Quote - Honestly, I think the only way for anyone to make a really successful character is one that is backed by a company, with many vendors committed to the support of that character. There have been many good usable figures that have lain on shelves and got dusty for lack of support. Anastasia is an amazing re-work of Alyson2, but has not recieved a lot of support. I love Miki 4, who also does not recieve a lot of attention, and yes I am also now a Dawnophile.

It seems you are worried about disappointing people, but as Eclark said, tastes are very individualistic and therefore nothing you ever do will please everyone. The creation of a new figure is an enormous undertaking that will consume a lot of your time, so I think the best advice anyone can give you is to create first for yourself. Let your muse be  your guide, not the wants and desires of others. Put your passion into your character, but expect your character to be criticized and raked over the coals the way every single new figure is, not because he/she will deserve it, but because people find it easier to find flaws than to find the beauty, which is a very sad thing. I hate to see artists and their work treated this way. I think it is easy for people to criticize the long hours of labor that someone else undertook without thinking about the way those people feel about their creation. Good luck.

 

Very valid points, and I agree. It's just that when you're trying to create a figure that you intend to be used by a lot of other people, (especially other people who are not as technically savy about the inner workings of a figure and what it takes to build one), you have to listen to your intended audience and their requests/demands. Its not possible to meet every request, or make a figure that will suit the needs or likes of everyone out there, but the more of it you can include within the limitations of the software it's designed for, the better off you're going to be in the end, and the wider of an audience/customer base you'll have. 

I feel bad (sometimes) about being so vocally critical about other figures because it always gets interpreted as bashing someone else's hard work, when that's not the intention at all. I know first hand how much of a challenge it is to build a quality figure, but when I see the same short-comings being repeated over and over with every new figure, it gets irritating, and I can't help but ask why. Why bother doing what has already been done in various itterations, instead of taking the extra steps to first - analyze everything that's already available, look at what works with them, and what doesn't, and push yourself to make yours that much better, in all aspects, not just one or the other, this or that. If it's just a rehashing, then what's the point? Just so you can say you have a figure out there too? All that does is add to the dust pile. 

When you're working as an artist who intends to make a living from your work, then sometimes your muse has to take a back seat to your customer base. Paid artists rarely get to do what they want to do, they have to do what pays them, so they can eat, and their free time can be spent listening to their inner muse and making whimsical stuff that appeals to only them. It's the trade-off for living as an artist, instead of living as a wage slave. I don't think anyone around here bashes figures just for the sake of being mean or negative. 

It also seems that a lot of figures are abandoned by their creators once they're finished with the innitial figure. How many of them go back and continue releasing content for their figure on a regular basis? I'm not talking about a set of bra and panties, or pumps a couple weeks after release here. I mean actual consistant content support from the figure creator, at least something new once a month if not more. Add-on content is not that difficult to make, and doesn't take nearly as long as it does to build the actual figure. Plus, the creator isn't restricted by EULAs that make them jump through hoops to support their own figure. If you're not willing to support your own figure full time, then how can you expect other vendors to do so? Creating the figure is just the first step. Abandoning it afterwards and moving on to something else unrelated, begs the question why did you bother to do it in the first place? 

3D content creation is a full time job. Actually its more like 2 or 3 full time jobs if you intend to make it your living. There is not a lot of time for much else outside of it. This is true whether you're making content for a niche market like Poser or you're working in a big film or game studio. 3D artists rarely get to experience much free time. It's a lot like working surgeons or lawyers hours. But again, that's one of the trade-offs for being able to make your living as an artist instead of a wage slave. You have to love what you do and be able to do it pretty much day in and day out without getting burned out, otherwise you'll learn to hate it very quickly. 

I think one big thing for making a figure more successful is opening it up to content creation beyond the unreasonably restrictive EULAs Poser users are forced to deal with. Why can't add-on content use geometry from the base figure? There's no sense in it, only greed. Build a figure whose primary intention is for its users to build add-on content for, but then place all these restrictions on how they're allowed to go about making content for your figure, and what parts they can use and not use. As long as the content is designed to work with THAT figure, and not being taken to support other figures, then any part of that figure that needs to be used should be allowed to be used, as long as the need is valid, at the very least. Especially with simple crap like scull caps for hair. Not allowing that is just being greedy and asinine. 

 

~Shane