[IMPORTANT UPDATE] THE BIG ONE!! LIFE UPDATE, REWARD CHANGES & COMMISSIONS OPEN!

The Era of Nero bending the knee to corporate day job overlords and supervisors... Is for the forseeable future, over.

Buckle in, get some goddamn sody-pop, some fuckin' chicken nuggets

LIFE

Some of you might have been in the Discord server (if you're not in there, hey! You should be!) when I briefly talked about this last week, but on the 16th I reached a tipping point on multiple fronts - with my day job and with my mental health. I won't get into the job details, but basically I got to the point where after 6 years of cliquey supervisor-ship, withheld perks and promotions, abuse at the hands of clients and management and said management more or less driving us into the ground, I just said enough was enough and told Mrs. Nero that I was done and not doing it anymore.

Now, what made this different from the thousand other times I'd said I was quitting was that this time, I really and truly was dispassionate. I wasn't mad, I was just thoroughly done and she could see that. Me eventually not needing that paycheck was always part of the plan (just not this soon), but being my loving and amazing wife, she could see that the toll it was taking was reaching a particularly unhappy boiling point and she, too, was less than pleased with the way I was being treated. So, we all sat down, went through all our finances, and came up with a plan that said - effectively - with a couple of conditions, I could stop earning a day-job paycheck now and for the forseeable future and we would get by. Not very comfortably, but we could make it work.

One of the conditions, which I will get into further down, is that I need to take commissions - around 4 per month, for us to really be properly OK, and tbh I think I can do that. More on that after. Also, if HR is reading, this is not a resignation or imminent intent to quit. Read on bbs.

HEALTH

The other condition is, I needed to get my mental health addressed. Now, in case anyone is worried, physically I am fine, I did not try to self-harm or anything like that. My mental state, however, had been getting worse and worse for years and for a long time just managing it myself through sheer force of will and piss and vinegar was enough, but my reply to someone who responded to my venting about my mental health on Twitter a few weeks ago puts it best. They supported me with a good ol' "You got this!" (lookin' at you, Bravo <3) and I replied 

"Yes, but i'm getting tired of having to 'have it'". 

My will's been breaking down, I'm frequently tired, I have no energy and my stress is through the roof nearly constantly and its been incredibly unhealthy, so even for me - the guy who hates going to the doctor short of a missing limb - it was time to do something. Now, I've seen my doctor, he has agreed I should take time off work to address this stuff, and I've got a bunch more appointments with a therapist and other stuff, and it's all just baby steps right now, but the point is, I'm doing something about it. I'm not going to tell you I feel radically different after having talked to my doctor and being more open, but what I will tell you is that for the first time in a while I can maybe see some light at the end of the tunnel. If you suffer from depression, or anxiety or any form of mental health issues, I understand more than most the desire to take it on your own, but take it from me, your ability to do that will not last forever, and it's not worth it. Go sooner, rather than later, don't make my mistake.

So today I spoke with my family doctor and he has officially taken me off-work from my day job - at this point - indefinitely. I have not 'quit' yet, I am still employed, but as it stands my days of answering to a boss are done for the forseeable future. I can't honestly say at this point that forever and ever amen I won't return to work, it frankly depends on my progress in getting healthy, but I don't have to worry about that for now and that helps a lot. Again, if anyone from HR is reading this, this isn't a resignation or quitting, just let me get healthy dammit!

Now, the transition.

COMMISSIONS

Holy frig are commissions ever open. We're talkin' Paris Hilton's legs in the mid 00's open. Like, Walmart on a fresh Black Friday morning open. Like that jar of Ragu that's been in our fridge for 6 months open, people. I need to load up to make this work. As I mentioned before, the minimum is 4 comms per month to get us by, but more than that will just add to savings and make things a little easier in the future, so maybe after a couple of months, if I get enough banked I can throw in some more original stuff and fanart. Also, if the Patreon total goes up, the need to do commissions goes down! Basically what I'm saying is, I'm planning to take batches of 4, maybe with some extras after seeing how things go.

On a bit of a bummer note, I know that there was some concern about there being a lot of commission content coming through here, and I sincerely and whole-heartedly apologize for that, and for that being a continuing trend. It wasn't my intention when I made this, but it's sort of become the reality. If you guys like seeing my art, that's sort of just how it has to be right now. I hope none of you change your mind about supporting this Patreon because I think now, more than ever, with my ability to shift so much more of my focus into my art, we can really do great things!

