sius
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..:: Past Year Patreon in Review + Future Plans ::..
🕑 Added 2021-01-09 16:22:00 +0000 UTCHay Everybody!!
Firstly, wishing you all a belated happy new year and 2021, may you goals be achieved and desire to have excessive porn – I'm so glad to be done with 2020 and while we still have a mountain to climb still, there is an end in sight and we can come back from this all.
Thank You's Secondarily - Just to once again iterate my truly humble thanks to you ALL for your support. I genuinely mean it when I state that the content made just WOULD NOT BE MADE or completed to the standard it is here. It's not only been hard work but great fun to have done and has helped me both mentally and financially in this most testing time – so know it counts for a great deal!
Again I know, its ultimately smut and porn all this but I treat it like it matters and quality and delivering to people who support me is very important! I myself would expect no less if it where me.
So this is both a review of December, the last year on Patreon and my works (this maybe just therapeutic for me all being said) and also ideas I have and what I might need to do going forwards in the section following.
..:: HIATUS ::..
Last December was a really hard month for me trying to squeeze in content ASAP in limited time with new schedule changes that struck out the blue really did a number on me. At the end when the Christmas and new year period came I had so much weight mentally to try and get stuff done it somewhat knocked me out of the loop and caused burn out at the end. I just wished I'd managed to get more coloured works out...
There wasn't any way I would be able to continue where I was without falling further behind on things and so deciding to take this sideways pause hopefully will be the correct thing to do.
And turns out is was actually essential. As soon as the button was pressed with the message of a break off in January I... deflated, absolutely. Work has been going on, but at a much more relaxed pace (from creative burn out) than expected and a few tasks remain incomplete such as the erect opposites finished versions upload still to be done - sorry for that ¬_¬
I am now mercifully back to a normal work flow and I'm actually feeling more like being creative. It must have been a bad burn out for sure. Needless to say this is not at all how I intended a semi working Hiatus to actually be (the battle plan was to carry on time pressures – not break down totally ¬_¬) But regardless the case still stands.
I want to truly thank people who understood what the situation was with me and where happy to hang around when things return to normal regular art posting schedule to restart in February. I've got much to think about, plans and setup in the mean time.
..:: PATREON + ART REVIEW 2020 ::..
Last year was the year I finally decided to commit and make the content I did and had in mind for so long and I'm glad I did. It was a ride. I've learnt a good few skills, a few home truths and some production pipeline refining on this journey so far. Who knew making weird porn would have so much back end troubles be such a time sink however, lol. So Let's quickly review...
ART PRODUCTION – I'm amazed that in 2020 haven't had to jump much at all into a 'back catalogue' of images outlined or mocked up concepts and mostly have released fresh new art this yet. Not that the slightly older art is bad (far from it, I was almost upset how good some of it is, lol)
But this means I've been able to pump out new material, improve my craft and that some of it is awaiting a rainy day which may come up in the future – which maybe happening coming up judging from how things look when needs be.
So don't worry I'll update anything that looks 'funky' and add modern sensibilities to it, it'll be as good as I can make it, trust me.
I look back and have some pride seeing these images completed and know that the only reason they get 100% complete is because of the Patreon and support from you all expecting the high quality I should be giving and would never sunk into normal art without the expectation from me – again, thank you all!
CG COLOURING – This is probably the biggest take away from this year. I have had to refine this method several times this year but it must be said this was the year I vanquished a inner demon I had.
I always wanted to make 'better than average' colouring on my work. It's not like anything masterful but much more than cell colouring (anime like) and I'm pleased with the quality I'm able to put in and keep it coming out at a reasonable rate.
I'd love to spend more time on some images (adding imperfections to flesh, more texture to clothes, more colour rich and less outline dependant) but seldom have I had time to do this, but I don't believe I'be released too much well below average. I have to thank you all for your patience on these images where I want them to be as most do take a good deal of time.
Getting 'quick coloured' works out was trouble – I'd tried a few things and just hated how it looked. I truly think it maybe pride that's making me feel this way honestly. But in the end a 'quicker' colour blended approach came after months of testing and is hardly quick, but better than nothing (and people haven't complained – so good enough).
