Good evening, gang! If you're me, and you work the hours, I do, typing this 20 minutes to midnight is still 'evening.' Cool it.

Overall, while we didn't unlock everything, we had a pretty successful run. It was a difficult year for Pintopia projects in general, but I'm satisfied with where we're at. I know we wanna get to the meat of things, so...

Here's some quick numbers.

As mentioned, we have 79 total pin designs. Our two final 1.5" designs are the Duck Toller and the Werewolf!

The Duck Toller is our last-minute sponsor, from a very passionate breed enthusiast. These aren't the most common canines around, but they're an unmistakable working dog. Thank my buddy Fieldpup for this one, dog collectors!

Our Werewolf, ever popular (for better or... for, uh, rabid), will also be available.

You guys don't understand. I have already been paid unspeakable amounts of money to draw this character in compromising situations. Was the halal plate worth it? Who knows, man. But that fish fry got me through vectors, so, thanks, I guess.

We need to have a quick, downer, type of talk about the rest of the MONSTERS tier. I've tried to be pretty open about fraudulent, cancelled, or heavily downgraded pledges being an issue this Pintopia, and, lo and behold, it is going to bite us in the ass a bit here.

Our last-minute $600 pledge I was worried about did end up paying. However, we are out a startling amount due to failed charges right now. Cards just started charging today, so this is recoverable. But, due to an exceptionally high number of failed payments on my last campaign, and the extremely high rate of cancellations already, I am going to be erring on the side of caution.

Go make sure your card is up to date - mine wasn't! I was that guy, too. Sorry, everyone!

I may make the other MONSTERS pins available as cards successfully charge. However, it is a risky move to self-fund 4 more pins with the net amount we're looking at right now. I'm looking for total charges, plus after-campaign numbers, to reach about $16.5k to get here. I'll keep you posted. I'm sorry to disappoint, but, there are other options for now!

There are still preorders, too, to make up that number, so we'll see where we go.

 

So, what's next?

For me, it's custom pins. I have two of you, one with a good email rapport and references, and one who needs to send me some more information. I'm headed downstate for Chinese new year, so realistically, you're gonna be hearing from me the 20th or 21st. Not too late to send me additional refs or ideas, though!

We're on schedule for surveys, if not a little ahead of time. I've been getting pledge manager stuff set, getting giveaway and promotional backers smacked with some extra credits, and getting pin renders cleaned up. Late February, early March, is a good time to start expecting your survey.

Preorder store's probably coming then, or earlier! If you missed the campaign, you still have a chance to get pins at the $9 a head rate. While discount tiers are gone, and there won't be any more freebies, you can purchase most stuff at the campaign price, and you'll get it when our backers do in the spring.

I have some catch up work to do, too. There's still a few stragglers from CC who need custom work done. If this is you, please reach out to me.

If you purchased a CUSTOM CRIME for CRITTER CRIMES, you were subjected to unfair delays due to circumstances outside of your control. You are entitled to a $10 campaign credit on your C3 pledge. Contact me either in our work thread, or in a new email, to apply this to your campaign. This is even if you got your CUSTOM CRIME pledge already.

What's next next?

This is a hard one, and I will say, outright, I may lose a lot of you on my next project.

Let's stay vague: I am workshopping a mid-sized group event with several other creators for November. It's not golden age-styled animals, but it's something that became very dear to me this past year.

If this project is for you, it will really be for you. But, if it's not, there might be something else from another one of the wonderful, talented illustrators who have agreed to take the plunge with me.

That's all I can share for now, until we all have more done and we're given the green light by BackerKit. I'm hoping I have something to show you all soon.

As of right now, I'm OK with how C3 turned out. Things could have gone better, but in terms of everything I had in my reach, I did what I could. I turned out better than a lot of other Pintopia artists this year. Frankly, there's not really anything that made that difference except my audience. You turned out in droves for this, and for a project I was wary of taking a risk on.

Thank you for being here for these past couple weeks.

Let's talk after I get some damn sleep.

Good evening, gang!

