Becoming a Published Artist
Overdrawn
Posts: 561
Does anyone have "pro tips" on becoming a Published Artist? I submitted my first character to the pa@ address last week, and I suppose now I'm in for the "long wait" that is submission processes. :)
My personal interests are in creating characters, natural figures (a bit less...idealized than the typical figures here), and pose sets.
Specific things i'm wondering include:
- typical turn around time on submissions (guessing my first one'll be a long one!)
- can I do pose sets for non-Daz Original figures (as in one's made by other PA's)?
- can I do "go to" poses for furniture and environments (some DO; some PA)?
- any other "pro tips?" :)
Thanks for any and all input you may have! I hope that things I'm making will be useful to more than just me, soon. ^_^
Post edited by Overdrawn on
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Comments
New Users are not likely to have any views on this, as normally only experienced users apply to be PAs, your thread would be better off it it was moved to the Commons.
You can do that by clicking on edit for your post, and selecting a different forum from "Categories"
Yeah...maybe this isn't the best forum either... Many more questions adding to my mental list, though. :)
There was a thread a few weeks back that asked some questions. You might glean some information from it.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/989219/#Comment_989219
Easily the most important element to get noticed in the submission process, is nice promo art.
And there was also this thread asking a similar question, sort of.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/988552/#Comment_988552
So. The "Art of the Promo" thread is very inspiring! Thanks for starting that, FirstBastion.
I've changed my avatar to the current figure I'm hoping to get into the store.
Does it make sense to start a thread in the "Art Studio" section for a pre-release promo image review? Takes a bit out of the "unveiling", I suppose, but the feedback would be helpful.
So. I've heard back, and my first figure didn't make the cut--which wasn't too suprising as I'm new at this. ;)
Here's the discussion thread I started in the Art Studio: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/71743/meet-tamar
The key feedback from the pa@ review team was that the character space was very crowded, but that getting feedback on the forums was a great idea.
My plan now is to continue re-working Tamar, finish off another character I've started, but then shift my focus to poses and "go to" poses for existing environments. I'm hoping that "go to" poses for existing environments is a) allowed / doable and b) of interest to "the market" here. :)
Thanks for any and all advice you have for a would-be PA!
The image you showed looked very washed out and could not really see the texture details.
It seemed like the morphs were made from spinning dials of existing sets, and required the purchase of shaping sets to work. While this is not a problem per-ce, it is something that makes a set less interesting. Making something custom and unique is more interesting.
Pose sets are also a market that is pretty heavily saturated, and making good realistic poses is not easy...and in general pose sets are not big sellers.
What you really have to do is find your own unique niche of things you like to do and try to become the best at it. Make something that is better than what can already be found in the shop....then that is where you start
More bikinis! :)
less bikini on the bikini but more bikinis is key.
Does less than a square foot of guaze tied on with lightweight monofilament line count?
I've got a journal on this one.
And a follow-up.
Hey, Sickle...why don't you just gather all those up and publish an ebook?
You have your own bookmark folder now...
Yeah. Sorry about that. I'm still working on the best set of settings for the machine I used for the rendering. The texture is a "stock" one. I've got more to learn in that area...and pondering that, sticking with "body shapes" (vs. characters) might be a better alternative for the moment.
Right. So far this is done with a set of morph packages--all of which can be "bundled" via Resource Kit compatible licensing, so shipping them without the "overhead" purchasing those morph sets should be fine. However, I realize there's only so far "a bunch of dials" can be taken...but Zbrush (and friends) are farther away from me than the 9th planet at present. Trying to start small.
Good input, thanks! The poses I'd like to make (for myself or others) are go-to poses for existing environments ('cause I'm making them anyway) and poses (and body shapes) from art work of yester year--as my the "fine" art I hope to make with these figures is conceptually based on some of these. We'll see...I guess...
Yeah. Feeling that out now, so thanks for the confirmation! ^_^
These links are fabulous, SickleYield! It also reminded me that DeviantArt has non-image content as well. :) Thanks! Following your signature links also. Greatness. Thanks!
Thanks for the info, very intersting.
Have you tried Blender? Its free! and a lot less scary than it used to be. There are a lot of tutorials floating around here for it
For a beginner (of which I still am as well) I highly recommend Hexagon. Even though it hasn't been updated in a long time, I've not had compatability issues and it seems to run better on Win10 than it did on Win7 which ran just fine for me. Also it's dirt cheap and easy to learn.
j.cade good point on Blender! I've downloaded it a few times (over the years), but have historically been scared off by the UI--"all that power. in an itty bitty living space!" ;) I'll definitely hunt down some tutorials, though, and see what I can learn! Thanks!
kaotkbliss, somehow I'd missed how cheap Hexagon was, thanks! Not sure it's in the budget, atm, but I'll keep an eye on it!
