Hi.
So, it’s been a while.
I’ve decided to bring a lot of my written and photo content back to my personal blog and simply link out to it from Patreon, much like I did before Patreon existed. Patron-only content will remain on Patreon.
There’s a couple reasons for this. The first is, honestly, I just want to reclaim my work back to my own site, rather than hosting it only on Patreon. You never know what’s going to happen and I just want control of my own stuff again.
Besides, (reason 2) I don’t know wtf Patreon is doing anymore and I’m not sure where it will go. This isn’t unexpected, companies have to change their models when they become gigantic, as Patreon has. But there are a few red flags that have come up and I figure now is the time to reorganize. One of the red flags for me is Patreon’s sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant support (even worship) of Elon Musk. Dislike. A lot. I know a lot of this is individual staff, rather than the company as a whole, but it still disturbs me. It shouldn’t be on their social media accounts, written by whatever staffer is in charge of it at the time (staff changes quickly at Patreon now.) I know a lot of them are young too, and don’t pay attention to the world at large outside of their jobs, and I don’t harbor ill will towards anyone who’s fallen into it. I liked Elon Musk 10 years ago too. But I know too much now, the world has changed, and I don’t like seeing it anymore. Red flag #2 is the fact that Patreon is toying with the idea of giving space to AI on their platform, a site supposedly devoted to helping creators make money from their creations. I’m not sure where helping robots make money for their creations fits in to that, regardless of who is pressing the “make AI image” button on the other side. AI is not created by artists, in fact it steals from artists, and I don’t see where it fits into Patreon’s model. AI might be helpful in making technology faster, easier, and more complex, but it falls outside of the definition of art and creativity, in my opinion. I don’t particularly want to share the “creator class” with robots. AI is posed to take creative jobs away. How (and why) should real creators compete with that in their own market? It makes no sense. Artificial Intelligence is the antithesis to human creativity.
Red flag #3 for me actually happened in 2019. At a Patreon event in Los Angeles, numerous famous people were brought in to give talks on creativity and running a creative business. None of them (okay maybe one) had Patreon accounts or used Patreon to build their businesses, but they were famous! I guess that was supposed to inspire us? Or something? The problem is in assuming that all creators want to be famous or that fame is necessary to run a successful business. Some of us just want to make enough money to live our lives utilizing our artistry for our jobs. It seemed like a fundamental misunderstanding of the creator class, a term Patreon has proudly bandied about since 2013. This was the creator elite. It used to be that Patreon was for everyone, a model that broke the old world of gatekeepers, corporations, studios, labels, etc. Highlighting the upper 2% of creators in the world as something to strive for was very disappointing to me. At one point, just to add insult to injury, as two of these famous people were discussing their paths to stardom, they actually joked with each other that if all goes to hell, they could always open Patreon accounts. They laughed. The audience stared, or chuckled nervously. From the creators on the floor who were present that I spoke to, none of us took too kindly to the joking about our livelihoods. It really wasn’t funny.
Huge punch in the gut from Patreon itself.
There are a couple of other, smaller things (like how in Patreon’s mind, it seems like all roads start with or lead to YouTube, which is weird, since YouTube was the reason for starting a company that existed outside of YouTube) but this is enough already.
No one is perfect.
And I’m not leaving Patreon. It’s really hard to predict what’s going to happen in the future, both within the company and outside in the world, so all options are always on the table. My goal now is to keep my Patreon an island for myself and my Patrons, and any other artists who would like to join in. How Patreon runs its business only affects my day-to-day life there so much, and I don’t have a problem keeping my account to myself and my own audience. We make lots of allowances for corporations in our lives, because we don’t really have a choice. PayPal, Apple, Disney, etc all have problems. It just is what it is. The corporate aspect doesn’t need to change how I run my own business.
Reason #3 (yes, that was all reason #2) is that publishing my life’s work only on Patreon makes it harder for the world outside of it to see. It isn’t great for Google results, for instance. People can’t find me as easily, and they can’t know what I do. If I want to build a bigger audience, even if just to direct them to Patreon, I need to seek these people out in the greater outside world. Patreon truncates my business. I’ve known this for a while, but it’s taken me a long time to figure out what to do with the information, and if I wanted to bring things back outside the walls of Patreon again. I do now. I guess Reason #3.5 would be that Patreon has grown so large that many people regard it as a joke, or at least are no longer enthused by it. It’s kind of sad the way people have dropped off of supporting artists of all types, and I understand the economy has been rough on all of us. But artists are still the backbone of culture and creativity in the world, and it burns a little to know that some people would rather support BMW or Hulu than individual artists. I hope, as a society, we can swing things back in our direction. Part of talking about all of this off of Patreon is wrapped up in my plan to do so. I still value the support, as do others like me.
That being said, if you’re finding this post not on Patreon, consider joining me at patreon.com/shaylamaddox. It allows me to buy art supplies, pay rent, apply for residencies, make art books, pay for my website, pay taxes, buy groceries, insurance, gas, … pretty much everything. If not me, be sure to find artists that you love, and support them. We put so much effort into our work and we value every single penny given to us. This is how we’re able to be artists and, ideally, show others (especially kids!) that they too can viably be artists. It’s so very important to all of society.
I’ll be posting a bunch of my sold and unsold work that I’ve made in the last few years here on this blog, just to catch everyone up and show new people discovering me what I’ve been doing. It kinda makes me sad that it only exists on Patreon and in my personal shop.
Having said all that, I’m happy to be wrapping up my sunrise project and getting back to painting again. As you can see from the photos above, I’m restarting my relationship with acrylic. I worked on two pieces before writing this post and they’re already dry. Holy Moses that’s fast. I’d forgotten how fast acrylic dries. For some artists this is a downside, but it will greatly help me produce quality work at a faster rate, something I need to do to increase my portfolio and my financial goals. Buying acrylic in bulk, even artist-quality acrylic, is much more feasible. And I got a small thrill at seeing the bright colors come off my brush (or sponge) and onto the canvas.
Which is not to say I’ll be giving up all things natural! In fact, I found a really cool paintbrush in the park today:
