Morgenstern

I just want to be able to use the snake lower body (big tail rather than 2 legs).

THAT would net them pack price, a couple of months of play,and several renewal recomendations to fellow lapsed players - all by using assets in the game already.

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I understand that my approach to collecting, where the soundness of the artist's technique and the overall quality of the piece is considered ahead of the fee, is not really commonly shared.

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*Chuckle* No, 'money is no object' is not a common approach to collecting . Soundness of the artist's technique is something I gauge before tendering an offer. I have contact information for a slew of artists who will produce a fantastic piece... that I can't afford . Once the project is underway I usually go over a piece with an artist once or twice during the process and I usually look at sketches on and off for about a day before sending in my comments. The particular faults you've pointed out, while entirely valid, are generaly not of the sort that catch my attention, while there are other corrections I request that folks other than myself and the artist will never see . The amount of time I spend pouring over a piece to fine tune details before granting aproval IS somewhat proportionate to the amount I'm spending on the piece because there is a correlation between what I'm paying and the amount of their time I intend to take up with the project. I also try to be aware of what an artist's best work looks like and expect a finished piece in that range, even if it's not equivalent to the best work I own. If I'm paying 200 dollars, there will be email and versions exchanged until I am [u]perfectly[u] satisfied. If its a $25-40 piece, there are going to only be a couple of rounds of changes. I agree completely about not gushing over a piece that could be better -- based on other work the artist has done -- but most of my criticisms and sugestions for how an artist could improve their technique overall are reserved for private mail.

*tip o' that hat*

Thanks . That was sort of a surprise for me too - one of those random wandering through DA scores. I accidentally posted this to my old thread (lots of broken links). I'm moving all the other new bits to the other thread.

Whoops. Posted in my old thread by mistake.

Just ordered this before SDCC. As you can see, it came out well . More pictures as i start scanning and photographing this year's loot.

Ordered this just before I left for the SDCC. I'll be scannning and posting stuff from the show soon .

Hmm. It's quite possible I'll be going this year after all.

Advanced tips:

Now is the time to splurge on good photo paper - print your references on the best paper you can get. if you are spending potentially a few hundred dollars on art over the weekend, dropping $10-15 on the best references you can make is a very good investment. After the show I ussually keep one packet from each year with my collection so I can show people what I gave the artist vs. what they created.

Look closely at the artist's display pieces. Get a feel for their style and what you might want for them to do. A lot of the long time pros you can go with minimal instruction. For Nike IX, I ussualy just indicate that she should be flying, and that the mood/expreson tends to be playful. That's all the guidance they need. Some I'm completely hands off - their work is so consistenly good I just let them use their judgement. But if I see some quality in their other pieces that I particularly want to see applied to my character, ussually I can just point at 2-3 of their pieces and say "I like how you did these." and they'll know exactly what I'm hoping for from them.

If you are getting multiple pieces of the same character, bring finished pieces (that you like) with you from artist to artist. Many of them are competive folk and will get fired up to bring their best game when they see what else you've received at the show. They also get intrigued if you manage to land a big name to work on your character (when I finally hooked a slot with Terry Dodsen after 3 years, some of the other artists really felt they had to step up their creations ).

If you have a particular big name artist you want to get a piece from, go to their booth first thing, first day. Mr. Dodsen, for example, typically has five slots for the entire show and those slots are day 1, front of the line, or forget about it. Adam Hughes is there, but frankly anyone getting art from him at the show seems to be an urban myth . Most of the currently published comic artist have full schedules outside the show, so they will not take any more commissions than they can accomplish that weekend.

Head shots are tircky business. The in-game models are pretty limited in the amount of detail. You might try to add additional refenece from the face it you want headshots. I have used morphthing.com to good effect in creating some celebrity-based but still unique faces to include in my references.

Torso/bust prices can be an excellent value. Artists often offer then at a slightly lower priece than their full figure art.

As a personal note on pricing for the last 3 years: I look for $40, will happily pay $60 if they have really nice stuff on their table, think very hard about $80, and usually buy exactly one piece a year for $100-150. And that last one only from a major, repeatedly published star. I mostly prefer to collect variety, seeing how different artists interpret my character.

Quite a few of the pieces on this page are from the SDCC, so the names might be of help to you. Dean Zachary and Foust shared a booth last year away from the artist alley. On this page John Watkins-Chow, David Nakayama, and Sharylin Encabo were all artist ally folk.

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(pssst, It's Ron Lim. One "m." Don't mess up their names!)

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You are correct, sir. My bad!

