PATREON UPDATES - IMPORTANT

Hey guys!
Hope you are doing ok.

I'm going to write a lot, so, please, take your time to read all of this and mostly, do it only when you have free time, nothing important to do!
I'm going to divide my "essay" in chapters, so you can read it pece by piece if you want! XD

-01. THE ISSUE
I would like to spend some time talking about a recent issue some of you found:
THE POLLS.
I am aware that while some of you are here to support me and whatever I do with my art, other people are unhappy of various things.
The main issue is that the polls tend to have as winner a POPULAR character instead of a less know character.
The othe issue is that with stripgames, I tend to make popular or trend characters instead of everything else.
Some of you suggested that I should make ALSO polls with less popular characters.
Other suggested that I should open commissions so a person can pick a personal favourite even if it is not popular.
In general, with 225 patrons, maybe just a little portion of you are unhappy, but I want to talk about it, nevertheless.

-02. THE STORY OF MY PATREON
YES, I am going to talk about this in order for you to understand better my point of view. I am sorry, I have to do this.
Long story short, I opened this patreon in 2016, after quitting my previous job and for almost 1 year I was able to make around $30 per month with my patreon.
Pretty good for a 25 years old boy, uh? Well, not that much.
I accapted every kind of commissions in order to earn something and survive.
Things started getting better when in 2018 I started working for a french publisher.
WIth that, my patreon and commissions, I was able to reach JUUUUUST enough to pay food, bills, survive in general.
I noticed the only way to grow on patreon was to make trend characters.
Even with that, " the algorythm god" has never been good with me, never once.
I was just able to grow slowly, really slowly.
And also, everytime I decided to do something more "personal", I reached even less people.

Let's jump to January 2022, a month in which I finished my job for the French publisher (small editor btw) and I had only this patreon to help me survive.
In January 2022 I had:
- 102 patrons
- 1 poll per month
I don't want to specify the details, but for sure it was not enough for me to live "safely"
I was desperate, really not sure what to do with my life.
I have personal project I want to make.
in detail, I started all of this as shonen manga author and the patreon is the only way for me to support that dream while surviving in general
Struggling, I decided to go on... until June 2022.

- 03. JUNE 2022
One day, randomly, I noticed a thing on twitter: Stripgames.
I decided to start a stripgame with a character I like, Ryuko from Kill la Kill.
There was nothing particularly good with my art.
But probably by giving the chance to people to vote, interact with my art and decide the next steps was a good idea.
I started growing, finally.
130 patrons in june, 138 in July, 156 in August and so on, until 225 of this month.
Thanks to that I started to work better, using a fixed amount of time, spend more time with my family (my gf and our dog), started thinking again to my personal project and mostly, OPEN MORE POLLS.
Yes, I sterted doing more polls thanks to the growth on patreon.
My thought was: if I open more polls, at least 3-4 more characters will be made and more people would be happy, right?
Obviously I think that is true, but also I didn't notice that this pattern of "recurring failure" of the people that suggested unpopular characters, combined with the stripgames (that maybe not all of you like) are the things that maybe are making some of you unhappy.
After growing (and I hope to keep growing) I now have to deal with more people and your feelings, obviously.

- 04. THE SOLUTIONS
I'm pretty sure that if my english would be better, this would be a good video in which you would interact happily. But my english is not good enough, sorry! XD
First of all, I DON't HAVE AN IMMEDIATE SOLUTION.
If you read everything so far, you can understand why I am doing what I do now.
Open a poll for less popular character would lead to have always 1 winner, the most popular between them, so it is not a solution.
Open commissions again would lock the "less popular character" behind a paywall.
Also, maybe those commissions would be personal/private so that would mean less contents for you and less interactions, so less patrons, back to before  the JUNE 2022 PART of my life.
I don't want to say "hey, the polls are for eveyone so I have no fault" but probably a lot of creators just make whatever they want, not hearing feedbacks and their community.
I'm not better that other creators, and I am not ignoring the issues or your feedbacks, don't get me wrong.
I just don't have a perfect solution right now.
I think a creator should create.
I think the end goal of PATREON is to have people supporting you because they like your art.
Not to find a "good startegy to get cheap commissions or things I (a patron) want".
I am STILL in the position in which I have to do things to keep growing.
I ENJOY doing what I do and I am running thing this way because I think it is a good thing FOR YOU an FOR ME.

- 05. YOU
You are the only way for me to keep doing this, to support my art, to support my life now and my future.
I want you to be happy to see my art, whatever I do.
I feel sorry when there is a fight or an argument between you guys on discord (you know that) and I would do everything is in my power to make you happy.
For this reason, please if you have any thoughts or solution, post a comment here below.
If you read until now, I give you my thanks, from the bottom of my art.
Probably if you read until now, you will have something to say, even if you just agree with me, I would be happy to hear your thoughts!

So, time for your suggestions.
And again, thanks you for being here!