Making a patreon without compromise?

C

Corsair

Artist
I have been wanting to make a patreon for some time but I'm not sure if I should bother. My biggest problem is I have no motivation or funds to make art. I need a new tablet and all my attempts to afford one has ended in me buying a cheap ones that fail. I would love to buy a good tablet and even be able to do clay sculpting and even work on that comic I want to make so badly. I've been buying cheap art stuff but being cheap they break easy or wear out fast. However I don't have the extra cash but know if I have anything to offer on patreon. I'm worried that in order to be suspenseful I'll have to compromise my art by doing things I do not want to make.

  • I suck at NSFW
  • I don't want to do a lot of fanart,
  • I don't want to lock content behind a pay wall
  • same as above but pay to get full picture
  • I don't really want to do a pay to fund this comic type thing


I am not popular so I don't really have anything to offer for awesome rewards and I don't want it to become a slave to making certain types of content. I'm willing to compromise to a point as long as it does not mean I am creating content just to keep it going instead of funding better content. I just do not know if I have anything to offer to inspire people to fund my future art.

 
I've seen a lot of people use Patreon as just a tip jar with no real rewards apart from furthering the creator's ability to work/generally support the creator.

Keep in mind, without a following to start, you're most likely going to see little to no success with it. Not trying to bring you down, just speaking from experience in both myself and what I've seen of others. You'll have to be pretty knowledgeable and skilled with marketing to build a successful page.

If you're looking to make some side cash without any compromises, I'd recommend sites like Teepublic or Redbubble. I do almost no marketing on my shops and tend to sell one or two items a month at least. It's easy and involves little effort apart from just making the initial designs/artwork. (I mean, you can use artwork you've already made too. Just throw stuff up, trust me, it could sell. I have had some junky designs sell and ones I've put loads of effort in tank, you just never know what people want.)

Ko-fi is another popular site going around that works like a tip jar as well. One time donations of 3$ that you can post on your socials. Here's mine as an example: https://ko-fi.com/1606WVCCVV4L5

Good luck though!

 
I had assumed you had to have something to give people from how I saw it used by others.  I've seen a number of other artists do stuff like lock content to pay to view, some ask for a funding goal for images or comics while a few others offer PSDs among other stuff. It's kind of confusing for me because I had thought it was a tip system but i kept see artists go on about rewards even posting lists and stuff.

@kami what things do you normally sell? Like cups, button, mouse pads and what do you notice people like. What size does the image need to be?

 
Patreon promotes a reward system as that system tends to get you the best return, but you are entirely allowed to have a no-reward tier (as you're required to have a tier listed but you can state that it's just a tip jar and all they're really getting is the good-feels). Just make sure what they're getting (or not getting) is clear, and you should be fine.

I put my art on as many products as I typically can since I have that option. I avoid some if I don't think it'll look good or if I don't want to sell prints (as I like to sell my own prints). For sizes, bigger = better, but at least for RB, they allow repeating patterns, so if you upload something small, you can set the option to repeat the image. (They have two options to choose from, aligned and unaligned.) TBH I'd use both sites so you can hit a wider audience.

 
Corsair said:
I am not popular so I don't really have anything to offer for awesome rewards and I don't want it to become a slave to making certain types of content.
Click to expand...
I guess my comment to this, although it doesn't pertain to patreon itself is this:

Never assume you have no value or little value to give to others in the form of your work that you choose to do.

Don't assume you cannot do go great things because you don't have great tools. Tools don't make the artist, programmer, or (insert anything here), it is your hard work at your craft that makes you what you are, and gives you value in what you choose to do.

 
Patreon can be tricky. I have to admit, I restarted and deleted a few accounts before I figured out just how exactly I want to sell my stuff. I'm still not currently ready to open up my current patreon for the public, but this basically what I have planned.

I've set mine up for pay by bundle. It's mostly for my comic works, which I have a total of 3 comics, 2 digital and 1 traditional. 2 of those comics are posted online already but the other is exclusive to patreon members. I also look for easy things I can offer on the side that are comic related, such as stickers, cards (both digital copies and original traditionals), and even cameo opportunities. I also offer some commissioned work and raffle prizes when I launch each new bundle. 

So as an example, I have 3 bundle types: Basic, Intermediate, and Master

Basic Bundle contains 5 full size pages from a public comic, 1-2 new pages not posted online yet, some character sketches, reference sheets, or other digital artwork comic related, and 3-4 comic pages that are exclusive to patreon members.

Intermediate Bundle contains the basic bundle stuff with behind the scenes additionals such as a page layout thumbnail sketches, sketches of new characters, and cameo opportunities or raffle entry.

Master Bundle contains contains all the above with the addition of physical goods such as the ones mentioned above, and even more sneak previews of future pages, tutorials, or whatever else I can come up with at the time.

Hope that helps a little for you :3

 
kami said:
Keep in mind, without a following to start, you're most likely going to see little to no success with it. Not trying to bring you down, just speaking from experience in both myself and what I've seen of others. You'll have to be pretty knowledgeable and skilled with marketing to build a successful page.
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^ This. 

It doesn't sound like Patreon would be the best fit for you - if you're just looking for extra funds / motivation to draw, making merch for Redbubble in your free time would be a much better option. Make sure your files are at a large enough size (depends on the product) and 300 dpi and you should be good to go.

 
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