Hey there! Oxdarock here!
Got a big status update here for everyone to read. However, since it’s such a long read, I’ll do what I can and divide each section for people to pick at on and off. You can tell from the titles of each section, but I’d honestly say that the parts I’d like for people to read are the first part about commission slots, and the section about Patreon. I’d really appreciate any helpful comments or opinions to help me move forward with this.
Now without further ado…Words! 😀
Commission Slots
I’m going to start making it a point to formally announce whenever I have commission slots open from now on. Just to keep people in the loop without making anyone look at the sign on my front page. Honestly should’ve made this a habit a while ago, but oh well.
Anyway, I’m still currently open for commissions! I have regular commission slots open and one reference sheet slot open. Here’s the current list:
Current Commission Slots
Normal Slots
1. heromanbunny
2. Brandonmatias
3. Open
4. Open
5. Open
Sequence Slot
1. dLeagueman
Reference Sheet Commissions
1. Pharaoh-Sauron
2. Open
For rules and prices, please see my commission info. If you have any questions, feel free to leave me a note or contact me via email.
Currently, I’m still getting set up in my new residence (which I’ll explain more of later), but I should be able to start working on commissions soon. So if anyone would like one of the remaining slots, please let me know.
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Life Update Part 1: The Move
The line above pretty much sums it up. For the past 5 years, I’d been bouncing back and forth between NJ, where I grew up, and Haiti, where my dad lived. Now my current state of residency (or at least it will be once I change it) is Atlanta, Georgia. I’d finally had all I could stand of living in a 3rd world country (not to mention my laptop was messed up with no hope of being fully repaired), so I’d decided to go back to NJ and live with my parents for a while until I had enough to move out. Unfortunately, there were a lot of complications that all led up to me moving down with my dad at his place down in Atlanta (he has a few houses here and there). It’s not exactly a residential house, but the point is that it has a kitchen, a bathroom, internet, and I have a room, so I’m cool with it (at least until I can afford an apartment). Only problem I have is that, unlike NJ, there aren’t really any malls or big stores close by that doesn’t require having a car to get to. Which leads me to…
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Life Update Part 1: Work
This is pretty much the biggest issue with my life. I’m 23 and I’m still dependent on someone else due to not having enough money to pay for rent somewhere. Looking at how much rent costs these days, I’m honestly baffled how anyone my age can afford a place on their own without help and support in some form. I’ve been working on my art a lot over the past 5 years (2 of which was me simply getting my skills up to a proficient level), but I haven’t exactly made a hit. I adamantly believe I can make enough to live on my own on my art alone, but I really have to work it. Not only that, but I somehow need to find a way to learn Japanese, for pleasure and business reasons. The former is obvious (mostly for online porn), but the latter involves expanding my fanbase/clientele to Japan and maybe get into translating. But that’s all going to take time and it’s not going to solve my current problem. My need for money has definitely made me more open to commissions (especially after the price change I made at the start of the year), however I’m determined to do something with my personal projects (which I’ll talk about further down). All of this is build myself up to keep doing what I enjoy and feel is making me better in life versus working for someone else simply for a paycheck, which in itself would be more difficult to do around here without a car that I can’t afford at the moment. Learning a trade is another option that’s not an option since I’m virtually uninterested in anything that doesn’t help or relate to this drawing thing I have going down. It seems like my greatest strength and fatal flaw is clinging to making a living off of my art. Only thing I can do really is to work harder than I ever have before (and to virtually give up gaming, at least MMOs. That’s a huge time sink I can’t really afford anymore).
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The Lusty Lamp: How to Move Forward
Another problem I’ve been trying to figure out for the longest time. It’s the most popular thing I have going down right now and it’s the quickest and easiest of my project to work with. My problem is how to move forward.
I’d started off by trying to explore the resort through comics, however that takes way too long (I’ve barely scratched the surface of the rest of the resort). Thing is, I feel like doing things in order shows a good amount of professionalism (which I aspire to be), however it’s proving to be my undoing. Aside from the general setting of the resort, I simply want to draw fan art of characters from different series in an established setting rather than random pin-ups. I’m the type of guy who likes some type of reasonable plot too to explain why a girl gets bigger boobs. And this might be contradictory to my random pin-ups bit (which I don’t hate, just prefer something grander), I actually have pin-up pack ideas that I simply want to connect to the Lusty Lamp in some way or form. However, my intention of establishing the setting in order before doing anything else is probably making things more difficult for me.
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The Lusty Lamp: Pin-Up Packs
Before I get to the question itself, here’s the concept: The Lusty Lamp Resort has a photography and video division that sells photos/videos of guests either as albums or magazines. The books have different themes, from candid photos of guests to modeling with Lusty Lamp brand clothing. I actually have a completed example of this concept from an idea I scrapped that I’ll post after writing this journal.
So, here’s my first question:
Would anyone like it if I go ahead and post pin-up packs relating to a Lusty Lamp magazine now before I finish the setting?
In all honesty, I actually want to do it. I have several themes and ideas in mind (one of which is showcasing all of the characters that’ve made an appearance in the series so far) and it would be something really quickly that I can see myself finishing in a week or two (or any time I’m not working on commissions). I can sufficiently explain the concept enough to relate it to the Lusty Lamp and for anything candid camera-like, at the most one could sum it up to “somewhere in the resort”. What’s more, since the LLR essentially involves me drawing fan art, it’s the concept that I’d want to ask viewer input for.
