FA+
Shop
Questions for y'all while I get Work Done (long survey)
6 months ago
Commission hub; https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/11078670/
So still working on comms and getting ques done, and like the title says, I got some questions for y'all. Answer however you like, there's no wrong answers, just wrong attitudes!
1. What are your thoughts about Merch, and me possibly selling merch?
-This could go a number of directions, so more specifically; Are you someone who regularly buys merch from conventions, online stores, etc. and if so, what do you normally go for? (IE, Shirts, stickers, prints standees, badges, etc.) If NOT, is there a specific reason for that?
Honestly been considering this for a while now, especially with the Poof & Dillo stuff, but I honestly got no idea whether that's viable right now, or if I"m just up my own @$$ about my IPs and characters, so your honest answers are greatly appreciated!
2. Thoughts about future commission sale ideas
-It's no secret I love doing themed sales. It's just easier on me mentally to have a preset setting/theme and to not get too hung up on specific details. But I realize I do tend to get caught up in the idea of it, and my art quality doesn't always justify the sales pitch. So I"ll list a few sales ideas I had for the possible future, and if you could let me know your interest, I"d greatly appreciate it!
==Scale 1-5 (5=very interested, 1=not interested at all)==
==Est. pricing $-$$$ ($=$50-70 range, $$=$80-150 range, $$$=$200+ range)
-Chibipunk ($); Chibi-ify a character in semi-dynamic poses with some color theming effects to make them pop beyond my general style
-Warfang 80B ($$$); Instead of the "character on a wargaming mini stand" it would be a kind of painterly approach, trying to mimic something akin to a Warhammer book cover, with pre-made backgrounds. This was a test experiment of the approach; https://www.furaffinity.net/view/56549564/
-Gala of the Petals ($$); A spring/summer ballgown/tuxedo sale with a focus on theming around flowers. Commissioners could choose their preferred flower and have a ballgown or tuxedo themed around such. Includes victorian-ish garden backgrounds.
-Taste Greenstone! ($); A kind of fusion of the Racoonadillo Food Truck, and the Dinner Date night sales, this would feature a number of restaurants in me and
belise7 's fictional town of Greenstone. Wouldn't have to be a date, could just be friends hanging out, and can include more than 2 characters. Everything from fancy restaurants, to drive-thru eats.
-Gaiafall ($$); A Fighting game theme with a visual style inspired by Guilty Gear. Commissioners could select from one of four real world fighting game archetypes to dictate their character design conversion into the world of Gaiafall. Would include a transparent full body bkgrd image of the character, and one with the character placed in a character select screen.
-Biffventures! ($$); Inspired by shows like Takehashi's Castle, Legends of the Hidden Temple, and Wipeout!, would show characters traversing goofy obstacle courses, getting whacked, knocked over, dunked in water (or mud and slime for some of the ladies because preferences) Generally comical and unflattering.
-The Dillo Wildlife Preserve ($$) Your character drawn interacting with wild Dillos and poofs of all shapes and sizes, including some of the more exotic varieties like sharkadillos, skulladillos, and the rare gigadillos! (Think the Jurassic Park scenes before everyone gets eaten) Involves commissioner's character interacting with dillos in a playful and friendly way. Mostly cute and feel good.
I have plenty of other sale ideas in the works, but currently these are the ones I"m most curious about to hear your thoughts on!
3. Personal stuff
-This might be something I already have the answer for and just need to actually do something about, but with the completion of "The Advent of Blobdog" I guess I wonder what the climate is like for me doing more personal stories/lore etc. or if I should just keep this as a commission venue. Maybe this isn't the place or time to b e asking this, but f@#$ it I guess.
4. Thoughts on Style
-Again, might not be the place for this, but visual style does kind of factor into peoples' interest. Truth is, one reason why I've stuck to themed sales is to try and push myself to try something new visually, since I feel like I don't really have a good eye for visual style, and I don't feel hugely confident in the style I use for commissions, being used for more professional ventures. (NOTE; when I'm saying "Style" I"m talking about visual recognizability, not stuff like outfit design or hairstyling. I"m talking about the stuff that lets you tell one artist from another) This question I admit is a shot in the dark, but hey, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take...
