UPDATE: I'm going to aim for every two weeks from now on, and I'll change the pledge information to reflect that. Thank you so incredibly much for being understanding, and I'll be doing everything I possibly can to get myself better (or at the very least, to not keep getting worse).
To provide context, even though I assume most of you have seen me mention this at least once already: I have a compressed nerve in my neck that causes muscle spasms and other issues and gets worse when I draw -- it's been an ongoing problem for a couple years now, and despite rounds of physical therapy, dozens of injections at the pain clinic, and trying many different meds (anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxers, pain relievers that target nerve pain specifically) there's only one thing that's truly helped so far: rest.
Since I revamped my Patreon a few years ago, I've posted a new NSFW piece every week without fail. Even when I was sick or had surgeries, even when my computer was in for repairs, even when I had deaths in the family. I want you all to understand that I take my responsibilities to you seriously, because I truly, truly appreciate the support. This is my dream job -- in fact, it's beyond a dream job for me, because as a kid I didn't even think choosing art as a career was a real option. I love drawing. I love animating. I love sharing my ideas, my characters, my work, with all of you. I want to produce work that makes me happy and also has some value that people find worth supporting.
All that said, I'm realizing more and more that the one-new-piece-a-week pace might not be sustainable if I ever want my condition to improve. In the past, I would spend a couple weeks working extra long hours to produce pieces ahead of time in order to take a break -- I'm no longer capable of doing that. Even finishing the usual single new piece of artwork is often a struggle -- I have to take a break every 20 minutes and I can't work into the dead of night now, and even then, by the end of a work week I'm a bundle of tension (muscle spasms, numbness, headaches and dizziness, fuzzy vision). I don't want this to keep getting worse, and I don't know when or if medical intervention is ever going to fix me. I did a CT scan this morning and I've got more tests to do to see if surgery might be helpful, but nothing's guaranteed (I'm told that surgery could even make it worse, so I'm hesitant).
So, here's what I'm proposing -- how would you all feel if instead of a new piece each week, I aimed for a new piece every 2 weeks? If I can get them done faster than that without issues, I will. But if I can't, I think it will be better for my health and my longterm ability to keep making art if I could work more slowly and take even more breaks. A longer space between pieces would also allow me to experiment with ideas that I couldn't in the past, or spend time making simple animations again.
BUT -- if switching to a slower schedule means that I'll lose a lot of my support, I probably can't do it, even if it wrecks me in the long term. I have a house and bills (and medical bills 😔) to pay. I want to make sure that y'all will still find my work valuable enough to be worth your money.
Also, if you have any other suggestions, thoughts, etc., please let me know in the comments. As always, I appreciate the support very much, and I hope you're all doing well.