Quote - I was considering becomming a vendor but having read this post I have decided against it. I have a number of models in the free stuff section and all have been made for my own pleasure. I put them into the free stuff in case anyone else can find a use for them, or simply to play with them for a few minutes.

if you really and truly made it for your own pleasure, with no thought at all of what anyone would think of it, and then posted it publicly, i'm incredibly impressed.  most human beings care about what others in the community they're part of think of them, at least a little bit.  i'm certainly not able to do that, and i do try to.

why not become a merchant? just try and sell the things you make now.  and since every sale will be icing on what you're doing now, you shouldn't need to change what you make.

Quote - If you consider work is not original or innivative enough why not build your own innovative  models: show us inadeguate modelers how it's done. If you don't like the quality of an item that you have paid for, or if the thumb misrepresents a purchaed item you have recourse in the MP.

assuming this is directed at my post, did you read where i said i don't support some sort of standard for quality because it's too personal?  i have certain things i think make something quality, but i noted that they are very specific to me.  i don't personally judge artists on whether or not they use techniques i chose to use myself.    i have no complaint about any specific product.  as i mentioned, i'm sure the Rendo QC people make errors and miss some stuff, but everything i've bought has been great.  no complaints in terms of technical quality.

i never said anyone was an inadequate modeler.  in fact, i said the exact opposite.  and i am not trying to comment on any single person's work or choices.

if you look at my gallery, you'll see i have begun modeling.  nothing really special or innovative yet, but i have ideas for a couple of projects that are very particular to me.  the several i have in progress now are not innovative in the slightest, and yet some have oddly never been done to my knowledge.  like a dance outfit for a male figure. some of the sketches and plans i have are just plain weird, and if i ever manage to make them into products and anyone buys them, i'll be over the top.

Quote - I model for pleasure but vendors model for money and some may model what they think will sell, even if it lacks originality, and as they are doing it commercially I applaud them: It makes sense.

first of all, i don't see a need to be defensive about this. i'm just saying it's sad that people are so scared of not being popular that very few venture outside the very, very tiny box of most popular CG content.  not that they're bad people, or that they shouldn't feed their families. 

second, again, i'll point to every single other creative industry i know of.  meaning, fields where people make money (even lots of money).  music, writing, painting, sculpting, commercial design and advertising, film, fashion, etc.  they have their mainstream, and then they have their small budget underground where people are trying to make money and take lots of creative risks.  so you get the punk movement, and then it bubbles up to the mainstream.  you get indie comic artists who are eventually hired by Marvel and DC.  you get incredible graffiti and indie poster styles that eventually get incorporated into commercial print and web design.

i live in a city with an unusually large number of independent artists in various fields.  literally almost everyone you meet here has been involved in making a movie and plays an instrument. i'm kind of unusual because i only do visual and tech stuff.  i grew up around fine artists, and i have a few friends involved in dance and theater.  i follow design, both print and electronic, and have a pretty extensive indie comic collection.  so i'm familiar with a lot of different creative underground communities. and all of them take more creative risks (as a whole and on average) than this one.  most of the people here who don't make any content, who don't sell anything, even they don't even try to post something that might be weird, or interesting, or disturbing, or just plain different. 

i can and do try to participate in this community and still clear enough mental space to be true to my own internal muse.  so do some others whose work i've seen and some whose work i follow.  and i try to support artists i appreciate with comments and favorites and general signs that i am watching and i do appreciate their work.  but i, alone,  am not a community.  i'm not talking about any one artist or merchant, nor am i trying to make decisions for anyone else.  i'm just saying that it's sad that we, as a community, who are in the CG underground, haven't found a way to have the same strength, independence, and culture of innovation and experimentation of the undergrounds of literally every artistic industry i know of.