Hello everyone. I am looking to update the structure of Patreon to offer a bit more, and I wanted to give a pre-emptive heads up as to what plans are in store. The plan is to put these changes into effect on August 1st.

Tier Restructure

Before getting in to the fine details, I would like to share a chart for the planned changes. This may be a helpful reference as you read further into this post. Its a long one!

Firstly, the existing tiers will be given new names in accordance with the upcoming restructure. All current supporters of the $1, $3 and $5 Tiers will retain all benefits. No changes will be made.

$1 - Tip Jar

The $1 Tip Jar tier will be renamed to Tier 1. Tier 1 will continue to offer the same benefits.

All Discord members receive access to the #doodles channel on the server, where random impromptu doodles are shared first. These can be personal practice, study work, or just random ideas I wanted to draw but don't have any immediate future plans for. If these doodles develop further into a full project, they will become an early access benefit to supporters of the $3 and up tiers. Any project that is specifically planned out ahead of time (personal art pieces, patron-voted illustrations, collaborations, commissions, trades, etc.) will remain an exclusive benefit to supporters of the $3 and up tiers.

Along with this restructure, the Patreon chat rooms will be activated as a way to better communicate with Patrons. I understand that not everyone is on the Discord or wishes to be in the Discord, so this option is being integrated with this in mind.

Benefits

Patron-only posts and messages

Patreon chat room

Discord role [Tier 1 Supporter]

Patron-only Discord channels

#doodles channel on Discord

Discord access

$3 - Early Access

The $3 Early Access tier will be renamed to Tier 2. Tier 2 will continue to offer the same benefits.

As stated in the section above, Tier 2 gives early access to both Work In Progress art pieces, as well as all finished illustrations in their Pre-release state. These projects include personal art pieces, patron-voted illustrations, public release commissions, and collaborations and trades with other creators. All Pre-release illustrations will remain exclusive for a minimum of a week, though this may be longer depending on scheduling.

Benefits

All previous benefits of Tier 1

Discord role [Tier 2 Supporter]

Work In Progress updates on new art

Early Access to new art (1 week exclusivity minimum)

$5 - Polling Access

The $5 Polling Access tier will be renamed to Tier 3. Tier 3 will continue to offer the same benefits.

Tier 3 offers access to character polls, of which will be a once a month minimum benefit. If time allows for more polls, additional sets may be sent out for polling, or alternatively, runners up in the previous poll may also receive an illustration.

Tier 3 also offers access to a MEGA Archive for all my publicly available works, including potential alts that could not make the cut onto social media due to posting limitations. Currently, there is a bit of catch-up to be done in getting the MEGA Archive updated, so please expect that to be done over a period of time. Once updated, all new finished artwork will be immediately uploaded to MEGA alongside the Patreon releases.

Benefits

All previous benefits of Tier 2

Discord role [Tier 3 Supporter]

Character Poll voting access (1 per month minimum)

MEGA Archive access (full res illustrations + work files)

$10 - Tier 4 [New!]

Here are where the main changes come in. A new $10 tier will be added, simply named Tier 4.

Tier 4 offers two new benefits. Anyone pledged to Tier 4 can submit characters for future patron-voted polls. Patrons can submit characters whenever they want, and these characters will be entered into a pool where they can be picked from in the future. Additional details will be requested during these submissions, such as what type of content fits the character best and what the patron would ideally like to see drawn of their submission. While there is no cap on how many characters you can submit for future polls (just a limit on one character per submission), please be thoughtful about the quantity of characters you submit!

These submissions will be put into character polls in one of two ways; either picked at random, or paired based on tone or series. A character who does not get drawn will not be removed from the pool, and will instead return to the voting pool to be selected again in the future. Characters who are drawn will be removed from the submission pool.

As a disclaimer, these character submissions are not commissions and should not be treated as such. Submission of a character for future voting does not immediately guarantee they will be drawn. The voting process still needs to take place, and not all characters can always receive an illustration.

The other benefit of Tier 4 is a flat 5% discount on commissions, calculated upon the final requested price of a project. These are treated as "tokens" which I will keep track of on the back end. These tokens are persistent and will accumulate with each month pledged to Tier 4. Four of these tokens can be put towards a project, resulting in a maximum discount of 20%. Both Tier 4 and Tier 5 discount tokens can be used together to reach this maximum discount of 20%.

(Depending on the platform of contact, Patreon supporter details may need to be cross-referenced to confirm a client is indeed a previous or existing supporter. This is a security measure to ensure scammers don't try to impersonate or pretend they are/were a patron.)

Benefits

All previous benefits of Tier 3

Discord role [Tier 4 Supporter]

Character Poll voting submissions

5% discount on commissioned artwork*

*Tokens roll over and can be stacked (maximum 20%)

$20 - Tier 5 [New!]

Tier 5 is the final new tier to be added, and is the most engaged.

Tier 5 offers all benefits of the previous tiers, with the added benefit of a custom sketch every month. These sketches will be monochrome and, for the first few months, only half body. Furthermore, Tier 5 will have limited slots, capped out at 5 total slots upon its launch. This is simply ensure the workload is something I can handle. If everything is going well and I feel I can take on more, the quantity of Tier 5 pledges may be increased.

Additionally, the 5% discount on commissions will be increased to 10% for Tier 5 supporters. As with Tier 4, these "tokens" are persistent and will accumulate with each moth pledged to Tier 5. Two of these tokens can be put towards a project, resulting in a maximum discount of 20%. Both Tier 4 and Tier 5 discount tokens can be used together to reach this maximum discount of 20%.

(Depending on the platform of contact, Patreon supporter details may need to be cross-referenced to confirm a client is indeed a previous or existing supporter. This is a security measure to ensure scammers don't try to impersonate or pretend they are/were a patron.)

Benefits

All previous benefits of Tier 4

Discord role [Tier 5 Supporter]

Bonus sketch every month (1 character, monochrome, half body)

10% discount on commissioned artwork*

*Tokens roll over and can be stacked (maximum 20%)

Future Plans

This wraps up all current plans, but I wish to leave room for more expansion in the future.

Currently, I am considering a $15 Tier that is treated more as a Tier 4+ of sorts. The idea of this Tier 4+ is that it would offer the same benefits of Tier 4 at a higher price. This option is simply for if supporters would like to pledge more. Additionally, it would serve as a placeholder, being the first to receive new benefits if they are added. This Tier 4+ option will not release in the planned restructure.

The token system with pledges of Tiers 4 and 5 may be further refined, so feedback is greatly encouraged in that field as well.

Closing Thoughts

If you have taken your time to read through to the end, thank you. It has been a genuine honor to be able to pursue artwork like this and I hope to be able to do this for a long time.

These changes to Patreon are being made as an incentive to work even harder towards my dreams. I am deeply fortunate to be able to do this, and it is all the more reason for me to take it as seriously as possible. I legitimately would not be able to do artwork like I do now if it was not for the generous support of everyone, and I want to work hard every day to be someone who is worth supporting.

This post is going out ahead of the restructure, both to keep everyone informed and to gather feedback on the matter. These new tiers will be added on August 1st, to which a post will go live announcing the update.

If there are any thoughts or questions, I am very much eager to hear them in the comments. If there are any improvements I can make, I absolutely want to make the time to work them in.

Thank you once again for reading through all this, it means the world.