IMPORTANT! Proposed changes to the way this Patreon works

Good morning all!  With the way I've been working lately changing a bit due to doing live streams, client work and project work, and with the stresses of all of this coupled with those of everyday life ever mounting, I'm thinking about changing the structure of the Patreon to ease the burden on me personally, whilst also ensuring you all get great value and better engagement with me. 

Before I get into the changes, I want to give everyone a bit about myself in case you dont already know, and this will hopefully help you to see where I'm coming from, and if you didn't already, help to understand that this business is all just me with a lot of behind the scenes help from my wonderful wife, Hayley!  We are not some big faceless studio or even a team of artists.

About Me, My Experience and My Principles

I'm Dan, and I've been sculpting miniatures for around 25 years.  I got into sculpting as a spin off from my miniature painting and gaming hobby which I've been doing since I was 5 (I just turned 39 so thats 34 years of hardcore hobbying!).  I love painting miniatures as much as I do sculpting them and the painting and playing elements of what I do are critically important to me.  I sculpted for 10 years or more in Greenstuff and other epoxy putties and polymer clays before I moved over to digital sculpts and have made miniatures for metal and resin casting in the past.  I know and understand miniatures as a sculptor, manufacturer and consumer.

You won't get a crazy number of incredibly detailed models from me each month, but thats because that goes against the grain of everything that I stand for.  We've all got a pile of shame that grows by the month, and adding huge quantities of miniatures to that benefits no-one.  And making miniatures over detailed might make for a beautiful render, but you guys aren't buying renders, you're buying miniatures!  Why add detail to models that can't be printed?  Or if you have a great printer and can print them, the slightest whiff of paint will obscure the details. 

Some of you will have seen this model before, but its worth noting here that its a model that I sculpted using the principles I describe above.  The board it is on (and the trees in the back) are from one of my gaming boards for tabletop skirmish games like Ragnarok, The Barons War, Mortal Gods and Frostgrave, and I have made and painted everything in this picture.  I may be a professional sculptor, but I am 100% hobbyist through and through.  

The Proposal

New Tier Structure

Tier 1 (Followers) - £2.50 - For stream followers who don't want any miniatures each month but want insider access, polls and discounts of 50% off STLs and 30% off resin minis on my web store (which is about to launch shortly - www.thelionstower.com)

Tier 2 (Digital)- £10 - Get the non-client models that I sculpt each month, along with all of the Tier 1 rewards.  Component library access is also included.  The current Guild Member tier will converted into an early bird tier for this and include everything here, so if you already subscribe you don't need to change anything. 

Tier 3 (Physical)- £35 - you'll get all of the Tier 2 rewards, but will also be given a £30 store credit that you can use to purchase resin miniatures or STL files.  The voucher is for products only and cannot be redeemed for shipping.  you'll be able to use this credit in conjunction with the discounts.

Tier 4 (Coaching) - £65 Personal sculpting coach, limited initially to 3 - you get 2 hours of my time a month where I will check your work, give feedback and personally help you to improve your digital sculpting.  You will also have all of the rewards from Tier 2.  

Commercial Tier - I will no longer be offering a commercial tier to new backers.  If you already have a commercial licence, I will continue to honour it at the existing price and terms.  Everyone with an existing licence can contact me and request a listing on my webstore as an officially licenced vendor, and I would like to work closer with you all in terms of promotion and support.  I'll set up a Discord channel on the Lions Tower server for print merchants and you will be able to request promos through my channels.  I will be running giveaways on Twitch streams, and if you would like to offer prize support for any of these streams I will be happy to collaborate with you to promote you during them and list you as an official stream sponsor.  If there are other ways that you would like me to help I am also open for discussion.

Monthly Releases

Its also worth noting that my monthly offering will officially be for miniatures that I sculpt during the month, not for a set of miniatures that are pre-sculpted ready for the 1st of the month.  It does mean that Patrons will be able to have more of a say and be more interactive and involved in the design, posing and development of the minis which I used to do when I first started all those years ago now, and I would very much like to get back to that.  

This isn't actually much different to how I've been working for a while now other than I'll be able to advertise a little better having this expectation laid out.  This may mean that some months I sculpt more or less than I usually do, but you will always get more value from the subscription than from purchasing at full price, and I will also include archive minis to a monthly set which patrons can vote for in polls.  For the record, the value of my miniatures is £2.97, so with at just 4 models a month, the subscription fee is covering the costs of those models, but a typical release is at least 7-10 miniatures, which gives excellent value even taking into account the 50% discount, and thats before you factor in all of the additional benefits!

Miniature Requests

I will also be allowing Tier 2 and higher patrons to make suggestions and requests which I will add to a list. They could be whole miniatures or assets like weapons, scatter terrain, bases or basing details etc - the choice is yours.   Each month I will randomly draw at least 1 of these to be sculpted and added to the range.  I'll do these both on and off stream with as much engagement as I possibly can.  If I've got the kids around or other stuff going on, I won't stream through Twitch etc, but I may still run the sculpts live on Discord so you can still come and join me for that, it may just also involve me running about getting the kids snacks and helping Jacob out with his games or helping Willow to dress her dolls!

So, now that you've heard what I have to say, I'd love you to fill in the poll and let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Thanks all!

Dan