NEW! Novica & Invited Guest Contributors Tips & Product Reviews Pt 5
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What is your art background? -I was really lucky to grow up with a mother who loved art and was very artistic/creative herself so art has always been a big part of my life. My folks loved to travel and so I've seen a wide variety of art and art related places. I have an art education degree from the University of Georgia but it turns out I do not have the patience for schools no matter how much I love teaching and kids.
What was your first product ever released? How did you decide to start with that one? -I can't really remember for sure. It was either a vampire character in December or an add on texture for the MDF that turned it into sort of short Roman inspired warriors outfit. Neither made a ripple of course. I think I thought I could dream up a different spin on what ever it was. Which I did. And while I don't think they should have set the world on fire I have absolutely seen worse in stores. At the time I didn't really understand diddly about how things sold and so forth. At the time about a half dozen characters came out a day at Renderosity and the vampire was off season and from a new vendor. She was doomed no matter how you look at it. The outfit was an add on (potential of less than half of the volume of the original sold if it is the first good add on) for a niche end user by new content creators. So I guess it did alright since it sold about 5.
Let me ask you a quick question about that. You said the vampire came out off season- is it hard for vendors to plan so far as when an item is released? Does it vary a lot?
Also for you folks at home (lol) if Khory comments on something and you want further clarification or have a question, jump in any time.
While horror is safer than kids any time of the year any product related to a season is going to do better during that season. You don't want to be to far out from when people want to use the products. Though that lead time can vary for pro users. Most hobby users are going to be wanting the product a couple of weeks before the "day" not months out. The tricky part is always factoring in how long it will take to get the product in the store. There can be QA hold ups or other hold ups that can alter the time line for release. Sometimes dramatically.
Can you give a rough estimate as to the QA process time on average? Assuming it can vary widely. Is it about the same for DAZ and for other stores?
Also, here's the next few questions:
*What is one of the biggest challenges of being a PA? (lol, I think we're talking about one of them!)
*What surprised you / impressed you the most about being a PA?
Kind of jumping around but one of the questions I was going to ask in a bit seems to fit perfectly here-
*Is there a favorite time of the year for being a PA- do you like spring, summer, fall, winter?
Time from acceptance can vary dramatically. In a few rare situations QA can push a product through in a week or so. If there are errors or and a big backlog of submissions then it can take a few weeks. Then marketing needs to find a good release slot for it. You can shot for a date but it isn't really always possible unless your way ahead of the curve on submissions.
What is one of the biggest challenges of being a PA? Standing up to rejection, doing promo images and having to face the fact that no matter what product you make it is going to be imperfect for some situations. The rejection part happens non stop from the first time you show it to a fellow PA right up until you see the sales numbers. The fact that a product lives or dies by promo images can be so daunting and make you second guess yourself constantly about renders. And facing the fact that no matter how much testing you do and how hard you try and plan for any contingency someone is going to find out that the product is not going to give them what they want in some situation.
What surprised you / impressed you the most about being a PA? When I do shaders I always think of it as being akin to a paint maker for other artists. I create the “color” and then someone else “paints” a vision. I can't tell you how many times I have seen an image and not recognized my own work because it was used so creatively. That always makes me go WOW. As far as being a PA (which is a DAZ exclusive title) I think just working with DAZ has been pretty impressive. I know you read on the boards all the time that they are the “evil empire” but in reality they are really good folks. They treat us really well and work with us as artists more than any other brokerage I have ever been involved with. Some places unless your in the top 50 or so they could care less how things go for you but I really do not think that is true at DAZ. And no I did not have any special Kool-Aid. I've just been in this business long enough and have broad enough experience to know when I am respected and when I am not. Not to say no other brokerages care about the artist. But most of those are the smaller brokerages who can give you a personal touch. It is a constant surprise how caring the DAZ folks really are.
Is there a favorite time of the year for being a PA- do you like spring, summer, fall, winter? Winter.. We make more money. What can I say.. I am a practical girl.
LOL- practical is always good!
