I have to be blunt for a moment here: this -is- a business that should be handled in as professional a fashion as possible. Different sets of rules applying to different people is just not the way to go about that; the rules are there for all of us. I don't see anything any nastier than I usually see directed at the vendors in general around here. It's just that the roles have reversed a tad from the way it normally goes -- the people cheering this vendor on are often the ones dishing it from what I have seen. Another important aspect of professionalism is the ability to take criticism into account. This is minor league stuff compared to anything I ever heard when I was in art school. If that's considered 'nasty', I should be suing my professors for therapy bills instead of being grateful for what they taught me. High on that list? "I am not perfect, I will make mistakes, and the way to improve is to learn from them, not whine about someone telling me I made a mistake." As far as the flattened skins go... it varies. I know I just had to make a large investment in software that will allow me to step away from resource bases entirely, but while the software helps with the seams, it still takes a remarkable amount of time. (3 weeks and counting from custom morphing on head and body in Modo to working on finishing up the textures which are still not complete yet and have a long way left to go.) There are a lot of ways to go about it, and everyone you ask will probably have a slightly different method than the next person. Definitely try the prop sets -- there are some really good applications out there for free to experiment with to find something you like, and others have demos you can try before you buy.

-D
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It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye texture.