This illustration is me every month making new lettering workbooks for all my fellow type nerds out there. I can't believe I have 16 issues out now that I've been making consistently since Jan 2017.
I started my Lettering Adventure series not just to explore new styles but because I got seriously burned by my first published book deal "The Big Awesome Book of Hand and Chalk Lettering". I don't get royalties from this book which is why I don't advertise it. It was a crazy process making over 150 illustrations in just 2 months to make my deadline for my publisher.
Needless to say the whole book making process sucked and I was too impressed by the brand to see the all red flags. Little did I know that I should have earned 10 times what I was paid for this book. Whoops.
WHY YOU SHOULD START A PATREON
I took my knowledge from creating a shit ton of lettering styles to create even better type alphabets to teach on a monthly basis here on Patreon. This decision to create a community around my art has not only given me new amazing friends but also a nice $45,000 salary from doing the exact kind of work I love doing.
I'm sharing this rant in an effort to inspire you to make whatever the fuck you want. Don't put all your eggs into just one platform (especially one with a asshole algorithm like Instagram) and consider posting your work on Patreon. It's still chronological people!
DO YOU THINK YOU'LL TRY OUT PATREON TO BUILD YOUR OWN COMMUNITY?
For anyone who creates a new page, I want to be your first supporter! I'll even give out a free critique to anyone who makes one! Just post your Patreon link in the comments below and I'll help ya get where you need to be.
All you have to do is create your page with a banner, description with samples of work, goals, and rewards. I would highly recommend having just a $1 reward to start so people can support you and begin to bring people to your Patreon in order to see your daily work.
Then simply promote your Patreon by telling people about the free follow button and how they can access all your public posts by simply just having a Patreon account without pledging.
That way you can build up a community first, then use your goals as a way to add additional rewards later on. You can see a sample of this by checking out my Women of Illustration Patreon page that I started a few months ago.
If you have any specific questions on starting a Patreon, feel free to post them below. I want to help you become a more independent artist.
Let's do this!