February 24, 2016

Support Science Art on Patreon

http://www.birdandmoon.com/A brief overview of some great science comics that you can support on Patreon.

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

Have you heard all about the new way to support creators you love? It’s called Patreon. It’s a way to give recurring donations and get fun perks from artists, writers, podcasters, musicians, squirrels, and filmmakers. All that great stuff.

Unlike a one-time fundraising push for a big project via Kickstarter or Indiegogo, Patreon allows creators to infuse some level of financial predictability and stability into their creative routine. And it grants patrons behind-the-scenes access, patron-only content, perks, and rewards.

Truly everyone wins.

On supporting science journalism

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Patreon is absolutely brimming with talented, amazing people. But I’m going to tell you about a few creators that I back myself becasue they’re doing work I admire and appreciate. (Also, I’d give myself an F- in self-promotion if I didn’t mention that I, too, have a Patreon. You can check it out here.)

But on to these wonderful people (besides myself) who could use your support:

Wild City: Urban nature comics

This is a new collaboration between Rosemary Mosco and Maris Wicks. You might know Mosco from her work on her nature comic series Bird and Moon. She writes the Wild City comics, and Wicks illustrates them. These two bring light-hearted wit to such topics as Hollywood's house finches, the slow growth of lichen, winter moth romance, staticky storm clouds, and city turkey secrets.

Quark Comics: (Self-described) silly science art

This is a fun comic series by artist Hadria Beth. Many of her comics are about astronomy, such as planets discussing the latest space news. You should definitely check it out.

Maki Naro: Science comics and more

Maki Naro is a science comic pro. His previous work is on sci-ence.org, and now you can find him on PopSci’s Boxplot and his Kickstarted strip Sufficiently Remarkable.

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This is but a tiny taste of the amazing talent you can find and support on Patreon. In case you’re wondering how you can make the internet a better place—keeping it full of wonderful creative people making content we can all enjoy—this is it. You have to kick in a buck or two to keep this creative ship afloat. Get on it.

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When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.

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Thank you,

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