, so there was no point in paywalling them).
At first, giving away free content on Patreon turned out to be trickier than I expected. I tried posting all my older work publicly for SFW and in the free-member tier for NSFW. But I quickly learned that NSFW content can’t be tied to a free membership. So instead, I created a paid tier but offered a “gift link,” basically making the tier free for anyone who had the link. This worked surprisingly well and steadily brought in new users.
For the past few months, every post I’ve made on Patreon has included a fresh, newly created piece (also published on Pixiv and DeviantArt at the same time), plus some of my older works as extra content. Now I’m almost out of old content to share, which made me realize it’s time to really launch the monetization of this Patreon.
How to Monetize
The big question for me was: how to monetize it without changing the way I share my art? Because I don’t want to lock my main content behind a paywall. I plan to keep posting fresh new content five days a week for free. This is really important to me — I don’t see Patreon as the place where you get my “real” content, while DA and Pixiv are just previews or ads. For me, my main work will always be available publicly. Patreon is more like a way for people who enjoy it to say: “Keep it up, I support you.”
At the same time, I don’t just want to set up a paid tier and say: “Support me! You’ll get nothing exclusive.” That felt wrong. So I started thinking of a way to give Patreon supporters something extra, without letting that bonus content overshadow my main free posts. And here’s the idea I came up with:
The posting schedule will stay the same (five posts per week, usually on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday).
The main image — the one I put the most work and refinement into — will remain freely available on Pixiv and DeviantArt as always.
On Patreon, I’ll share a slightly reworked 2K version of that main image, along with 6 to 10 variations.
Patreon member asking for a request will have priority over DA and Pixiv users
Why Variations?
When I create a new piece, I go through many iterations, generating lots of variations. Some of them are just bad or uninteresting, but others are actually quite nice — polished enough that they could be published with a bit of correction. Normally, I don’t save them, even the good ones, because I don’t like spamming endless variations of the same theme. (I’m sure you know what I mean if you’ve ever browsed Pixiv or DeviantArt and seen pages flooded with almost identical images.) That’s why I thought these “good variations” would make great Patreon-exclusive content — something extra that also completes a daily set nicely.
About the 2K Image
As for the 2K image, it’s not a “true” 2K in the strict sense. Without going too deep into technical details, here’s how I do it: I take the final 1024x1024 render and feed it back into NovelAI to redraw it at 1728x1728. The stronger the redraw factor I use, the more the result looks like a “native” 1728x1728 image — but also the more it drifts from the original. After experimenting, I found that a 30% redraw factor gives the best balance between higher resolution and fidelity to the base image. From there, I run my usual workflow: upscale the image 4× with Real-ESRGAN, then resize it back down in Paint.NET to a proper 2K resolution.
Price and Launch Date
I plan to create a single support tier at €3. This will replace the current gift tier, so anyone who already used the gift link will keep access to the paid content. The gift link will remain available until Tuesday, September 30. On that day, I’ll close the link and update the tier. That will mark the official launch of my monetization. Then, on Wednesday, October 1st, I’ll publish the first paid set, which will include the 2K version of the main image plus the batch of variations.
Is This Worth It?
I want to be completely honest: this paid tier is more of a supportive tier than a source of full exclusive content. The extras (the 2K version and the variations) are bonuses, but my main work will always remain freely available on Pixiv and DeviantArt. If you enjoy what I do, you can absolutely just follow me there without missing out on the core content. If you decide to subscribe on Patreon, I see it mainly as a way of saying “thanks, keep it up” rather than paying for shiny new exclusives.
Also, I do have a regular job and I’m not struggling to pay my bills. So please — if you’re short on money, don’t feel pressured to subscribe.
What’s Next
I’ll check back a few weeks after the launch to see how things are going. Maybe nobody will be interested, and it won’t be worth investing much time into a paid Patreon. If that happens, I may step back. In the worst case, if someone paid but didn’t receive a full month of content, I’ll make sure to reimburse them.
