So, it’s been One Year since I opened my Gumroad account as a patreon-like subscription service to support my artwork and endeavors. How’s it gone?

Well-- XD

Just to get the “negative” out of the way, I admit that there’s a non-insignificant part of me that’s been disappointed with it all. That recognition of not having any sort of immediate jump to “fame” or “financial stability” through the process. Which isn’t fair, because I was never expecting that to start with. But it has certainly been a case of, despite my continued efforts to input adverts in uploads to point towards the Gumroad, I’ve really only ever gotten the handful of about ten or so people that showed up in the first month aaaand…. nobody new has really joined since the start of it? Which is a little discouraging, so see zero growth in all this time.

That said then… Everyone who joined that first month is still with me today. And while monetarily, I suppose that doesn’t seem like much, just knowing I have that support from friends and that they’d stick with it for this long-- I am so deeply thankful for that. It serves as a strong reminder to keep myself going and keep pushing forward with the goals I set alongside the Gumroad. Because of that, I’ve maintained a biweekly, if not weekly, streaming schedule to work on my art. I’ve finished more art than I’d have normally completed, just because I have supporters pushing me forward. And of all things, I even got back to and completed an entire Visual Novel all by myself. (Which has been modestly successful as well, btw!)

This has all let me take tiny steps as well along the way, from just keeping a consistent schedule, to pushing myself to maintain it and not give up. It’s probably helped a lot with subduing my depression too. Just seeing the steady support and feedback on all my sketching keeps me motivated enough to keep going with it. I feel like I’ve drawn so much in this span of a year, even if I only completed like a fourth of that work.

Still, it does leave me to ponder how I can further branch out and expand. I’m not complaining about my current numbers, of course, but if I want to really grow and justify making time for more of the things I want to work with, then I really need to draw in more attention. For now, both for that reason AND because FurAffinity has been such a bummer lately, I’m opening myself up to a few new platforms that I intend to start posting on soon. But beyond that, I’m not sure how best to advertise? I guess I could use some input and suggestions for that?

One thought though was just to drop some numbers real quick for assessment! Over the course of this year, I’ve posted a total of 361 sketches to Gumroad and Discord as part of my subscription service. That’s compared to the 87 or so finished images posted to FurAffinity in that same span of time! So if you’re not subscribed, you’re actually missing out on a TON of my content. I don’t post these things anywhere else. I also usually post finished works to the Discord first too! There’s usually not an extended “early access” period there, but sometimes I forget to post things to my galleries and the Discord will eventually remind me what I missed. It’s also helpful if you’re looking for the full scale images that FA likes to shrink or if there are multiple versions of something that might not show up otherwise because it was too much a hassle. Though as I diversify across different galleries, you should still be able to find all the completed works at proper scaling, at least.

It’s also worth noting that, while I haven’t gone too far into it yet, I am planning another Visual Novel. Something a lot longer and a bit more ambitious, with more streamlined mechanics. A few people felt frustrated with my last game’s RNG and-- that is understandable. We’re working towards a more systematic approach this time, so the routes are a bit more hard coded. I’d be putting more effort into it now, but-- like I said, the monetary support isn’t quite there yet for me to drop everything for it just yet. But I hope to have more to say about it in the coming months, just to give more of a heads up than I had for the first one.

I’ve a few other projects and things I wanna do that are floating around in my head, but I’m waiting on different blocks to fall into place before I can make much headway with those thoughts. I’m hoping they’ll come together in time though. Could be quite exciting!

While I don’t know what else the future holds for me right now, so long as the support I’ve received so far continues, then I’m gonna do everything I can to keep my schedules (even if they need rearranging later) going and continue committing to the projects people vote on. It’s a slow and steady march of progress, but I’m happy to keep making it happen.

I suppose that wraps things up for now? So I’ll close out with an update on all the links you’ll ever need to find me in whatever direction you happen to be going in future. Thanks for reading and all see you all again soon!

Gumroad - https://terithsart.gumroad.com/
FurAffinity - https://www.furaffinity.net/user/lapseph/
Inkbunny - https://inkbunny.net/Lapseph
Itaku - https://itaku.ee/profile/lapseph
Eka’s Portal - https://aryion.com/g4/user/Mimzy
Mastodon - https://gulp.cafe/@lapseph
Picarto - https://picarto.tv/LapSeph
Twitch - https://www.twitch.tv/revyacunning
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@LunarMimzy