Patreon Changes. What!? Again! Please read.

Hi again, here it’s me again with changes, and probably this will affect completely my finances, but I think it’s the most fair I can do for what I can offer right now.

First of all, thanks for your support!

I need to thank a really lot to all of you who have been supporting me for so many years here in Patreon, I started this page in 2016 and after few months, I got to earn just here the same than I was earning on my full time job as an animator in a studio in Mexico (which, sounded a very fancy job but it was not, not in my country, my income was not that great), but more important than that, I got to make so many new friends, amazing people that have been very close to me, many memories I’ve gained with all of you, new people you have introduced me, it has been such a great journey. Also you have been supporting me even on the worst times in my life. I can say so many great things about what I’ve gotten thanks to this platform.

I’m not leaving Patreon, but it wouldn’t be a surprise that after these changes many of you may leave.

It’s something that I should have done since the moment I got the issue with my arm (that if you haven’t been aware of this problem I’ve had, I’ve posted it here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/updates-about-82254478 and here https://www.patreon.com/posts/update-of-my-83747330 ).

Update of my health problem.

I need to say I’m getting way better, I’ve been able to draw for longer with less pain, and I always stop before any kind of pain starts, I keep doing my exercises, I take my proper time on each drawing, illustration and painting I do, but of course that makes me be slower than I how I was used to be. Before, I took around 1-2 days to complete an illustration, now I take an entire week and sometimes even more, so my production time has reduced dramatically, and that’s one of the reasons I’m doing these changes.

I keep visiting the doctor, he has been telling me how good my arm has been improving, but of course I won’t be able to return to my previous working pace as before, where I could draw more than 10 hours (because I was very workaholic, I really love my job and I could spend most of my day on it, and that’s why I ended up having this issue). So I can’t work more than 4 hours a day, butI can’t be working more than one hour in a row, I need to give myself breaks, and that’s not something prescribed while I get better, that’s something I need to do henceforth.

I’m not at 100% yet, but I can say I’m now 80-90% better, something that is a huge improvement!

Patreon changes

After having Round Pronator Syndrome and haven’t been able to draw for months, and coming back from it but in a very slow pace, I’ve been so far behind in my queue, as never before. I don’t want to be that artist who promises a picture but have it so many years later, and now I’m on that path currently, I have drawings that I promised more than a year ago and it is still on my queue with no many advances, and these past weeks I’ve received some messages asking me what is an update for their picture, I’m always so embarrassed to explain them again my situation. Or there are some who are not aware of my last changes and they want me to ask for rewards for all this time they have been supporting me, which is totally fair, sometimes myself am not aware of the changes that any artists is giving to their rewards either because I don’t check all my e-mails either, and it’s fair that many of you have been supporting me with a very high tier expecting illustrations and stickers back from me.

Right now I have more than 50 pictures to do in my queue, and I’m not sure when I’ll be able to clear all that, nothing is going to move from there, I will try to do every picture on my current queue with no excuses, it will take time of course but I will do it.

But since there are many people who are still supporting me with super high tiers expecting some day I will open for those rewards again, and probably that will take around one year to happen, I don't want to keep promising things that I can't keep.

From now, I won’t be able to promise anything back as customized reward, maybe in the future, when I clear completely my queue, I may be return the “Bamboo” one (the monthly chance to get a full color illustration), but I can’t keep promise full color or stickers as rewards, for more than I really think you all deserve it, because I was really loving giving you customized things back, I always took my time to give this to all of you. But I really can’t keep doing it.

I really hope you all understand it!!

Patreon tiers will keep existing, but these are very low tiers. The tiers that will keep existing and their respective rewards are:

$1 - Gummy Bear Level

• My eternal Gratitude

$5 - Panda Level

• Full resolution versions of my drawings
• I will keep sharing WIPs and sketches of my works
• Be part of my Clubhouse (Telegram exclusive group) (If you are not on this group, send me a message and I will send you the invitation)

$20 - Oreo Bear Level

• Same things as Panda Level
• Physical enamel pin
• Physical things from time to time
• First to know when I’m opening for commissions

The rest of tiers will disappear for now (who knows in the future)

If you are supporting on any other tier (especially the big ones) you can lower your tier, or I would understand perfectly if you decide to stop supporting me, I wouldn’t feel bad at all because I know very well the reasons, but I thank you greatly for all this time, for real, it meant the world to me!

