Texture developments

Loopysue

Ok. I know I've got several texture threads on the forum already, but they always seem to warp into one of my projects. I decided to keep this thread purely for textures, and any projects that start as a result of them in separate threads.

I've had a really good day for water textures today, and I just thought I'd show you a couple of samples. Each of these two samples contains 4 separate textures. I just blended them together in two sets so that I didn't overload everyone with lots of different colour versions of the same thing.

These are textures that I may use in future projects.

[Image_12717]
[Image_12718]

And this is a medly of 3 beach variations I was playing with yesterday

[Image_12719]

JimP

Rocks on a seashore ? I like all 3 of them.

Loopysue

Thank you, Jim

That last one is more of a dungeon scale texture. Its meant to be little pebbles in the sand. I've not helped the illusion by posting it at 200% by mistake

Lorelei

Ooooh, Sue! These are nice! I love the first water texture especially. But, the pebbles on the sand is rather beautiful.

[Deleted User]

Pebbles on the beach is great (very British though ), and I like the second water one best, but all are lovely.

Loopysue

Thanks guys

My aim (if a little high) is to make textures for all tastes.

I will continue to make a very large batch of them, decide which I need for future Profantasy projects, and then sell pick and mix sets of the rest (very cheap, I promise). I've not decided how or where just yet, but I need to start making some regular pocket money. It wouldn't be either fair (or possible) for me to make enough annuals to suffice in that sense.

I do hope you don't mind that I have to go pro. I need to be classified as self employed rather than unemployed. Even though its a pain in the neck having to report to the council every penny I make each week and lay my bank accounts open to the government so they can see I'm not cheating the tax man, I will be able to offset the cost of software, upgrades and PC maintenance then (which I can't do if I'm unemployed).

I also plan to do sets of mountains and hills with at least 50 symbols in each set, trees in all seasons in a range of styles, waterfalls, cliffs, and so on - anything there seems to be a constant demand for.

Mind you - all of this is pie in the sky if I can't find a way to make it work so that the cost of the product is reasonable and fair.

[Deleted User]

Consider me a willing purchaser. And don't sell yourself too cheap

Loopysue

Thank you, Quenten

This idea of becoming a businesswoman is pretty scary for me. I tried being self employed 10 years ago - a consultant tender bid writer in that case. I made £2000 in a week on a single tender bid I wrote (The contract was for £2million, and my bid was successful - hence the fee), but after that I found a regular job with the guys I won the tender for. The tax man wouldn't believe that I wasn't still making that money, and hounded me for the next 5 years, finally attempting to fine me £3000 for various misdemeanours that I would have committed if I was still earning that money, which I wasn't.

They set the bailiffs on me! Funnily enough, it was the bailiffs who sat down for coffee with me and sorted out what had gone wrong and told the tax man where to get off my case!

That's why its taken me so long to be brave enough to do it again. I'm hoping that since I will never earn that much even in a coupld of months by selling artwork, things won't ever get so out of hand again.

Monsen

A popular way these days to earn money on things like this is to set up a Patreon or similar service. Assuming the price is low enough, you'll get a steady monthly income from dedicated supporters, and of course, you can also sell packs containing the same pieces to those not on Patreon as not everyone want to do that, but a lot of people actually like to join such a thing just to support their favorite artist.

Loopysue

That's worth re-considering, Remy.

I looked at it once a long time ago, and worked out that Patreon would take more than half the contributions made. That doesn't seem fair if people make those contributions believing that the artist gets the money they give.

I can see that a small site might need to take that much to cover the cost of hosting the artwork and keeping everything running properly, but a huge monster-sized site like Patreon must be making billions on the backs of artists who struggle to make each household bill, by way of economy of scale.

Call me weird, but I'd rather let a smaller company take that much out of the sale than feed the pockets of the mega-rich.

Loopysue

I'm thinking the way forward is a website of my own, but there are so many ways of doing it. The choice is like trying to pick just one sweet in the world's largest sweet shop! LOL!

Monsen

Posted By: LoopysueI looked at it once a long time ago, and worked out that Patreon would take more than half the contributions made. That doesn't seem fair if people make those contributions believing that the artist gets the money they give.

The people I support on patreon generally say they take about 10%. Patreon itself takes 5%, and credit-card processing fees is about 5% more. Although the credit card processing fees have a fixed base, so they hit much harder on very small donations than larger ones.

Posted By: LoopysueI'm thinking the way forward is a website of my own, but there are so many ways of doing it.

