Some interesting points going on here.

@ hanz0: I think you would be crazy not to just do art as a hobby in tb. Also, I've yet to see "good" completed fully jointed set that wasn't painted in mudbox, why did you stop. it seems like everyone stops right around the midsection.

@ ezeth: perhaps you are correct. It is easier to slop some colors around on the set once you get a head to push it into a set. and in that case you just have to rationalize with how much time you are willing to put into it vs how much you want from it.

I guess that brings the question then of how "good" are body textures expected to be. Because some of some older sets: that muscle set, the membrain set with the people in the skin, and other similar sets. You could say that those textures are as good as the head.


@ pimp: the art market is actually so weird. I have actually no idea how half the prices get to where they are and some just stay at nothing. The most interesting thing to me however, is that a "known" artist can make a piece of junk and sell it for more than an unknown artist's masterpiece.

Requests are a whole different thing than selling a new original piece in my opinion. On a request the buyer wants it real bad. On a selling thread you have to convince someone they want it real bad in order to get close to the same prices.

Why do people struggle so much with mapping? We have had perfect rigs around for nearly 10 years ever since ronalds compiled his guide. You are telling me people still have trouble with mapping? If someone is having trouble, it's because they ignore the effort their seniors have put in, making things harder for themselves.

Not too long ago someone wondered how to map a head! I mean really, come on...



Personally I only made art for fun, and I sold some as low as 500tc, and I sold some for a lot (real world equivalent amount maybe $500 USD), even recently I made a lot of 3d items which I then gave away. I think 99% of artists are in the same boat as me, we make art primarily for our own interest, regardless as to whether we sell it or keep it, if it's for a request or on a whim. Art is made for it's own sake, profit is secondary (if it a consideration at all!).

if u dont want to then just dont its fucking logic , you chose to make a set make it , if u dont wanna make it dont make it. no one is forcing you and tc isnt time , you are just pretending it is. key word = pretending

Moved to a more appropriate board, as there is room for discussion here.

just sell every piece of a set individually if you deem them to have the same quality and time put in as the head..

i can just talk for myself and i know the struggle you have with it.
i cant understand most of the prices paid for jointed but cp sets... its sometimes really ridiculus. no offence to flyingmonk but i'm no fan of his art but there are many ppl paying with real money or buying tc to get his sets.
and then there are artists that take a lot of effort to paint a whole set by themselfs also with joints who dont get their stuff sold.

i quitted making sets when the joints came out. i like the idea of a completely texturized tori but i wont take the effort to make like 40pieces for the price of 18...

(dont get me wrong.. i dont make my stuff for money or tc.. i make it because of fun and exercise and how different you can make a texture.. but i refuse to give it all for free so i make them in my freetime and when i dont want them to rot in my folder, i sell them.)

sets take a lot of effort compared to a head.
e.g.:
3-6h for the head (perfect mapping, colorchoise, concept)
now the set:
10-20h max. (you propably know how it should look like because of the head)

head= ~50k if its good
with set= ~200-300k if it is really good.

so if its 300k, 1/6th of the whole 18-19parts each individually made is just the head.
so even if you do it for fun or as a hobby you would propably just keep it for yourself instead of selling... its not worth it.
the best feeling for me as 'artist' is when someone appreciates my work.. and i don't feel like they do when an auction for a set, with much effort in it, ends with a highest bid of 50k..

to sum it up,
i agree with you ^^

and maybe it will raise the prices of sets that are amazing (like ferrock, vermine etc.) into infinite because there will most likely never be something like this again

I personally do heads because it is more benefit of a texture you could have with less work and effort you do.
head textures looks like fair, but in fact it is far from fair as you see in a real world of art you could have more doing portraits, caricatures, real logos and animations, so toribash textures are underrated and the market is not paying for that.

the main reason for not doing much more heads was because of this.
there is a long wait to find a customer or a worthy request that you feel fair.

I dont recommend anyone to texture, if you have a good skill in shading, try to use it in other kinds of arts, because textures are underrated.

@dengue I think you can't compare tb art to real world art... I've done graphics for both and you are right.. RL pays better but just because they need artists not like here where you can handle it like items. RL art like van gogh or Picasso sells so high because it can't be reproduced anymore and it were the first pieces of their kind.

Here it's like you decide what stuff you would like to wear or what you think can be sold for more money than actually bought. Noone buys Cp art because he thinks it gets them money.

Fair is a word that is depending on each themself...

i would like to add my opinion on this,
i think it has to do with the TC value,i remember it used be like
some the best sets were made for 200k to 500k tops,
now you see people practically begging the art community
to make a set in any price and the artists are like "mehh"

just take a look at the request thread,you will see 400k and 500k
requests and the only one that replies is probably themselves to bump
the thread.

I mean personally I agree, money wise its always more profitable to just make head textures if you know what you're doing in terms of "What people want to buy".

I mean look at some of my last bits of work.

This head sold for 35k



This set sold for about 60k



Took me a lot longer to make the set, mainly because I suck as mapping body textures and needed to think about what to do.

I could have made two simple heads in that time and probably made the same or more TC from that. So in regards to pure profit Heads are usually better.

Now if you're asking why someone will still make sets knowing this then its simple. Most artist do art because they love art and seeing people enjoy their art, that and they like the fame of doing good art. So if you're known for putting out whole textures sets that are top quality you'll have much more fame than someone just doing head textures. Also in regards to TC that fame from making sets could drive the price of your work up higher since you're a popular artist that people want to own something from.

And I mean if you master things like mudbox then most of the troubles of making texture sets suddenly just kinda disappears.