I know I said there's no saving Alex ze Pirate, but starting up a story driven comic series would be a good way to get more subscribers. Or maybe bring back that series he was doing about art school. I'm sure there are some people out there who would donate for that.
The reason Dobson doesn't have more sincere subscribers is because his work is so banal. What if Hank Hill was in Skyrim? Better question: who gives a fuck? If he was making something with a story some people would subscribe because they want to see what happens next before anyone else. Of course Dobson just wants to make a living while doing as little as humanly possible.
We should print out this post and mail it to Dobby, since it hits the nail dead centre.
Without a comic to speak of, what are people paying for? Something they will get eventually anyway.
And the things they are getting aren't that big a deal anyway... unless you do as I and sperg about any minute detail (since that's warranted to give more entertainment).
As I've mentioned a few times, I am a big fan of some webcomics like Lackadaisy Cats, Girl Genius, Unsounded and Order of the Stick. Now, most of them release art as they go, Ashley Cope (who's doing Unsounded) actually prepares comics in a advance, so she can stick to her schedule. So even if she can't work on a comic for a few days, she's got enough prepared to keep a steady rythm or uploads. I could totally see people pay to get a peek at the comics a day or so in advance for all of these comics.
In case of Unsounded, that would mean very little to the artist in terms of work, since Ashley Cope already has them finished. With the other comics, it would mean handing the comic out to some small amount of people and holding it back from a shitton of others. That seems a bit dickish.
And in either case, it would seem weird, to have content behind a paywall, even if it's just on a timer. If I was an web comic artist, I'd think it's weird to do such a thing. Like, it screws over the people who do not pay... sorta.
Dobson has communicated his willingness to screw over anyone who's not paying him in favor of delicious patreon dosh. His very attitude towards this is an indication why his Patreon is doing so poorly.
Doing random artworks is a nice start, but if Dobson wants to prevail, he desperatedly needs to actually do a comic; and in the best case scenario, he'd release it on a schedule no matter what Patreon does.
Edit: God damnit.
He actually found a way to make his disgusting leprechaun-bear more annoying.
So I take it, he's calling the irish gay?
I guess the things Eisner "did at Disney" that he can go fuck himself for include "Not hiring an aspiring inflation artist".
