Danny Mac
patreon
Patreon Rewards Update
🕑 Added 2024-08-06 13:19:27 +0000 UTCHello Everyone!
I wanted to take a moment to talk about some upcoming changes to the Patreon rewards. I started this Patreon at the beginning of the year because I was struggling financially. Your response has been amazing and has definitely helped alleviate some the stress caused by that, thank you all so much; I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the support!
However, I've realised that the current reward structure isn't sustainable. While most of the rewards are manageable—like the reference images, character files, and project files—researching, planning, recording, and editing 6 to 8 lessons every month is a lot of work. Every month I am dissatisfied with the quality of the lessons because I do not feel I have enough time to properly execute them. It’s also why I keep running into delays- I’m finding that it's too much to stay on top of.
So, I've been thinking about how to reduce my workload while still providing you with valuable content. Here’s my proposal for the new rewards structure:
Current Rewards:
7 Video Lessons
100 Reference Images
Scene Files (e.g., ecorche, sculpt)
Character File
Discount Codes
Proposed Changes:
Each month I will create a new character illustration and the Patreon rewards will be derived from this illustration:
Character File
You will continue to receive the character file as you have been, but with extra time to work on it the quality of this will be better - better shapes, better textures, better renders, more background elements and overall better work
I will also deliver the character in an A-pose with the rig intact where possible. This means you will be able to use the character to work on rigging or animating or whatever you like!
Ref-Mesh
The next reward will be step by step meshes, similar to those I created here, here and for the head sculpting course here.
In case you haven't seen these before, they basically provide a very clear roadmap for you to follow when you’re sculpting.
I break the process down into easy to understand steps/shapes so that you can follow my process, learning from each shape
It's sorta like the Andrew Loomis method of putting together a character drawing, but updated for digital sculpting
The benefit of doing it digitally means that you don't need me or any other teacher to critique your work to figure out whether or not you missed the mark, because you can use Blender to check it for you
Just morph between your sculpt and the ref-mesh to see exactly which areas your result differs from the reference. The areas that have the biggest difference is what you want to work on.
The meshes have proved very popular amongst my students!
Reference Images
I will continue to provide reference images except now the reference images will be of the ref-meshes. This means you can see the ref meshes from multiple different angles at the same time while you’re sculpting.
Back Catalogue
Another big change will be the availability of the files. For as long as you are subscribed you will have access to the back catalogue of the new rewards packages (the previous lessons/rewards will not be included in this as it’s not fair to everybody that has already paid). As I currently do not have a back catalogue, I will spend some time at the beginning creating new rewards packages from previous characters.
Course Discount
Initially, the plan for this Patreon was to gradually build up a course piece by piece. However, aligning monthly rewards with the overall course has proven tricky. Moving forwards I intend to create stylized character courses but without the pressure of delivering lessons each month. This will allow me to properly plan out the lessons and deliver them to a quality I am happy with. I can’t guarantee a delivery date for this, but if you stick around you will get a special discount on this course. I may also post bonus lessons and behind the scenes content related to the course here on Patreon, but without a set schedule.
Credit to you
While I would like to stop making lessons as Patreon rewards, I would like to make tutorials available to everyone on YouTube, for example the upcoming GeoNode hair tutorial. This content is made possible with your support here on Patreon and as such I believe you should be credited. All patrons will be credited at the end of each video.
Discount Codes
Discount codes will continue to be available each month for subscribers
I hope you find this new approach valuable and continue to support me on Patreon. If you have any suggestions or concerns, please let me know. I'm always open to feedback!
Thank you once again for your amazing support!
Comments
Mikael Wink
Hey Danny, I've been lurking as a free member on this Patreon for a few months and I am finally in a position to be able to jump into Z brush! Where should I begin? What classes/ tutorials would help the most for a beginner?
Daniel S
Completely understandable. Just to clarify, does this mean that the feet lesson will be the last one on the full body character? or will subsequent lessons just be derived in this new format?
Rachel Hollis
Hi Danny, I feel for you and the pressure that the delivery platform puts you under. Monthly is quite a task to undertake. Personally, I wouldn't care if the content didn't come every month for the same of the artists work but, I guess that may not be allowable on the platform. So, are there other platforms,.? People will purchase the content that they know will help them. I do understand that this platform makes it easier for a lot of people being monthly but, there are other places to sell your work. You can also bundle when complete and sell in that form which I've seen other artists do. I hope you find a few others outlets and a means to help moot only your patron but, yourself too. Good luck. Rachel. :)
Danny Mac 3D
I appreciate everybody's feedback and have taken it all on board ✌️
Yumemocchi
I'm here mainly to support you because I really like your work, and I have no problem with the courses being available to everyone. On the contrary, it will boost your popularity, which is a great thing! However, be careful with the lifetime backlog available to everyone because a lot of people might take advantage and just come to grab everything at once (though whether these people would have come anyway, I don't know...). You could always try it out and see how it goes! In any case, as long as I can, I'll be here :)
Jen Quinn
Very happy for the lessons to be for everyone and this all sounds very fair. I would second the request for a text file explaining some notes on the character file, which I believe you can actually have inside a blend file anyway, but yeah that all sounds good! Hope the new structure works better for you! :)
John Slaughter
Honestly, being able to peak behind the scenes of your character models and see how you do things is why I’m here anyway. The lessons are nice, but that’s the kind of thing you need when you need it. I don’t need feet this month, so that sort of thing lends itself better to a course available for people looking for it when they need it. Just my 2¢.
Shinyuu Wolfy
That seems to be a sound plan. A few things I'd like to suggest (in no particluar order) - I think you'd want to put a license along with a character file that says it is only to be used for non-commercial purposes. It's extremely helpful for studying, and I really appreciate you publishing them, so I don't want you to get burned on that and stop. - many artists on Patreon go away from the back catalogue and invent various schemes of delivery to make sure people can't subscribe for a month, download all, and leave. I don't have a strong opinion on that, just something you might want to think about. - Lessons. I'm really am in here first and foremost to support you because you are a great tutor. I don't see it as a problem if you will switch to posting the lessons on YT and I'd be glad to be part of the financial support team. That said, if I'd have to buy the lessons separately on Gumroad or somethings, that would stretch my financial options. - Character File. I'd love to have some mental notes along with it of sorts: "the reason I retopo this character in this particular way is X", or "I tried doing hair as Y for this project and it ended up better as Z." It's very important for the learning process to understand the decisions you make. I know that those can be hard to make and I don't expect you to make a whole video tutorial services for each piece but honestly, even a text file with scribbles on the decisions you had to take for a sculpt would be useful a bunch.
