One Month Anniversary for my Sketch Club!

I had little idea what to expect when I started on this little journey a month ago.  I still don't know, but now I have a nifty little timeline of 30+ paintings and drawings from the past month.  I don't know how it happened and I had no idea how much fun I would have drawing these.  I recommend it to every artist out there.

Here is a small sampling of my favorite sketches from this past month.


Patreon First Month Retrospective

Here are a few of my favorite sketches and paintings from this last month.  Enjoy!

Hovering and Hanging

Every once in a while I have a strange idea that just sort of hits me. If it's a plot idea, I have a running idea file where I put these potential plots and now I have over 400. But I didn't have a place for visual ideas. At least, I didn't until a month ago.  

One month ago I created this sketch club on Patreon and I have really enjoyed it. It's been a very busy month with a lot of unusual travel, and some unusual weather conditions. But I've been grateful for this little place that I can carve out these ideas and post them. I don't have brilliant ideas all that often, but when I do, this acts as incentive for me to jot them down before they vanish into the ether of our lives.  

So I'm not sure what this is about. Maybe someday I'll have a story attached to it. Right now it's just a fanciful flight of wonder. I hope you enjoy it.

Sunset Across the Fields

The other night, I saw the sun set from the upstairs window at my grandparents' dairy farm. It was so gorgeous that I knew I needed to paint it.

First Sketch

When I was breaking in my tablet last year, this was the first sketch I made. I really like the tree....

Mousipede Reads

Based off of the "Rodentipillar" sketch. It was just a fun idea. :)

Given

#1 Inspirational Time Travel Poster Idea

Geronilope Herd

I think it hit me early in the morning in the middle of last week, and when I thought of it, I laughed out loud. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Just Graduated

My brother just walked across the stage to get his diploma from DTS! Now he's recovering....

Destination Options

WIthout this sketch club, this painting would not exist. Thank you for being there, being my incentive to finish this. 

This was one of those ideas that I thought was nice, but had a hard time painting it. Knowing that you guys were out there, I persevered. 

I saw this early Friday morning, driving to Pensacola. It was beautiful and arresting seeing the moon sitting there at the top of the hill.   

I tried to paint it Saturday night from memory, but it didn't look right. Finally this morning at 3 or 4, it finally came together.


Earnings Analysis

Gross Earnings: $22.75
CC Fees: $1.58
Patreon percentage: $1.18
Net: $19.99
Sketches and Paintings: 32

Which works out to roughly 0.6246875¢ per sketch or painting.  As you can see, I'm not doing this for the money!

Instead, I'm doing this to build a sketching habit.  Right now I have an idea file where I put all of my story ideas, and I've got about 400+ good, bad, and ugly plot fragments in there.  However, they are all word-based, or relational-based.  I want to create a regular habit of making interesting visual ideas.  This sketch club helps me do that.

At $8.75 per week, I'm really close to reaching my first milestone ($15 a week).  When we reach that goal, I'm going to be creating a sketch of an exotic animal—possibly something from deep in the jungle... or from deeper in the ocean—and sending it to my patrons.  (And I'll get windshield wipers for my car!)

To help reach that first milestone, I'm introducing a new level of patronage: Zinc Level!  Zinc level starts at $5 a week and allows Zinc patrons to suggest sketch ideas. A few times a month, I'll sift through the ideas and pick an interesting idea to draw for y'all.

Where will we go in the next year?  I don't really know.... Join my sketch club to let's find out together!
http://www.patreon.com/MatthewSample2?ty=c