sorry, but this seems to me like another "but I DO art, too!!!" stomps with feet thread.

*BTW, YES I do art and have a nice diploma to prove that (Hubby thinks it looks good on the wall too!) stomps foot just because I can.

but in case it isn't, maybe you can step back from your work in a quite moment and ask yourself some questions:

• if you have a picture in your mind, can you bring it - exactly as envisioned - on your monitor?

Yes, because I can paint and create in photoshop anything not immediately available in mesh, blend it seamlessly and make you think it was always a part of the render. My imagination is functioning at full capacity, and more.

• do your pictures look some way similar to all the other Poser stuff?

**Jeez! Does a disney cartoon look like a disney cartoon? What sort of criteria is that? But to answer you,  NO, I have a unique style, and I work hard to remove the look of anything but my work.
**

• do characters in your work look like real, living persons, and not like the thousandth incarnation of V4/M4?

**Excuse me but not all art has to look "real". There is Frazetta style, Vargas style, Sue Dawes style, well you get where I am going  (*hopefully). Who proclaimed that poser had to be real life realistic? My style is more of Fantasy, and Sci-Fi. Not a lot of REAL there. Unless that is my intention, then yes it looks real. I am not afraid to ask other artists who have beaten the poser look what they do. I am always learning new tricks and techniques.
**

• is there something unique in it, that people can't find elsewhere?

*I actually hate cutesy fairies, but how many of those have saturated every type of market there is? Does it make fairies sell less? NO! Especially if they are pink or purple. It is not weither it can be found elsewhere, it is weither your work makes people take notice and admire or buy. (really stupid question...)

• you've been at CGS, so, can you do something of a quality that would make it into their choice gallery?

*Well that depends on several factors. A) Would it even get a fair shake if it was a poser composition? B) How political and clique driven is the site? C) Why would being in the choice gallery benefit my needs and purposes? Lastly, whose approval is more important (something I learned from this thread) my own, or theirs?

Poser's problem is, it works only with premade stuff - stuff that's been sold - and shown - a thousand times. that limits it's use to some point. if you can't get the prop you need - and can't make it yourself - you're screwed. if you want to show a certain type of dress, but can't find it in the market - you can forget it. want to put a stunning landscape in the background? with Poser, well....

One question. Do you understand the advantages of combining postwork/stock photos and imported backgrounds in and with poser? Something that the majority of pros do in any production house. You give the impression that by using poser, you are not allowed to use all the other advantages that the pros use with no quams. **I have PS'd a dress on a model, and then painted the tweaks into it. Amazing what you can do if you think outside of just the program. If it is good enough for the pros, why should I not also use those resources?
**

Point is, art is something that comes from your mind and soul, not from market resources. In that way Poser is limited, and maybe that's what the so called "elitists" refer to.

Again, you come off like because you purchase a resource you lack any ability to create viable art, like those others in the high end costly programs, because poser user's in general lack that certain something  "...that comes from your mind and soul". WOW! o0 NOW I understand!

(BTW, your "V3" is a 2D drawing, have a look at the artist's website to see how he works ;) :http://www.robertocampus.com/2007/06/photoshop-tutorial-wonder-woman-pin-up-digital-painting/)

That image is a definite V3. I looked at the other work that he does, and BTW, his example (the robot/spacesuited figure) was drawn by someone else not him! He just did the coloring. Nicely, but he still used someone else's creation (Joe Ng) and called it his own work. http://www.robertocampus.com/2007/09/photoshop-tutorial-bioshock-videogame-digital-painting/#more-54. **  So so much for the "You have to create every element" theory of those at CGS. Or any other elitists who think "...if you did not build it from the ground up..."

Ariana

response in bold only to differentiate the two parties, not shouting by any means. *stomps foot.... :P

Is there water in your future or is it being shipped away to be resold to you?
Water, the ultimate weapon...
www.futurefantasydesign.com