Woof, shit fucking sucks, and shit just stopped sucking enough that I can get some thoughts typed out beyond "things are still happening" and "I'm so sorry."

Work chaos, personal chaos, and customs issues have been devouring every spare second I have for the past few weeks. Cherry on top, my ever-reliable work Honda decided that this is the first time, in almost 30 thousand miles with me, that a stock part was going to break and nearly total itself.

Thankfully, that didn't happen, and we caught the timing belt tension just in time. Lesson learned, $3,000 spent, when your Boxer the Horse-esque Japanese workhorse vehicle starts complaining, listen to it earlier.

Now that things have calmed down a little, I have a couple updates on C3.

I've been lagging behind on getting everything done, so it's only fair: I'm extending surveys and preorders until next Friday, April 3rd.

You will be able to add new pins, change your picks, and place new preorders until then. We will be locking orders that night.

This is also the new deadline to fix failed card charges. If your credit card on file with BackerKit is NOT up to date, make sure it's corrected by April 3rd. I will be cancelling all orders that are unpaid by the middle of April. You will not have a chance to pay for your pledge or get campaign rates after this.

To lessen the load of some of the time-wasting bullshit happening in the background, I've got a sale up on the KPH store. Most of my prior projects are up at a considerable discount.

BIRD CRIMES and CRITTER CRIMES enamel pins are 30% off. GOLDEN AGE PARROTS pins are 35% off. Both projects also have B-grade 5 packs for $25 and $30 each. Get some rejects for dirt cheap wholesale prices!

LITTLE SHITS, my ever-popular 1" stickers, are finally back up in the store for a bit. I'll be taking them down at the end of this sale to re-inventory them. If you want some of these cuties, snag 'em now - there's birds, dogs, zoo animals, and some pride-themed little guys.

 

I've also listed my COOP CO-OP chicken pins, finally. There's some wonderful cartoon chooks now available, for my lawn raptor enjoyers. This is the first time I've ever had these pins for sale outside of a convention, so check them out!

These'd be a nice Easter egg prize for an adult who's outgrown the hunts, or a secular spring piece.

If you're interested in anything from my shop, and rightfully want to save money on shipping, leave me a note to hold on to your stuff 'till we ship C3 out this summer.

So, last update, I posted a banner for something fun and unique and totally real I promise. Unfortunately, BackerKit's technical back end disagreed. Immediately, I got DM's from like a dozen of you asking what the hell the 404 was.

Silver lining here. There's more to talk about, more to show off, and I got some of my crunch rage out in the emails getting the miscommunications sorted out. Awesome.

It's no secret I've been slogging a lot more on stuff since GOLDEN AGE. I've been cooking ways to deal with it. It's a game of balancing unfucking my personal life, managing increasingly large-scope projects, and making sure my rent still gets paid.

The solution to dodging burnout is a passion project.

This is, also, the solution to increasing creator concerns about BackerKit's official group projects.

TRIBUTES is a collection of fan-made video game pins by experienced enamel pin artists.

HUSTLE regulars will probably smirk at some names in here: we have bird queen Corviforms, "what the fuck why did nobody make circuit board pins before this"artist CZGold, among others who aren't quite ready to show their hands yet. 

Here's a few deliberately crunchy previews from the group:

If you're a video game or visual novel fan, give this project a look. Craving some obscure cult JRPG pins? Miss your favorite childhood PC edutainment game? Salty that all your favorite characters ever get is a funko pop? We got you. 

We are still in the VERY early stages of stuff on our end. Our final creator lineup will be revealed in May. There's some incredible artists from the cartoon and furry side of things, who I'm proud to have on board.

I will be making Metaphor: ReFantazio fan pins - both 2.5" Tarot style display pieces, and 1.5" cameo portraits.

TRIBUTES is launching in November, and this is meant to be a sneak peek to ready your wallet.

I'll be sharing more as we hit more milestones for the group. Go follow the group page, and browse some of the individual projects as they take shape!

Good afternoon, gang!

