The Thick of Things (Patreon)

(2/27 EDIT: This post is now public!)

Hey everybody! This post will be a little different than usual. The last few nuzzling drawings will be posted soon, and I'll be wrapping up February with one last poll! Lots of text tonight.

First things first, I want to thank each and every one of you so much for your support! I know I've had plenty of content droughts the past few months, but every single pledge is a big help toward supporting myself and my family. To be direct, the major cause of any lack of updates or communication the past several months have been from my ongoing treatment for my thyroid cancer. The surgery, iodine treatment and replacement hormone pills I've been on have all been successful, but have affected me in ways I did not anticipate. My body has struggled to adapt to the lack of a thyroid gland, and I've since been dealing with some very major anxiety and depression accompanied by chronic muscle pain.

This has had a major effect on my life, and has made it very difficult to get myself back on track in terms of work. I've touched on this before on a Twitter post I made last Fall, but this is the first time I've really gone into detail on why I've been unable to maintain a consistent presence online. It's been difficult coming to terms with the fact I "lost" most of 2019 to dealing with illness and the fallout surrounding it, but it's important that I be direct with you guys as my supporters.  The good news is that my treatment has been successful so far, my prognosis is good, and I have a thankfully non-urgent condition. Now that I know my health is stabilizing, I've been able to muster up the courage to write all this.

This leads to the more interesting part! I want to start offering you guys more for your generosity. The archives and polls are dandy, sure, but It's my goal to start engaging with all of you regularly to make my art going forward more of a joint effort. Starting next month, I'll be uploading my art here on Patreon a day earlier than anywhere else. I'll also (finally) be clearing up my commission queue to get a regular workflow going for myself again. I need to add at least another patron tier to round things out, and am currently brainstorming on what to offer for it. Most importantly, I'll be active on my social media so that you guys don't feel like you're leaving money in front of a brick wall. You guys make this all worth it to me, and I want you know it!

I'll wrap this up just asking you guys for your opinions on how I should expand on my Patreon going forward. Are you guys comfortable with the tiers as they are currently set? Is $3 and $5 fair, or would you prefer $2 and $4? What kind of rewards and shout-outs would you love to see? What other kinds of interaction would get you excited? This isn't really a poll, so much as an open suggestion box on how to make my Patreon the best it can be!

Anything you can think of, go ahead and leave it in the comments below!

My goal for 2020 is to make this a great artist-patron relationship. As my current patrons, I want to make sure to fill you guys in on all of this first. Thank you all so much for reading this wall of text, you guys are awesome! Here's to a new and improved Frumples!