Onyrica

Update// The road ahead (The future of this Patreon)

Added 2025-02-05 08:45:26 +0000 UTC

You know, for someone who barely drives, I sure use road-based metaphors a lot…

Welcome all to February. The good news is that, if you’re here, you made it through January - so give yourself a hearty pat on the back for that. The bad news is… well, we all had to trudge through the start of the year and all that meant.

I'll admit, it wasn’t my favourite of months. Newsfeed aside, as I pre-empted in my last update, I underwent two big dental procedures marking the first stage of a major surgery now confirmed to be happening sometime between July 2026 and January 2027.

Hence, as I signposted last month, this update will focus on what this means and how it’s going to shape the future of this Patreon, so I strongly suggest you stay on for this one and refer to the channels below should you have any questions.

This will be a wordy update, so for those of you who need the TL;DR before committing, here’s a quick glance at the contents:

Context for upcoming changes: What’s happening soon and what this will mean for the Patreon
The plan for 2025-2027: What changes will be happening within the next two years
Questions: How to participate in the conversation over the upcoming changes
What next: My hopes and tentative plans for the future
StarStickers: Rewards closed this month, will reopen in March
Merchandise: All parcels shipped, new prints to be added soon
Patreon: Limited tiers currently available

A bit of context

About 4 years ago, I found out that my facial structure was misaligned, leading to breathing and chewing issues, as well as mandibular bone erosion and chronic pain that’d likely get worse with age.This put me on the track to find a solution that was more than palliative, and after a few dozen appointments with every specialist in the region, the conclusion is that I need orthognathic reconstructive surgery - a procedure where, for lack of prettier words, they split your jaw and reassemble it to correct its shape and function.

This is a major procedure, with a plethora of risks and a recovery period of approximately one year (assuming no complications).

As I pointed out above, in January I underwent the first stage - a triple tooth extraction and braces being placed - which sets the surgery date at some point between 18 and 24 months from now

Tangentially to this, there is also the matter of Patreon enforcing their new billing system at the end of 2025 - which I went over in my September update. As I very unconcisely put it back then, these changes represent a major upheaval on how things are run at the moment and would require a significant amount of re-engineering to make it all work.

What this means, given both these situations, is that there is a deadline to map things out so that A) when the time comes for my surgery, I am able to take the time off that I need to make a full recovery and B) the impact on all my patrons is minimised as much as possible,

So with that being said, here’s what that means going forward:

The Plan - 2025/26

For the rest of 2025, all systems will remain as usual:

Points will be allocated monthly depending on pledge tier
Points will be allocated for challenges
Points will be allocated for referrals according to pledge tier
Points will be allocated for pledge anniversaries according to tier
Mentorship sessions will continue as normal
Reward applications will open every other month (Subject to change)
Deleted pledges have 3 months to return to conserve/use their points, after which they’ll be reset to 0.

From January 2026:

Points will no longer be allocated monthly depending on pledge tier.
Points will be allocated for challenges
Points will be allocated for referrals according to pledge tier
Points will be allocated for pledge anniversaries according to tier
Reward applications will open as often as possible.
Mentorship sessions will continue as normal
Deleted pledges will immediately forfeit their points.

From January 2027 (or surgery date, tbc):

All systems will be put on hold until further notice.
More information to follow in future updates.

During this time, I aim to continue working through my backlog of booked rewards and commissions. I want to underscore that everything that has been booked or gets booked in the future WILL be fulfilled - regardless of pauses. I have never failed to deliver and don’t plan to start now, even if it might take a while.

Please note, however, that if you delete your pledge after booking a reward or commission - though it will still be fulfilled- it will be moved to the bottom of the list to be completed once all other rewards are cleared, in order to honor and prioritise patrons continuing their support.

If you’re like me and need a visual aid to declutter your eyes, here’s a neat little table for further clarity:

Any questions?

I wholeheartedly appreciate that these moves will raise some concerns, so I’ve designated several avenues to answer them

If you’re in the Discord, a new channel has been created under the “Patreon” section titled “2025-27 Roadmap”, where either myself or my mods will be able to answer your concerns.
For those of you not in the Discord, or who wish to ask questions in person, I will be organising a Zoom meeting on February 23rd at 5pm GMT that any existing members can join into. For those of you who can’t join in, it will be recorded and uploaded to the Patreon timeline afterwards. A link for this will be shared at a later date.

While the timeline is more or less fixed around the inevitable surgery date, your feedback will help shape and adapt the finer details to make sure this transition goes as smoothly as possible for everyone, so please don’t hesitate to reach out!

So, what next?

As I mentioned, the rest of 2025 will remain as usual so if you’re after a particular reward or objective with the systems as they currently stand, I encourage you to adapt your tiers accordingly.

After that? While it’s hard to predict the future ahead of such a major procedure with all the risks it entails, my hope and ambition is to firstly, honor everyone who chooses to stay on and support me through what’s likely to be a very challenging time - be it by making accommodations or introducing new ways to work with you - and, secondly, to develop my creativity and work-life balance in the way I originally outlined in my 2024 Roadmap.

Most importantly, I want to highlight that everything I’ve planned and mapped out so far is in the interest of you, my supporters, as well as the hope of a healthy recovery. I am looking to be as fair as possible to everyone, as you have all been what’s gotten me to this point. I will forever be grateful for that and I intend to account for it as best as I can - now and in the future - in whatever shape that takes.

Lastly, all of the information contained above is subject to change pending further updates on my procedure as well as any feedback received, so please keep an eye on future posts for amendments to this schedule.

And now, for your regularly scheduled announcements:

StarStickers

Illustrated rewards will remain closed this month, but will reopen in March so please look forward to that!

Merchandise

All pending parcels have been shipped. New prints will be added in March.

Patreon

The current available slots on limited tiers are:

Extreme Tier: 1 slot
This tier entitles you to 50 points a month on StarStickers. This tier is limited to 20 slots.
Ultimate Tier: 1 slot
This tier entitles you to 100 points a month on StarStickers. This tier is limited to 5 slots.
Mentor Tier: 1 slot
This tier entitles you to a private 1-to-1 art session every month to help you in your art journey. For more info check here. Additionally, you also get 20 points a month on Starstickers. This tier is limited to 10 spots.

Also a reminder that all friend referrals come with bonus points for both the joiner and the patron who refers them. What this means is that if someone you know joins on, say, the 10$ tier, you will both get 10+ points on Starstickers on top of that month's regular allocation.

In closing

Well, this was a lot, wasn’t it?

I think this is the point where I allow you all to percolate the information above while I hand you some links containing all of the relevant information for this current year:

—

With so much love,

Ony