You said, "I can’t tell you how many times I have seen an image and not recognized my own work because it was used so creatively. That always makes me go WOW" and I'm sure many folks reading this are SO happy to hear that the PAs see their work being used and appreciate it. BTW, did you see Jindis Design Tool Box Flooring? I'm sure it really is fun to see your products used in scenes.
Okay, next up- this should be fun.
*What is your favorite product that you have made?
I love seeing my products used. Sometimes you start to worry that people just buy them to horde them and that they never get taken out of the box so to speak. I should mention how impressed I was with all the images of my products in the last week. It really helps see products through other peoples eyes.
What is your favorite product that you have made? That is like asking a mother which of her children she loves the best. I still love the maiden dress to bits because it is my homage to the pre-Raphialites but if I had to give up using all but one I would have to pick between Caressed By Light or the Design Tool Box. Every render I have done since I created it has used Caressed By Light or at least started out with those lights to modify for new lights. And I use the Tool Box all the time to build “rooms” out of primitives.
Uh oh, I'm a hoarder (as are many of my DAZ friends, admit it folks!) but we do get around to using the items or playing with them eventually. Gotta scoop them up when they're on sale!
So when you work on your products, what's your work flow like- how often do you work on them and how long at a time?
What is your work flow? I really loath that word. I don't flow so much as flitter about randomly for the first half or so of a project. I do scads of research so that I know what “real” looks like and then I try and think about what real looks like vs what will read right in a render. The two are not always the same thing.
When do you work on your products- how often/ how long at a time? When I am in the groove it is 7 days a week about 10 hours a day. That is pretty standard full time hours to be honest. You work from home and you almost never leave work. I know a few who are well balanced individuals who can work a nice 9-5 sort of schedule and still turn out quality products pretty quickly. They are the exception to the rule I am afraid. I'm slower than most for a wide variety of reasons. From ADD/LD to being prone to doing more than I should and then going back and cutting out the stuff I don't just love. In a perfect world I would be able to crank a product out in 2 weeks. It is often more like 3 before I do promo's and those can vary from a day to a week depending on what I try that works or does not.
Well, you flitter quite nicely :) We'll talk about promo images in a minute or two, but I'm curious about dynamic products because several folks showcased them here in the thread.
* Can you describe what dynamic products are? What goes into making those as opposed to products that aren’t dynamic?
Can you describe what dynamic products are? What goes into making those as opposed to products that aren’t dynamic? Dynamics are products created to respond to other factors in the scene. For example they can collide against figures or respond to wind. As to how they are created.. I know that Martin uses the optitex software to create the clothes and then they go through a couple of other steps that I'm not really sure about before I get them to texture. I assume that there is a step in there that adds the fit to and the dynamics but don't have any real experience to be sure about that.
Glad he knows what to do!
So we know what you have in your catalog so far- what are your future goals or plans regarding your catalog?
My big goal is 100 products because I read somewhere that 100 products was a good goal! Admittedly that was Etsy but I thought it sounded like a reasonable goal. Product wise I am shooting for a a wider variety of products and more depth to the ones I create. I always hope they will be flexible and usable in a variety of ways and I want to be able to bring that out more via models and so forth.
Just wanted to jump in and say a quick thank you to Khory for the Introduction to Character Surface Settings tutorial. Wasn't quite sure what to expect, whether it would be too basic (I was already happy converting textures to the subsurface shader before the tutorial was released), but I actually learned a great deal from it, have gotten better results since buying it, and still refer to it all the time.
Wouldn't mind buying more tutorials from you...one on using dynamic clothing would be particularly welcome...
That sounds like a good goal, and you'll have a lot of variety with that many products. Speaking of which, there's a lot of variety in promo art.
*How do you get the ideas for yours?
*What is your favorite promo art from your products?
*And putting you on the hot seat- What is your favorite promo art from other DAZ vendors?
Did you see the tips from Melanie on using a plane? I was "duh"until she explained how to do it.
EDIT: here's the post a few pages back: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/44327/P870/#709123
I very much want to do some more tutorials. I had not even thought about a dynamic tutorial. I'll have to put that on my list.
