Concerns on my on-going being
a month ago
This might be a long read, stick with me kindly.
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I need advise.
With the current Ptrn and PyPl and cards problem going around, I've been on collapsing anxiety for the past few days.
I'm afraid that at some point in the future, I might get axed for the smallest thing.
For the past few days I've been on dread that I may not be able to earn anything anymore to live.
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For backup, does anyone know how SubscribeStar works?
Would it be difficult for people to pledge? I also assume there's only direct bank-in's when withdrawing?
And what about commissions? I could potentially survive on it, if I'm willing to bend and open Animations for comms even.
250$~300$ for a standard full piece maybe still?
If I'm willing to charge 600$ for a 6 frame animation? Not sure about this, I need more reference of pricing.
But what alternative to PyPl? Has anyone used Wise or Payoneer? I'm not from US btw.
And if those two don't work then what else y'all would recommend?
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I am fortunate that my family is willing to listen in on my concerns and issues, loans and insurance and bills and all that,
if the worst of the worst were to happen, we'll still live. Knowing that, least puts me at ease a bit.
Tho health wise, it's a wreck. Been having the anxiety starvation and weakness again, very slowly eating, slowly recovering.
Too many bad things are happening at a short timespan.
Admittedly I'm not the most mentally strong individual, maybe I'm worrying too much over something that I could adapt.
I grow anxious on vacations tbh.
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What about VPNs? Was thinking about NordVPN but some people recommend against it.
My friend recommends Mullvad VPN, anyone got any opinions on those?
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Do kinda wanna draw more fanart for artists I look up to again,
but ever since last time some people have unfavorable opinions of the people, and may throw flak at me,
I am afraid.
-
I will kneel and thank you all again.
Thank you for supporting me throughout all those years, thank you for taking interest in my work,
thank you for commenting, thank you for sharing, thank you for even just looking at my work.
I want to continue drawing still, I'll exist.
-
I need advise.
With the current Ptrn and PyPl and cards problem going around, I've been on collapsing anxiety for the past few days.
I'm afraid that at some point in the future, I might get axed for the smallest thing.
For the past few days I've been on dread that I may not be able to earn anything anymore to live.
-
For backup, does anyone know how SubscribeStar works?
Would it be difficult for people to pledge? I also assume there's only direct bank-in's when withdrawing?
And what about commissions? I could potentially survive on it, if I'm willing to bend and open Animations for comms even.
250$~300$ for a standard full piece maybe still?
If I'm willing to charge 600$ for a 6 frame animation? Not sure about this, I need more reference of pricing.
But what alternative to PyPl? Has anyone used Wise or Payoneer? I'm not from US btw.
And if those two don't work then what else y'all would recommend?
-
I am fortunate that my family is willing to listen in on my concerns and issues, loans and insurance and bills and all that,
if the worst of the worst were to happen, we'll still live. Knowing that, least puts me at ease a bit.
Tho health wise, it's a wreck. Been having the anxiety starvation and weakness again, very slowly eating, slowly recovering.
Too many bad things are happening at a short timespan.
Admittedly I'm not the most mentally strong individual, maybe I'm worrying too much over something that I could adapt.
I grow anxious on vacations tbh.
-
What about VPNs? Was thinking about NordVPN but some people recommend against it.
My friend recommends Mullvad VPN, anyone got any opinions on those?
-
Do kinda wanna draw more fanart for artists I look up to again,
but ever since last time some people have unfavorable opinions of the people, and may throw flak at me,
I am afraid.
-
I will kneel and thank you all again.
Thank you for supporting me throughout all those years, thank you for taking interest in my work,
thank you for commenting, thank you for sharing, thank you for even just looking at my work.
I want to continue drawing still, I'll exist.
I've been using Buy me a Coffee from now on to sell commissions (Ko-fi works too). You can set up an online store on them or just tell commissioners how many coffees they need to send you. But to use those for commissions you also gonna need to either make a Stripe account or a Payoneer account, Stripe works for both websites, Payoneer is just for Buy me a Coffee. I from Brazil so I can tell you that Payoneer works worldwise, but Payoneer only receives money from business accounts, that's why you gonna need Buy me a Cofee to do the work for you.
Buy me a cofee is also very easy to use for consumers, they're not even required to make an account to pay you, just their credit card. Buy me a coffee also has an option to tag your page as NSFW, but I refrain from posting my art there, because NSFW is against their rules, it's weird I know.
Subscribestar is a good alternative for Patreon, but won't work if your goal is sell commissions. I hope this helps!
I also have severe anxiety issues so I know how you feel.
anyone affected by the change or knows someone affected by the change finds out about it, but paypal themselves haven't released any public statements or anything
i know about it because of twitchyanimations losing his patreon over the change, plus a few other artists that have lose their pages on patreon
it pretty much started when gumroad announced the "no NSFW sales" rule
one other bit of info, concerning patreon, they seem to be targeting furry art with animal shaped genitals, more accurately, ones going into human genitals or visa versa
basically, if you have a fox character with a canine penis having sex with a human woman, even if it's consensual, they're classing it as animal on human sex and thus "in violation of their ToS"
Last time their name came up was when the OnlyFans porn ban happened, I think?
