Why I Left Thunderline Studios (Patreon)

If you're here, it's likely you know of the renders I did with Thunderline Studios on their visual novels. I wrote a post over there announcing my departure, but thought I'd expand a bit here.

First, this has nothing to do with me not getting along with anyone there, wanting to branch out on my own, or anything like that. My day job, without revealing too much here, is currently very busy. I've got a lot of responsibilities there, but usually a good amount of flexibility too. It's why I was able to crank out renders for 18 months without much issue. But my schedule changed right around September 2020, and since then it's been busy and a bit stressful at work.

Neither of those things are conducive to long periods of creative work. Creative work, to do it well, really requires a good amount of uninterrupted time. And I did not (and doubt I will have) that for any sustained periods anytime soon. After thinking it over for several months and trying adjustments to my schedule to get things to work, I approached the Thunderline team and we had a chat. As hard as it was for me to step away, as I felt like I was letting everyone down (patrons, the team, etc.), we decided that it was the best option for everyone.

So that brings us to this Patreon page. Why set this up? Well, Thunderline Studios was always setup for visual novels. Here I'm free to post random renders, things I learn, and if I have a week where I can be more active in 3D work, patrons get some wonderful new renders. If it is a slow two weeks, I don't now have 500+ renders for a game release still staring me in the face. 3D rendering work isn't cheap in terms of asset costs, hardware costs, etc. I've also had requests from patrons of Thunderline Studios to create some custom renders for them. I think my own Patreon will be the best way to do that. Here I'm not under any pressure other than to share what I do, and I do have time most days to spend at least a bit of time working on 3D projects (just not usually a lot of it).

I still have time to render, but nowhere near the time to work on a visual novel game. But here, you'll still get regular renders, shared here before anywhere else, and I still have the time to do custom renders which you can request by pledging to that tier.

If you're wondering about me ever returning to Thunderline, that is a possibility, depending on what happens with their search for a new artist. I still want to finish To Be A King, at some point, and Last Call is still a story that is near and dear to my heart. I've got full permission from Thunderline Studios to take the models I've created while working there and use them in my own renders. I've also got quite the stable of other models that I've created just for fun or for future potential projects. So look for those to start appearing down the road.

Thank you for reading this far! I hope things are clear with why I left and why I already have my own Patreon. I appreciate you pledging to help support me as I continue to do renders, experiment, and try out some new things that have been on my list. I can't promise any consistent posting schedule, but you won't be going long periods without renders. Until next time!

- IT Roy