Goals and Patreon

With con season over, I've talked to a few people a lot about where I want my art to go and things I've always wanted to do. I wanted to be more organized and structured with it, wanted to take classes to better my skills, wanted to get out of my comfort zone. October 1st is the first step towards that.

TL;DR I'm starting a Patreon pls support thx

First, here's a breakdown of the goals I want to set:

• More sketchbook collections (or maybe merge both and get them professionally bound because that would be cool and professional)
• Switch jewelry and brooches to acrylic laser cut
• At least a painting a month
• Livestreams!
• Speedpaint/process videos
• More commissions
• More galleries
• Maybe make one more art event to get exposure to artists. Like a sidewalk art exhibit or something
• Might be cutting down on conventions to work on more art
• More prints!
• Switch to either having mainly 8x11 or 11x17 prints and instead of 4x6 prints, switching to postcards only
• Filling up a sketchbook with actual ideas and drawings

Now some of these are attainable. So far I only have maybe 3 conventions for next year and two of them aren't confirmed. That'll give me more time to do local events and grow things. I'm talking with the lovely ladies at Lubbock-Con about the art scene and how to grow it so another event is probably also possible. And I've been looking at places to do acrylic charms and pieces, that just takes money.

Actually, pretty much all of it is attainable, I just have to be strict and rehaul a lot of things. But something that I figured out might actually help is a Patreon.

Which is why I made one. Yep.

I've seen a lot of artists and Youtubers use it successful and it's kinda been something I've been on the fence about because of the ol' self-doubt. But any support is better than nothing and I think it's something that can help me grow.

So October 1st, we're launching a Patreon!

I tried to think of rewards that were doable for me as well as incentive to get people to join.

• So basic donations will get you access to a Patreon only blog where I'll post sketches and works in progresses and probably post animal pictures.
• $5 gives you a discount code to my Etsy shop, PDF scans of my sketches, early access to any videos, and an invite to a drawing practice livestream where we'll work on a technique together.
• $10 gets you a bigger discount code, early access previews to finished paintings and illustrations, a monthly Q&A livestream, you can vote for what painting I do next, and get a copy of one of my sketchbook collections!
• $20 you get a Patreon exclusive postcard with a letter, a second sketchbook collection, and a free item from my Etsy shop
• $40 allows you a monthly portrait sketch request! You can request a sketch/lineart/quick ink portrait of one of favorite characters or an idea and I'll send it to you in a PDF. It's limited to only 10 spots but it's a pretty good deal.
• $65 is basically a monthly 5x7 full colored commission portrait. Same idea as the tier before where you give me a character or idea and I'll do a full commission of it. I'll scan it to you and also ship you the physical copy! This one is limited to only 5 spots.

And everything is basically an accrual so the higher donation tiers get everything the lower tier does. So say you choose $20 a month, you'll get all the rewards from that tier plus the $10, $5, and $1 rewards. Which is a good amount of stuff.

But this lets me paint more, share my art process, get more practice with the requests, while also allowing me to pay my bills and upgrade from cheap paint and dollar brushes. There's also Patreon goals like if I hit $100 a month, I can do bi-weekly videos. $200 let's me make a print of each monthly painting, more sketchbook collections, and switching to those acrylic charms. $400 (which is a long ways off but omg if I can achieve it) would be weekly videos, being able to buy a nice printer to make my own prints, and a monthly sketchbook of all the sketches and art I did for that month.

For now, I'm just hoping I get supporters but it's nice to have goals and I'm excited.

So October 1st, go here and check out my Patreon! If you'd be so kind as to support it, it would mean the world. I've got some other big life changes hopefully in the works. Life changes are good. They keep me on my toes.

I'll go back to my painting cave now. Deadlines approaching sooooon

-Sam <3