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The Lusty Lamp: Establishing Concepts and Setting
Up until now, I’ve tried to break the parts of the resort into smaller areas that’d I’d talk about all in one pack. I’d considered doing a written version, then considered doing them by areas as an image pack rather than comics. Both cases, however, take too long. So, not only do I want to speed things up, but I feel that others would like that as well. So here’s my question:
Would anyone like it if I went through small concepts and areas of the resort based on popular vote?
For those who’ve bought the Lusty Lamp packs that are out right now, when I say “concepts” it basically refers to something small like the elevators or the entrances. Some areas have only have simple concepts that just cover a wide space. Out of the six areas that the resort is made of (hotel, eating, beach, shopping and entertainment, recreation, and spa), the eating area is the most complex with the hotel coming in second.
The format with these smaller packs would be to have a couple of pages and pictures explain the concepts, then include extra images to show more examples, combos, etc. After going through each area entirely, I can put all of the smaller concepts together and release it as a larger pack. And aside from smaller concepts, there are general, resort wide concepts that can be summed up in a question corner of such. Both cases involve opinions and suggestions from viewers, so there’s that as well.
This is the dilemma that needs to be done to formally establish the Lusty Lamp, but will take a good amount of time to finish. After that, I can essentially do pin-ups packs coming out my ears without a care in the world and even do more comics. However, I really need opinions from my audience for this to work.
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*(Important) Patreon: Support Comics As They’re Being Made*
This can help me out a lot, if only in ensuring that I make a set amount of money at the beginning of each month, which is one of the uncertainties that’s made life a problem. Currently, my Patreon isn’t anything more than a tip jar, which helps, but not a lot, nor does it really attract interest from that many people. I’ve wanted from the beginning to incorporate the comics that I put into my store into the mix somehow, but giving free comics would kinda defeat the point of a Patreon since people can just wait and buy them when they’re released. So instead, since I’ve been shaping up a formula for how to charge my comics based on content, I figure that I can actually involve it with Patreon if I do a “per post” campaign instead of “per month”
Now for those of you who are intimidated or don’t know how the “per post” campaign works, I’ll take a brief minute to explain. For those who know how it works, you can skip this paragraph. Now, “per post” is exactly as it says: Every time a paid post is made, more gets charged at the beginning of the next month. However, not every single post that’s made is a paid post. There is an option in Patreon that allows creators to make “free posts” as well as “paid posts”. So a creator can still make a lot of posts on their Patreon, but it’s only the “paid posts” that matter in relation to money.
That said, what I could do, both for Lusty Lamp projects and any other comics I do, is post finished content in small chunks on my Patreon as paid posts, then once all the parts have been finished and the comic completed, I can send the completed version to all of my patrons free of charge. Of course I’ll be sending parts and packs via e-mail and messages to avoid the “dine and dashers” of Patreon. The lowest tier would essentially be paying for the comic pack when it’s released (for example 4 paid posts means that the pack would be $4 USD) while the higher tiers are “voter tiers” for when I’m calling for Patron opinion, with higher tiers getting more priority. Plus, there’s still the WIPs, early works, and Patreon exclusive content (if I have any) I can make as free posts.
Now I’m not 100% sure on how the beginning of the month charge works in terms of when a patron joins a campaign (for example if there were 4 paid posts during the month and a person joins right before the charge date, whether that person has to pay for the 4 posts or not), but I’d only send finished packs to patrons who were either charged for each part or pledged on a tier that eventually matches or exceeds a lower one (for example a patron on a $2 tier being charged twice for a 4 post pack) since they joined. For the former issue, I can make a public post after every paid post announcing how many posts into the pack I’m in if people want to wait to pay from the beginning or simply go the latter route and pay more ahead of time, get charged, then switch to a lower tier. Lastly, I can pretty much guaranteed that the most paid posts I could make in between a month could be anywhere between 4-8, depending on how much content the current image pack I’m making has.
Anyway, this is my idea for Patreon that I think can actually help me at this point. Obviously for this to work I need support from my audience, but this way I figured would be more appealing and concrete to people than “help me support my work”. Any comments, questions, or opinions to this would be greatly appreciated!!!
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Public Opinion: Narcissistic Rock
This is something that’s been on my mind for a while. There are many times when I want to insert myself into erotic situations with what I draw, usually with my OCs (as shown in “Playtime With Tygra”). I really do like drawing stuff like this and, in the case of drawing comics, I’d like to sell it if I can so that I don’t waste time. I have to ask though: Are there a lot of people who are extremely put off by me inserting myself into comic packs? I built up the courage to make the “Playtime with Tygra” comic under the assumption that people could just write off my personal as “that guy”, but I’m curious as to whether that was one of the reasons it didn’t do as well as I’d hoped.
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Size Charts and Scales
This is just something that I’d thought about recently, but I’d definitely like to redo my current size scales and do something more detailed, as well as make more scales. I honestly don’t know when I’ll find the time to do it, but it’ll come one day.
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Anyway, that’s everything I have to say for now. Sorry for the long read for those who’ve gone over the whole thing. I’d appreciate any comments and opinions anyone has on this matter. Thank you very much!!
