Sycra
patreon
What kind of Patron Rewards/Goals would you like?
🕑 Added 2016-09-01 03:13:57 +0000 UTC Hi patrons!First of all, I wanna give a big thank you to all of you wonderful patrons. Your support has been overwhelming and I'm so grateful!With that said, I feel like it's really important for me to give you patron goals and rewards that you want.
I used to have goals like monthly and weekly streams on YouTube, but I'm seeing that these aren't doing so well as the streams used to. I've had some negative comments, and the streams seem to be just answering the same questions over and over. I wanted to make cool goals but I don't feel like streams are all that great. Or maybe it would be better to host patron-only streams? I'm not sure, so I wanted to ask you, what goals would you like to see?
I also am aware that there are quite a few people who would like the mentorship or critique rewards, but the slots are often full. I'm planning to increase the slots for these reward tiers and decrease the commission tier slots.
I actually would've implemented this immediately, but right now I simply don't have time to take on any more students, unless I change some of how I'm spending my time.
I am currently very busy with planning a move from Romania to Canada, and I have been swamped with client work while also producing YouTube videos on top of the Patreon stuff. Unfortunately, YouTube is providing less of a support when it comes to income ( I'm basically making almost 1/3rd of what I used to make on YouTube 2 years ago, thanks to the lowering of ad rates, although my views and subscribers keep going up ), so I'm having to take more client-work to balance it.
I'd like to open more slots for Patreon, but to be honest, the critiques at $15 for 25 mins take a lot longer than that once I factor in rendering video time. So I'm considering adding more slots but at a slightly increased price.What do you think about this? I really worry about offending any of you patrons, and things like increasing the price feel really tough decisions, because ideally I would like to keep the prices as affordable as possible... But it's becoming a case of always having to prioritize client work because it pays better, and YouTube gets a priority because I feel like most of you are supporting me because of YouTube.
Honestly, I'm kinda upset with YouTube... Not just because of a decrease in earnings over the years, but because they've started removing some of my videos from monetization because they aren't "advertiser-friendly". Partial nudity, is not advertiser-friendly, so videos like my figure drawing ones are not longer able to be monetized. I didn't make my videos to make money to begin with, so it's not like I'm gonna get rid of them just because I'm not making money, but since I made career choices based on the income YouTube was providing, it means I'm going to need to reconsider how I distribute videos. Maybe YouTube isn't the best platform. I hate censorship and it seems that it's becoming less possible to escape that. In the end, I'm afraid it's going to mean that either I make videos that are 'safe' and 'popular' yet teach very little, or else I'm going to have to host my videos elsewhere.
If you have any thoughts on any of the issues or questions I've addressed, I'd love to hear from you.
Please leave a comment and thanks for reading this very long-winded message.
You're the best!
-Sycra
Comments
Osjey
I feel like you should increase the patron prizes. Make the mentorship 50 and the commission 60. The drawovers like 25 or 30. I think its just that vauluable of a lesson to get you to review a piece of art especially when you give them the option to even upload the video on youtube. Well im not sure if everyone can agree with me. You shouldnt host your videos on another website, your youtube is the main income of fans and supporters. You dont have too many pledge options theres definitely room for something new.
Honestly What I would like is a multi-piece critique. What I mean by this is that I recently when to a couple of conventions as I graduate in a year and want to explore different options for income. I have 5 illustrations piece based off of an animation I am making and would really like an eye I trust and some one with a style/similar drawing sensibilities to give me a push in the right direction. Essentially looking at the 5 pieces and see what I am lacking most and pick one piece to demonstrate what I struggling with by drawing over it like you would do a regular critique. I think this is more useful to me than just seeing one piece I have done and critiquing it but I understand this would take more time.
