Hey folks! Just wanted to make a quick update post about some new stuff that’s been posted for Chio Club supporters!
First: the final version of Follower page 8.14 is up. It took forever, working on and off through shoulder pain, but it’s finally done, and thankfully I’m starting to get some pain relief. (As a direct result of Chio Club & other support!)
I also uploaded rough versions of pages 15-17, since those are next on my agenda and it might be interesting to see through this part of the process.
Next: I have a timelapse video of work on page 8.14 which will be up on Monday for Chio Club folks.
Still easing my way back into working on pages, but it is so much easier now that I have some means to manage some of the pain I’ve been in. I just have to be slightly more aware of when I’m overdoing it, because it’s easy to get caught up in it and then pay for it later. (That’s what happened to me on Friday, oops.)
Anyway! Onward to more new stuff! Join the Chio Club for early sneak peeks at what I’m working on, and to help me stay alive and out of pain!
It’s Friday again, which means it’s time once again for Friday First Drafts! If you’re a $5+ member of either our Patreon or Ko-Fi, you can get early access to the first draft of my Nanowrimo novel. I’m having fun writing it, and might polish it up and do something with it once the month is over.
Join at the $5 or higher tiers on either Patreon or Ko-Fi to get access to the latest EPUB file of my horror/thriller/whatever novel, “Cat Person!”
This is a short one, but I think I’m going to start making little art vlogs while I work on things sometimes. I’ve gotten back to work on updating and editing Follower pages for the eventual Volume One we have planned. This past year has been super difficult for me with my ongoing health issues, but I really want to make this book, so I’m doing what I can to get there!
You can also help support me while I’m working on the book by joining the Chio Club via Patreon or Ko-Fi. There are even special tiers where you can be in the comic by creating a custom Chio character or receive a copy of the book on completion!
The Sticker Club stickers have arrived! They’re nice sturdy matte vinyl, so you can stick ’em on basically anything. Get yours (along with extra rewards like early comic pages!) when you join the Chio Club Sticker tier!
The Chio Club Sticker Tier is $12/month (including shipping!) and you’ll get an exclusive unique sticker each month you’re subscribed! You’ll also get other rewards like behind the scenes stuff and early pages!
This is an experiement still, so if nobody joins, the Sticker Club just won’t continue since it won’t be viable to keep going. The Chio Club directly keeps Follower (and my other comics) going by paying for webhosting, software updates & subscriptions, domain renewals, and more.
I’m really hoping at least a couple of folks join in so I can keep this going! If not, these are going into the proverbial vault until I figure out what else to do with them.
Hey hey! It’s April! The weather here is trying so hard to start being nicer, and I personally can’t wait for it. I hope that it’s as nice wherever you are! With that, let’s get into the news!
What’s Up?
March was surprisingly productive! I’ve been doing well with physical therapy for my hands, and I’m taking advantage of all the new strength I have at the moment. Will it last? I have no idea, but I’m going to work extra hard while the proverbial sun is shining.
There are 5 brand new Follower pages that you can check out right now if you’re a member of the Chio Club. That’s an entire month’s worth of updates! For $1 (or more) you can see these new pages as they’re completed, long before they’ll be released to the rest of the world! I am currently working on early phases of the next batch of pages. I’m planning (tentatively, but fairly confidently) to start regular Follower updates again in May. More on that below!
The Chio Club Sticker Tier has officially launched! You can join the tier via Patreon or Ko-Fi for $12/month. (This price includes shipping.) Right now the design is a secret to everyone except folks who’ve joined the tier, but I’m doing a reveal on Twitter if I can get enough likes on the post!
By joining the Sticker Tier, you’ll get all the benefits of tiers below $10 – book downloads, page previews, and behind the scenes info – as well as a physical vinyl sticker mailed directly to you! And you’ll get the warm fuzzy feeling of helping our comics keep going a little bit more: just this past month, I’ve had to renew domain names, update software, and make my first ever sticker order for the Sticker Tier.
All of that (and a little bit of general survival) is directly possible thanks to Chio Club supporters, so if that’s you, thank you so much! It means the world to us.
If you’ve ever wanted to be part of Follower, like, so much that you’re in the comic – now’s your chance! Our Create a Chio project is open once again for takers on both Patreon and via Ko-Fi commissions. For $50, I’ll work with you to design your very own Chio character. You’ll get a custom character sheet with color references and information. This character will appear on at least one page of the comic as a side character. I’ve also added an extra upgrade option that will put your custom character on 3 pages of the comic, with the potential for a line of dialogue, too. Since I’m working on pages right now that feature a bunch of background Chios, the sooner you commission me, the sooner your character will appear in the comic!
I’m planning a return to Follower updates starting in May! It’s taken me a long time for my hands to recover enough to get some substantial pages done, but I’m feeling good about the progress I’ve made. I can’t promise that I won’t have to take breaks again in the future due to these same health issues, but I’m going to do my best!
Messenger, my long-neglected first project, turns 19 years old this August, and I have turned to dust typing out that sentence. I am not currently working on new pages due to the issues with my hands. It’s difficult to work on this type of project when you have unsteady hands and no undo button, so I’m contemplating working on a few real-media pieces to practice technique with since I’ve had to change a few things about the way I draw and work, and I don’t want to find out how difficult or different something looks on what should be a final piece.
Community News
I’ve been trying to build a more reliable streaming schedule, but due to a lot of the things going on with me health-wise, it’s been pretty difficult to schedule time for it. Looking into the next month, I should be able to find at least a few hours a week to hop on and draw with anyone who wants to drop in. I’d love to have you along! Be sure to follow me on Twitch to get notifications for when I’m live.
I’m also planning on dual streaming to Twitch and Youtube whenever possible, since my YT audience has been growing a bit!
