News about the Princess of Love + Patreon changes

Hello there,

You may have noticed that the production of the comic The Princess of Love has drastically diminished for some time now. At first, this was because I was focusing on adapting it into a motion comic format. However, much larger issues were looming in the background. These are the reasons why there hasn't been any significant new content. Let me start with the biggest one:

• MLP is no longer hyped.
  It's sad, but that's the reality. With the end of G4, the controversy surrounding G5, and the various dramas that have slowly affected the community, the franchise—while not dead—has become a shadow of what it once was. This is one of the major reasons behind many of my struggles.

• It’s increasingly difficult to find new, good artists.
  Either I’ve already worked with them, they’ve moved on from pony-related work, they’re not quite good enough, or they have declined or haven’t responded to my invitations. You may not have noticed, but with a few exceptions, the most recent Princess of Love productions were done by professional artists who aren’t necessarily fans of the show. They participated because they were paid, not out of passion for ponies. While the quality is still there, it's getting harder to find artists who would agree to work on ponies when the hype has long passed. Additionally, it’s difficult to know how ponies would look in their art style to begin with. The non-fan artists I’ve worked with were either good friends or had drawn a pony or two once in their life and were professional enough to give it a shot again. But if they are professional artists, it also means their prices are higher, which leads to the next point.

• Financial support is slowly dwindling month after month.
  This is partly my fault, as I kept the project private for too long—even long after the show ended. Keep in mind that this project started in 2016! While I was aware that the hype had died down, I hoped that releasing it publicly might breathe new life into it, but it only slowed the inevitable decline. While the project is enjoyed by those who read it, it's not enough to invite them to support it financially, which at the end makes that the project just doesn't generate enough funds to pay artists fairly anymore.
  
  As a result, my own motivation for the project has been struggling. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to release a new chapter to continue the story. I know what I want to tell, even until the very end of the story, but I just can’t seem to find the right approach. I know what the next chapters are about, but I’ve tried, for months, maybe more than a year. I’ve come up with absolutely nothing.
  On top of that, after working on pony-related content for nearly a decade (I started with Timey Wimey in 2014), the feeling just isn’t the same anymore. You may not realize it, but I’ve released several hundreds of pages (around 400–500), and those are just the ones that have been released here or on DeviantArt. There are also hundreds of storyboards for stories that were never released because I didn’t think the story was good enough.
  
  I guess I’m just tired of ponies, boss.
  
  For this reason, I need to change this Patreon. I’m not saying I’ll never return to this project, but we all know that such hiatuses are rarely a good sign. Fortunately, the story has currently stopped around the time Cadance became the Crystal Princess, which is a decent stopping point. There’s only one more chapter about crystal ponies and then a chapter about Tempest Shadow. They could be considered bonus content, I suppose.
  
  As for the Patreon itself, I’d like to shift its focus to supporting me for the overall projects, rather than just one.
  I’m considering creating multiple, shorter SFW comics (shorter than The Princess of Love at least) based on Sonic, Star Fox, or Pøkémøn. Maybe other things like Kung Fu Panda—I’m not sure yet. But rest assured, I will continue to put the same level of care into the details, lore, and respect for the source material.
  
  I also plan to rethink the Patreon tiers. They were set up years ago, and I don’t think they’re still relevant for today.

I know that some of you, maybe most of you, won’t be interested in this new direction, and I’m honestly prepared to lose all the support I’ve gained here. But I can’t keep pretending that more Princess of Love content is coming when the Patreon is seeing fewer and fewer releases every month.
Something has to change, and if I lose most of the support in the process, so be it. It is what it is.

If you decide to stay, then thank you for your support. The new content will appear slowly starting with today, but when it does, it’ll be more consistent.