HI Y'ALL
Once again thank you for all your support since I started doing this Patreon thing. I'm even more grateful because as I've found out, learning how to manage this sort of thing effectively takes time, so your continued support has helped me figure out how to overcome bumps in the road related to it.
My new infodump video is finally out, and I'm glad everyone's been enjoying it! The process of getting it out there was a little troublesome so I suppose I wanted to express why a little. A while back I held a Patreon poll to decide what video to make next, and the "Ba-Dum-Tss" one ended up winning. I had already researched a bit before setting up the poll, but upon further research I realized there wasn't too much to go off of for a clear answer to the question. This I guess made me less confident in the project. I ended up pushing through anyway, but I did have to think a lot about how I wanted to convey the info. I did also have to seek out, watch and read more material than I bargained for as well, which wouldn't have been that bad on its own. My focus on the video was also swayed by me having to deal with blowing up on TikTok in a bad way and loads of weird commenters bleeding into every platform I'm on (which still continues to this day), as well as recently having to move house sooner than I expected.
I'm aware that I should have communicated better about the video giving me trouble. I also didn't want to not uphold the promise by making something else. Ultimately though the experience has taught me a lot, both about managing this kind of thing and making these kinds of videos. I've realized that in the past I've had a habit of exploring video ideas, hitting dead ends and shelving them, so I'll make sure next time I poll I'll have the video concepts thoroughly checked out in terms of if I can get it done easily. If I do run into a similar issue I'll definitely check in with y'all and get your input. ;u;
Seeing people's reaction though, I'm glad I completed the video in the end and I'm happy people enjoyed it this much! For this video, I kept the doodles and names of those who pledged during the making process, even if they downgraded to a lower tier or cancelled their subscription, as a thank you. I plan to do the same for the next video I release this month, which will be my first proper original track released, though after that I will only feature names/doodles of currently subbed members.
Point is, now that the video is out I kind of feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders, and I want to work towards a faster pace of releasing stuff. Part of achieving this is finding ways to speed up the process by eliminating obstacles that slow it down. One of these is my voice recording setup. For the past few videos I've been treating my voice audio for plosives and room noise due to my mic and work environment. Since I'm quite comfortable in my current place and I feel like I'm gonna be here for some time, I'm looking into doing some room treatment stuff and possibly getting a new mic (unless I can find a consistent technique that works with this one). This way I can be less hesitant about jumping into recording and get through the video making process a lot quicker. I also mentioned in the previous update post about getting a new drawing tablet. I've been thinking of upgrading for a while but hopefully a screen tablet will maybe? help out in some way. I'm also getting a lot better about being less perfectionist with my art so that'll help the speed too. :)
One other factor is my huge list of tasks. A large portion of my long term GrayWalf tasks are assets/features for my livestreams, stuff like backgrounds, redeems, emotes and the Vtuber avatar. Even when I'm on medication, sometimes I do get mega ADHD scatterbrained, and thinking about all those things to do doesn't really help lol. So while I'm prepping the next video I'll be focusing a lot more on getting all that stream stuff done so I don't have to worry about it anymore. I've been hoping to finish and update all this stuff for years at this point, and once I finally get to use a Vtuber I think it will genuinely do so much for my streams. Even if you don't watch the streams, I plan to turn them into short highlight clips and longer edited videos with accompanying doodles which I'm hoping you'll find entertaining. (I'm gonna be able to show off a WIP of one of these soon actually!)
I want to again express my gratitude to you guys. I didn't have great confidence in the video or my ability to give back enough to my patrons, but the continued support through an uncertain period has given me a lot of confidence in what I can make and do, and has convinced me to invest in more gear to help make stuff better. I'm gonna really push putting myself out there, finding my own rhythm and growing as a creator.
Thank you so much again! <3