Thank you for your time in answering these, I really appreciate the feedback!
So still working on comms and getting ques done, and like the title says, I got some questions for y'all. Answer however you like, there's no wrong answers, just wrong attitudes!
1. What are your thoughts about Merch, and me possibly selling merch?
-This could go a number of directions, so more specifically; Are you someone who regularly buys merch from conventions, online stores, etc. and if so, what do you normally go for? (IE, Shirts, stickers, prints standees, badges, etc.) If NOT, is there a specific reason for that?
Honestly been considering this for a while now, especially with the Poof & Dillo stuff, but I honestly got no idea whether that's viable right now, or if I"m just up my own @$$ about my IPs and characters, so your honest answers are greatly appreciated!
2. Thoughts about future commission sale ideas
-It's no secret I love doing themed sales. It's just easier on me mentally to have a preset setting/theme and to not get too hung up on specific details. But I realize I do tend to get caught up in the idea of it, and my art quality doesn't always justify the sales pitch. So I"ll list a few sales ideas I had for the possible future, and if you could let me know your interest, I"d greatly appreciate it!
==Scale 1-5 (5=very interested, 1=not interested at all)==
==Est. pricing $-$$$ ($=$50-70 range, $$=$80-150 range, $$$=$200+ range)
-Chibipunk ($); Chibi-ify a character in semi-dynamic poses with some color theming effects to make them pop beyond my general style
-Warfang 80B ($$$); Instead of the "character on a wargaming mini stand" it would be a kind of painterly approach, trying to mimic something akin to a Warhammer book cover, with pre-made backgrounds. This was a test experiment of the approach; https://www.furaffinity.net/view/56549564/
-Gala of the Petals ($$); A spring/summer ballgown/tuxedo sale with a focus on theming around flowers. Commissioners could choose their preferred flower and have a ballgown or tuxedo themed around such. Includes victorian-ish garden backgrounds.
-Taste Greenstone! ($); A kind of fusion of the Racoonadillo Food Truck, and the Dinner Date night sales, this would feature a number of restaurants in me and
belise7 's fictional town of Greenstone. Wouldn't have to be a date, could just be friends hanging out, and can include more than 2 characters. Everything from fancy restaurants, to drive-thru eats.-Gaiafall ($$); A Fighting game theme with a visual style inspired by Guilty Gear. Commissioners could select from one of four real world fighting game archetypes to dictate their character design conversion into the world of Gaiafall. Would include a transparent full body bkgrd image of the character, and one with the character placed in a character select screen.
-Biffventures! ($$); Inspired by shows like Takehashi's Castle, Legends of the Hidden Temple, and Wipeout!, would show characters traversing goofy obstacle courses, getting whacked, knocked over, dunked in water (or mud and slime for some of the ladies because preferences) Generally comical and unflattering.
-The Dillo Wildlife Preserve ($$) Your character drawn interacting with wild Dillos and poofs of all shapes and sizes, including some of the more exotic varieties like sharkadillos, skulladillos, and the rare gigadillos! (Think the Jurassic Park scenes before everyone gets eaten) Involves commissioner's character interacting with dillos in a playful and friendly way. Mostly cute and feel good.
I have plenty of other sale ideas in the works, but currently these are the ones I"m most curious about to hear your thoughts on!
3. Personal stuff
-This might be something I already have the answer for and just need to actually do something about, but with the completion of "The Advent of Blobdog" I guess I wonder what the climate is like for me doing more personal stories/lore etc. or if I should just keep this as a commission venue. Maybe this isn't the place or time to b e asking this, but f@#$ it I guess.
4. Thoughts on Style
-Again, might not be the place for this, but visual style does kind of factor into peoples' interest. Truth is, one reason why I've stuck to themed sales is to try and push myself to try something new visually, since I feel like I don't really have a good eye for visual style, and I don't feel hugely confident in the style I use for commissions, being used for more professional ventures. (NOTE; when I'm saying "Style" I"m talking about visual recognizability, not stuff like outfit design or hairstyling. I"m talking about the stuff that lets you tell one artist from another) This question I admit is a shot in the dark, but hey, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take...
