Update log - F*ck My OCs event closure

Hello all! Son here to bring closure to a patron exclusive event I started last year. 

This information is relevant for those who participated in the F*ck My OCs 2021 event, whom have already been contacted via DMs, but I'm also making this post for all patrons for transparity.

The F*ck My OCs event consisted of active patrons being able to send applications during a few weeks period in July 2021 to have their OCs drawn with my own.

Patrons on the Special Calico Kitty tier ($10) and above were guaranteed to receive a sketch, while applications by patrons on the Calico Kitty tier ($5) were to be handpicked by me.

All patrons on the $10 tier were eligible to receive a sketch, whether they already belonged in that tier before the event existed, or they joined or upgraded their tier during the applications period; and they’d still be eligible even if they changed or deleted their pledges afterwards.

At the time of opening the event, I had an overall smaller patron base and only 8 active patrons on the $10+ tiers - so I thought the response would be manageable. However I received an influx of both new and upgrading patrons and a bigger response than anticipated.

I received a total of 45 applications, of which 32 were on the “priority” $10 tier. I kept a detailed spreadsheet to keep track of submitted characters, patrons, their tiers, period of joining, and ideas and preferences.

Unfortunately, keeping up and completing all of the requests proved too big of a task over time. I also understood that charging $10 for dozens of sketch pages that featured two or more characters in multiple poses/shots was underselling how much time and effort I put on those - specially when that price already covered the tier's benefits.

So I came to the conclusion I should close the event and refund eligible patrons who didn’t receive their sketches. I still wanted and believed I could keep it going and get to all the requests - but ultimately had to accept, after continually delaying the remaning sketches in favor of bigger priority art, that it’s not doable.

This week I sent DMs to all the remaining participants who didn’t receive their sketches - 27 patrons in the priority tier and 13 in the non-priority one. I wanted to inform/apologize to them foremost, and facilitate direct communication if they had any questions or suggestions. I also offered a refund to those who joined or upgraded their tiers during the applications period.

My reasoning is that $5 patrons were not guaranteed to receive a FMO sketch, since applications from that tier would be handpicked; and $10+ patrons who were already in that tier before the event begun were already enjoying their regular monthly benefits. The FMO sketches were an extra, one-time special offer on top of the regular benefits that the $10 tier already offered, with no additional charges - and that everyone in that tier would still be eligible for even if they deleted or lowered it after the event ended. So I believe it’d be just to refund the first pledge of $10 for those who joined/upgraded in order to claim it.

At the moment of posting this, I've succesfully contacted and issued refunds (if they so wished) for about half of the eligible patrons. I'm also still open for questions or suggestions via comments or DM.

It was a lack of foresight on my part to think I could manage an event of this proportion, as much as I enjoy the concept and enjoyed working on the sketches that I did deliver. I’d love to bring back more OC x OC interactive content, but slowly and with a better grasp of how much workload I can handle at a time.

I once again apologize for the inconvenience, and thank you for your attention and support.