I've also taken a brief look at Wings3D (mentioned elsewhere in similar threads) which looks promising also--and, like Blender, is about as cheap as it gets. ;)
Thanks for all this feedback!
Blender and Wings3D are probably the two best known ones in the free category.
Another one...
K3D: http://www.k-3d.org/
You shows a few picture.
There is no many men clothing, I know many users claim that, maybe this is an oportunity...
and asides bikinis, they're useless with my figures with well endowed frontals, I'm tired to use Z scale over and over.
for Poses, there is a slight market for them, specially hand poses for G3 and Sleeping/eating/ driving/common poses that nobody does, sexy poses is SATURATED,
other goal is common props, but well done props!, not low poly freebies, a coke bottle, a lighter, I'm also tired to import this items from Sketchup and from Keyshot.
for monsters and buildings, that classes are covered.
They would be obsolete by the time I could get it published! It's why I do so much that's bare bones text posts (although I have the ability to do videos relatively fast now).
Heck, a collected PDF of the dA pages to download would be enough...
Truthfully, I would like to see more items with cross-figure support than gender specific items.
I think you're definitely on to something there. There's some good every day stuff out there, but not enough. I'm using 3D to create promo art and book covers for a romantic comedy series set in the rural Midwest. Trying to find normal clothes and everyday tiems is sometimes a challenge. The fantasy, superhero and historical stuff is great, but I need to dress my men and women in things that people actually wear every day. And finding modest clothing to put on a child is a real challenge. K4 has a bit, but I like using the morphs for G2 and G3 and aging the figures backwards to childhood. The problem is, most of the clothing is too risquee for kids to wear. There's some out there, but I wish there was more that wasn't super tight fitting. Maybe that stuff doesn't sell, and that's why.
I'm happy with the stuff I've found, but wish there was more of it. I'm learning how to alter what I do find with fabricator and the surfaces tab. I'm not good enough in these programs to model my own stuff yet. I'm having the same problem with vehicles. I had a heck of a time finding normal cars and anything realistic for a firetruck. The firefighter uniforms I ended up using are from M4. The only thing created recently was "Fire Hazard", which is cute but skimpy and doesn't add much protection from a real fire. I can't put that outfit on a male firefighter unless he's going to a drag club, LOL.
Just adding my two cents. Not everyone is looking for the same thing. Seems like there are plenty of opportunities out there in the more empty categories, and "everyday" is definitely one of them!
Strictly from a consumer perspective--I like what you are thinking in terms of normal looking human character morphs that have...well, character. Vendors seem to think all characters should have a cute button nose and full lips (and be 20 years old) and end up producing stiff, generic useless clones with perfect skin and no uniqueness that are boring as hell to look at. The best character morphs I've ever seen were able to capture asymmetry and imperfections well and still managed to make a character be attractive in its own way.
As far as other products--any kitbashing stuff will do well. If I can buy a set of items that is flexible enough to be adapted/used in different situations or environments, that's a sale as the return on investment is huge. Some of my favorite products are non-specific items or sets of items I can adapt to different renders.
And for the love of God don't be another skimpwear clone vendor. If I see another medieval female warrior outfit where the only thing armored is the boobs and the botton is just chain mail panties I'm going to puke. I can't believe that crap sells.
Hey, it's F*A*N*T*A*S*Y....but damn, imagine the chafing...
Besides, it's M*A*G*I*C armor...+20 (due to distraction factor...although why would a bunch of irate FEMALE orcs be distracted by the amount of flesh some human or elven hussy is showing...that's why they are irate in the first place! And dragons...'Yum! I do LOVE the soft-shelled ones! I really HATE picking bits of chainmail from between my teeth.')
At least the guys get leather or fur 'down there'.
I am just the opposite, good thing it does sell and we have options. I am a big Red Sonja fan and snatch every outfit that comes close to that style. I also model my own outfits and props and have thought about being a vendor several times. If I did, I would design what I like and it would include fantasy type outfits that you seem to hate, good thing I am not a vendor, LOL.
To the OP, finding a niche is important, but from experience, if you don't enjoy/like what you are developing, it can get tedious and old pretty quick.