Thank you for your time in answering these, I really appreciate the feedback!
Also a spring break themed sale, a Kaiju themed sale, or a gym themed sale would all be cool
As for projects well food trucks is always fun, though the wildlife Dillo park sounds interesting too.
Always good to see a mix of personal and coms.
As for style. I do like your drawing style. it's quite unique.
2. All of those sound great but the Warfang and Dillo wildlife reserve ones would be a solid 5, followed by Biffventures and Taste Greenstone, the latter of which i know my DnD group would be on board with :D
3. Go for it! :D
4. Honestly i think you’ve already got a distinct style, even when you “shake things up” as it were i can always tell it’s yours ^,..,^
But regarding the themed sales, Warfang is always fun to see more of. See your take on some other factions would be great to see. Though I think I would love to get the Gaiafall, sounds very promising
Personal wise just take care of yourself. Some personal art is nice and lets you do what you want
But as for the new style don’t be afraid to experiment a bit. I do love your style with the shading and how you draw guys and gals are downright gorgeous. But I’m curious to see how you grow ^^
2. Hell yeah to all your sale ideas! Try new stuff (cuz as much as I LOVE the tiddy, yea boi) variety is the spice of life bby! (Personally loving the Petal Gala, Taste of Greenstone, as well as the Dillo wildlife preserve. Also dun forget about the Poof n' Dillo land!)
3. I'm always going to push hard for that personal art. You've got ideas of your own just as much as anyone else does, stick with them! And let them have a shot at the spotlight
4 Your style is very recognizable! No matter what you branch out and try, I can tell it's yours. It do be unique C:
2. The only two theme sale ideas that would stick out to me are the Chibipunk (3) and Taste Greenstone (4) ones. The others don't appeal to me as much
3. I'm down for you to post personal stuff here, also I know the struggle as I've been telling my own story with a different artist, though its more meme like and such
4. Short answer yes, long answer is that it depends for me. I personally commission a rouges gallery of artist for different reasons and purposes. This is mainly do in part of the fact that different art styles lend themselves better. Case in point, there are certain subjects I will reserve for specific artists because I want to capture a specific "feel" to such scenes whilst others are less serious in nature
Merch is a fine enough thing, but it all comes down to the important question of "where am I going to put this"? With limited space to work with, picking a new thing often means getting rid of something else. I'm not someone that regularly buys physical merch for this reason.
Electronic "merch" is a different matter, as this only takes up hard drive space (which is a lot easier to get more of).
2. Thoughts about future commission sale ideas
I do love me some themed sales, as it introduces me to ideas that I might not consider on my own. Going by your proposed offerings:
Chibipunk: 2
Warfang 80B: 4 (only because I've engaged with this one before)
Gala of the Petals: 5
Taste Greenstone!: 5
Gaiafall: 5
Biffventures!: 5+ (this would be my go-to, as I am an enthusiast of all things high-quality nonsense)
The Dillo Wildlife Preserve: 5
3. Personal stuff
I am a huge advocate of artists and creators taking the time and energy to create for themselves. If you have projects you want to pursue, then I want to see it.
4. Thoughts on Style
This is difficult to answer outside of "I like what I see, more please". I've followed your work for years, and each time you've experimented with a new style or method I have continued to enjoy it. I'm never afraid to ask you to experiment with a project I propose to you, as I've seen enough of your work to know that what comes out of it will be great.
2) Probably Gaiafall (for style points) and Biffventures (because I want to see the exagerated movements) are my top pics from those?
3) I want to see more personal stuff but also understand the lights need to stay on
4) I think the themed sales help put more focus into a "style" but overall I think it is a double edged blade. On the one hand if you find the "style" that people resonate with, people might push you into the corner to only do that style. Additionally have the ability to flex styles would certainly look more favourably in a professional capacity in my experience
2) Chibipunk: 5
Warfang: 4
Gala: 2.5
Taste Greenstone: 2.5/3
Greenstone: 4
Gaiafall: 4
Biffventures: 5
Dillo Wildlife: 5
3) You have such fun personal story ideas and they're incredibly unique. I highly suggest you continue exploring your own stories. Not only because they're always interesting to see, but also because you will need to do some stuff for yourself so you don't suffer burnout. I've seen far too many artists who go through burnout specifically because they refuse to give themselves even a little time to do personal projects (yes I understand the financial need to do that).