Most tricky way is handling actual payment processing and delivery of paid-for products. For this, you should find some solution with a built-in e-commerce plugin. And unless you want to handle all the technical stuff yourself, you also need a good host. I know a lot of the tech channels I watch likes to advertise for squarespace, which is supposed to have easy to use e-commerce solutions, but I have never tried them myself, so this isn't a recommendation, just one solution I've heard about. (There are millions of web site builders out there obviously, I just mention this because most tech channels would't risk their reputation by personally recommending a shitty product, even if it a paid ad, although it doesn't have to mean it is the best option either. (These are in-video ads by the hosts themselves, not just ads inserted into the video by google))

Loopysue

I think the biggest hit was tax. It was so long ago now that I can't remember whether it was US tax, UK tax, charges for monetary conversion, or a combination of all three.

Its reasonable - if you happen to be a US citizen selling from the US.

Or maybe that was Amazon and my memory really is bad!

I will have another look at it, because there is just so much rubbish information online about how to make your own website I would need to go on a proper real world course to learn how to do it right first time (make my own webpage, that is).

Loopysue

Maybe I will do both - join Patreon, but also study a course on how to make my own site. That way my name at least will grow, even if I fail to make any profit at all, and the website I make will have a head start where reputation is concerned.

Monsen

Posted By: LoopysueCall me weird, but I'd rather let a smaller company take that much out of the sale than feed the pockets of the mega-rich.

I quite agree. But there is also the other side of the coin. It is easier for the contributor to stick with one platform. For people already on patreon, it is much easier to add another artist, than to sign up for yet another site and give your credit card info to yet another party. This means it might be easier to gather a following of people on an established site.
Of course, I know people have misgivings about patreon too, so that is the other side of the coin again.

Note that I have mentioned patreon here now, but there are many similar sites. I just mention patreon because it is the one I know, but I am in no way implying patreon should be used over any of those other places, it is just easier to talk about what you know.

There is also the possibility of doing things like kickstarters (and the like), I have one artist I have backed quite a few kickstarters for. The downside here is wallet fatigue, which i can clearly see on his kickstarters. His art is nice, but he struggles getting new customers in, and there is only so many times you feel you can continue buying more art from the same person.

Maybe I will do both - join Patreon, but also study a course on how to make my own site.

I think that is a reasonable option. I don't think a site like Patreon should be the only point of sale in any case, but it is a great way of getting your own community, because you collect those most interested in your stuff. And you can easily do polls and such among those people, like what to make next and so on.

Loopysue

All these things are why I never bothered to try it before now.

Just recently, however, I reasoned with myself that if I don't at least try it then I will always wonder if it would have worked, and maybe even kick myself if I see someone else make a huge success out of a very similar venture.

As for wallet fatigue - I think that success over a limited time period is better than no success at all. I intend to vary my focus in much the same way I already do. Some months are all about textures, others are about symbols. There is a lot of room for expanding the choice - Sci-fi sets, waterfalls, trees, submarine sets... etc. And then when I have exhausted all those possibilities there is a much wider market for all kinds of other art - going far beyond the RPG world. When I get my new machine there is no reason I can't offer to do commission work - mapping in CC3 or doing hybrid maps or GIMP maps. Then there is book illustration. I do 'normal' drawings as well. I could even end up selling prints of my paintings on top of all that.


All of this takes time to grow. I have to do the artwork first, but I will look again at the main art selling sites and investigate them more thoroughly this time.

Relyt

If you want to join Patreon, do it now, even if you don't start uploading and advertising yet. They are changing their fees and structure after May 6th, but current creators get to remain with their current plan. Currently Patreon takes 5% of your income (an additional 5% is usually taken out by Paypal or whatever you use to process your payments). Under the new plan Patreon will take 8% for the same tier, but current creators get the 8% tier for the original 5%.

https://www.patreon.com/new-creator-plans

I've had moderate success on Patreon, I'm still building up my base. You just got to get out there and let people know who you are and what you are doing.

ScottA

I think you would have success on Patreon, although it will take time to build a following, as mentioned.

Loopysue

Thanks for the heads up Rely I can't promise to get my act together fast enough to beat that deadline. I understand there are lots of forms to complete first. I can try, though.

Thanks, Scott

I don't expect to make anywhere near enough to live on, but if I can make a little bit maybe that will stop the government being so wilful about wanting me to take a dead-end minimum wage job sorting rubbish in the local waste re-cycling depot. I'll do it, of course, as I'm not a layabout, but it will be the end of my creative days. The imagination tends to die when faced with an eternity of that kind of thing.

