Recap and other stuff (Patreon)

Hey, you may have noticed that there has been a bit of an uptick in posts here again lately and yes, you can expect it to continue. There is a lot happening behind the scenes and I am trying to figure out the best way forward.Pictured above are 3d prints of the latest Patreon models and a Work in progress of some upcoming designs I am working on. Platform Drama: My main platform for hosting stl files for the last few years has been Thangs, however their recent direction with agressive promotion of their thangs bundle product is hurting designers, I could go on a giant rant about it but for now I will just say that their bundle is unmoderated, has no quality control and does not pay the designers fair wage. It is sad to see. Thangs do have a great file management option for handling direct memberships and for now I will be maintaining my models their platform for direct membership (not Bundle, do not sign up to bundle if you value designers) but I'm also branching out and re-setting up this Patreon. Patreon offers better communication channels between you and me and I hope we can build something that has felt missing over the last couple years. AI messin with my head:Another thing that has hit me hard lately is the advancement in Gen AI. Seeing many 3d printing platforms flooded with AI generated models of various degrees of quality, it's particularly aggressive in the art and statue type genre that my work falls into. I am blown away at what these AI programs can generate in mere minutes that is starting to become more difficult to tell from beginner and intermediate human work. After looking into the capabilities of some of them I got quite depressed and stopped sculpting for a short time. It felt like what's the point. If people don't care and just want something fast and cheep. If people don't value the human connection behind the art then my whole reason for sharing my work disappears. I share my work so that I can spark joy in others and inspire you to give it a go to, across the world we can share ideas and bring them to life to touch , hold and share, despite distance we can have a positive impact of each others lives and grow. There are so many fun and silly designs where the mistakes and quirks of the model have story and deliberate intention but these AI gen models don't have that, they are the mass produced without thought or message temu version of 3d models largely distributed by opportunists hoping to make a quick, low effort, buck. I'm not against AI in totality, I think it could be used as a basis for some great assistive tooling but you wont find me putting out models that have been made with Gen AI, SparkyFace5 Models will always be sculpted by human hands.And what now:So we've established that I'm human, and confused, I'm also easily distracted and love to try new things. So while I am slowly uploading all my prior and new 3d print models here you may also find work in progress posts and experimental projects from time to time. I'm also thinking about starting up live streaming sculpting again, but I am a little scared and nervous sculpts often look weird for a while until suddenly they don't, its a vulnerable process to share live under pressure of judgement, I would love to create a interactive stream where you can suggest features, characterisics , we could spin a wheel or submit your own drawings for me to create for you Live, does that sound fun for you? let me know.What I would love is for this Patreon to be more than just a file repository, I hope I can provide value beyond that. If you have suggestions for something you want sculpted or a drawing you made that you would like to see bright to life in my style, send it in! Thanks for your support! See you soon!Comment something below, ask me anything, all suggestions welcome, miss your face. byeeeee