Onyrica

Update // Hallo-wheeee!

Added 2024-10-04 18:39:24 +0000 UTC

Rejoice, my little ghouls, as we come into the hallowest of months, for not only do we celebrate the crack and groan of our weary bones as being seasonally appropriate but we also hereby mark the seventh anniversary of Onyrica’s Patreon.

Seven years - seven whole years - which is approximately how long it takes to build a roman colosseum, get a PHD or for a fetus to evolve into a creature that knows exactly what shade of beige their food should be to pass muster, and yet it’s somehow not long enough for me to nail a consistent art style or work out how to write relevant titles to concise updates.

I guess if I’ve got one thing going is that my artist career is on track to last longer than the Beatles did as a band.

And now for the parts of the update I didn’t have to Google:

StarStickers

First, the important bit:

Rewards will be opening in October BUT from the 21st to the 25th (ie, not 5th-8th)

I’m delaying this month’s opening due to some planned changes and additions we’re making to the system, detailed as follows:

New rewards & changes:

New: Half Body Color (color piece down to the waist, may include hands) will be added for 700 pts
Change: Color Bust cost will increase from 250 pts to 300 pts
Change: Fanart Mystery Box cost will increase from 150 pts to 200 pts
Change: Mystery Box cost will increase from 400 pts to 450 pts
Change: Ultimate Mystery Box cost will increase from 850 pts to 900 pts

The Half Body Color option has been requested for a long time so I’m very pleased to finally be bringing it in! As for the point change, which I appreciate is nowhere near as exciting, is both meant to address point inflation (yep, it’s a thing, even here) as well as the increased quality and complexity of the pieces since I first introduced these options.

Mystery Box adjustments

In past updates I’ve made mentions to the heavy weight that comes with making Mystery Boxes. While this type of reward was intended to give me creative freedom, over time it has become more of a guessing game over a person’s expectations for their character that has slowly burdened me with the fear of getting it wrong.

Although I appreciate that the majority of people who book this reward do it in the spirit of what was intended, the truth is that this additional pressure has me somewhat creatively burnt out and so I’ve been looking for a solution that involves neither leaving them as they are or flat out removing them.

That’s why, in the upcoming batch opening later this month, all Mystery Box options will now feature preference toggles. That means that upon being accepted to a reward, alongside uploading your references you will also have a selection of themes (for instance - and these are tentative and subject to change- Neon, Horror, Modern, Fantasy) out of which you’ll be able to select a maximum of 2 out of as a preference, as well as 1 as a non-preference.

I know giving “full creative freedom” to an artist is often seen as a boon, but something I’ve learned about myself over the course of the last near-decade is that I actually work far better with some instruction or guidance and then a lot of trust that I can see it through. That’s why I’m hoping these changes will help facilitate a more seamless working process for me and happier outcomes for you, though as this is very much a blind trial please be aware that further adjustments might be made going forward.

Merchandise

Despite my printer’s best efforts to frame me for arson, I am pleased to say that all pending parcels booked in August and September have now been shipped to their destinations.

New prints have been added in sizes A4 and A3:

As mentioned last month, I am also working on producing a foiled version of this Y'shtola piece (as well as the Shadowheart I’m working on). This has been delayed a little as I had enlisted someone to help me and they fell through, so I’m back to figuring it out on my own. That said, I’m hoping to get this in the store before the holiday season destroys the mail service so please bear with me a tick longer.

Patreon

The current available slots on limited tiers are:

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 to spend on rewards such as custom illustrations, prints and other merch. This tier is limited to 10 spots.

Other

Because why not make this update even longer by adding more frills!

As this month’s always been a special one for this wee page, I’m very excited to announce two special events going on (primarily via the Discord server - if you haven’t joined us yet, do so now!)

Art challenge: Our bi-monthly Art Challenge -which is not just for artists, but also for writers, photographers, knitters, bakers or anyone with two hands - will be a special one through which you can earn a substantial amount of points. So if you’re a lil peeved at the point cost change, this is your chance to stick it to the Ony.
FFXIV Art Party: After a hiatus largely due to the latest expansion locking up the servers good and tight, I’m very excited to be starting up again with our yearly Halloween Special FFXIV Art Party - in which you not only get to come in costume for the chance to win even more bonus points - but you also get to hang out with the coolest people this side of the pumpkin.

All the relevant information for these events will be posted in the Discord server in the next few days so please keep an eye out for those!

In Closing

Firstly, and before I forget: I will be traveling between November 1st and November 10th, out of which I’ll be out of the country and in a completely different timezone, so please expect some delays in next month’s update schedule.

Secondly, the meandering bit:

Something I do before writing these updates is look at the ones from past years to avoid recycling my own material, as well as to where I was at and what I realised is that my last few Octobers have been rough.

Part of that was due to the fact that I’d be crunching overtime for ComicCon (which mercifully I’m not participating in this year), but also because it’s typically the point of the year in which my burnout would reach scorched earth levels of intensity as I looked at the things I had achieved be largely overshadowed by the ones still pending.

And while that is still largely true, I’m also very overdue in getting out of my soapbox and start pivoting towards that more “sustainable work-life balance” I keep going on about.

To that end, and in the spirit of the roadmap I set out for myself earlier this year, I will soon be starting the process of transitioning away from Patreon being my sole source of income.

The changes announced by Patreon last month shone a glaring light on how precarious my situation is while I’m beholden to them. For instance, StarStickers was created based entirely on the predictability of a billing model that they are wiping out come November 2025, forcing me to re-engineer a system that’s taken years and an unholy amount of manpower to put together. And although I’m more than willing to do whatever it takes to keep my word and service to my patrons, the truth is that as long as I have all my proverbial eggs in Patreon’s basket I am at the mercy of them and their shareholders flicking another switch to their next bad decision.

The answer to how I go about this is a very calculated, careful plan to stagger my approach, which I’ll be divulging in a future, probably overly verbose update. What I will share for now, however, is that I’ve been planning my strategy for a long time, consulting peers, patrons, friends and family on the way to make sure that I keep things in the same fair, transparent and feedback-informed spirit that I’ve had for the last seven years.

I want to look forward to a future in which I keep working with you all on my own terms and don’t have to waste half of my very limited time serving as free quality control for the corporation that takes 1/5th of my paycheck every month.

So with that deluge of optimism, I do want to strongly encourage you (notice how I bolded that) to keep up with future updates, as these will constrain extremely important information on these upcoming changes as well as their timelines.

And now, for the customary links to things as they currently stand:

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Trust me, this update sapped as much of my brain matter as it did yours. Consider us all accordingly outfitted for the season as we amble and drool around together for the rest of the month.

With love and a mouthful of braaaaains….

OoOoony