The Draw Play

So. This isn’t a post I was hoping to make. As of yesterday, capitalism has come for ya boi, and I (as well as over 400 others) have been laid off from our place of employment as our entire company division was axed. I had my job for 8 years and I was very happy there, so this is extremely disappointing.

To do what I can in the meantime to help my sudden loss of income, I’ve decided to re-open my Patreon account to anyone who wishes to contribute, as well as re-open commissions.

The Draw Play has always been a labor of love for me. I have never truly wanted it to be my main job and outside another period of time a while ago in which I was also unemployed, I have largely resisted monetization and trying to make it my living. I run no ads. I sell no merch. My website is free to read. I, for the most part, did not do commissions. I just want to make silly comics and talk about football to anyone willing to listen. I’m under no illusions that I’m popular enough online to make living off this blog viable without a lot of work, and I knew the instant I made that my focus, I would probably lose part of what makes it possible for me to do this. Having there be no immediate pressure has undoubtedly allowed me to resist burnout for what is now 13 years of very regular updating. I am immensely grateful to everyone who has made viewing my work part of their routine.

But for the time being I’m left with little option to try to at least temporarily make it work. What’s that mean for you? Well, probably only good things. I now have much more free time on my hands and can dedicate more time to this comic. I can spend more time on the comics themselves, I can work on finding ways to improve the site (I know the random comic button is still bugged), I can actually try to make some merch if the demand for any exists (let me know!). I can just make a lot more art in general. I’ve even had a few other ideas percolating for years that I just never had the time to invest into.

Also importantly, I am open to any and all commissions once more. With general life stuff, a full-time job, and my already fairly large commitments to this site, I just never had much time to do other side art that I wasn’t deeply invested in. I’ve got time now. If I have ignored or passed on your request during the last decade, I apologize. It just wasn’t feasible for me at the time, and my email account was being inundated with spam marketing emails so my high filter use may have buried it. You would not believe how many gambling companies will message you to make sponsored posts if you have a public business site. I have updated my email after all this time to make more sense than something I created on a whim ages ago. If you wish to contact me now, it’s thedrawplay@gmail.com.

I do not plan on running ads or making the site pay-to-read. I tried it once ages ago and it was mostly annoying and didn’t actually earn me much. If a sponsor wants to throw a pile of money at me, sure. I’m human. Just be aware that if you are a gambling app, it better be a big pile of money, because I do not gamble, will not gamble, and do not wish to sell gambling to other people. If you see me run a gambling ad be aware I did it for the bag.

If you aren’t a gambling company, I’m all ears. I have a podcast and would be more than willing to sell you.

As for the Patreon:  I was not very good about properly utilizing my Patreon last time. With age and seasoning, I plan to do better this go-around. I will be restricting my Discord server to contributors going forward (if you are already a member, you are grandfathered in, but if you are willing to contribute anyway to help the experience and I would certainly appreciate the support). I will make art that I will only post there, and will try to do more personal stuff for members. I will also be far more willing to make your comic ideas and discuss updates and improvements with you.

My intention with all of this is for it to be temporary. I do not wish to stay funemployed forever. I will be attempting to find a new place of work (if you have a lead or need of a social media reputation/content specialist, or something related to making art or sportswriting, hit me up). If and when I do find a steady job again and it impedes my ability to produce for the Patreon, I will de-activate it once more. I do not know how long this may take for now, thanks to *gestures at everything.*

I will keep this post up for this week so that people aren’t likely to miss it and so I can use the time to get some personal things in order now that I have been thrust into a stressful new place.

Thank you dearly to everyone who reads this silly site that I’ve spent so many years on. I appreciate you more than you know. I love recognizing all the names in the comments and various followers on social media. I am immensely privileged to have even a small subset of readers who care about what I make. This might be an uncertain time for me, but I want to take this chance to make this little project of mine grow.

May Football Chaos Reign,

Dave