Loopysue

Putting a few new textures together, I seem to have ended up with something distinctly submarine in nature.

Does anyone have a use for this sort of thing?

[Deleted User]

Yes, indeed; and this is great

[Deleted User]

One thing we are missing in the annuals is an underwater themed set - rocks, seaweed, etc, although they are somewhat available from CSUAC etc.

Loopysue

Thanks Quenten

So far from the FB page I have requests for: shipwreck, drowned town/city, (shark? fish? coral? Those are mine) Kelp, fallen statues and columns, bubbles, weird portal things and sea vents. Mermaids, kraken and tridents.

I don't have the CSUAC, so you will have to tell me if I am accidentally duplicating things. There's no point in me simply duplicating things that are already available. My natural style falls somewhere between photorealistic and illustrative, so it might happen. Just put me straight if it does

I will be offering this to Profantasy first as usual, but if its too specific (which it probably is) I will make it my first offering on Patreon... when I figure out how to steer that thing.

SamMcCart

Just love the Sand-Rocks, I can think of a few maps I could've use something like that.
Great Work.

Loopysue

Thank you, Sam

I will be using this set to launch my Patreon page. I just have to finish it first, and then figure out what Patreon is really all about and how to do it properly

Monsen

Posted By: LoopysueI don't have the CSUAC, so you will have to tell me if I am accidentally duplicating things. There's no point in me simply duplicating things that are already available. My natural style falls somewhere between photorealistic and illustrative, so it might happen. Just put me straight if it does

Symbols/fills that form a cohesive set is always more valuable than random symbols. While I love the CSUAC and friends, you shouldn't be afraid of duplicating things, especially for a set. But even without that consideration, more variety is always good, just because any art pack contains a crocodile doesn't mean it was exactly the crocodile you were looking for (In terms of both style, posture, colors and view angle)

JimP

Yes, I want to put an underwater city, and some nearby ruins, on my 'future Mars' site.

My Future Mars project.

Loopysue

Posted By: Monsen

Posted By: LoopysueI don't have the CSUAC, so you will have to tell me if I am accidentally duplicating things. There's no point in me simply duplicating things that are already available. My natural style falls somewhere between photorealistic and illustrative, so it might happen. Just put me straight if it does

Symbols/fills that form a cohesive set is always more valuable than random symbols. While I love the CSUAC and friends, you shouldn't be afraid of duplicating things, especially for a set. But even without that consideration, more variety is always good, just because any art pack contains a crocodile doesn't mean it was exactly the crocodile you were looking for (In terms of both style, posture, colors and view angle)

That's a fair point, and thinking about it all sets would look perfectly weird if all the most commonly repeated symbols were routinely left out. Can you just imagine a new city set with no actual buildings because all possible buildings had already been drawn one way or another?

Very good point

Posted By: JimPYes, I want to put an underwater city, and some nearby ruins, on my 'future Mars' site.

My Future Marsproject.

It will happen, Jim. It might take me a while, but it will happen

JimP

Thank you ! Gracias and Danke. Not sure what my Native American ancestors said for the same phrase.

Loopysue

Me neither, but appreciated - thank you

Wyvern

Belatedly reinforcing the points already made here, and confirming, yes, underwater symbols are always appreciated. There are overall far too few of these, especially in the overland mapping styles, where there are virtually none (yes, yes; overLAND, I understand, but the seabed is land too!).

While there is a generally-accepted standard set of different types of symbol required in each ProFantasy mapping style, the number of options can be quite variable between sets, plus not all sets include all the possible options of others, which can be frustrating when you've a specific mapping task in mind. So thinking beyond the basic requirements would be much appreciated.

For example, take a shipwreck symbol. The obvious one is the standard vaguely medieval-looking galleon-like vessel, so that's the one that usually features in sets. But there are many other types of seagoing craft - Viking-style longships, various ancient Roman, Greek and Egyptian vessels, often with very distinctive forms very different to a medieval galleon, plus dugout log craft, rafts and smaller vessels for near-coastal work, aside from all the other craft from places beyond the European-Mediterranean area, such as those from ancient Mesopotamia and places further east - modernly India, China-Japan and places nearby.

The danger in asking for ideas is you're liable to get more than a lifetime's worth of suggestions for just one or two symbols, Sue, let alone entire sets!