Workshop Gallery
I had a couple of productive days in the workshop. Wanted to share some snaps.
I had a go at very slender body types - I dont think it's quite there, yet, still work in progress. Also I've been working hard on the pose library, theres a few hundred that need revising whenever I can , they are a huge time saver, I snapped a few highlights.
What else - um, Milk props, post partum belly shapes, another super Detailed skin texture, A very clingy crop top, More boob shapes and adjusters, work on some expressions, updated some pose presets, and some other stuff and doodles i've already forgotten. Lots to keep track of.
Theres the picarto recording of todays workshop (if you can manage to slog through 9 hours of it) which is much better at showing what i've been up to.
Finally as a treat I thought to take a look at jenna and megumi, and give a sneak peek at how megumi might develop.
I had a go at very slender body types - I dont think it's quite there, yet, still work in progress. Also I've been working hard on the pose library, theres a few hundred that need revising whenever I can , they are a huge time saver, I snapped a few highlights.
What else - um, Milk props, post partum belly shapes, another super Detailed skin texture, A very clingy crop top, More boob shapes and adjusters, work on some expressions, updated some pose presets, and some other stuff and doodles i've already forgotten. Lots to keep track of.
Theres the picarto recording of todays workshop (if you can manage to slog through 9 hours of it) which is much better at showing what i've been up to.
Finally as a treat I thought to take a look at jenna and megumi, and give a sneak peek at how megumi might develop.
Not to get too personal here, but when someone close to me was terminally ill, any time I took off to go see them I made up the time in the evenings and weekends I was so worried about losing work. After they passed away I took less than 2 weeks off, again as I was so worried about losing my job. Obviously we can all understand the situation, and sympathise, but at the same time I don’t think it’s right to ghost your customers/employer. As mentioned he is making an extremely good income, more than most people can probably dream of, it would be a good wage in London (an expensive city), but outside of this it’s even better. Several times with these breaks I have wondered why he has not paused the subscription like other creators do. While each individual subscription might be relatively small, the total is more than most creators make which goes to show how great his work is. But it’s also not unreasonable to expect more as the budget increases. Feel bad saying this, and I wasn’t going to, but I do feel like a level of trust and mutual respect is being broken here. Icarus, I am deeply sorry for whatever you are going through, I certainly don’t want to add to it. But, with your silence you are causing a lot of us worry and stress too. We understand, but the lack of communication is troubling. I will cancel my subscription soon too.
Lots of people getting really angry that Icarus is prioritising his family above the porn art he makes. Very weird.
I understand folk would rather have some news than no news, and that some are cancelling subscriptions, but the likelihood is that if he doesn't return in the next few weeks he'll either 1, make up for the slow month by overloading us next month, or 2, refund that month's payment because he doesn't feel he deserves it.
Keep in mind as well that Icarus has been delivering a stupendously high standard of content for us all, at a fraction of the price that some other artists would ask for accounting for the quantity.
Fellas, don't lose your shit. He'll come back, he just needs some time. He isn't intentionally keeping everyone in the dark, he's got shit going on, as everyone is aware. Show some compassion, everything will be alright.
I get what you're saying but this should really be coming from him. All you or I can do is make assumptions and guesses as to how he'll make this right. I'm going off the facts here, and not to sound callous, but regardless of his personal life he needs to show a higher level of professionalism and communicate with his audience. To be clear here, people are not angry he's prioritizing his family, they're angry because he has a terrible habit of disappearing from paying customers without notice.
I don't get why people keep saying this. The main source of anger from Icarus fans is pretty much aimed at the Sprout guy who's saying things like we shouldn't be concerned about $5 or that going radio silent is okay. The people directing frustration (not anger, very different things) at Icarus are simply about the lack of communication, which is a simple professional courtesy.
"Lots of people getting really angry that Icarus is prioritising his family above the porn art he makes."
Lots of people? I'm looking at the thread, and I see the vast majority of people are simply upset he hasn't relayed any information to us. Again, if I just went no contact with my employer for 5 weeks straight, REGARDLESS of whatever reason, I'd have been fired long before that. If he's doing this at a career level (he has long since passed that), some professionalism is expected. That is the only the vast majority of us want and are complaining about. Except maybe one dude, no one is "getting really angry that Icarus is prioritizing his family" - why are people making up "angry boogeymen" in these comments? The Sprout guy did it too.