(Bayani's got my back )

Have your references down to a single page (2 tops), and have several copies (I ussualy run with 3-5 sets) so that you can have multiple folks working at the same time. Be very clear on when you are leaving if you plan to pick up finished pieces at the show, or be ready to have folks mail you their work. Set that up at the time of purchse. Some artists want all or half up front (I ussually pay all up front just so I don't have to remember). A few will have you pay after they are done - generally because they have taken on enough projects that they may or may not finish them all at the show. Have a piece of paper or use the back of your badge to write down who, when, how much, and very importantly what table they are at so you can find them again. Its a -big- show. don't count on being able to find your way back without a table/booth number.

My two critical stops in artist alley are the Moy brothers, who do fabulous work quite cheap and often have openings through the third day (but go early) and John Watkins-Chow. I've gone to them year after year with great results. Ron Limm is also a powerhouse for the price. After that the prices start to climb steadily for big names, but you can also find a lot of talented folks who will do fine work at or below the $50 mark. Seval artists also have booths well away from the artist alley. If they are there as a painter, feel free to politely ask if they are doing sketches at the show. I've picked up some remarkable pieces that way from artists that are better known for their fantasy art. Keep in mind you're getting sketches - sometimes you'll get stuff that looks very different from the materials that they display. There can be a big difference between what an hour and a week of a person's time looks like. Painters often give you pieces that look less finished, but show amazing attention to composition, which can add nice variety to your collection.

Be clear - if you have any directions for a particular piece, try to keep them to 3 sentences or less that accompany your style sheet. I see artists -cringe- when someone drops half a novel on their table and wants 1 picture to capture the "essence" of 15 pages of tightly packed hand writing. Trust me - they don't care. Clear, concise instruction about a single image or moment.

Be sensitive - its a work environment for the artists. Be pleasant and polite even before the first words are spoken. Don't crowd in if they have lots of folks looking at their work. Try not to overly monopolize an artist's time once you've made your deal. If you want to check on a project, it's not hard to look over their shoulder discreetly from a distance, leaving the space in front of their booth clear to attract additional customers. Make no mistake, even if they aren't working on your piece, they are working, and ussually really hard for the entire duration of the show. many artists only get a couple hours a sleep each night all week because they leave the show and keep on working.

And the secret weapon - snacks . Most artists are stuck at their booths for long stretchs. A sliced loaf of banna bread or other easily shared semi-substantial food won't necessarily change the price, but it can go a long way towards building good will and simple recognition when you come back around to check on your project.

Have a great show!

Hey, Bayani . Your points are certainly valid and I encourage you to offer critique over on the DA page where the artist can see it, as I have seen them make some comments related to other comissions indicating they are trying to improve their craft. The piece has already seen one small change since first posted as an earlier version had some lighting issues that have since been corrected (the wings were too dark for a sunny sky background). There are a number of elements I thought were pretty strong for a comparitively new artist on the scene. The pose of the body is interesting and the coloring picking up the light from her powers is something I've always liked when I see it.

If PWA can pick up what your saying that would be great, because I like watching artists improve as much as I like a great piece . And wings ARE hard to 'bring to life' .

Good stuff!

Been a while, but I've got a few new pieces comming in and under way .

Yeah. Like that.

CAAAAAKE!

Happy birthday .

Thank you .

Fallen Thunderbird was murdered by Circle of Thorns mages on what would later be known as Grimmy Ridge. Her soul set adrift when she was cast out of her still living body, she eventually entered into a contract with a vengeful aspect of the Thunderbird Spirit and became a living engine of bloody retribution in the service of her dark master. As a super-strength/electric armor brute, she's been beating Thorns and pretty much anyone else to cross her path into a pulpy mess.

The bloodstain effect on the hands is the 'plant' pattern tinted red. I stumbled across it experimenting on another character and put together Fallen specifically to take advantage of it. In addition to the slightly patchy rawhide color scheme, a little dash of turqouoise helps with the Native American theme.

There are a few more pics of her here. One piece is (I'd like to think tastefully) NSFW, so take care if you click on the thumbnails.

Those are both really cool.

I have a Native American villian.

Fallen Thunderbird
Style sheet

Grats to the winners! A list like this should keep me entertained for quite a while!

Nice piece. He does some great work .

Nice work. He's been on a roll lately .

Those came out well .

That's quite a comeback piece .

Hmm. THere is also a new 'electricity' pattern available for the gloves, boots, and hips that's a nice compliment to the existing electricity top.

It seems to be available for 'folded' boots. Looks like they missed it for folded gloves - probably because those are called 'full' instead of tights they forgot to expand it.

yes, there is a new gladiator shoulder, and the old one refuses to load. The new one has an additinal plate under the large plate and the small plates on the left shoulder are now larger and slightly differentiated.

Its different and more complex, but not necessarily "better". I'd really prefer to have a choice.