Quick check-in - stuff is still very messy behind the scenes, but we're in a spot we have the numbers we need to get orders started.

We'll be locking orders and closing the preorder store on March 30th. You have one more week to finish your survey, add pins, or preorder C3 pins/stickers.

As long as I get custom pins set, we should still be on schedule for summer 2026 fulfillment. We're sitting at 93% surveys, but, I'd like to give our stragglers a little bit longer to get stuff in. It's only fair - I'm lagging behind a little, too.

I'm sorry things are still behind over here. Thank you for bearing with me.

It's a bit of a ways out, but, if you want to get ahead of the curve, I do have a November project cooking. Saying it's just pins is... a little bit of a lie. Just a little.

We have a big collaborative event happening in early November. "We," being, a bunch of freelance artists who wanted to make some fun self-indulgent stuff for once. Some of them are customers I'm flattered to have the chance to work with.

Check out teasers that are up so far here - and check back later for more.

Good evening, gang!

Not too much to report. I'm handling a little chaos at the day job, thanks for bearing with it.

I know we have a good chunk of first-timers here because of Pintopia, so if you're having trouble navigating to your survey, listen up!

You can check all your pledges and surveys through your BackerKit profile here. This is the easiest way to complete, check, or change surveys for any project. 
 

If you're reading this in your inbox, and you really don't want to go digging on BackerKit, you can grab it thru email too. Search CHALLENGE COIN CRITTERS.  You should have something that says "Response Needed" - I'm using another project as an example here.

The more surveys I have in, the more accurate my order will be.

Surveys officially close March 30th. We'll be considering pledges with unfinished surveys forfeitted on May 12th. Your pledge will be considered a donation to help make stuff for backers who paid and filled stuff out. I can't refund things after this date, and I won't be honoring campaign prices.

You already paid for your pins... tell me which ones you want!

I'm behind on custom work due to the black mold renovations, and cascading staffing issues at the day job. The rest of this week is busy, but I hope to finally get a damn minute to sit down and finish thumbnails for our customs this Friday.

Last thing of note: I will be at Anthrocon this year. I won't be selling my own stock, but I'll be handling things for another artist. Barring any complications, we should be on-track for Anthrocon pickup as promised. Table number TBD.

If you are interested in AC pickup in Pittsburgh, PA, set your shipping to LOCAL PICKUP and email me at [email protected].

Let's check in once more surveys are answered. Locking backs have been ordered, but I need more numbers to get stickers. I hope to have those in by the next time you hear from me.

Good evening, gang!

Work has been on halt for the past week, while I get my floor ripped up and replaced. The good news, is, things should be finishing up and going back to normal tomorrow. 

No more getting up and spraying the subfloor with bleach like I'm watering the plants 3 times a day. No more birds in my living room and office. Imagine. 

Art for custom pins should be starting back up next week, and so should everything else HUSTLE related. I just need to poke you guys about surveys real fast.

There's 55 of you guys who need to go pick your pins. 13 still have failed cards on file, so, in case that's you, go make sure what you've got on your account is up to date!

Having most of the surveys in means I have a good idea of which pins are the most popular, and how many to order for retail. While pins have a MOQ, and I can ballpark the rest, stickers are made to-order. If you don't fill your survey out, I may not order a less popular design you wanted. Go check your survey!

Our surveys officially close on March 30th, so you have time. But, we're definitely lower than we should be right now. If you're new to BackerKit (I know a lot of people are, after every Pintopia), and you need help with surveys, feel free to ask questions under the update and I can walk you through. You can check if yours is filled, and finalized, here:

If we hit 90% survey completion by this Monday, I'll toss a 30% sale on the retail HUSTLE site. Little treat for everyone hanging on for dear life thru the black mold adventure with me.

Other than that, my order for locking pinbacks is in, and those'll probably hit the states the middle of this month. I have a few back burner art things, and custom badges, I can't pick up till the birds are out of my office. 

Let's talk after I get some more numbers. I'd love to get you guys a list of top pin picks - we just need a few more surveys done!