Where did you read that we are angry because he prioritizes his family? Nobody said that! We are angry because he is not acting professionnally in terms of what communication is expected from somebody who made more than 8500$ in one month. You say "if he does not publish something, he will then do that or do that, because he does not feel he deserves it". Wow... What is the brand of your crystal ball? Or maybe you are lucky to be in contact with him and having news nobody else has? And about the "stupendously high standard" he delivers... did you really take a look to what he did last month? Seriously? The last episode (9c) of Special Delivery is an empty shell. Period. Something absolutely not at the level of what he did before. There is no action at all, it's not even porn, it's just erotic. Absolutely nothing happens, except two girls pushing a table on a door. And,as I am really upset, I will finish by the sentence who made me jump : "I still don't have all the fonts I had on my old machine". Would you accept a plumber paid to come at your house and saying "sorry, I can't finish my work properly, I don't have all tools I had in my old van". Speaking of being professional...
It’s frustration at a lack of communication, we all understand and sympathises if something bad has happened. So, pease don’t put words in other peoples mouths, or dismiss valid feeling and worries with condescension and fabricated assumption.
I am split between being anoyed and understanding with Icarus. On one side I get it, he has family problems. My mom is cancer patient and I have to drive her to hospital for treatment and other stuff and even take care of her afterward cause chemoterapy wreaks havok on ones body and can knock you for loops for few days. On another side, I am paying Icarus. He basicaly earns 10 times my monthly wage, yet he went total radio silence on us and in few days it will be month. Even I check news and email at least once a week. Is it to hard to drop in and write a message? It will take like 2 minutes of his time on phone. We are his "customers" after all.
Thanks for the update. What do you mean by “egged on by his echo chamber” though? It does seem like his communication has become progressively worse and worse. Also, he’s obviously about if he’s on discord, and has probably seen all these messages, so why not put everyone’s mind at ease.
When I say they egged him on, I mean he said "I'll probably post tomorrow" and they were immediately on the "No rush man, we love you, take your time! We're a lot more understanding here on discord. With the quality of the stuff you make you'd be surprised how large gaps people are willing to go through. They can wait until you're rested. Vanish if you need to." And guess what? He vanished again. He also mentioned not looking at his subscribestar page and hoping it wasn't on fire. This dude who gives off strong white knight energy told him it wasn't "But there are some people whom have grown impatient". Same guy then said "I tried to reply to someone saying that you hadn't given a definitive release date, but that was a lost cause. We're a lot more understanding here on Discord. And i am not saying that the people who may have canceled their subscription are not "true fans" or anything like that". It's really sad, I joined the discord when I first subbed as a way to get sneak peaks, spoilers, and updates. What it really is though is like 4-5 people saying good morning every day and then posting really shit art in the art section, and really boring lewds in the lewds section.
You know you can just mention me by name right? @User#422270df
The word "Vanish" also hasn't been said a single time on the server, so please do not put words in my mouth, thanks.
I also find it funny thatr you do not realize that the "shit art" is ironically bad, not unironically bad. That's like, the entire joke that just went straight over your head.
@Bananaman, easy dude. Not putting words in YOUR mouth. jackiepg9 April 21st, 2022 @ 1:13 pm. "Vanish if you need to! Take care of you and yours first". Icarus also used the word vanish right before that in his message. I also know you're a mod so just in case those messages mysteriously go missing, I went ahead and took screenshots. As for you posting ironically bad art, why? Why would you do that? That's really dumb. Like, really, really dumb. You're posting bad art as a joke on a premium discord people have to pay for? What?!? Anyway I'll take my apology and let it go whenever you're ready.
Yeah okay, you got me, but the word "vanish" actually didn't show up when i searched the server last night.
I have no intention of deleting messages just to try to get out of the fact that you caught me, i'm not that kind of moderator.
As for the ironically bad art?
Because why not?
It's something that one member started doing and we've continued doing it as a pseudo-tradition.
Also, there are plenty of people on the discord that are not subbed to Icarus, it's not a secret club for his überfans or anything like that.
