Important Updates to my Stuffs (TOS, Form, Patreon, Etc.)

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I mentioned it briefly in my last journal, but I'll go more into depth about it here. I spent a lot of time this week updating the layouts of my profiles, getting informational stuff smoothed out, and re-examining my commission taking process as a whole, so I just want to make sure you all aren't caught by surprise by the changes.

My Website
My terms of service, commission prices, and example pieces have all been moved to this location. There are also links to every active gallery I have, and I will be adding more things later, like a convention schedule.

As for my prices, I've always felt weirdly underhanded whenever I change them, since it kind of gets done quietly. So, I've decided to pick a date, twice a year, where I'll review them and see if they need to be changed. This way, you all can see when a potential price change might happen, and maybe grab a spot right before, rather than missing out on lower prices by sheer chance. I'm going to review them at the end of May and November, each year, I think. I'll be posting those dates on my price list page later.

In my Terms of Service, the changes were mostly minor, but here is a list of some of the more important updates:
•Will/Won't Draw list clarified
•Payment Policy for Paypal is explained, regarding the need or lack thereof for tracking info
•My drawing process, and when you can/should ask for alterations to your commission, has been outlined more clearly
•Shipping cost has increased (thank USPS, not me)
•A section about getting your commission streamed has been added
•A section about getting a character drawn for the first time has been added. Hopefully this will help out you first-time-ever art buyers!
•Some of my own characters are available to appear in commissions now

My Commission Form
This thing was in sore need of some updating! You all can now buy reference sheets, badges, ATCs/ACEOs and icons much easier now. The rest of my updates to this were just trimming some of the text and making things clearer to read.

My Patreon
Now, I had my Patreon running before, but I ended up overwhelming myself at the same time that I was first starting to do art as a full-time job. The reward tiers are much more focused and simple now, but I think they still provide some attractive incentives for people looking to support my art. I'll throw the text from my page on here, to help explain exactly what I'm using the account for in regards to my art.

"

Each month, I will spend time studying one or more art related topics. Anything from basic anatomy to backgrounds to panel pacing in comics. During the month, I will be sketching and working towards those specific goals, and showing my progress each week. At the end of the month, I will share the resources I used to study, and create "final exam" pieces, which will show the extent of what I've learned in that month. In the event that a study topic needs more than a month, I will do a "midterm exam" at the end of month one, and another final at the end of month two, then compare the two exams to see how I've progressed.

At the beginning of the next month, once reward payments have processed, I will randomly select a patron using a random number generator and use a character of their choice for the exam pieces. If the study topic of the month does not interest the winner, there will be a redraw. The exam pieces will be completed during the first week of each month.

So basically, I'm going to use the tips from Patreon to fund my study time, which means I get to improve my art without eating the cost so hard on my time. Two patrons get picked each month, and one wins a bust commission, one wins a full body, in line with the theme. Patrons also get sent discount codes if they are on these payment tiers, so that even if they don't win a slot, they aren't left empty-handed. The lower tiers grant you access to all my sketches and progress pics, as per the usual for most accounts.

Spix@Weasyl
I'm not even going to start to preach or give advice about the whole IMVU thing, but the facts for me are that I've been uncomfortable doing business on FA for a while, and that's only increasing. Slowly but surely, I'm trying to move off that site, and that's going to continue unless something drastic changes (for the better, that is). If you're someone who crossposts and uses FA for your income, the one thing I'd like to ask of you all is that you really take your time to read up on these matters. That site represents a piece of your store front, where you make money to help you survive, so writing every single thing off as "silly drama" is ludicrous, in my opinion.

I'd like to start making it a point to post my higher-resolution pictures on here and Weasyl, rather than sizing everything down to fit FA and then blanket crossposting, so that's a thing you may or may not notice. I've also been meaning to throw some discount codes to you all, so that's something you'll be getting here and there. I was thinking maybe batch icons sales of some kind to start with, but we'll see.

As for you IB users, you may not know it but I actually post the most content here than I do anywhere else, since I can post cub, and it's easier to post to scraps here than it is on Weasyl. This site rocks \m/

Thanks so much for reading this huge journal, and I hope you all enjoy the majority of the changes I've made, and are understanding about my choice of gallery use.

Viewed:	90 times
Added:	10 years, 7 months ago 24 Mar 2015 01:08 CET

6 Comments on this Journal

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RepleteSic

10 years, 7 months ago

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You need to watch out taking commissions on Weasyl too exclusively as well. We found out that former FA admin Summercat is friends with an admin on Weasyl. Hendikins. He uses his connections with him to get back at people he doesn't like. Summercat was causing trouble on Devoid's pages and she had to block him. So Hendikins stripped huge chunks of her gallery out that remotely bent the rules including her banner which was a crop of a pic. He said it being a crop still wasn't "friendly for all ages" even though it had been up for over a year.

Several artists including a Weasyl dev are using crops for banners. The rules don't say you can't use a crop. I posted this to Jonas.

Hey if you're there I found out something about that Weasyl issue. I've been digging around Weasyl and there are a number of people who have had banners from cropped pics "unsuitable for all audiences" that are untouched like Kadath, Keovi, Exotique, Tygurstar, Jay Naylor (Fisk), DuckDraw, Roum, Mari, ShinigamiGirl, Myett-Wrath, even the site dev Kailys

Turns out the admin that went after Dani so severely, annihilated her gallery, stripped her banner for "not being suitable for all audiences", and suspended for 15 days is buddies with ex admin on FA Summercat that we had trouble with on FA with him causing drama on her pages that she had to block him.

This was her journal about it at the time. We found out about this other stuff later.
https://inkbunny.net/journalview.php?id=171254

Not trying to cause drama here but we believe that other artists need to have a chance to defend themselves in some way. Doing Weasyl exclusive discount commissions to get more traffic to the site and the account really screwed us over financially when she lost the account for 15 days without a warning like that. It felt a bit like a betrayal. No other sites, even FA ever treated her like that.

You can use Weasyl if you really feel comfortable there, but just be careful cause losing a good chunk of commission funds or communication with the main commission site for half a month makes dealing with bills a big problem. Just be careful.

Malachyte

10 years, 7 months ago

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@ RepleteSic

I didn't say anything about posting exclusively to Weasyl in my journal, but thanks for the information regardless. I'm sorry to hear Devoid had a hard time with some of her content.

Otterstripes

10 years, 7 months ago

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That's some professional grade work, Spix. I think you did a pretty great job with your revisions.

Malachyte

10 years, 7 months ago

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@ Otterstripes

Thank you very much! It's nice that it actually almost looks like I know what I'm doing XD

I've certainly come a long way in smoothing out the process since I first started doing commissions, tell ya that much.