Update: The Oneshot is Changing

Hello Everyone! I already spoke recently about how I'll be changing my approach to my art in a few different ways this year. And one of the major changes I will be making is yet another alteration to how the Oneshots work. I briefly considered removing the OneShot all together. But I know some people really enjoy it, and I also value people being able to contribute their ideas towards art. And the Oneshot is a fun way to do that. So I don't want to remove it entirely, but I do need to make some further changes to it.

For those who do not want / do not have the time to read the full post, the summery is as follows: Starting next month (So this month's OneShot is not effected by this change), The Oneshot will become a Bi-Monthly thing, being voted on and drawn across 2 months, rather than 1. On top of that, Early access to the Oneshot page itself will now become a benefit of the Bonus tier. The same tier the voting itself takes place on.

For those who wan to to understand these changes in more detail, I've explained the what's and why's in detail below:

Why am I making this change?

So first of all, why? Well, I need to free up space. I won't go into detail on exactly what my work schedule is. But the short version is that, even while working through weekends, I have spent the majority of this year just barely able to keep up with the mandatory work I have for my patreon each month, leaving little, if any, time for anything else. As a result of this, projects such as the Suggestion Box, the Writer Tier comic, etc. Have either been neglected, or just completely ignored in favor of keeping up with my workload. By the time I am finished with one month's requirements, I have, at most, a couple days before the cycle starts again. And sometimes not even that.

I have already taken steps to help this issue. I reduced both the Oneshot and my monthly commissions from full color, down to Simple Color or Manga style. These changes allowed me to reach a point where I can now pretty consistently get about a week each month to work on whatever projects I choose, and even take some weekends off to relax a bit. But even so, that is only the case if I get no other commissions, which will only become more common as I grow as an artist. And what about larger projects? Like if I start drawing a comic? Well, then any free time I have will be immediately consumed by that, leaving no room for anything else.

So essentially, while I was able to improve my situation in the short term, and give myself a little breathing room these past few months, it is not a good enough solution long-term. And so I have decided to take further steps.

What are the changes?

As mentioned above, the Oneshot is now going to become a project which takes place every 2nd month, rather than every month. And the tier itself will have several key changes in order to reflect that.

The way it currently works, is that a Oneshot is both voted on and drawn each month, on a monthly schedule. The Oneshot Votes may be for the following month's OS, true, but even so, the schedule is monthly. However starting in February of this year, that will change to a new schedule. One in which a Oneshot is voted on one month, and then posted the next, with those two things never overlapping. There are voting months, and posting months. They will no longer happen within the same month.

For anyone who is still confused, I will go into more detail on the exact schedule further down in it's own section.

On top of this, Early-Access to the Oneshot art itself will also be changing. The Fan tier ($5), currently provides early access my artwork, The Oneshot included. However under this new system, the Oneshot (And only the Oneshot) will be moving up to the Bonus Tier ($7). This increases the value of both tiers, primarily because making the Oneshot Bi-Monthly, will free up multiple weeks of my schedule to draw more art, rather than dedicating that time to a single comic page every month.

Previously, the $5 tier got access to some artwork each month. While the $7 tier got access to the ability to vote on a comic each month. With these changes, I personally feel both tiers now have more value than they did before. For the $5 tier, the impact of losing early access to the OS will be overshadowed by gaining an overall larger amount of art each month thanks to the change in schedule. While the $7 tier will not only have the power to vote on the OS, but also early-access to the comic itself upon release. Without this, their only benefit would just be voting power every other month.

To me personally, I feel like this maximizes the value of both tiers beyond what they were previously, and allows everyone to benefit from the change. Were it to be balanced out any other way, it would feel like one tier gets too big a slice of the pie. This way, both tiers will feel as though they end up in a better place than they did prior to the change, and everyone wins.

The New Schedule

Starting in February of this year, the months in which the Oneshot will be posted are: February, April, June, August, October, December.

By extension, this means said Oneshots will be voted on in the month prior (So for example, the December Oneshot will be voted on in November).

This felt like the best selection of months, as it allows for themed Oneshots to take place on all the major, popular holidays throughout the year. Easter in April, Halloween in October, and Christmas in December. Of course, there is no requirement at all for Oneshots to be themed. But people do seem to enjoy doing that, so keeping that as an option just felt right.

And so in summery, the Yearly Schedule will be as follows:

January: First Vote.

February: First Oneshot posted.

March: Second Vote

April: Second Oneshot Posted

May: Third Vote

June: Third Oneshot Posted 

July: Fourth Vote

August: Fourth Oneshot Posted

September: Fifth Vote

October: Fifth Oneshot Posted

November Sixth Vote

December: Sixth Oneshot Posted.

Conclusion

So to summarize. I am hoping that changing to this new schedule will not only improve my own daily life and health, making my work more manageable, but also will allow me to better pursue all of my projects, have more time to focus on quality rather than just quantity, and just in general be a step in the right direction for me as an artist.

This will not result in a decrease in the amount of work I produce. Just a shift in what that work is. Freeing up time for me to spend on other projects, rather than just the OneShot each month.

This month will remain normal, with no changes. February will see the release of it's Oneshot like normal (Which will be voted on this month, like normal). However February will not have a Oneshot vote. Then after that, March will have a Vote, but no Oneshot being posted, since there was no vote in February. From there, it will continue on with the schedule I have explained above.

If there are any questions regarding these changes, feel free to leave a comment, or reach out to me on Discord or Twitter. I'm happy to answer any questions anyone might have.