letter

Photo by John-Mark Smith via pexels.com.

[dc]O[/dc]ne of the rewards I offer on Patreon is a chance to be pen pals. Really. Well, kind of one-way pen pals, but that’s better than nothing. Right? Sure!

Mail Pals

At the $10 a month reward level, I will send you a hand-written letter a month, every month, along with an inked drawing on the same page.

So, for the price of two fancy coffees you can get a piece of original art and a personal message from me, every month, right to your mailbox. Plus, this also gets you full access to my Patreon blog posts and early access to the newest Foxes & Boxes comic before anyone else.

How does Patreon help me make comics?

Making “free” entertainment is not without its costs. Patrons will help me cover my costs for making a new comic every week. Costs like:

  • Biannual Website hosting fees.
  • Yearly domain registration fees.
  • Monthly website back-up services.
  • Website plug-ins and updates.
  • Design work (like the Foxes & Boxes logo) and promotional items (business cards, etc).
  • Art supplies (pens, paper, etc).
  • Equipment and software (drawing tablets, drawing programs).
  • Monthly utilities and Internet service costs.
  • Online advertising (Bing, Project Wonderful, Facebook).
  • My PO Box address.
  • Table fees for appearing at comic shows.
  • Travel costs for appearing at comic shows (food, gas, hotel).
  • Costs for making art prints, books, comics, and other items to sell at comic shows.

Gifting

I’m happy to send the letter/drawing to someone else on your behalf. Do you have a son/daughter, niece/nephew, hermit uncle or family pet you would like to see get more mail? That’s totally doable! It doesn’t matter where I send the letter/drawing, all I need to know is the address and the person’s name.

(In the case of young children, maybe let me know their age so I don’t accidentally write something PG-13 or make off-hand remarks about paying taxes or lamenting the onset of lumbago).

Of course, there’s also the $20 a month level where I send a watercolor post card instead of a letter. Like with the letter, I can send it to someone else if you want.

I’m eager to give these a shot and see what I can come up with every month—and it helps cover my website costs too. You get a goofy message and a silly drawing every month, and I keep the lights on (and/or cats fed).

Paying It Forward

From now until April, for every three new patrons I get, I will back another artist on Patreon. I will pledge at least $1 a month and keep the pledges going for at least six months.