How do you get the ideas for yours? All sorts of places. Sometimes it is from paintings I love or it could be something that I needed myself. I am always trying to find things that inspire me.
What is your favorite promo art from your products? I'm sure I could do a better job of it now but I think my favorite is still the main image for the Maiden Dress. I think it captures the pre-Raphaelite feel without being a copy of any work I've seen. I also still really like the promo's from the Artists Studio Poses.
And putting you on the hot seat- What is your favorite promo art from other DAZ vendors? Stonemason always does lovely art for his promo images.
Anyone else wanting to see great promo art, be sure and visit FirstBastion's Art of the Promo thread: (not now, later! LOL)
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/26232/
Thanks, Novica (and Melanie)...yeah, that is helpful. There are many good tips out there, but it would be nice to have someone compile them into a good tutorial ;-)
Have to agree-Stonemason's are excellent.
Now for a real toughie- What are your top five favorite products from others vendors here at DAZ?
In no particular order and really only the tip of the iceberg as far as products I love and use often - Studio Paris by Age of Armour because I have used it over and over and over. Aoife Hair by AprilHS which I have also used to bits. Rural Chateau by Jack Tomlin because it can be really flexible as well. Aslan Court 1 also by Jack. If you look at my promo images you will see just how often I have used it since it came out. Castle Window by SoulessEmpathy because it is beautiful and inspires me to create and be better at it.
That's an interesting variety, I'll have to take a look at the Castle Window.
Alright, let's get some more personal preferences. :) And some words of wisdom.
*Who are some of your favorite PAs here at DAZ?
* What advice would you offer someone wanting to enter the PA business?
Who are some of your favorite PAs here at DAZ? Pretty much all of them. Some I worship because they make products I love and use and when they put out something new I can't wait to be able to use it. Some are just really fine people who I am really lucky to not just know but to get to work “around” and who's work I not only respect but am amazed by regularly. In many ways the DAZ PA's for the most part are very much like a family. Perhaps a bit dysfunctional some days but thankfully not most days. So yea..no picking favorites this time.
What advice would you offer someone wanting to enter the PA business? Be patient. Really patient and expect to fall down often before you find your feet. Expect to have to keep learning new things for as long as you do this. And learn to be pragmatic when you look at what you want to do if your planning to make an income.
We're not quite done yet, but before I ask any more questions, is there any questions from our viewers regarding anything we have talked about so far?
While we're waiting for any other questions, let's have a bit of fun.
Do you have any hobbies other than art?
Do you own any pets? If yes, what are they and their names?
With total immunity to harm, and only for a few days- If you could go back and observe any period of time in history, when would it be?
If you could vacation for a week at any location, where would you go?
And if any of our viewers would like to answer that immunity from harm question, jump in! For me, it would have to be the age of dinosaurs- as long as I had total immunity from harm and could bring a backpack full of food and water, matches to start a fire. :)
Do you have any hobbies other than art? I am an avid reader and I do fiddle with hands on art from time to time still.
Do you own any pets? If yes, what are they and their names? Hi! My name is Lauren and I am a crazy cat lady. In my defense my 23 year old son is to blame for most of them but none the less we have 11. They are: Angel, Ford Prefect, D’Argo, Rose, Lilly, Ki, Shadow, Zangetsu, Teddy, and Fuzz and Hip Manhattan.
With total immunity to harm, and only for a few days- If you could go back and observe any period of time in history, when would it be? It is mind bogglingly hard to choose. I don't have enough time to see the 7 ancient wonders of the world before they were destroyed so.. Perhaps Rome in its prime.. or no maybe Greece.. Urm or Egypt when Khufu was building the great pyramid? I'm just not to sure!
If you could vacation for a week at any location, where would you go? If I can get that imunity from harm again I would go to Egypt or Greece. If not then without question Italy.
Zangetsu- where or what exactly is that, I am showing my ignorance.
Zangetsu.. My son Alex named that one. I am told it means "big knife" basically. It is from one of his Manga or something. Funny thing is that when he named him that he was this little bitty shrimpy kitten and now he is this huge, muscle bound bad ass cat. He looks black till you rub him and then you see all the gray under the tips.