patreon – dragonbones

Patreon News!

A rough sketch of the artist welcoming you to view some of their patreon artwork for free.

I have some news regarding my Patreon Page that I think may make some of you very happy.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about how the vast majority of what I draw / paint gets locked behind the gates at Patreon, only to be seen by my patrons.

In one sense, that’s a good thing. I want it to never be a question whether or not the money my patrons are spending is ‘worth it’. I want the answer to forever be “OMG, hellz yes!”

But…

What about those folks who can’t or won’t spend the (currently) $2/month to support me? Don’t they deserve to see at least some of that artwork? Wouldn’t they enjoy seeing that stuff?

My recent experience selling my new and improved coloring book really kinda answered that question for me. Clearly, people want other ways to see (and even support) the kind of work that I do.

The problem is that keeping up with all the various ways that others use the internet is both exhausting and would draw energy away from what I should be doing most – making the art.

Well, apparently Patreon has been doing something about this issue and I was unaware (no real shock there).

Starting today, I’ll begin to make some of my posts time-delayed public. That is to say that my patrons will see it right when they get posted and then two weeks later, that same post will automatically become public!

So what does this mean for you?

Well, if you join Patreon (for free), you can ‘follow’ me there for free. Then, when those posts become public, Patreon will let you know via email as long as you don’t turn that off.

Free, easy, and you don’t have to go someplace to find my newest stuff since Patreon sends you an email!

But what about Dragonbones.net?

I will continue to use my site for the really big stuff. I’ll even do some occasional smaller stuff and / or big announcements here. I just don’t want to make you ‘check back’ all the time. Who has time for that?!

So what sort of Stuff will be going up over at your Patreon Page?

Well, I do weekly characters and / or creatures over there. That’s a steady stream of figurative illustration work. Patrons get free (beyond their membership) use for their private (non profit) game tables / VTTs. Now, if you follow me there, you’ll get some of that too!

What if I DO want to support you on Patreon?

Wow – thanks! Well, you certainly may. It’s only $2/month and you’ll get access to everything I post there, which (as noted) includes stuff folks won’t see anywhere else.

You’re also able to up the monthly amount if you’re feeling exceedingly generous (though, seriously – please don’t feel like you need to – every penny sincerely helps!)

Any big plans for anything else on your Patreon Page?

I’ve been thinking about doing narrated time lapse videos of the stuff I do. The problem is that this would require a whole new process beyond the work I’m already doing, and since this isn’t my fully time job…

Perhaps I should make that a ‘stretch goal’?

I don’t know – what do you think?

Please – consider sharing this post with any friends or family who you think might appreciate my art or enjoy using it in their game sessions!

And now, as a treat for you, since you made it all the way down here to the bottom of the post, here are some of the characters I’ve created for my Patreon Page which haven’t been visible elsewhere until now!

A custom blue demon with four horns and metal plates bolted onto it as a form of armor.

My take on the classic lion / humanoid centaur like creatures called wemics.

A white haired elvish ship captain looking off into the distance through their spy glass

Moar Gerblins!

A sketch of a goblin with what appear to be cracks on the surface of its skin. The rough concept for the forthcoming ‘magma goblin’ which will be released on my Patreon Page.

This is the rough sketch / concept for something that’s been knocking around in my brain meats – the Magma Goblin. It’s a homebrew idea for ttrpg GMs to use at their tables for a bit of variety.

I want to keep them relatively low challenge rating with possible ‘power ups’ for folks who would like that. With that said, they will have some fire related abilities that traditional goblins don’t.

More coming soon!

Let’s Make A Monster (Twitter Experiment)

I did a little experimental thread over on my Twitter stream. I wanted to encourage a couple of things – namely audience interaction and I wanted to provide them an actual reason to share the thread.

Simply put: I provided a series of polls for folks to vote on to determine how I constructed a monster.

Here’s a link to the thread in case you’re curious.

The results to the first poll (bipedal or quadrapedal) was:

The second poll was what kind of terrain the creature spends its time in. The audience chose subterranean so I added digging claws and narrowed the torso to make the creature more wedge shaped.

The third poll was how many heads the creature has. Crowd said 2.

And the fourth and final poll was what kind of tail to give it (or to give it none). The crowd picked a long straight tail with a club end.

After the final poll, I finished the tail and posted it and then felt like I should go ahead and paint it. Since I was already in an experimental mode, I took the sketch, blurred it a bit, and then mixed the sketch lines in with the digital paint layers. Here are the final results.

Here’s the process video if you enjoy that.

Process Video for the first Let’s Make A Monster

I really need to get back to the work for my Patreon page, but this was an excellent little experiment and I plan to do it again in the near future.

This is the character I’m currently working on for Patreon:

(This post was also put up over on my One Post Wonder blog. Cross posted here for availability to everyone.)

Update of Updatiness!

Different Types of Bodies for My Forthcoming Book

How to Draw Fantastic Humans

First up – I’m working on a ‘how to’ book. I’ve meant to for years, and I’ve even dabbled here and there, but it’s time. (Okay, it’s past time, but here we are.)

My focus? Well, I think back to when I started really investing my time and effort into creating fantasy art, and the simple truth is that there weren’t a lot of resources readily available to folks who were in my shoes: broke, young (artistically as well as physically) and interested in specifically fantasy / rpg related artwork.

Even now, there’s more, but the resources I’ve found all seem like… well, like replications of each other. I’m looking to create something different. More comprehensive, and yet simplified for folks who are new to art.

In short: You play D&D, and want to draw your character (or entire party) but you’re new to art, and don’t have the cash to hire a professional to illustrate them. Then you find this book by Yours Truly.

Twitter

Yup. I think that about covers it.