I can’t kick you out from your current tier, so if you decide to stay because you really mean to support me with the current amount you’re giving me, you are more than welcome to do it, and thank you!

The $3, $8 and $15 tiers will give you the benefits of the $5 level

The $50, $80 and $100 tiers will give you the benefits of the $20 level

Again, I’m aware this will hit a lot my current finance situation, but it’s something I’m willing to do because I really don’t want to keep promising all of you, who have been giving me a lot of love and support, things that I can’t keep.

But Paco! What about all these months of support I was giving to you? What about my rewards I was looking forward?

Yes! As you may know, I never want to be unfair and I want to give you back something for all these months of awesome support you have been giving me, that’s why I want to keep my survey open, if you think I’m owing you a reward of any kind, feel free to fill this survey and I will add you to my current queue, just be aware I may take time to actually work on it, but for sure I will do it!

https://forms.gle/LVdHs1EQtAKMjmYg9

I trust you completely, just add the reward you really consider I was owing you, on that survey I’m showing a chart of the rewards I was giving before burning them all.

Also you need to know that, even if you decide to leave my Patreon, you can keep adding yourself on that list, I will add you on my queue, and I will work on your picture eventually!

And if you want to see my current queue, here is my Trello board, so you can be aware if I had already put your reward on my queue or not.

https://trello.com/b/W6ob94vS/patreon-rewards

Remember any question or doubt, feel free to DM me here on Patreon or on Telegram @Drawsbearywell . I may take some time to reply but for sure I will reply!

What about Christmas Cards?

On previous years, I had as one of the rewards “Christmas Cards” that I mailed you to your address. It’s very sad for me to say that this is the very first year I’m not sending Christmas cards to my friends, I had this annual tradition since 2013 and this is the first year I’m not doing it. First because that always took me a lot of effort (around 3 days of preparing all the information, printing all cards, and writing the letters) plus all the postage work (I sent them from two different countries, from Mexico the ones that were domestic ones and from USA the international ones), and I was highly recommended not to work that much. And also because I couldn’t prepare a Christmas illustration for this year for myself T__T I had to work on it on September so I could print the cards on October and start preparing them on November, but I was so slow with all the things I had to do that I couldn’t prepare.

For sure, and hopefully, next year I will retake that annual Christmas tradition, because it is something I loved to do, and I knew many of you appreciated that so much!!

Plans for the future. What's gonna happen with my Patreon?

When 2023 started, I had as a resolution to clear up my queue and start working on a new chapter of my Art & Biro comic, and probably start my new comic story that I have in mind. But it was my arm issue which ruined everything, because not only I couldn’t clear my queue, but it increased dramatically.

My plan for 2024 is to balance everything, knowing that I don’t have anything else to add to my queue, I want to start my new comic (it could be either Art & Biro chapter 2 or my new comic idea, I can’t start those two at the same time or I will get crazy). So my idea is that this Patreon turns into the way to support my comic, and I will be sending you WIPs of the comic, first release of every page, and keep sharing full resolution versions of my illustrations, and regular WIPs and sketches.

I know many of you want customized pictures and commissions, but I really need to balance that way much, I may be accepting a commission from time to time but I need to focus on the projects I also want to keep doing.

I really hope this plan works, and this wouldn’t be possible without your help, so thank you!

Another thank you to all of you!

Thanks, once again, for all your support, understanding and, above all, patience. In my 12 years as an artists taking commissions, I had never been so far behind my queue as currently, and despite this decision of closing all my high tiers from Patreon will affect highly my finances, since big part of my monthly income depended on this, I really consider it the most fair to do with all of you and also for my mental health, to not have the pressure that many of you were giving me money and I was not giving great things back.

If you decide to leave after this decision, you need to know I understand it perfectly and you will keep have my eternal gratitude for all this time of amazing support that helped me to overcome hard times.

If you decide to stay, thank you very much, I will do my best to keep giving the best of me. The best of making my plan of working on my future comic, and the best to keep sharing happiness and cuteness to the world.

Your support has always meant the world to me!

*Loves and panda hugs*

Paco.