I also learnt that doing backgrounds is a total pain to match the fidelity of the character in them and using shortcuts here can save SO much time, it's not even funny. Fuck doing manual backgrounds ^_^
HONEY SELECT EDITS (H.S.E.) – New media to have learnt but also developed other art skills. Learning how to use the program and then the idea to paint on top of them was a almost genius level move for me and maybe second on years highlights to the CG skills increase. They are so versatile and so much quicker to make and are great for sequences. All in all, super pleased I discovered this when I did!
I know when I started people where okay with them, but knowing more now I've done more maybe worth a poll this month, so get ready for that soon and other bits for feedback.
VIDEOS – More new media and something for gold tier members. I still somewhat love and hate making videos of my art as my mistakes are forever recorded, but that's also the way things get done. Mistakes happen and you work around the issue.
Anyhow I've gotten this process down to a bit of an art (pun intended!) and streamlined the process. With the 2020/2021 iGAPES Calendar girls art completing and moving onto new projects this upcoming year I'm unsure how many videos will be made going forward but when I can I'll see about some more.
I'll probably still make them, but at a lesser process and might change how they come along. They get speeded up crazy fast but to a useable state, but I might have to make other projects more 'snappy' in the future and edit a little more when needed.
PHOTOMANIPULATIONS – It's been fun going back to my old skills on this area after so long and feel they add quite a lot of content for little effort because how used to my art software I am now.
My trouble comes from the limitations of the poses and material I can use which can be very restrictive at times and has 'bummed me out' feeling I'm making the same thing over and over.
I'll have to get over that and just know that there is only SO much you can do and make it as best you can and its the nature of the beast.
EX EX ART– This DEFINETLY took a step back – which was good! This is for content that wasn't quite the high standards of coloured works and with the introduction of Honey Select Edit content I didn't have to do this as much – However this MIGHT come back into place in 2021 depending how time goes or I want to doodle something quickly and or experiment.
CONCLUSION - My overall take back is that getting good art content that is well coloured takes AMPLE time but is VERY rewarding to make. Finding the balance to get content out and at a good enough level is a task but I'm getting there. I also cover quite a bit of different media which wasn't my intent when I started but how it ended up going upon reflection.
//// FUTURE PLANS IN 2021 ////
So what's coming up in 2021? Lord only knows right (already 2021 seems anything but quiet in the days we've had so far), but below are at least things on my mind...
And also I STRONGLY encourage anybody to speak if they REALLY LIKE or REALLY HATE any ideas below – I'm making this stuff up as I go along honestly and just hope people like what they see and can change if there is a better way.
Sadly it's not all fun ideas I have, but the explanation may set you right why this is happening or things I'm considering at least.
LESS TIME – So sadly this is less a desire and more a reality. At least for the near future and going forwards I simply do not have as much time to create as much as 2020 and have felt it already in the first week back in January.
As such I'll have compromise somehow - from accepting producing less quality images to keep the ratio up, or just accept I can't get the 4 photomanipulations per month, dropping some iGaper and futa images or have not all of them CG coloured? All ideas at least for now but something might have to concede on.
I'll be putting out polls to see where people don't mind corners being cut. It kills me inside to do it maybe just a fact for a little while. I still fully intend to deliver as much as I can to you all but I need to be realistic and knowing what you value will help out a lot.
FUATANARI Vs. iGAPES – This one is a bit of a spicy meatball! Yikes! I was thinking at some point last year how I'd like to do iGAPES content solely and drop the futanari. At the time there wasn't as much demand compared to iGAPErs but also know there are artists out there who do futa too and pretty damned well at that – this is a very saturated fetish to see.
However this changed very much over time with interest from people and I'd started to feel a little more positive about it as a whole and I understood that drawing non furry excessive futa is still unique in some ways and has a place and want from people.
Sometimes getting the balance right so that one fetish wasn't neglected over the other has proven a challenge over the last few months and is the main cause of worry for me rather than lack of love for either fetish area – trying to equally balance so roughly equal iG and futa content gets released is tough.
One day I might come back to this if interest drops off or there isn't any demand from you or me but for now we'll carry on with both kinks in equal measures (no change) and hope that that's enough for everybody. So no big panics, nothings going to change anytime soon, but it's always in the back of my mind if the winds of change pick up.