So, if you want a commission, if you've been saving up, or if you just want to be a chum and give me some money to make something for you, August will be a very good time in particular. If you've been waiting because I wasn't taking Star Wars OC comms, or because of the Futa limit, I'll be relaxing both of those some, and of course anything else you might have in mind we can talk about! If you'd like to discuss it, adding me on Discord, or joining the server is the BEST WAY to get in touch. I'll work on ironing out a submission form and stuff as well as we go, and you can definitely message me privately on here, or on social media, but Discord is your best bet. The link is RIGHT HERE, YO 

"But Nero" you ask. "How much will they cost? Are you raising your commission prices again!?"

TIER REWARD CHANGES

Before I say anything else - The costs of the tiers are NOT CHANGING. The art rewards are NOT CHANGING. If you pledged to me to support me or to get regular updates on my art, NOTHING AT ALL is changing for you.

Here's the band-aid rip - The commission discount for Centurions is changing. Here's why:

I was getting bled pretty severely by the 15% + $5 discount, but that was okay before when I was supplanting income with my day job. It wasn't a big deal, but now it kind of will be. That's reason #1.

Reason #2 is, without the income from my day job, I would have needed to raise my prices for sure. At one point as I was considering this, the base cost of a commission was going to raise from $100 to $130 or sometimes more to offset the loss from the discount, but I realized that the fairer compromise here would be to change the discount and keep the base prices the same. So, the base cost of a commission is still $100 USD, characters 2 and 3 are still $50 each, and 4+ is $75 each. That is not changing for the forseeable future.

The changes - 

• Centurions ($5) get a "Tier I" 5% + $5 discount
• Super Soldiers ($10) get a "Tier II" 10% + $5 discount
• Honor Guards ($15) get a get a "Tier III" 15% + $5 discount 
• Nero's Nutjobs ($20) get a "Tier IV" 20% + $5 discount

So, for example let's say you're commissioning a one-character pinup, flat $100 + your discount. This is what it would cost moving forward.

• Centurions - $90 (+$10)
• Super Soldiers - $85 (+$5)
• Honor Guard - $80 (Same)
• Nutjobs - $75 (-$5)

At the base commission cost, this may not seem like a huge difference. But where it comes more into effect is with scale, new example, let's say, a 3-character commission which are relatively common. Normally $200, after the discount coming to $165 for a regular loss of $35 (this actually hit pretty hard the other month).

Now the cost:

• Centurions - $185 (+$20)
• Super Soldiers - $175 (+$10)
• Honor Guard - $165 (Same)
• Nutjobs - $155 (-$10)

IN ADDITION (This is an edit, I forgot to add it originally), Super Soldiers and up get Priority Placement in the commission batch. There's no priority when I'm picking commissions for a batch, but if you are $10, $15 or $20, and you do get picked, yours will get done first. The higher the pledge tier, the higher priority ($20>$15>$10)

This change is meant to do 2 things - 1, alleviate some of the loss on the discount for me while still giving some form of fair discount, and 2, to better reward those who pledge the higher tiers via a better discount - those of you pledging to the higher tiers are mostly frequent commissioners and your generosity on pledging those higher amounts without any sort of reward up until now needed to be addressed. And while I do understand that that's not everyone (in particular, Centurion commissioners, I apologize for this), I think that paying a little more (whether its $5, or $20 or however much) is still ultimately less impactful than if I had to just blanket raise my prices by $30-$50, or raise the pledge amounts. But the difference for me with these changes is maybe one less commission per month I have to do, freeing up more time to do fanart and other neat stuff with you guys, and just generally being a bit more balanced. I can't say that my prices will never go up based on how in-demand they are (that's usually how it works), but right now dems the beans.

TL;DR!?

• 1 - I am on leave from my day job for the forseeable future, this clearing up more time to work on art and stuff.
• 2 - I have mental health issues, I am doing something about it and if you think you might suffer from any form of mental health issues as well, so should you! Don't go it alone!
• 3 - I need at least 4 commissions per month, and I am loading up so if you're interested, hit me up on Discord or via PM!
• 4 - The discount reward is changing, but it will only affect Patrons who get commissions. No other prices are going up, and the commission prices are also staying the same. You should read the write-up above for all the details if you think this might affect you.
• 5 - I love you guys, and none of this would be a thing without your amazing support, thank you so SO much! Nero will always love you longtime <3<3<3

If you have questions, concerns, problems, anything at all just let me know! Comment below, PM, Discord, Twitter, anything at anytime!