Do you have fans of your cooking dishes? Complete strangers who enjoy your work? Would you ever consider asking them to help pay for ingredients if you were making a huge meal for a lot of them? Maybe you wouldn't ask them to chip in, but they also shouldn't be expecting to eat for free, either.

Well, you hope you didn't offend me, but you really did, because you're essentially telling me that my only value is an artist is what custom material people can buy from me and my own ideas are worth nothing. And "not thinking less of me for it"...I don't need your permission or your validation, so, that's actually a double insult.

Let me explain it in a way I hope you will understand. You comment on almost every piece of artwork I produce, but have never commissioned me. I don't have to post the artwork I create to public galleries, but I do anyway so people like you can enjoy it, merely as a courtesy and well, I like comments. Most of them anyways. But commissions are not the reason I got into art, not in the slightest. I started taking commissions so I could support my hobby, but unfortunately for every piece of commissioned work I take, that's energy that's taken away from me creating what I truly love, the art I would create for art's sake. I love drawing people's OC's, but it's not my passion, not by far. That is not the reason I put pen to paper, but it is the means by which I make my living, and unfortunately energy is a limited resource so I'd rather focus my efforts on things I get paid for. This is my job. This is not my "free time". This is merely me shifting gears by either getting paid for what I want (that people enjoy and want to see) or getting paid for what someone else wants (at a much higher price, since..custom work and all.)

Art patronage is not a new concept at all. In fact, many of your favorite Renaissance, Dutch Baroque, and French Impressionists received patronage to paint what they wanted AS WELL AS private commissions because true supporters and appreciators of the arts understand that creative types very often work best when exploring their own visions when they're not pigeonholed by specific subject matter. A patronage is provided by someone who appreciates art for art's sake, and wants to see the true potential of an artist, not just how well they can translate their idea onto paper. No one is forcing you, pulling your wallet out of your pocket and giving it to a cause you seem worthless. My commissions are still available for purchase, after all (and are available at steep discount for those who opt to be a patron as my sincerest thanks!).

So, to be blunt, you haven't ever paid for the privilege to tell me what I should and shouldn't do with my time, so your comment is not only insulting it is extremely ill-informed and holds no weight other than to make yourself look bad.

Thank you so much! <3 <3 <3 <3

Noted! Weasyl's noting system is a little buggy though, so if it didn't go through, lemme know :3

Thank you hon! And yes, please, by all means ask away! Email is probably better though, I don't much like the note system on this site. I'm at thornwolf.art@gmail.com - feel free to shoot me a line! <3

Thank you ;__; I'm so grateful for everyone who's sponsored me so far, I'm overwhelmed by the outpouring of support, moved to the point of tears really! It's the happiest feeling in the world to know that people actively want to help me bring my head-babies to reality.

Thank you :)

Thank you in advance! :) So far I'm really enjoying it, I feel much more energized, and that energy is then passed on to my commissions, plus theres more personal content being shared with my sponsors. It's really been beneficial all around!

Sure! A lot of my artist friends have recently picked it up around the same time I did, so it's kind of a flood right now, but if you have any questions I'd be happy to see if I could help out in any way :)