As someone who is on the discord and on here, I can see both sides of the issue. On the one hand yeah being on the discord helps to keep in the loop, on the other hand, I can't blame people for wanting updates here and verification on the situation after the long pauses, especially if one *isn't* a part of the discord.
Here are some quotes from the general channel where he checked in before going silent again.
"Icarus — 04/21/2022
I do need to say something, people have been wondering,. I know."
"Icarus — 04/21/2022
I'm not quit but I havent been able to face the comminity because it's hard to talk about the current situation thats taking control"
"just stuff i cant say like they change the chemotherapy drugs to something more agressive, but forgot it's attacking his kidneys, so his ability to filter toxins is comprmised, we nearly lost him over the weekend to the dosage, I have no idea how to talk about this stuff so uh,
i'm sorry i keep vanishing."
"Icarus — 04/21/2022
I'm just real tired of being strong for family, it's burned me out.
i feel I need a minute, and thats turned into a fortnight, and i'm sorry about this."
"Icarus — 04/21/2022
I'm going to take another day to think,
about how to explain my absence on subscribestar thats not going to wallow in shit and make everyone feel awful
and then we'll do some baby steps"
"Icarus — 04/21/2022
I'm actually going to make a call to cubscribestar and see if theres a way to pause payments for a month, i think you've all earned it.
the only way currently is to go through every member on the roster and assign them free membership for a month, individually, for 2000 fans thats going to take a few days
but i'll do it if it's the only wway
Good advice so Avoiding the specifics.Uh, __ but emergency is over. - I'd like to try a weekend session, full stream for 8 hours saturday and sunday, i;d give my left arm to get back to doing something that feels normal."
"Icarus — 04/21/2022
I need to rest, it's been a bad week(s), but my mind's back on artwork again. I think i'd like to pop out of my bunker and pretend nothign happened, rather than drag everyone into it."
"Icarus — 04/21/2022
i'm going to have a rest, just wanted to report in,"
"Icarus — 04/21/2022
i havent even looked at my s.star yet, hopefully not on fire but i hope it'll keep untilthe morning"
"Icarus — 04/21/2022
I'm sure there are some, and thats fair
my last post was promising an episode due about a week ago "
"Icarus — 04/21/2022
and i havent said antyhing since, and thats awful"
"Icarus — 04/21/2022
people are quick to notice patterns, i think this is the longest gap theres been for a year "
"Icarus — 04/21/2022
not theattitude I want to adopt." (the attitude in question being one creator being brought up as only pumping out content once every several months.
"Icarus — 04/21/2022
Simply put, i've been too depressed to face anyone, and the length of time i've been absent is making it harder to recconnect,"
Icarus — 04/21/2022
I want to sleep on it and how to make a positive post.
I do not want the next update to be depressing or heavy. (edited)
ah, see you tomorrow.
goodnight."
These quotes are from the discussion on the 21st when Icarus came up for air. He is very much aware that the situation here on the Sub.Star is not of the good and is not dismissing the feelings of anyone here that is upset about the lack of communication...but he *is* going through a great deal and I think the added pressure of the subscribe star venue is making it harder for him to do *here* what he was able to do in the discord.
Does that excuse him from not trying at all? Honestly no, as someone who has commissioned work as well as being commissioned *for* work, I know all too well how things are on both sides of the divide and while it can be ***beyond*** draining and a struggle to reach out, it does make a difference for trust between artist and supporter. So some word is justifiable deserved here on the discord.
That being said, considering the severity of the family situation, how long he's been actually pushing through this (more than a year I think if not several) and the pressure stated above from both himself and his family...I do not take it personally that Icarus basically shuts down and is unable to reach out except for moments of coming up for air.
Between his own desire to make good, his need to just...recover, and the innate depression and misery of his family situation...He's got little to no give left and is trying to recover before he picks up the pieces.
Speaking only for myself, I can empathize with his situation deeply and am willing to be patient as I have been on the discord and thus been able to get updates on his situation. I also do feel that Icarus hates this situation as much as we do and keeps trying to get back on the horse only to shut down soon after because...as much as one might wish to feel better and get back to it in a rough situation like this, it is rarely so easy.
