sometimes a render is just a render sometimes a render actually becomes art [whatever that is] i'm not an artist either... at best, i'm the proverbial hobbyist... and as stated above, i have contributed my share of promo type images... i sometimes get itchy to create though i lack inspiration, yet still i need to scratch lest i go mad in my obsession with trying to improve... my true palette and brushes are words, not paint, digital or otherwise, so i'm in want to overcome my weaknesses... maybe one day i shall get "there", but i seriously doubt it given my character make-up... i digress... the disappointment you feel, Tisa, whenst cruising through i've encountered myself... !!lots!! of pretty images to be certain, but feeling "moved" by something in the Poser galleries? well, it's been quite a while aside from one or two images i've been lucky enough to stumble across, and more oft than no, they're images that are not technically "sound" and probably shine brighter because of this... rarer still is the image that is technically spot on and stirring all at once... t'is all a matter of taste, of course :) i am sincerely curious to know that were these pages filled with images that you considered to be artistic but that also utilised and promoted MP items, if you might still feel the same way? or is that just not a possibility for you? i can understand if it might be a thin line... and whilst what Gabriel said may be true, that those contributing to the MarketPlace are "driving" this site, that sadly also says that money comes before all else... course it also leaves off the fact that customers must buy in order to make it fly... ;) "art" really does imitate life, eh? [hehe] i do have an enormous amount of respect for a large number of creators/contributors of the MP - please do not misunderstand, as were it not for them i could not have explored a number of things that i've been able to thusly... i've learned so much already... but i do agree in many ways that things have changed here in the past two years where it seems there is far more promotion for goods in the MP not only through obvious advertising and placement, but in the galleries too... i think it worthy to note that these "changes" were obviously consensual, that contributing posters to the galleries have somewhere along the way agreed that this is acceptable as a collective whole, that viewers have agreed, that users that are signing up and repeatedly returning for whatever reasons have agreed... symbosis at its finest hour, i imagine... above somewhere someone mentioned that if you disagreed with things to start contributing in a way you find acceptable, the way you'd like to see things start to move and maybe change into... that's an excellent thought, and one that has me thinking about my own decisions and actions, my own visions, desires and responsibilities here as a "member"... be you "troll" to dismiss, or seriously concerned, for me it matters very little... somehow through all of these posts i've come away with something for myself, something to chew upon, grow from with any luck and a re-affirmation of sorts of what i wanted to do whenst i first started in all of this "art" stuff... and oddly, i honestly wish to thank you for this, Tisa :))