Thank you for your input, here and elsewhere! :)
http://www.patreon.com/jennydolfen
Patreon is a site where you can support artists you like creating stuff that you love. It works a little like an ongoing Kickstarter – the pledges start much lower, and the rewards are ongoing, too.
It’s a dream of mine to be able to work as an artist full-time. Patreon gives me the chance to try if it can work. If you can imagine supporting me – starting as low as 1$ per month – head over and see what’s in store for you in return! :)
This is still very experimental, and if you have any more good ideas for rewards or stuff to do and share in the patrons’ feed, please let me know!
Jenny Dolfen Art 
Done. :hug:
Jenny,
I’m gonna be cheeky and ask you for a favour ;-)
I know a lady who is working on a big creative project and I had suggested Patreon as a way for her to fund herself. I think I linked her your Patreon page as well. I think she’s kinda “suffering for her art” (had a message that she’s not been very well) I wonder if maybe you could give her some friendly advice on how to set up Patreon best to suit her and maybe other creative matters?
Her name is Tsvetelina, here is her FB page;
https://www.facebook.com/ParmaEldalieva
and website;
http://www.parmaeldalieva.com/
cheers, Floss.
P.S. We need to talk about Túrin’s armour ;-)
The hugest issue with everything sponsorship-related is always twofold:
1. Offer something that people really want, but that won’t ruin you (financially or workload-wise) to make and ship,
2. Have a fanbase. That’s probably what causes the most failures. The rule of thumb that I have found applies to my work is: You have to plan so that less than 1% of your fans supporting you will get you there.
That is disheartening, but realistic (at least for me). My Indiegogo campaign drew in 300 people, my Patreon has so far drawn in 41, of a following of 30.000 on deviantart, 2,000 on Tumblr and 3.500 on Facebook. Considering that many in there are inactive or count double as they follow me on more than one channel, I probably have an active fan following of about 4,000 people. 1% of those supporting me is actually a pretty good turnaround.
Other dA artists I know on Patreon have watcher-> sponsor ratios of 300.000->2,000, or 50,000->45. Facebook plays a huge role in that, as does the nature of what you’re offering. If you’re appealing to students, you can expect support but not much money. If you’re doing something more scholarly you will not get that much support because your target group has less of in Internet affinity, but the ones who do support you may be willing to offer more.
Túrin’s armour: I’ll write you a mail! :)