NEW iGAPES BIG PROJECT - With 2020 done iG the calendar girls set was completed and thus space for a new set / sequence to come out. I enjoyed the calendar girls images and some I'm VERY proud of how they came out in the end, but trying to find a theme for every month sometimes was agonising when trying to make it sexy and fun too.
To fill it's place I put out a poll asking what people would like... back before I knew time was going to be a problem. The winner and the one I wanted to do myself was 'transformations'. But time is now that big issue and I may still do the odd one for sure and love doing them, but the BIG scope to do major work on it just can't happen right now...
So I've gotten this spot to do something and right now I'm thinking I may play free and loose with it as I stand, pick and mixing the different areas and if I enjoy one I'll focus more on it, or move on to something else and be more open and change as needs be. So the possibilities are...
- (Limited) Transformations – Much cut down in scope but a growth and change in the girl and development and changes in her from what she once was. Can't be as big as wanted but the content will still pack a punch.
- Size Queens – A pack I had started a while back and with some minor updates have some really fun images ready to roll once the colouring and updates have been applied.
- Cute Girls with Big Bodily Issues – some more excessively oversized gaper girls, maybe more on the hapless end trying to live life with having a very sexual body and trying to live around this embarrassing fact – light hearted or otherwise.
So with these three areas in mind and mixed with normal random art I feel like doing it'll probably deliver a mixed bag for content as it looks right now and time permits, so please excuse the change in direction even if unfocused and enjoy the content regardless how it comes out.
FUTANARI CONTENT – in the futa column I've gotten ideas to carry on with the Giga contenders pack which needs more in it for sure as well as ideas that jump out the blue I'm inspired to do. Working on the recent Siobhan sequence has been really fun and I may consider doing more sequences like hers in the future (but maybe presented differently).
But on the whole futa content comes and goes. If you have any ideas you'd like to see more from me in this area, this would be a good time to voice what more you'd want to have drawn – kinks and ideas or anything else.
MORE DYNAMIC POSES – This one is more me being me. I'd like to show more poses from more angles of the characters. I used to often end up drawing a cute head to a girl and slap the body on later but this made the pose sometimes similar in how it looks – not that I hate it, I think a HD posed version of a character looks solid... but does lack artistic merit in diversity over time.
I've mixed things up as best I can and have gotten slightly better in 2020 Vs. older works AND doing poses that compliment these kinds of sizes can be very restrictive to do well BUT.... can always be improved. It's something I want to try and do more, if it happens it'd be nice!
3D STUDIO MAX / DAZ FOR BACKGROUND's – For now I've been using photos I've found for many backgrounds and honestly the time saved is SO MUCH and I love using them and have taken a few photo's and used them myself in the images and not found ALL of them online. But....
It maybe more somewhere down the line I could see about making some bespoke 3d background rendered art to fit some images and render them at a nice sharp resolution and be able to go toe to toe with the very high pixel count my art shoots for. It's an idea at least but where I'd have the time for it, I'm not sure when it may happen but it's on my mind for sure!
FUTURE HIATUSES – As long as you folk don't mind this every blue moon, I might invoke this cause when I must again in the future. Much like the last time I'll halt any funds from me and take the month off to do what I need to do. It's not what I want at all, but I have to say it's been a hidden blessing so far this month to be able to enact this.
MORE PRODUCTIVE / CREATIVE– As always a drive to keep pushing as best I can to deliver as best results and keep improving. Goes without saying – it is just women with HUGE genitalia slapped on, but there is a science and a rhythm to it. Let's keep doing this as long as I can!
I'm starting to go cross eyed from the length of this and am more interested in seeing about getting back on the horse and drawing some character with excessive bits on her, so I'll call this to a close now.
As mentioned anything you want to comment on please do, expect polls maybe coming up over a range of things. I'll get the end of Decembers art finally finished off and uploaded shortly too and progress reports as things happen in this quieter January and a heads up before February kicks in and we jump on the weird porn train once again.
Another extremely thankful reminder to say how much I value your support and help thought all this and yeah, lets see how 2021 shakes out and what crazy fun content we can get out for you all shortly!
I've got content I need to work on and get my stylus working from a small break and am looking forwards to it and getting stuff re-set up. Have a good weekend and I'll be back before you know it! Cheers and thank you all for your pateince, Sius
