Answering questions about Cutepet turning members-only

The following is in response to an e-mail I received from a fan (name withheld to respect his privacy). As he brings up some points that I'm sure other people are wondering about as well, I decided to share my response here on the blog. His comments are in blue.

I can remember years ago when I first happened upon this site.  If memory serves me I believe it was a picture depicting Zelda and Link making love in a rather...."interesting" fashion. From that moment on, I was hooked. To me it was more then just "Porn", it had a particular style and feel...That "jen es se qua" that most other erotic art, especially western art was lacking, I found here at this site.

It's always good to hear from a longtime fan. I'll do my best to address your areas of concern and explain our position on them.

"What an interesting business model" I thought, "they do the some pictures for free and work on tips...making up the difference with special orders and commissions.". A business model that is now becoming even more popular with the times. Which is why...this change confuses me... why would anyone change a business model that was perfectly suited for such an economic environment?

If the commissions and donations business model worked for us, we wouldn't have changed it.

Let's say a commission image costs $300. If a high quality image takes 40 hours to produce, that comes out to only $7.50 an hour. I may as well be working at McDonald's. At the same time, $300 is understandably a lot to ask out of an individual. To make an income that actually pays the bills, I would have to raise my commission prices even higher, but they are already at a point that is beyond most people's means.

Now look at the members-site business model. For $19.99, an individual gets access to weekly picture updates, plus our ten year catalog of art and comics. That's already a better value than a single image for $300. Plus, we hold weekly polls to allow our members to guide the direction of the new content. Basically, the members-site format splits the cost of image creation among an entire community. It allows individuals to be a patron of our artistic endeavors in a way that doesn't break anyone's wallet.

Further more, taking the names of the real artists off the art...Or was this a take over?? Even the Web-blog has gone derelict... ______________*, predominant Voice actor, prefers not to talk about her Hentai days, but she still at least acknowledges them...

(*To respect her privacy, I've removed the name of the voice actress in question.)

No, this is not a takeover. We're still the same two artists who have always updated and created the artwork on Cutepet.

That's really interesting about ________. I didn't know she used to do hentai voice acting. Funny though - I browsed around her website and wiki and couldn't find any reference whatsoever to any sort of adult roles. She may acknowledge her "hentai days" if her fans ask (if someone asks me, I do, too), but I doubt she flaunts it, because it could very well cause her to lose a job. I'll tell you why. Unfortunately, like it or not, porn is NOT favorably viewed upon by everyone. Some employers do not want to hire an artist who has worked on adult content (they honestly fear that the artist might sneak some sex into an assignment, or something 9_9). I can tell you for a fact that an artist can be both interested in creating hentai works and general audience works, just as you probably appreciate both hentai art and general art. Unfortunately, that is difficult for some people to understand, which is why pennames are necessary.

As for not maintaining the web blog, our new site format allows me to offer the same amount of in-depth coverage on our artwork that I was previously doing on the blog. If you enjoyed the work-in-progress imagery on the blog, then you'll love what we've been doing with the new images on the member's site.

Art cannot thrive in a scenario where money is the primary motivation, since money does not do much for inspiration.

Do you feel that way about all professional artists, musicians, writers, etc? I suppose you have this picture in your head of the starving artist who suffers for their artwork, and has to work a job on the side that isn't art-related so that their art remains "pure"? It IS possible for professional artists to be both passionate about their work, and be paid for it. Money does not taint artwork - it allows me to focus on creating good pictures instead of worrying about how I'm going to afford food and a roof over my head. And believe me, if I wasn't passionate about art, I would have quit this profession a long time ago. There's a lot of other far easier and more lucrative ways out there to make a living.

Furthermore, the members-site model allows me to be more artistically free than ever before. Every picture I now create consists of my own unique ideas (guided by member feedback, of course), as opposed to the ideas dictated by a commission client. Plus, knowing that people are paying for my work drives me to continuously push what I'm capable of doing.

P.S. You may want to flog whom ever wrote/approved the "info" section on the main page... For one, it's got grammar issues galore.

As I mentioned earlier, everything on the website is written and created by us, info section blurb included. I proofread everything, but I know I'm not perfect. I would very much appreciate it if you could be kind enough to point out to me those grammatical issues so that I may fix them.

Secondly, its kinda sexist..."box of tissues" implies male masturbation...do you really think only men enjoy this sort of art?? Bad form...

That was more of a tongue-in-cheek comment than anything. On the topic though, as a woman, I'd love for there to be more women who enjoy this sort of artwork, but honestly, a large majority of our fan base is indeed male--that's not sexist, just a fact.

Thanks for your e-mail. I hope I helped better explain our reasoning for the change in our website format.

Best regards,
Mina