4) I'm not really sure what you mean in this question. You already have an extremely distinctive style that makes it extremely easy to go "Yep that's toughset" regardless of if you're drawing something goofy or something serious. If you're asking whether it's a good idea to have a separate "professional" style compared to your "commission" style, then I'm not sure.
Out of those presented here i'd say: Taste Greenstone - 3
Granted i do mostly wish to see Poof Party return, but you did already make a comment on that.
2. Gala of the Petals has me interested, as I'm sure you know. But here's another idea I've had cooking. What about something like a 1950s sitcom, with Stepford dresses, black and white style art, housewives, breadwinners, and all that jazz? ($$)
3. Again, meh, but if those personal stories/lore involve huge poofy ball gowns, you'll reel me in like a fish to bait on a hook.
4. I love your style. Enough said.
2) I've never been big on themed sales, mostly due to my OCs not really fitting into most of them, especially when the theme involves certain 'archetypes' that characters need to be matched to. But that is more just the nature of my OCs. Though there have been some that I've gotten in on and they can be fun.
-Chibipunk; 4
-Warfang 80B ($$$); 3
-Gala of the Petals ($$); 1
-Taste Greenstone! ($); 1
-Gaiafall ($$); 2
-Biffventures! ($$); 4
-The Dillo Wildlife Preserve ($$): 3
3) Quite simply, do what makes you happy, dude. ^^ b
4) Not really sure how to answer this, but I've always loved your visual style, on a number of levels, it certainly is quite distinct and recognizable, and one of the things that keeps me coming back to you for commissions. ^^
I like the wildlife preserve idea sounds the most interesting for me.
By all means, feel free to expand on the lore. Your characters are interesting to a lot of people.
Your style stands out, which is a good thing. As soon as I see anything like it, I know it's YOUR work or trying to emulate it
1. Even if you did sell merch, I wouldn't buy it. Not because I don't like or want to buy your merch. But more of I have no space in my home for much of anything at all.
2. For themed sales, that would be a 3 for me. It all really depends on what the theme really is.
Chibipunk sounds pretty interesting. 4
Warfang, I have only little knowledge about Warhammer so I cannot say much about it. 2
Gala of the Petals does sound good to me, but no idea if I have the characters to fit it. 3
Gaiafall is sounding really cool right now. 4
Biffventures..............now I want to watch MXC again XD. 5
Dillo Wildlife sounds really fun :) 5
3. If you have a story you want to do, then do it. If it's something you really like then don't stop yourself.
4. I am not sure how to answer this one honestly.
2. Thoughts about future commission sale ideas
-It's no secret I love doing themed sales. It's just easier on me mentally to have a preset setting/theme and to not get too hung up on specific details. But I realize I do tend to get caught up in the idea of it, and my art quality doesn't always justify the sales pitch. So I"ll list a few sales ideas I had for the possible future, and if you could let me know your interest, I"d greatly appreciate it!
==Scale 1-5 (5=very interested, 1=not interested at all)==
==Est. pricing $-$$$ ($=$50-70 range, $$=$80-150 range, $$$=$200+ range)
-Chibipunk ($); 1
-Warfang 80B ($$$); 3-4. I like the concept but it's out of my personal price range.
-Gala of the Petals ($$); 3
-Taste Greenstone! ($); 5
-Gaiafall ($$); 1. No experience with the franchise
-Biffventures! ($$); 5
-The Dillo Wildlife Preserve ($$) 2-3
3. I quite like seeing more of an artist's personal world and art. Gives something to ground to instead of long lines of otherwise random OCs from commissions.
4. Your stuff is instantly recognizeable as yours. There's maybe two others who are close to yours but that's somewhat inevitable for most artists, and their works are distinct enough to never make me confused as to whose stuff I'm looking at. It feels very well suited to comics and sequential works. Unless you're unhappy with it I don't see any real reason that you should intentionally try to change it at this time.