Nuki News #96 - Big Updates to this Page Next Month!

Heya! This first week of June I want to give a heads up to everyone that there are going to be some big changes to my Patreon page, including support tiers in July! [If I linked you to this page, thank you for bearin’ with me and reading! I wanna make sure all patrons see this if possible!]

—-Patreon Patch Notes—-

Starting in July(next month as of writing) I will be closing the Ask Artie Anything and SketchaNuki tiers, and a few weeks into July, the Nuki News posts will stop after I reach number 99, or 100, depending how I feel. So this is the last month to get Sketchanuki tiers and do something for Ask Artie Anything here on patreon!

This means folks who are part of the $5 and $50 tiers will no longer receive monthly art AMA’s or sketch commissions from me. Which is why I’m writing this to inform ya and let you make a decision that suits you best goin’ forward!

I will also be unpublishing the $1 tier, in July, as well, so that only new tiers can be pledged to(but will still function as normal), and then deleting the tier officially in August. You can still remain pledged for $1, but you wouldn’t get anything out of it. <:3

—--End of Upcoming Patch Notes—-

But Artie!!! You’re getting rid of all your tiers?? What’s going to happen to this Patreon Page??

Don’t worry, this is a big renovation, not me closing the page! I’m adding new tiers. :)

I’d include this in the patchnotes above, but I have to go into some big reasons and spiel about what I’m doing. See, this page is chuggin’ along but not seeing any growth; due to me not wanting to share or promote it. The fact that 35 of you have found this page and have given me your support over the last 2 years since changing the format to what it is currently has seriously been wonderful, but this journey has also been seriously personal. Which, for ya’ll, I imagine has been a good thing! If you like me, my work, ideally both, this page probably has been a great place to give me some financial support so I can keep creating smuushy goodness for the fur community to enjoy.

However, as some of you may relate, promoting what is essentially ‘myself’ is hard to get my head around. Similar to trying to talk oneself up for a college application, or a job interview or a resume’, posting on social media ‘hey, give me money because you like me and I deserve it cuz I make pretty pictures!!’ just doesn’t cut it for me, internally. I’d always set goals and to-do lists for me to post to twitter or FA to advertise my patreon, and I just…wouldn’t. I realized over the last year, I need a project of sorts to feel enough separation from me and my work in order to promote it; as selling commissions or my sketchanuki tier always felt straightforward. You give me money, I give you art! But it doesn’t make as much sense for me to make my patreon just strictly -more commission work- when I already do that for most of my income. I’ve found I rarely, if ever, post the art I do for patrons either. Not because I don’t like what I’ve done, it’s just part of this personal ‘project’ of “I’m gunna do Art for a living!” which is why I made this current iteration of my patreon to begin with. And well, mission accomplished! I’ve been self-employed for a year-and-a-half!

Okay Artie, it sounds like you’ve got a new project in mind, so, lay it on us!

You asked, and I’ll answer:

I want to make a Digital Sketchbook of Sumo Wrestling with you!!

TLDR as this is getting a bit long-winded; I want to explore Sumo Wrestling, Sumos in general, and a great deal of big furry folk smuushin together in Mawashi and such. And make my patreon page the vehicle to get it going!

So with that in mind, I will be adding New Tiers to support this new project!

$3, $35, $65, and $125

A general support tier ($3) - a name in the credits of the sketchbook when it is complete, and free access to a digital copy after 2 months of support on this tier! During the interim time, I will be making weekly sketch pages this tier can view, but only future weekly posts; past posts will be locked.

Sketchbook tiers($35, $65, and $125) - these 3 tiers allow you to be part of the sumo action! I will draw your character wearing sumo garb and doing various sumo poses; 1 pose, 2 pose, and 4 poses per month, respectively. Each sketchbook ‘page’ will be 4 poses in total! So your character(s) will be featured in their own pages of the sumo sketchbook alongside ones I make. :)

Why Sumo, specifically? Well, I feel a bit like a fraud since I only have tended to use sumo without much knowledge of the sport. Plus, it will greatly help me engage with anatomy more(especially legs, heh) and contact/big character interacting! I do like sumo, what I’ve seen of it, and this will allow me to delve into it more intimately, aheh!

But Artie, what if I don’t care about Sumo? I know not everyone would have it as their cup of tea, but this is what I’d like to go forward with! I 100% perfectly understand if you do not wish to pledge to the sketch book tiers, and I would prefer only folks with characters they’d like to see sized up & doin’ sumo stuff to pledge to these tiers. The poses would be more free-form on my part, so you’d have a lot less direction. It’d still mean a lot if you simply just pledged to a lower tier or even just $1 if you want to help me out financially.

Wait, are you selling this sketchbook when it’s complete? Yes, actually! I am! This does mean you would have to be OK with me selling it containing art of your character to participate in these tiers. I don’t think it’ll have a physical release, but there is a good possibility of it, too!

When is the Sumo Sketchbook going to be complete? Hard to say. Right now my goal is 100 pages, but mayhaps that’s ambitious. It could take a bit over a year, by my current estimation, which is fine by me, since it’s a side project this patreon will be dedicated to. Afterward, I’ll likely think up another sketchbook theme to make, at least, that’s my plan. But, one project at a time, please, haha.

Aaaaaand that's it folks! hopefully some of you are excited by the news! I knew I was stagnating here last year, but needed the time to get a handle on doing art full time officially, and now that I have, I need to start getting into side projects like this so I can have more avenues to support myself and give out more art to the world, while having you all along for the ride. :)

Definitely feel free to ask any questions here too if you have 'em!  Or you can DM me here or elsewhere if you have the contact info if you have more Q's! Note I will be panning out the details for the tiers and how things work further, when the change happens in July, making proper redesign of the Patreon page too later.