Tag: patreon

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My Patreon Page WILL CLOSE Dec 31, 2022

My Patreon Page will close on December 31, 2022.

For those of you who are current patrons, you haven’t been charged for several months now. I paused charges during that time.

If you would still like to support my work with a monthly contribution, check out my Subscribe page instead! More details of offerings and prices are on that page.

Just know that I appreciate your support however you give it. And if you’re broke, that’s ok, too. The offerings will be there for you later. Or you can share the page with your friends.

I won’t be returning to Patreon after December 31, 2022. Not as a creator. I would rather run my own Subscribe page. I’ll save the reasons for another post.

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

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Subscribe Page FAQs

Let’s address some frequently asked questions regarding my Subscribe Page and the Fan Clubs. (UPDATED JUNE 15, 2023)

“What is this?”

Subscribe is the home for my Fan Clubs. I made these Fan Clubs as an alternative to Patreon. For as little as $3 per month, you get supporter-exclusive content. But if you still have questions, I hope this page helps.

“Why build your own service? Why not use Ko-fi or Patreon?”

I’ve written this before in other posts and in emails. But I’ll say it again here. Patreon has, and continues to have, a lot of issues going on behind the scenes (like finding out they let go of their security team and why. Which – YIKES). In the past, that’s why I moved away from Patreon and towards Ko-fi.

However, Ko-fi is starting to not like the latest pages of my webcomic, The Legend of Jamie Roberts. Because how dare I depict male nipples or incorporate the F-word into my product listings?

To be honest, both of these platforms are starting to feel limiting. If I want to make the comics I want to draw and that you want to read, we have to find an alternative ourselves. That’s why I built the Subscribe Page for the Fan Clubs.

For a full breakdown of why I built my own alternative, check out this video or even this post where I chat with my artist buddy Jade, who also left Patreon.

“Do I have to make an account?”

Nope! Stripe processes the payments. All it needs is a name, email, address (if you’re getting things mailed to you), and a payment method. That’s it! No account needed.

“I want to Subscribe to one of your Fan Clubs. Do I pay for one month at a time, or pay for the number of months I want to subscribe?”

The system is set up so that when you purchase a membership, you’re charged for your first month on checkout. After that, the membership renews based on your sign-up date. (e.g. if you join on the 1st, you buy for one month, and you get charged again on the 1st of the following month). So if you only want to pledge for a certain number of months, that’s up to you to track it. You can manage your membership at any time by going to this page.

“Can I buy a Membership for a year so I’m only charged once?”

As of right now, there’s only one way to Subscribe to one of the Fan Clubs for a year, and that is to back one of my crowdfunding campaigns on KickStarter, Crowdfundr, or Ko-Fi. One-year memberships are available during campaigns as an add-on reward.

“My financial situation has changed. How do I cancel my Membership?”

You can manage your memberships here.

If all else fails, there should be a link on your email receipt with the option to cancel your memberships. If you can’t find it, reach out to me at kelcidcrawford@gmail.com and I can cancel it for you. No questions asked.

“Will you list your Club Rewards in your Ko-Fi shop?”

It depends on the rewards. If they DO go to my shop, they are usually posted one month after Club members receive their rewards. Club members, as always, get first dibs.

Still have questions? Leave a comment and let me know. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

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My Ko-Fi and Patreon Pages Are Re-Mastered

Experiments have been done. Thoughts have been explored. And now, I’m here to announce: that my Ko-Fi and Patreon pages are getting new facelifts. Or…re-masters, if you will.

screencap of Kelci D Crawford's Ko-Fi Comics Club.

Moving forward, Ko-Fi is now home to the Kelci D Crawford Ko-Fi Comics Club. (Or KDC-KCC, because I’m a dork who loves initialisms).

The Ko-Fi Comics Club is now home to:

  • comic scripts that can’t be read elsewhere,
  • sneak peeks at the making of comics pages, from sketch to lettering,
  • early access to webcomic updates,
  • Ko-Fi exclusive webcomics,
  • access to sketchbook pages for my webcomic projects,
  • members-only shop items,
  • and commissions discounts.

These Ko-Fi rewards are available for Members only. To become a Member, just give any amount per month and you get ALL the listed rewards.

That said, Ko-Fi has rewards for folks who make a one-time donation or purchase. Those folks who give just once will get access to shop discounts and sketchbook pages only.

To become a member, head on over to the Ko-Fi Comics Club and pledge what works for you. Even $1/month gets you these rewards. As a heads up – the date you pledge becomes the date you pledge, i.e. signing up on the 15th of this month means your pledge charges again on the 15th of the next month.

a screencap of Kelci D Crawford's Patron Art Club. In it, we see a blue cat with dragon scales down its back sleeping on a hoard of paper balls.

Meanwhile, I have revived my Patreon page. By popular vote, Patreon is now home to the Kelci Crawford Art Club.

The Patreon Art Club is now home to:

  • voting rights on new sticker designs,
  • coloring book page downloads,
  • hi-resolution image downloads (so you can get new desktop images, or print at home),
  • a new sticker shipped each month,
  • and commission rewards – from black-and-white to full-color, from half-body to full-figure. These are already discounted for Patrons.

