Some Patreon updates + webtoon (Patreon)

Hey all,

First of all thank you again for your continious support and welcome to the new Patrons! And since this is a public post, hello to non-patrons as well!

There's gonna a bit a bit of ramble about what's going on with The Bay, my new Webtoon series and whatnot, so if you're only interested in the changes that will happen to this Patreon, skip to the end! 

As you might be aware, I am in the process of starting a Webtoon series. Ever since printing the first volume of The Bay in October I've felt like it was more and more difficult to push forward with chapter 4. This is mostly to do with the fact that my tastes and influences have changed since I started the comic, which is why for example chapter 3 has a different feel than chapter 1 - I slowly changed into a more slice of life-y comic than originally planned, and now I'm finding myself at a point at which the whole ending of the story needs to be restructured. I'm still very much in love with the characters but I find myself connecting with them less and less these days. I started The Bay as a personal project and a way for me to explore making comics, and I never expected it to get anywhere near the support it had over the past few years! And I learned a lot while making it, hence why I am now much more certain about the kind of content, style, characters and story I want to create now and in the future.

Antoher reason for puttin The Bay on the back burner for now is that Webtoon seems to have the potential to offer many more opportunities for me as a webcomic artist. Back when I started The Bay in 2017, Webtoon wasn't nearly as popular and Tapas (then Tapastic) had a much more active community. Webtoon seems to have a much more engaged community, a bigger fanbase and more potential for Patreon growth. I've considered moving The Bay to Webtoon many times, but it's very difficult to convert the story as it is so far into Webtoon format. And I mean both reorganising all 200 something pages into scrolling format AND altering the story structure to fit a more episodic style of story. And I just came to the conclusion that I simply didn't have enough time or passion for this, nor did I see a lot of financial potential to account for it (and yes, the finanancial aspect of these things does need to be brought up sometimes, as a freelancer you will find yourself prioritising projects that earn you more money).

Anyway, I just felt like starting fresh on Webtoon would be much more beneficial for me. I am both passionate and I believe in the potential this new story has. I've always said that I created The Bay as a stepping stone to introduce my actual story - which it did, because it pretty much happens in the same universe, just around 20 something years after the events of The Bay. It's obviously not essential to have read The Bay, but it does help set the scene, and some plot points will eventually tie to some characters from The Bay (some of you may know or have figured out already who are Connor's parents 😉).

My new series will be mainly about Connor, but also explores the experiences of the other characters - it's pretty much an episodic format, with each episode being their standalone story. A bit like Homecoming, but longer stories. It gives me a lot more freedom to draw whatever I like the most (aka my ocs doing absolutely nothing). It does have a main plotline too, don't worry! But it also will have the mandatory beach OVA episode.

Anyway, as the Webtoon summary says,

Connor is a 5'4, blonde, bisexual, Martian and a software developer. Besides software, Connor also develops crushes on pretty much everyone he meets. He's a Leo, he likes attention and being dramatic, as well as being involved in a complicated relationship with his flatmate and childhood best friend.

Here's a sneak peek at the logo too - might work on this a bit more before the release. The title is a reference to a children's book Connor read as a kid. It will be mentioned in the second episode so you will get that "when they say the name of the thing in the thing" feel.

Lastly, I will be working on these in both book format and scrolling format. Which means you will be able to read the pages like a regular comic on here, and scrolling format on Webtoon. It also means the comic will eventually be printed!

I will start uploading pages on here today! I am hoping to get a good backlog of them to start upating weekly on Webtoon sometime next month.

Now about changes to Patreon

If you've read all of that thanks haha!! There aren't going to be many changes on here other than I will be mainly updating and sharing content for my new webcomic.

Changes to the $7 tier

As I've mentioned before in one of my previous posts, the $7 tier will be retired on June 5th. I will then publish the new tier of $10, which you can change your pledge to if you wish to stay on the $7 tier rewards, or change your pledge to any of the lower tiers if you don't want to stay on the tier but still want to remain a patron, or cancel your pledge altogether. 

You don't need to do anything before the new tier is published! This is just a heads up - all $7 patrons will be notified first, so if you do wish to upgrade to the new tier you will be prioritised!

I appreciate your support and understanding. I rambled a bit more about the reasoning behind this change on this post: https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-tier-poll-35369155 

If you do not adjust your peldge after June 5th you will not be qualified for the new tier's rewards and you will be counted as a $5 patron by default starting June 5th. Again, I will post more reminders later so worry not, and I will do my best to contact everyone individually if the pledge is not adjusted before the next payment due.

The new tier will be the same, but the rewards will now be sent monthly. As well as I will be opening 10 more slots for physical rewards. I'm sorry upgrading a tier is so confusing!  

Anyway this has been a loooong post so I'd better work on some more comic pages.

cya x