I remember hearing horror stories a decade back.
same ground rules apply now as have for years:
a) never leave any money laying on your paypal account, get your money ASAP if you are paid, or use paypal as a creditcard throughput only if you're a payer. Sooner or later, paypal may steal your money, but it can only steal what you have on your paypal account.
b) never actually do put anything that could identify the product in the optional comment field. At best put something there so they can identify you, nothing more. If they don't know it's a commission at all, they also don't know it's a porn commission.
I feel for you and hope things get better
As for commissions, your prices seem reasonable given your style and effort, and as for alternates to PayPal, I can only suggest Ko-Fi and maybe Artistree?
As for paypal... don't use it as a bank account, ever. Only advice I can give you. Stripe as been mentionned I think?
They're just going to have the rug pulled out from under them entirely.
Better to move away from paywall services and stick to tip jars like kofi.
Also, as I mention every time I show up in one of these threads, direct your hatred appropriately: Exodus Cry is the reason this is happening; they're a "religious" group hellbent on Think Of The Childrening away your right to be an adult and do adult things. Their entire MO is to purge sexual content and pornography from the world, using influential people like the CEO of Mastercard (who is a high-ranking member of Exodus Cry) to do their work.
Also, if people give you shit for drawing fanart for somebody they hate... just tell them to fuck off? What are they gonna do about it lmao
The worst part being non murrican we cant do shiet on this aspect cant vote the right people cant talk to lobbyist we just gotta hope murricans have good enough conscious to like force a reverse or maintaining the current status quo.
dont think other types of cards are common among banks least local ones, and the actually viable alternative for "net payments" is wechat or cash app which can be a whole another can of worms there not to mention limited support for alot of countries.
Although if you're not doing anything pornographic you should be spared but uhhh... yeah sorry with your reputation that might not apply to you, my recommendation for stockpiling some funds, start taking sfw comms? dont mention anything big booba or naked body, just jinx the system to think _everything is fine_ transaction.
what have the world been tuning to, "automation" of creative works instead of the menial/dangerous ones, lost of faith on online + overseas transactions and the constant dropping value of general currency. should start buying bullion gold btw when you can.
Basically from what I've seen, it works around keywords (tag, description, title). Basically if patreon see "That Guy" drew something they didn't like, or even just decided that they don't like That Guy, they'll try to search keywords of That Guy work, then axe them.
What this mean is that you could be axed because of guilty keyword, regardless of whether you actually violate their tos or not, I've seen it happened. But what this also mean is that if you write nothing for description, tag, and leave the vaguest title ever, patreon will be hardpressed to actually axe you, I've also seen many artist violated patreon tos *hard* and yet they still stay as of now. Basically don't write anything incriminating and you apparently can get away with a lot.
Just my theory tho, could be right, could be wrong. Alternative money making method is still recommended. Substar isn't too difficult to use on consumer ends, just no paypal (which I barely touch anyway)
"The cloud" for whatever it's worth, realistically, is just someone else's computer. So I wouldn't put 100% of my traffic through a VPN unless I had a specific requirement to do so.
The Internet will always have negative comments for anything and everything. Don't let it get to you. Just keep doing what you're doing, payment processors be damned. You have artistic skills I only dream of. It's something to be proud of.
Hope some of this information helps anyone who needs it.
While it is an alternative to withdrawing money from Patreon (and probably a few other sites I don't know of), it doesn't work for commissions
Since it's structured as a company to employee kinda service
So other people can't really send you money directly.
(I work around this by taking comms through Patreon itself with custom pledges, but it only works because I use it as a tip jar instead)
SubscribeStar gets thrown around a lot, but the truth is, while it is an alternative, it's mostly for the more popular people
Since you gotta be making at least 150 usd a month to withdraw, or have a certain amount of people subscribed to you.
You can also only withdraw twice a month unlike Patreon.
Another possible alternative could be Boosty, if you're willing to deal with their 15% tax that is, it is an all in one for both Patreon like content and commissions, but the tax is the downside.
I used to use Nord VPN and its okay but Mullvad VPN is superior to what some of my friends say.
As for your health and anxiety I recommend going for a 30 minute walk 1 hour after you walk up and take some ashwagandha powder in a drink, that will help your anxiety a bit and a few other things too not related to anxiety as well
Its not so good for small creators, but i don't think that problem applies to you.
As for payment alternatives, heard payoneer is pretty good.
Paid VPNs are better, but not all are good, some are unsafe. I don't know which ones. VPN as an idea, is invaluable and very good, but many offer dishonest service. Be careful and I hope others can help you more! I admire your work, and you always seem like such a caring and kindhearted person, not just an incredibly skilled artist but a good person I feel. So take care and stay well, please.