Hi, everyone,
Some of you may have noticed that the latest pages of my Undertale webcomic, Just Cause, have been taking longer than usual. I wanted to give you an update to explain why that’s happening, and what you can do to help if you so choose.
About a year ago, I decided I wanted to spend more time creating stories and art. That’s always been my passion, but for most of my life, it’s had to play second fiddle to the other things I had to do in order to pay my bills.
I wanted to change that. So I set up an account on Patreon, opened up commissions, started selling art on Society6 and RedBubble, and created a tutorial on SkillShare to teach others how to draw symmetrical snowflake patterns.
I spent more time working on Just Cause, while also juggling a part-time job as a sighted guide and another business.
Between said other business, the job, and my writing and art, I often worked 50-60 hours a week.
The results… have been deeply discouraging.
I recently lost my biggest supporter on Patreon (she had her own financial obligations she needed to prioritize), and I’m getting next to nothing in monthly pledges now. The income from my tutorial and print-on-demand patterns hasn’t been nearly enough to put a dent in my bills, and after all the countless hours of work I’ve put into all of this, I’m frustratingly unsure of what I’m doing wrong.
As a result, I’ve needed to cut back on the time I spend on art and storytelling, so I can focus on things that actually bring in income. If I don’t, it won’t be long before I won’t even be able to buy food.
What can you do to help?
I understand that a lot of people reading this are low on funds themselves, and I don’t want to make you feel guilty or obligated. I intend to continue to work on Just Cause, but it will likely continue to go slower than before as long as my financial situation stays this way.
If you want to help me spend more time making stories and art, here are a few ways you can do it, and some of them don’t require any money from you:
1. Watch my symmetrical pattern tutorial on SkillShare, and share it with anyone you know who might be interested.
SkillShare is basically like Netflix: it pays the creators who put content on it according to the amount of time people spend watching that content. The more you and other people watch my tutorial, the more I get paid.
Here’s a link to the tutorial.
2. Share my Society6/RedBubble art, and/or purchase it.
If you see something you like in my S6 or RB stores, every purchase helps. And if you don’t want to buy something or you don’t have the funds, sharing product images and links to the store with people who you think might be interested in buying something for themselves or getting something as a gift is a way you can help for free.
My RedBubble store
My Society6 store
3. Share my art, with credit.
If you think your social media followers will enjoy something I posted, please reblog it on Tumblr, or share it on your other channels with a link to the DA or Tumblr page on which I originally shared it. On DA, you can find a series of social media “share” buttons near the upper right corner of each “deviation”s page.
You can follow me on Tumblr here.
4. Support me on Patreon.
Ideally, I would LOVE to have a stable, reliable monthly income that enables me write and create art with the knowledge that doing what I love is HELPING my ability to pay my bills instead of putting me in financial jeopardy.
In return for your support, you get early access to completed art and stories and exclusive access to works in progress, as well as other tier-exclusive rewards depending on the size of your pledge.
You can see a breakdown of the available rewards on this page.
5. Commission an art piece or a panel of Just Cause.
Another way to support me financially is to hire me to draw something for you. You can see my commission prices here.
If you want to use your contribution to make the next page of Just Cause come out faster, you can commission a panel of the comic. When you do this, I can schedule creating that panel into my work hours, in addition to the ones I draw during my free time, so I get more panels done that day.
Once your commissioned panel is done, I’ll send you a copy of it right away as thanks for your contribution. You’ll also have the option to be credited as a sponsor on the page once it comes out, unless you prefer anonymity.
Thanks for reading this journal entry. The last few months have been pretty stressful for me, and anything you can do to help will be greatly appreciated!
Some of you may have noticed that the latest pages of my Undertale webcomic, Just Cause, have been taking longer than usual. I wanted to give you an update to explain why that’s happening, and what you can do to help if you so choose.
About a year ago, I decided I wanted to spend more time creating stories and art. That’s always been my passion, but for most of my life, it’s had to play second fiddle to the other things I had to do in order to pay my bills.
I wanted to change that. So I set up an account on Patreon, opened up commissions, started selling art on Society6 and RedBubble, and created a tutorial on SkillShare to teach others how to draw symmetrical snowflake patterns.
I spent more time working on Just Cause, while also juggling a part-time job as a sighted guide and another business.
Between said other business, the job, and my writing and art, I often worked 50-60 hours a week.
The results… have been deeply discouraging.
I recently lost my biggest supporter on Patreon (she had her own financial obligations she needed to prioritize), and I’m getting next to nothing in monthly pledges now. The income from my tutorial and print-on-demand patterns hasn’t been nearly enough to put a dent in my bills, and after all the countless hours of work I’ve put into all of this, I’m frustratingly unsure of what I’m doing wrong.
As a result, I’ve needed to cut back on the time I spend on art and storytelling, so I can focus on things that actually bring in income. If I don’t, it won’t be long before I won’t even be able to buy food.
What can you do to help?
I understand that a lot of people reading this are low on funds themselves, and I don’t want to make you feel guilty or obligated. I intend to continue to work on Just Cause, but it will likely continue to go slower than before as long as my financial situation stays this way.
If you want to help me spend more time making stories and art, here are a few ways you can do it, and some of them don’t require any money from you:
1. Watch my symmetrical pattern tutorial on SkillShare, and share it with anyone you know who might be interested.
SkillShare is basically like Netflix: it pays the creators who put content on it according to the amount of time people spend watching that content. The more you and other people watch my tutorial, the more I get paid.
Here’s a link to the tutorial.
2. Share my Society6/RedBubble art, and/or purchase it.
If you see something you like in my S6 or RB stores, every purchase helps. And if you don’t want to buy something or you don’t have the funds, sharing product images and links to the store with people who you think might be interested in buying something for themselves or getting something as a gift is a way you can help for free.
My RedBubble store
My Society6 store
3. Share my art, with credit.
If you think your social media followers will enjoy something I posted, please reblog it on Tumblr, or share it on your other channels with a link to the DA or Tumblr page on which I originally shared it. On DA, you can find a series of social media “share” buttons near the upper right corner of each “deviation”s page.
You can follow me on Tumblr here.
4. Support me on Patreon.
Ideally, I would LOVE to have a stable, reliable monthly income that enables me write and create art with the knowledge that doing what I love is HELPING my ability to pay my bills instead of putting me in financial jeopardy.
In return for your support, you get early access to completed art and stories and exclusive access to works in progress, as well as other tier-exclusive rewards depending on the size of your pledge.
You can see a breakdown of the available rewards on this page.
5. Commission an art piece or a panel of Just Cause.
Another way to support me financially is to hire me to draw something for you. You can see my commission prices here.
If you want to use your contribution to make the next page of Just Cause come out faster, you can commission a panel of the comic. When you do this, I can schedule creating that panel into my work hours, in addition to the ones I draw during my free time, so I get more panels done that day.
Once your commissioned panel is done, I’ll send you a copy of it right away as thanks for your contribution. You’ll also have the option to be credited as a sponsor on the page once it comes out, unless you prefer anonymity.
Thanks for reading this journal entry. The last few months have been pretty stressful for me, and anything you can do to help will be greatly appreciated!
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