#netherrrealms

Thank you all for bearing with me while I promoted the heck out of the Patreon last month. I really appreciate all your support - whether it’s a pledge, like, share or comment. The conversations I’ve had this month with pledgers but also just new people on the internet who loved the work and wanted to see me succeed were absolutely heartwarming. I know some of you had to get out of your own comfort zone to reach out to me when I was having a hard time. Thanks for doing that for me!

So, what did all this posting bring to Netherrealms? This month, pledges increased by 25%! It honestly exceeds any expectations I had, so I’m really happy to be able to share that number. Hopefully we’ll be able to reach the next pledge goal soon - which would mean putting Netherrealms on a regular release schedule!

We’re back to our regular schedule again now. Pledgers, keep an eye on your inboxes for news on the postcards! In the meantime, I’ll be sharing all the sketched pages on Patreon in the coming weeks and the inked ones as I make them.

Again, thanks so much for your support and I look forward to sharing Nergui's adventures with you all. Don’t be a stranger!

One week left to pledge and get the postcard set to send around to loved ones for some extra holiday cheer!

I'm going to try filling out Netherrealms character sheets for 2 or 3 characters and possibly sketch a portrait during stream on Friday. I made a template to fill out (I'll tailor it to the character, obviously)

What do you think of the sheet? Too much? Different questions? 🤔 Should I do the 3 characters from the prologue instead of Nergui (main character) because they're in the scene I'm actually working on right now? 😂

If you want to catch the stream btw, it'll be on Friday the 25th at 2-5PM GMT +1.

These paintings are the result of 3 years painting holiday illustrations!

All patrons who are pledging $10+ as of 30 November will be sent a postcard set of 3 different holiday illustrations, PLUS one for you to keep for yourself :)

Alright, so regarding that streaming thing - let’s try making an actual VOD this afternoon from 2-5PM GMT+1!

Come ask me questions about Netherrealms! I’ll be flatting/creating backgrounds for a new comic page during the stream. :) Maybe even make some calming scritchy-scratchy sounds again!

I’ve been struggling to seriously share Netherrealms for about two years now. Promoting has never been my strong suit, as I feel like a sellout really quickly (as I’m sure a lot of us feel like). I’m confused by lots of advice that seems to contradict each other (”be honest!” “but also be clear what you’re offering in the first millisecond!” “but don’t sound like you’re selling anything!”) and most of my attempts fail - that’s okay, as long as I feel like the general trajectory is *up*.

Yesterday was one of those days where everything just brings you down more. The past few days were painful for me, because the Patreon pledge drive was basically met by crickets (again). I feel like I’ve done most things I could to give it a strong start, but after two days I had almost no responses (certainly no pledges) and well, that’s not a great predictor for the rest of the campaign. I even got the message that someone had canceled their pledge! And that was on top of a general downward trajectory for the whole Patreon in the past year.

On Tuesday, I had an amazing stream with lovely supportive friends on Twitch. Isabell Bartnicki and Ryuutsu made a remark about feeling more excited about Netherrealms because of the stream and the stories I told while drawing about the characters. I went to bed with the idea of sharing that with others, and how great it would be that others who missed it would be able to watch the stream to maybe feel te same way.

Yesterday morning I found out that the stream hadn’t been saved because VODs aren’t saved by default. 3 hours of great, honest, spontaneous interaction was gone, unable to be retrieved. I felt so defeated.

To be clear: I don’t feel entitled to people’s support. I want people to support Netherrealms because they believe in me as an artist and believe in Netherrealms as a beautiful project. I wanted to share this struggle because until now, I’ve always tried to keep a pretty positive persona even though I do get a little down in the dumps every once in a while, like everyone else. I didn’t share this yesterday for a reason. After a night’s sleep I already feel better, though still a little sad and not really knowing where to go from here.

I love Netherrealms and wish that I had some actionable steps to get more people involved. It’s the only way for me to free up time without running my body or mental health into the ground. Not knowing what I’m doing wrong and the general crickets is the most frustrating thing of all.