The fact he is trying to get sub.star to pause this month's payments and fully recognizes that the situation is a mess do also help me as it to me shows he isn't just ignoring the Sub.Star and his supporters, but i can also see how people might feel he is if they aren't big on the discord or feel that if he is neglecting the Sub.star while showing attention to the Discord.
I hope this helps, I hope this clarifies things, and I hope things can improve for all of us as this is still a very rough time in a specific sense and a general sense for the world.
He seems to think he needs to explain his absence or whatever but he just doesn't. I just want to know what's happening with the content schedule. Like, he says:
I'm going to take another day to think,
about how to explain my absence on subscribestar thats not going to wallow in shit and make everyone feel awful
No one needs an explanation on his absence. It's personal, he can feel free to keep it that way. We just want to know a general idea of what to expect. "Hey guys, family issues flaring up. Content schedule currently very up in the air." This would take less than 20 seconds for him to do and put his entire fanbase at ease. It is actually that simple.
Thanks for the update guys. That’s really helpful. I am not on the discord channel, so not privy to these updates. Upsetting to see someone has been misrepresenting people on here though, not sure where he gets off on that. Again, everyone can understand, sympathise with what he’s going through, but I’m not sure how we’re meant to react when there’s a lack of communication. If you are on discord and have that communication, of course you may feel more secure and understanding with what’s happening. If you don’t, then why wouldn’t you wonder and want to ask questions. Most of the time I think the questions were valid, but some seemed to be completely misunderstand, and put words in peoples mouths. I guess it’s the internet though, so this is gonna happen!
I'd like to remind, all of us, that the money we're giving Icarus is a contribution to his artistic efforts. It's not a payment for the content, even if it's how it technically works. We're patrons of him.
I'd rather wait half a year for him to get back to what he was doing, than see some half-assed comics that he would be required to "produce". The last one was not feeling like Icarus at all.
Icarus, if you're reading it - set yourself a reminder to send us something weekly. You're a perfectionist, you hope to come with the best words and explanations possible, bring now some amazing news. They won't come.
We do not expect details about the issues you're going through. It's tough. We just need to know you'll come back.
I am wishing all the best to you and your family.
I whole heartedly agree with everything except your first point. Under his goals section, he did set a goal at $400 for a monthly 30 panel TOI that is both pregnancy and expansion themed. Stating that goal sets a minimum level of content that needs to be delivered at the stated interval (Monthly). Once you put something like that in writing, advertise it publicly, and accept payment for that service, you do take on the obligation to deliver that service. I don't think the label of patron is totally applicable to this situation, there is an expectation of content at a set interval. In that regard, subscriber does seem to be the most accurate descriptor. Patrons have also historically had a percentage of ownership for their artists work, so while they did financially back the artist, it could also be seen as an investment. Icarus retains complete ownership of his work, and should he sell it there is no claim his subscribers can make on the profit, nor claim ownership of the material. We aren't paying for him to make art, we are paying to enjoy the art he makes. That's the big difference.
I fully agree with 422270df. The payment we make are not "contributions", but money we give to get access to something which is protected by a form of copyright. You can make a parallel with Netflix or Disney : you don't contribute to their work, you pay to get access to content. If they promise to deliver a new film for a given date and suddenly freeze their website, what will be reaction of *customers* ? Because, yes, this is what we are! Icarus has announced that there was a goal to reach : "if we reach 400$, there will be 30 frames done", and this is called a contract. No more, no less. Beside this aspect of the things, I felt a bit puzzled when I saw the transcription of the Discord chat. I can't really understand that he found time to chat about his problems (that we can perfectly understand, and I want to say that I truly support him during such an hard time) but he could not come here and drop just a few lines to say the same thing.
@User#5c3ddeea I would wholeheartedly agree with you if not for the fact that he only temporarily paywalls his work. There is iirc 3 month or so delay, but all of his work is accessed for free (including ToI’s) on the Mega account after a certain date. So, in that way it is more or less a mix of contribution and paid early access. Very grey area here
@sprou-t I was not aware of the "free" access via Mega after a certain time. This certainly changes the picture, that's right. And as you say, this is a "grey area" (and personnally, I don't find this normal, as it appears as a breach in Icarus rights as a creator)