Hey friends, got a question. Although I attended college with the intent of becoming a "fine" artist, I've been a graphic designer, working strictly in print, for the last 12 years. I just started getting back into 3D (primarily Bryce, Poser and some Truespace) as a creative outlet and am producing some pretty nice work. My question is: Is it actually possible to make any money with this stuff? Not the high profile career work like animation for Pixar or something, just what is seen in this type of forum. If so, how? Limited edition prints? Promo materials for companies? Trading cards...what? Are any of you guys actually dependant on this art form to pay your bills?

...you'd make a lot more money giving lap-dances, or running a huge corporation intoe the ground.

you should see me lap-dance.....

Doooo we have tooooo. . .Oh! I. .I. . I mean Do we Get to ;)

You can make some money from prints and such, but not very much unless you find a means to have posters of it in various stores or something. The best way to make money through Poser would be to develop content for the Marketplace... and it's no easy task to make stuff that is good and will sell.

Yes, but probably not -just- by doing graphics. I've made a reasonable income in the last few years from a series of educational multimedia projects, which have gradually involved more and more 3D graphics. The result is mainly interactive "learning games", accomplished through C++ programming. But it would be DEADLY DULL!!! without the Poser animations. Moral: In any interesting field, you're likely to get paid well for your own unique -combination- of knowledge and talent. If using 3D graphics is part of your skill, so much the better.

I actually looked into selling simple Poser renders as tattoo flash--the tat artists I showed them to thought they were way cool, but too detailed to be "tattoo-able."

If your a prolific modeler and of high quality and cheep and you've a couple of years to put into it before your first bill is pay from it, sure- no problem :) Otherwise you'll be like most of us, just doing it for store credit :)

turn a buck? sure load the buck into Poser and rotate 90 degrees on the X axis .... grin It's the same as any other artwork, IMHO. I sell renders anywhere I can stick 'em. There's also a market these days making materials for other artists, such as textures and characters. Count on it for rent? nope. But that's not the point for me anyway shrug

Attached Link: http://www.rbeditions.com/dre.asp

I've seen a few prints show up on eBay but don't believe they were "marketed" well. If you want to pursue that route, see the link for a Yahoo artists forum. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eBayArtistsNetwork/ The Digital Art Prints here haven't done well either (due to inadequate marketing IMO). And although not stictly 3d, this guy at the top link that does digital art seems to be doing well. Bottom line: you'll have to not only be good but also an aggressive marketer.

There are many ways to make money with poser. IF you know how to apply yourself. There's tons you can do with your images.

... is that like tipping a cow?

Thanks for all of your replies, although I wasn't expecting such a flood of 'em. I'm forming this odd picture of a community of talented artists who just don't seem to have a lot of marketing options at their disposal. There is no shortage of great artwork, but what is sorely lacking is a middleman...a company, or companies, to bring this art to the mainstream marketplace in a wide variety of formats (prints, cards, etc.). Of course, one could always use the whiny, candyass artsy "it's all about the ART, man, not the money!" arguement...but what artist doesn't want money (not to mention attention)? Getting some ideas about starting a production company handling nothing but digital art. More as things develop...if they develop

I've had some luck selling prints and calendars as well as tshirts. I've even sold a few canvas prints in varying sizes, more recently. But I have a "gift shop" website set up just for such things.

You're familiar with the term "starving artist?" If you have a family to feed and a mortgage to pay get a day job. Unless of course you're one of thos fantastically talented, obsessively passionate, market savvy artists who can actually make a living doing this stuff.

Porn for paysites was profitable enough to help pay off a mortgage, according to one of the artists at superheroinecentral.com (who no doubt has a day job). Anton Kisiel makes a respectable side income selling his outfits/hair but doesn't live off it. Selling prints at art fairs/renFaires/SF cons looks like the best bet but you're looking at the investment in a decent glossy color printer (I'm fond of my $150 Epson 785EPX) and a shrewd feel for your market's tastes (not your own). Nekkid Vicky with a blaster on a dragon in a temple fronting a Bryce landscape may not be your cup of tea, but this is a business.

Hehhe.. all good suggestions.. food for thought. I always thought the D&D crowd would spend some on various prints. I would reccomend getting into bed (not literally! Unless she's cute of course) with your printer, and see if you can get some good results on their colour laser printers. Certain laser printers do much better than others, so do test prints. But once you find a good one, you'll save scad loads on ink and special paper. (Inkjets will kill you there!) Try Kinkos FYI for some quick test prints.

A friend of mine whose Kodak printer just went south on him would like to know the ins and outs of profitable printmaking from Poser renders. Where should I point him (esp. because living in a town with seasonal art fairs and tourism, I'd like a piece of the pie, too)? The worst expense with my 785EPX is the carts -- $18 black, $33 5-color tank. But it covers my gamut of printing needs from laser-quality text to beautiful glossy photo prints. In my 20 years of experience between the RX-80 F/T+ dot-matrix printer and the 785EPX inkjet photo, Epson doesn't make junk. However, I did find out that the default settings for Epson paper don't work with other brands because of unusual levels of absorption in the Epson polymer coating -- a little experimentation and I was able to create custom settings for those other brands which look just as good. Not only can the printer tell you how full or empty the tanks are, but the date of manufacture. My beef with laser prints is that when you get close, they look like laser prints, not photos. If the tech's improved I haven't seen a sample demonstrating it.

Well.. again.. Kinkos is a great place to do some tests. My personal experience is like you as well... all COlour Laser Printers ARE DEFINITELY NOT created equal. The Phasers are great and all for office printing, but the minute you need something nice and hi res, it falls apart. Check out the Xerox line.. the higher end ones. These are not something you'll probably have sitting on a desk, but if you are running a print shop you may have one. the DC13 is an excellent printer. See if you can locate that one and run off an 11x17 poster of that. Klutzo