Tag Archives: crowdfunded artist

It’s my 54th birthday! Please help me keep making art :)

Berlin artist Suzanne Forbes in La Femme en Noir in kitchen Jan 3 2020Hi! I’m 54!

I look great, right? I love my self-cut hair, my fat disabled body, my powerhouse survivor’s journey of recovery and growth, and the 1,265 unique pieces of original art I’ve made since I started my Patreon crowd-funding!

And I need your help. To keep making art and to become a permanent resident of Germany.

Can you spare $1/1€ a month to support my crowdfunded documentary art of queer culture?

Crowdfunded Berlin artist Suzanne Forbes Jan 3 2020 4I am incredibly grateful to the small group of very generous Patrons who have made my free queer art possible the last five years.

Because of my Patrons, I’ve been able to make documentary art of Queer Berlin and release it for free, even as I become increasingly disabled by autoimmune illness and C-PTSD. Most of my Patrons have been with me from the beginning, and their support is my treasure, my power center, my grail.

My income is half what it was last year, as Patrons’ circumstances have changed, the censorship impact of SESTA/FOSTA means I have to do my more explicit work for free, and people can’t afford to buy my original art at present.

And I’m gonna earn way less this year, as I need to reduce my posting while I (finally!) learn German and recover from burnout.

I was posting like 14 times a month for much of last year, and donating all my extra money to mutual aid! It was awesome. But also crisis-based and unsustainable. This year I’m exhausted, burned out, very sick, AND it is time for us to apply for permanent residency in Germany!

crowdfunded Berlin artist Suzanne Forbes Jan 3 2020 in salonPlease help me show a stable income as we apply for permanent residency!

All I need is a dollar/euro a month from you, for this one year. If you can’t sign up for my Patreon, please share this post on your socials (yes even FB, even though I don’t have a FB account) and tell people about how I make documentary art and release it for free.

You can see the 298 original pieces of art I made thanks to my Patrons in 2020 here.

308 pieces of art I made in 2019 here.

255 pieces of art I made in 2018 here.

280 pieces of art I made in 2017 here.

Some of the around 100 pieces of art I made in 2016 here.

Some of the around 40 pieces of art I made in 2015. the year I started my Patreon, here.

The single posted work of art I made in 2014, the last year I had a day job, here.

Yeah, it makes all the difference, I can’t actually make art if I have to hold any kind of job. But with Patron support, I make so much art, and you can help!

Vaccine Phoenix on balcony by Suzanne Forbes March 2020I love you, I believe in you, our love and our bravery and our persistence is FIRE.

You can share my socials, twitter is @slurketta and insta is here.

 

Roundup of my open-source crowd-funded documentary art for 2018!

Suzanne Forbes crowd funded open source art 2018Hello all my dear ones, readers/friends/muses/Patrons/collectors! It’s my 52nd birthday!

I made over 250 individual pieces of finished documentary art in 2018, despite a year of health challenges (including being in a bus accident that busted up my drawing hand, ongoing menopause & auto-immune problems and my hb’s health issues!). That’s right baby! More diversity, representation and beautiful human stories than ever! 

Easy to view and search albums here. Scroll the whole stream of thousands of drawings here.

The only reason it was possible: the financial support of my Patrons on Patreon. Thank you, my darlings!!!!!!!

As always, the best birthday present you can give me is sharing and tweeting and facebooking my Patreon!

For the biggest boost of all, totally free to you!!!, PLEEEEAASE, I beg you, submit my documentary artwork project to ColossalLaughingSquidMy Modern MetBoredPanda, Vice, Women’s Art on twitter, Beautiful Bizarre, Brown Paper Bag, Creative Uprising, PaintGuide, and/or any of these other sites. Starter text at bottom to give you an idea how to do that!

I don’t make art if I don’t get paid. I don’t have the strength to make art for free.

To me, there is no greater validation of my work than getting money (to use for food and medicine) for it. So the last three and a half years on Patreon have been amazing, a total revelation in how happy and fulfilled I can be. You can help on Patreon, for as little as a dollar/euro a month.

https://www.patreon.com/join/SuzanneForbes?

Schwester Francine of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at Folsom Europe Sept 20 2018 by Suzanne Forbes

Schwester Francine of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at Folsom Europe Sept 20 2018 by Suzanne Forbes

I love you all so much, and I’m so grateful to you for supporting my work. 

I am not giving up and I will keep working. Despite advancing arts censorship in the US and UK, I believe crowdfunding and releasing my art open source is the way for me. And of course I am available for private portrait commissions too 😉

Yours in love, hope and solidarity,

my best wishes for 2019,

Your Suz

Sample text/project descriptions for submission to art news websites:

  • Former courtroom artist makes a life’s work of open source documentary art, live-drawing scenes from sex parties to the Berlin subway.
  • Former DC artist documents alternative culture by drawing live on the scene, then distributes her work open-source.
  • Huge open source queer and alternative culture art archive in jeopardy from SESTA/FOSTA.
Suzanne Forbes is an expat New Yorker by way of the Bay Area, using the skills she developed as a courtroom artist to live-draw queer, trans and alternative culture. Much like the embedded combat artists who traveled with troops in World War One, she draws live on the scene for public distribution. Instead of newspapers, her drawings are published open source for anyone to print and share on flickr and her blog. Her documentary art project has been running since 2005, and is crowd-funded through Patreon. Her mission is to tell unique human stories, with a focus on visibility and representation.
albums of my work for free download and sharing here! Such as “Sweet Queer Gay Trans Love“.