Patrons, or I have to quit

TL;DR : If I can't make up for lost of Patrons, I will be forced to quit making art indefinitely.
My goal is to get above $700 per month MINIMUM or I will have to quit making art to survive
https://www.patreon.com/foxmcfly

The numbers:
- My rent & basic utilities cost me $920 per month.
- As of writing this, my current Patreon income is only $557 (that's $363 short- every month)
For perspective, the poverty line in Missouri is $1,063/Month, and I am making half that.
- This means that I need, at minimum, $150 more just to pay rent on the 1st of each month,
and have to find $213 before the utilities are due near the middle.
- I am given $290 in food stamps which basically is my only way to buy groceries each month, or I could not afford to eat.
(food stamps are given to those in extreme poverty so they don't starve- a debit card that only works for grocery items)
- Last month, I worked a total of 201 hours (46 hours a week).
- To be able to lead even the most meager life, covering taxes, expenses, rent, food, etc.
I would need to be making closer to $1,500 a month ($18k a year).


What does that mean?
- It means that I am forced to beg for discounted emergency work, which keeps pushing back, delaying, or at worst adding to the very long queue of art I already owe. This strains/damages my relations with my regular customers, and scares away new ones.

How do you fix it?
- I desperately need PATREON PATRONS. People donating small amounts like $5-10 each month are how I pay my rent/expenses.
Without patrons, I would need to take on $1,000+ a month in commissions. And I neither have a fan base that wealthy, nor enough demand to even make that possible. So I seek those of you who enjoy what I make- Animation, line art, and other art forms not supported on FA. Without Patreon patrons like you, I would have been homeless since 2015.

What are your options
- Either I get my Patreon income up above $700-800 per month, or I will have no choice but putting my art on hold indefinitely and getting some sort of work elsewhere. But that may not work either.

"Why don't you get a REAL JOB"?!
- I had a "real job" in college, the year my eczema first became too unbearable to leave my bed- which cost me my job, and effected my grades. Since then, my mental and physical disabilities have gotten much worse. I do what I love- My art isn't just what I am passionate about, it's also one of the few things I feel I can do fairly reliably to survive. I don't think I would last long in retail, food service, or other "normal" jobs.

"What about welfare or other government assistance?"
- Thank god I at least have food stamps, but that doesn't work for anything else but groceries. If we lived in a state where welfare wasn't a joke, or in a country that took better care of its poor, this wouldn't be an issue. Missouri is very "If you can't work 12 hours in a factory each day for minimum wage, you're a burden on the billionaires and don't really deserve to live". And we are about to enter an era where the President wants to put corrupt narcissist billionaires into the cabinet. And that's not good for the poorest of us- in case you need a reminder how bad things were in 2019. My ex-wife is even more mentally disabled than I am, and even with a lawyer who was 100% certain she'd win her case, after 2 year of trying, even with the state doctors saying she's not fit for work, the judge denied her and she has to start over.
So welfare for me is not an option. Even if I applied (AGAIN yes I applied when I was bedridden and unable to move and was DENIED) I'd be waiting a year or two to see the same horrible judges. Meanwhile, I could be homeless on any given month.


I have been fighting to survive since 2019, and things just keep getting worse.
If I hadn't gotten sick for a full year during the pandemic- that was the year things were supposed to equalize.
And then it all went to hell, and I went from "almost out of the hole" to the earth swallowing me deeper than ever-
and now the dirt is falling in on me and I may not survive. Or at least my art business might not. God I don't want that.
This is what I have wanted since I was a kid, and wasted 8 years of college on. But it's looking grim.
This job is what I want more than anything. And I don't think I'll last long at any conventional job with my disabilities.

If you have the ability to pledge to keep me going, please, I am desperately in need of your support.
https://www.patreon.com/foxmcfly
https://www.patreon.com/foxmcfly
https://www.patreon.com/foxmcfly

For now, I am still here. Wish me luck. I don't know how much thinner I can stretch myself.
- Fox