2021: Year In Review and News for You!

Wow, what a year!

Want to start things off with a huge thank you to each and every one you reading this. Paid or not, I appreciate your support in any form. I appreciate the goodwill you’ve sent me, the nice comments, the civility, and most of all - your good presence. The Patreon has grown so much over the last year. We’ve added tons of goodies for everybody at every tier. Each month, I worked to bring every single person who subscribes more than their money’s worth.

Free Movie for All

If you didn’t know already, Patreon Movie 1 was released to the public this year. That is correct, you can see the first Patreon movie for free right now. It’s on my deviantArt (https://www.deviantart.com/readyart) and my main site (https://www.readyartzone.com/). We are also nearing seven hours of animated movies. Seven. Freaking. Hours. That's nuts! I’ve been working hard to increase the production value on all the movies and I’m hoping it shows. If you didn’t know already, I use Clip Studio for everything. All my art and animation is done in Clip. My movies are brought together with various programs but the bulk of my work is done in that amazing art program.

New Characters and New Comics Coming

We introduced a bunch of new characters into the movies and the comics this year. I realize the majority the Patreon is about the movies. I know a lot of you are subscribed and look forward to GIF previews as well as the movie at the end of the month. I also know there are quite a few of you old-timers here. I use old-timers loosely; these are people who have seen my comics off and on over the last 20 or more years. I really, deeply appreciate that kind of support. I’m planning on a little bonus for the comic tier level so read on.

Comic Tier Bonuses (upcoming)

You know I love doing this work. I love drawing. I love doing animation. All of you know I gave away much of my work for nearly 30 years and CONTINUE to do so. I also realize the way people enjoy comics has changed over time. Originally the comics were downloaded. Then they moved to the website where you could view them. I know people like to view them on their own systems at home. For that, I have been shifting comic production to include PDFs of all my work. I will continue to do that. One thing I am looking to do is open up the comic PDFs a bit for the lower tier patron’s. Currently, only the highest tier on the Patreon has access to all the PDFs I’ve made. I’m considering allowing ALL tier access to ALL PDFs I’ve ever made. What that effectively does is allow somebody who signs on the comic tier access to all the current PDFs out there. I feel it’s a reasonable nod to the direction of the comics. I intend to keep making comics, that’s not stopping. I also want people to enjoy them. If that means opening up the PDF vault then so be it. My hope is people who enjoy the comics might at some point come in and check out the movies.

Animation Tier and More

What an absolute joy it’s been to doing these animations. I am so happy people are supporting the animation tier. It’s been so fun to improve and deliver consistent movies for the last three years. I don’t see that ending and I only see it getting better. I was mentioning the other day to a friend about how I would love for some Japanese Animation studio to pick up the Growth Lab so we could see it animated by high-quality super animators with super production value. Haha. You never know! I feel when you love doing something it shows and people enjoy the work a lot more.

I think if you were to look at last year’s animations versus this month’s animations you would see an increase in production. For me a lot of that has been getting more and more comfortable with the process. I’ve also incorporated minor 3D elements into the work. I hope to do more of that but there are no current plans to replace the 2D art with a fully 3D animation. The 2D art might be augmented with some 3D but that’s it for now.

I'd also like to go crazier with the scale seen in the animations. I know a few of you have mentioned wanting to see really big ladies. City size, mountain sized, planet sized and more. We might have even bigger than that coming! I look at your votes every single month and I take it into consideration when I plan out the current month plus the storylines for the upcoming year. I read each and every comment you make and I work to respond every single person’s input.

The Community Here

Something I’ve always worked to do is help create a nice little community here of Growth Lab supporters. What I mean is a group of people who enjoy the art and the subject matter as well as enjoy each other’s company. If you been on the Discord you know I promote civility and fun there. That is true of all my sites including this Patreon.

It’s not often but I have exercised moderation on various comments and public feedback. I use my own judgment on all that and I’ve set forth the guidelines I follow under the rules of the Patreon linked in every post. I’m not perfect, I’ll admit. I do my best and I like to think overall the effect is positive. Though clearly, you will likely disagree if you been “moderated”.

Really, there’s no reason we can’t be civil and cordial when speaking to one another. I worked to follow that guideline publicly and privately as much is possible. Again, I am not perfect but I do my level best.

2022

Look for tons more art, more color work, movie posters, more bombastic animations and more comics overall.

If all that sounds interesting and you really like what you’re seeing here I ask you one favor. Spread the word. Tell your friends what you’re seeing here and how you’re enjoying it. Pointing them my main site (https://www.readyartzone.com/) or deviantArt page (https://www.deviantart.com/readyart) if they want to get a look at what’s going on. Remind them signing up for one month unlocks not just that month but for the most part every single month before that. Heck, signing up for the Animation Tier get you access to all the movies. That may sound crazy but that’s exactly what I would want if I was signing up for this Patreon. Give me everything! Haha!!!

Thank you all again. Thank you all so, so much. I love you all and I deeply appreciate your support. Please take care and have a great December as well as great holidays for all those celebrating.

Your old pal,

–Ready