Lack of motivation on patreon (Patreon)

Hello all!

I am just writing this post to inform that I am, and have been, going through a phase of a lack of motivation on this platform. Initially the purpose of this patreon was to be a kind of a tip jar platform for people who enjoy my works to give a bit financial help, tips, if you may, and in return gain some small fun stuff, like works which I wouldn't normally show and personalized sketches.

It did not take much time for me to figure out that this patreon wasn't exactly working the way it was intended. Right now this patreon channel acts more as a way for people to commission sketches than act as a tip jar, which I am grateful for that people will pay hard earned dosh for such things. However, unlike commissions, from the payment of these sketches, patreon takes their own cut.

However, in recent months, the sketches, to me, have become more of a source of stress and frustration rather than just something fun I throw to generous people. I feel expectations have been rising for the quality of them, and the have become more elaborate. I think this was a mistake in communication on my end, which is why I am writing about it now.

This channel has been in the public for nine months now. I am yet undecided on whether I will be closing this patreon, but I felt it was necessary to write about my worries and thoughts about how this patreon has been working so far. I will have to be more upfront about the quality of the sketches in the future and I may have to change that tier, raise its price or be more upfront that the quality wont necessarily be amazing if the subject matter is something I am unfamiliar with. In essence what this means is that patreon has gone from a low maintenance thing into a high maintenance thing which requires me to take a couple days each month just to read, research and plan the sketches.

On a tangent, I also feel patreon is somewhat poisonous to my self esteem, as it encourages you to keep track of people coming in and going out, after all, each person coming in is more money into patreons own pocket, and people going out is more out of their pocket so patreon wants you to get patrons and keep them too. It very well may be that I launched my patreon too soon and I need to wait a bit longer till I can make this platform work, but for now, it very well may be more work than it is worth, but regardless, I will keep it around for the time being and see how it goes.

Thanks to all of you who have been my patrons so far, old and new, especially you guys who pledge in the low tier, I feel I give you so little in return of the five bucks you could be spending on a streaming service or something, so it means a lot. I also appreciate you folks in the higher tier sticking around, even if you give me a hard time sometimes, haha!

- Timi Honkanen "ThemeFinland"