Commissions

I’m going to open up commissions. What’s more, I’m going to open 1 Pay What You Want slot. If you know someone who might not have the funds to purchase a regular commission, feel free to send them my way. It’s only one slot, so ummm… get it while it’s hot?

Growing and Changing Your Character… Art?

I’ve been thinking about adding some tiers to my Patreon Page. When I initially set it up, I wanted to keep it supremely simple – one tier gets it all. Mostly, I wanted to make sure that I could keep up with the additional work.

So far, I’ve managed that, and I think my audience there is pretty well pleased.

That said, I think it would behoove me to add some additional tiers with different stuff. Specifically, I’m thinking about a tier for folks who want to see their character grow and change over time when it comes to the character portrait, but they don’t want to commission an entirely new piece of art each time.

So they would join at this special tier (which would be highly limited in slots so I could retain my sanity) and they would pay nominally more than the default. (I’m currently thinking something like $10/month). Then, they would get up to 3 or 4 ‘updates’ to their character art each year. So when they get new equipment, or get older, or wear new armor their character art would reflect that.

I’m really going to have to do a sample or three to demonstrate this.

What Exactly Do I Put in My Patreon Posts?

hill dwarf fighter Khainan Mudbelt athletic build pipe dragonbones character illustration mrlich promo banner

What Exists

I’ve been working pretty hard on my Patreon page for a while now, and each post (the vast majority of which are viewable only by patrons) include, well, a lot.

Khainan Mudbelt - hill dwarf fighter - character portrait in color. Pink skin, bald, and standing ready to fight. — Khainan Mudbelt – hill dwarf fighter – full color

First, and perhaps most important to most folks, there’s a full color version of each character / npc that I draw.

They aren’t always this… vibrant, but I do try to vary colors, body types, etc.

I’m a fan of all kinds of diversity, and I like the idea that you could craft a genuinely unique character and would still be able to find some of my art to represent them at your game table or virtual tabletop.

Khainan Mudbelt – hill dwarf fighter – Black and White Digital Inks

Next, I always add a black and white, or ‘digitally inked’ version.

I know that a lot of creators make things like digital ‘zines‘ and would like their audience to be able to print those zines at home and go easy on their ink cartridges.

This provides a quick and easy solution. (See this post for information on using my illustrations in professional products.)

I also like the idea of assembling more dragonbones coloring books in the future, and this format helps to make that process easier. These would be similar (but perhaps larger and more refined) than my first go at a digital coloring book which can be found here.

Khainan Mudbelt – hill dwarf fighter – Black and White Digital Sketch

Next, I include a sketch version of the character.

You might find yourself wondering why I bother. I mean, who would use something like this for themselves since it’s just a sketch.

Well, honestly, I’ve (almost) always found the sketch stage to be the most inspirational myself.

ImagineFX Magazine (to which I’m a passionate subscriber) even compiles the couple of sketchbook pages in each issue into a compendium. It’s outside my subscription and requires an additional purchase. Despite the fact that I have most or even all of those same sketchbook pages in each of the issues I already own, I will always spring for the compendiums.

It’s just beyond inspirational to thumb through those pages and see the wildest and most free form stages of work by other illustrators.

Perhaps it’s vain of me to think I could, but if it’s at all possible, I would like to give that to other folks.

Khainan Mudbelt – hill dwarf fighter – Black and White Digital Sketch, Black and White Digital Inks, and Full Color Banner

Last, but certainly not least, I include a ‘promotional banner’ with each post. This too might fall into the ‘why include it?’ category, so here’s my reasoning:

First, I just kinda like seeing the three versions side by side. I enjoy that, so I figure other folks might too.

I also like the way it presents everything in one shot. So when automated sites like Patreon are displaying the post, you see everything at a glance rather than just one of the stages. You (as a reader / viewer) can decide quickly whether you want to dive into the actual post or just move on to the next thing. Hey, I appreciate that not every image is going to be something that you feel the need to jump at.

And lastly, if any of my audience were to feel the desire to promote me somewhere, I want to make that process as painless as I can. Here’s a sample with three different stages of my illustration process and a link clearly written so they can do just that.

What’s Next

I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to add for additional tiers to my page for those who would like to support me at higher levels. (Right now, there’s only a $2 / month tier and you can technically pay more if you are so inclined.)

It has to be something of significant value to my audience. That’s first and foremost. I don’t want to just put up a bunch of stuff that no one cares about. I certainly don’t want to do that and then charge people for it!

One obvious option is to start ‘fleshing out’ these characters. Build backgrounds and NPC sheets for them so that they can be easily dropped into existing campaigns by my audience. This has significant potential and I’ve done a couple of samples already.

Another possibility would be to start doing magic items, spells, or even very short adventures. I like this idea a lot, but it would be a detour to be certain, and would require significantly more time to complete. That makes me nervous because I’ve been so good about keeping a consistent ‘at least four posts / month’ record so far. If I get too sidetracked, I fear faltering.

I think my favorite idea so far is to post some process videos. I’ve shared simple, stop motion videos of the process (which export from Procreate easily) with friends and family, and they rave about them. They seem to love how it gives them a look inside… well… the process.

But if we go back to that first item in this section, I don’t think that just uploading the default stop motion videos would be enough to qualify as ‘significant value’. It’s a good start, but it’s not enough. So I think that if I include some narration about my thought during the process… now we’re talking.

It will require a bit more work from me, but not enough that I feel faltering, and it seems enough to warrant another tier. Nothing like a $20/month commitment, but maybe something like $6/month. It gives you more insight into how I go about making things, and I still think I can produce one (or more) a month without my needed a room with padded walls.

What do you think? Would you be interested in seeing narrated process videos about how I do these illustrations? Would that be worth $6 / month to you?

Let me know below if you have any suggestions for other tiers or if you have any questions!