Patreon has membership tiers that are more segmented than Ko-Fi. So be sure to plan ahead for the rewards you want. Certain rewards, like commissions, are available for folks who pledge more each month. So the more you pledge, the bigger your rewards get.

To join, head on over to the Art Club and pledge what works for you. You can cancel anytime. As a heads up – the club takes the first month’s charge once you sign up. After that, your pledge will process on the 1st of each month.

Folks who join one or the other (or both, I won’t stop you!) also get access to my Tiny Dinos Discord Server. They also get Ko-Fi shop discounts.

You might be wondering, “Kelci, why are you separating these into two separate clubs? Why not just make 1 and be done with it?”

Well, I listened to my current members on both platforms. My Ko-Fi buddies don’t want membership tiers as Patreon has. And my Patreon peeps want art and stickers, but no comics.

And I don’t mind running the two separately! It actually makes it easier for me to know who gets what rewards.

If you can pledge to Ko-Fi or Patreon (or both!), please do! Your support helps support me (and BreeBree, my 16-year-old cat) and keeps the lights on.

Broke? Then be sure to share my webcomic, The Legend of Jamie Roberts, as well as my YouTube and Twitch channels. Sharing these pages helps grow the audience, yo. You can also follow both the Ko-Fi and Patreon pages to catch any and all future public posts.

That’s all for now. Thank you for your support.

You. Are. Awesome.

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The Dragon Mage

the dragon mage illustration. This piece pictures a young woman in a sports bra and skirt sitting on a cushion with her hands up and cupping ethereal smoke. The smoke lingers before her in the shape of a dragon head. The trail of the dragon smoke twists on the canvas until it trails back to its source - an open teapot.

I’m surprised I never posted this on the blog before. But here she is – The Dragon Mage.

The Dragon Mage is available as a hi-resolution download! But only for Ko-Fi supporters and Patreon patrons. I’ve been posting hi-res downloads for supporters, and I plan on keeping that up.

But maybe there will be more art like this? I’m thinking about it…

If you’re curious, The Dragon Mage is drawn with fine line markers, a brush marker, and color Copic markers. I really like the simplified color palette here.

That’s all I have for now. But maybe there will be more art like this in the future? We’ll see.

Thank you for checking this out!

You. Are. Awesome.

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What’s Next for Fantasyville?

To say this year took me by surprise is an understatement.

My original plans – “just keep doing what I’ve been doing, but go to 10 conventions/shows, not 14” – HAD to shift hard to the left.

As it turned out, though, canceling convention season meant I could work on the following things:

NeverEnding

I started working with these folks back in February this year. In that 10-month window of time, we’ve run a successful KickStarter, started production on a new app, and got some buzz going with Satine Phoenix, the Sirens, and a LOT of tabletop gaming companies. INCLUDING some folks connected to the Hugo Awards (but I can’t give more details). Like, holy dang.

I’m still working with the crew as the Creative Director, leading the art team while we make art for the app. It’s my first time being in charge of other artists. I’m still getting the hang of it.

Livestreams

In lieu of conventions, I ran livestreams. For a while, I did them every Saturday, until I burned out on the schedule. I stopped for a bit to reassess.

It all started with live-draws, where I streamed myself drawing new stuff in Clip Studio Paint. But the most watched streams have been the most recent ones I’ve done: with guests, talking about some business aspects of comics. Things like how to run a successful KickStarter campaign, and converting KickStarter backers into long-time patrons.

The Switch from Patreon to Ko-Fi

I dragged my feet on this decision for a while, until I couldn’t anymore. Patreon just kept on dropping pledges from patrons – often, from the high-tier patrons. And this had been a problem for OVER A YEAR. A problem where, each month, I had to reach out to patrons individually to ask them to check their information. (I had originally reached out in group messages, but a previous patron stopped pledging because they saw this as “public shaming.”)

And then, in the last month, every time I made a new post, the website would just…shut off. My internet connection worked. I could save a DRAFT of a post. But when I hit “publish,” the Patreon site would just…stop.

In short, Patreon as a system has bugs that aren’t being meaningfully addressed, and it’s aggravating myself and other people.

I made the switch to Ko-Fi recently. While it lacks some things (like scheduling posts ahead of time), it has other things Patreon does NOT have. Like more consistent payment processing. And the ability to leave a tip just once.

What’s Next, Though?

I want to continue growing the audience I have on Ko-Fi. It’s a platform with a lot of promise and I want to help it grow. A lot like what I’m doing with NeverEnding, actually.

I also want to keep going with YouTube. Livestreams, yes. But I’m THINKING about dipping my toes back in to making proper, edited videos…I just don’t like editing because I don’t have the right tools for it. So an upgrade to better video editing software is on the table.

Another thing on the table? Better audio recording set-ups. I wrapped up doing vocal tracks for a friend’s punk song and it made me realize…I miss doing audio work.

Other than that? The Legend of Jamie Roberts will keep going. CB and I are remaking some early pages of Tiny Unicorn. We’re also doing more with Tiny Unicorn (and Mr. Dino & Friends) in the near future. BreeBree Bootique is a new project I’m doing with chubby cat art (now on Instagram and RedBubble).

AND…

Keep an eye out for two new book projects that Fantasyville Productions will be releasing in the next few months. One’s a prose anthology, the other is a comics anthology.

I’ll write about those two books in the next update.

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.