In other community news, I’ve been working on improving the Discord server. (I’m always trying to improve it!) I’ve added a few new bots and features like a Question of the Day channel for fun, and I’m working on plans for a trivia game night of some sort for server members. I’ve toyed around with the idea of adding an in-character RP channel for folks – is that something people would be interested in? There are interesting bots and plugins that could make that fun and interesting. In any case, if any of this sounds like fun to you, please come and join us! Everyone is welcome!
Thanks so much for checking out the latest news from us! Things are looking to get more exciting as this year winds on, and we’re so glad to have you along!
The all-new Chio Club Sticker Tier is open for new members!
For $12/month, you’ll get all the other exclusives of other lower membership tiers, including early access to a month’s worth of Follower pages, behind the scenes info, and more, plus a physical sticker each month. Stickers will be mailed out at the end of each month, after the billing cycle has completed successfully.
Join now via Patreon or Ko-Fi to get a sneak peek at this month’s exclusive sticker!
The final version of Follower page 8.11 is up for Chio Club members! Join now for as little as $1/month on Patreon or Ko-Fi and get access to early pages and more!
You can now also join the Chio Tumbl Club on Tumblr for $5.99/month. You’ll get access to everything the $5+ tier on the other platforms gets. I’d add more options, but that’s all I can do there. But if Tumblr is your jam, you can support Follower there, too.
I’ve been in physical therapy for around two months now, and I’ve been slowly working myself back into drawing. Bluntly, physical therapy kicks my butt and I tend to feel sore and awful for around a day afterwards, and doing this multiple times a week is a bit of a rollercoaster. We’ve moved on to working on my shoulders lately, which are a literal sore point, and that’s been rough going. But things are improving overall.
I am still working on comic pages, and have been posting progress for the Chio Club as usual. It’s been a bit more of a mountain climb to get anything to completion than I expected, but I’m doing my best. I most recently posted a batch of rough sketches of ideas for the Chio Club sticker tier (discussed further down this post) including a bunch that weren’t shown during the stream where I started working on them!
Among some of the other less drawing-heavy projects I’ve been working on, I’ve also been dabbling with some fiction outside of the Messenger/Follower-verse. I’m not sure if anyone would be interested in checking out drafts of that story in process, but it might be a future Chio Club feature if there’s interest.
I posted my first ever storytime video on our Youtube channel this month, to pretty good reception! Not so coincidentally, it talks a bit about some of the problems I’ve been having with my hands, so if you want to watch me draw a little bit and listen to me talk, check out my video!
It would also be really helpful to us if you subscribe to our Youtube channel! Like every other webcomic artist out there, we’re always looking for another trickle of revenue to make this whole thing possible, and we can’t even get paid for ads until we reach 1,000 subscribers. We’re pretty close to approaching 100, and while that’s only a tenth of the way, once the snowball starts rolling it gets easier and easier to reach new viewers. It also helps us to have more watch hours, so if you’re interested in our comics, I highly recommend checking out one of the art stream playlists we have and letting it run!
After sleuthing for some opinions and data, I’m tentatively going ahead with the idea of a physical sticker tier for the Chio Club. Whether you join via Patreon or Ko-Fi, I’m planning to introduce a tier where you can get a monthly sticker. You can get all the details in this blog post: https://www.radiochio.com/sticker-club-update/
Our Teepublic store will be up to 35% off March 8-11 and March 23-26.*
*Sale dates are not final and therefore subject to change.
I’ve been attempting to get back into regular streaming, but I’ve been thwarted twice so far: once by weather, and once by health, so I’m shaking my fist at the universe and insisting I’m going to continue anyway. My next stream date will most likely be during the week of March 6th. Keep an eye on my Twitch schedule page for changes!
As usual, some caveats apply: I have to go by how my health and joints are doing that day, even if something is scheduled. I try to move things by a day or two, but sometimes I have to cancel outright. It is what it is, unfortunately. The best places to find out when I’m streaming are on my Twitch page and on the Discord.
I’m also planning on dual streaming to Twitch and Youtube whenever possible, since my YT audience has been growing a bit!
And, as usual, our Discord is always open and welcoming new folks! It’s a little slow and quiet, but that’s not always a bad thing. Pop on in for comic updates, general chat, and potentially some new community events in the coming year!
This will take a little bit of planning on my part to put together, but overall should be pretty easy since I’ve got a lot of the necessary artwork planned out and in various states of completion.
Here’s what you need to know:
Sticker Tier will be $10 for US folks and $12 for the international crew. The shipping is a little pricier for places outside the US, which I have no control over, sorry!
You’ll receive either one large sticker (approx. 3″) or two smaller stickers (approx. 1-2″) every month you’re a paid member. Stickers will be sent at the end of the month you’ve paid for, so everyone has a chance to pledge if they want to.
The stickers will be a heavy vinyl good for sticking on all kinds of things. I’m a fan of high-quality stickers and want to make a nice product. There might be other fancy types in the future if Sticker Tier is successful. (Maybe holographic, glow in the dark, etc.!)
Every month will have a different theme! It’s a surprise! The themes will feature characters from our comics, mostly Chios.
After a couple of months, I’ll open up a “secret shop” for members where you can buy past months’ stickers at a steeply discounted price.
If nobody pledges, it just won’t happen. I need 1-2 pledges at minimum to make it work!
Right now, I’m planning on opening up pledges for the Sticker Tier in April 2023.
…and that’s the bulk of the details. Things won’t open up until April since I need a little lead time to organize, in addition to regular comic work, but I hope this will be interesting to folks who maybe haven’t pledged to the Chio Club before!
As usual, if you’re interested, you can join the Chio Club via Patreon or Ko-Fi:
