Tamara Artis

I can tell you there are many photoshop skilled people who make boring photos. Same as there are tons of amateurs who make outstanding works. Your work is supposed to have "that something" which makes it to stand out. I was running pretty big studio few years back and was receiving many applications from all kinds of levels. I always chosed people that have their own vision and special style or way of seeing the world around. Of course there is always the need for high quality people but, even if there is no technical skill (which can be learned really fast), there is this certain kind of photo work that is more attractive than others. Usually it is about specific angles a person takes or some interesting windlights, croping style... it can be anything. Quality work is about your vision and how you chose to present it to others. You either have it or don't. And to answer your question, yes photoshop beginners can get clients but often it will be for free or some cheap price because people pay for artistic talent, technical skill, your brand name (how famous you are?). If you don't have portfolio website, your own studio (that actually looks like a studio), your own group, terms of service, price list, etc. how can you prove that you are, indeed, a photographer and are doing business? If you don't have all that then you can do amateur work and, as we all did, go slow but safe towards your goal

Thank you for the clarification, Dakota

I'm also late but who cares lol When going on SL MP I open the landing page and look straight to the left to open a certain category and believe many people are same - they don't stay long on the landing page because there is not much to do. If you want to place your ad on a general place like this then its better to go on the cashout page because people spend more time there and they HAVE to scroll down to click the button. In general, best is to see the ratio for your item - total number of units sold per month before the Enhancement was paid and after, looking at that information will help you decide is the price for the Enhancement worth spending? I buy them one by one, only after I have carefully studied how much the Enhancement affects the sales - in general and for that particular item.

Heya... I'll write an honest opinion and hope you will not feel sad or be ofended by it. That tumblr page looks rather amateurish... consider avoiding white letters on almost black background (only thing worse that that is yellow/pink letters on black bg), professionally made pages are light for our eyes and shouldn't be hard to read. Same goes for your images, if you create all dark vendor photos thats perfectly fine but then create new ones for your website. These I saw now are kinda hard to figure out the shape of your creation and what goes where (looking at the guns). As it is now, I would say you sell skins or avatar cosmetics because the main thing in your images (those that are in the front) is that big female avatar head. Also, consider making a website, clear, professional, with all relevant infos. Right now there is this main page and I see "Archive, Details and Theme" and to be honest it feels kinda lost... Consider creating another subpage with images that display your previous work - real raw snapshots, close shot, bright windlight, that show the model from many angles, another with testimonials of your ex customers. Another with a blog where people can read a bit about you... you state how the brand is in business for 7 years now but have nothing else to show except that tumblr page?? You charge rush orders but at the same time ask for new customers? Rush orders are charged for when you're busy and have too much work booked and at the same time new people are asking for even more work, then you can offer them rush orders. It is not fair to charge rush order if you're happy to be booked. My friend creates custom meshes but he also has a mp store and sells full perm meshes, under each product he states that he is available for custom work and there it is - another great advertising channel used properly! Even if you don't want to do it like this, you can put a notecard with the vendor and write inside whatever you want. I am not sure why so many people avoid going on Facebook and connecting with other merchants/residents. It takes me 5-10mis per day to scroll my Fb and see all new releases, all events and important stuff from SL. There are tons of ways a business can advertise itself but, what is best for you is to find yourself a person with experience, pay them an hourly rate and let them do all the marketing for the brand

I don't think a new business needs a website, specially if the business is not some sort of service like photography studio or a wedding planner. But it is just my opinion of course

For start you can make few freebies (1 or 0 lindens) and put them on sale in your MP shop. If created good, they can serve as a free marketing tool. I would suggest you to chose one medium (website or in-world groups) and do it good rather than trying to cover as much as possible and ending up frustrated with tons of half-finished things... It doesn't really matter what you chose, it can be a website that most of your friends are there or one where you feel comfortable. To be successful in this, one must work like crazy and cover everything so wherever you start and whatever you do, it will be good Good luck!

I am kinda same and I also said to myself that I won't spend money on SL. I said that because I like to spend money online and I knew that its best not to do it at all lol. I did buy some lindens so I can get payment info and sell them later for real life money. For me, lindens are no different than real life money and they have real life value. Majority of people who buy our items are those who buy lindens. There are tons of people out there who are more than happy to pay few real life dollars (which they earned) to SL artists and hobbyists. What I want to say is that, no matter what we plan to do with our lindens, it is not fair to ask for advice about earning money and at the same time say how you don't want to add your cc info, don't want to open a store, don't want any kind of your personal info to be known but do want other people's money.

This is wrong on so many levels... As I understand, you would like people to buy your work, made in game but at the same time claiming how you don't spend money on games? Sorry but it goes both ways

Interesting thread... When I first looked at it I thought OMG so many people have experienced a huge drop in sales??

There is one great visitor counter that I used ages ago and I remember it used to count only the avatars who touched the counter. You were supposed to rezz it on the landing spot or, if you don't have one, simply stretch it so that it covers the main area of your shop. I can look for the name next time I'm in world or just send me a message and I will check it.

Actually it all depends of what you want to achieve... I am all for having an in-world store, even if you sell stuff like clothes that can be demo-ed, and specially if you are going to sell poses. Store is a must. For me, store isn't just a place where customers come to preview the products, it is the place where you can represent the idea around them. If you like baby pink and glitter and stars you can put all that in your shop. And more Next big reason for having an in-world store is that it adds the credibility to your business, it makes it look like a real business, not just a hobby where you throw some products on the MP and don't bother to look at them anymore. There are tons of really cheap locations that you can rent and I would definitely advise you to get yourself one. Don't buy the cheapest things because it will not make you satisfied and you will throw it away and buy a new one as soon as you get some money, its better to spare or buy mid-range and stick with it for some time. And you don't need special options, fancy vendors and anything in that manner. All that can come later when you start to get regular sales and most importantly, regular releases. A simple store will do you good for start. Try to plan in advance, see how much money can you put aside to pay the rent in case the store gets into some weird period and doesn't earn, for example one person will rent a parcel for 1000L$ because right now she has steady sales around 2k's per week. In one month her sales drop down and she no longer can afford that parcel so she has to move out. Your goal is to avoid this situation, to get the biggest place that you can pay the rent for at least one month, even if you earn nothing. I have E2V system and I'm happy with it. Not sure whats your budget? Same is for the store building, furniture, decorations and all that stuff... And you said nothing about the style you like and how you imagined your shop to look like? Maybe we can help with some specific advice?

Hello and welcome It would be good thing if we could see some examples of your work. There are many places where artists can publish their artwork, even for free so if you can, try to publish some of your work. Another good thing is to use proper spelling and grammar. There are lots of grammar-nazi's out there and I wouldn't want any of them harm you. Not sure if you heard about it, but they tend to be really sharp.

I had no idea you could do this! Thank you for sharing so far I had only one case where I had to refund a double purchase but its good to know for future.

When you go online in the morning and check SL email first, then rl when you see a nice sunset photo somewhere and think how would you create a windlight like this in sl when you have "nothing to wear" day in real life and, instead of thinking what to try from your real life closet, you combine sl outfits and stuff when you see a word "linden" in real life and start to laugh randomly when you turn around if someone in real life calls out your sl name Enough for now lol

I'm one of those people that don't log every day, that don't have a house with furniture rezzed and walk around wearing same outfit for at least a week I buy houses and skyboxes and stuff "for when I shoot and need to build scenes", many times I bought double items just because I forgot I bought it the first time. I can honestly say I have no idea whats in my inventory and not sure will I ever manage to make it nice and neat... Maybe if I lock myself somewhere and be all alone for month or two and need to be there all day lol. I like to spend money in SL because, unline RL, I don't have to search for discounts and best offer. If I go on event I'll buy everything I like. In stores its different, I go there when I need. But how much spending are we talking about? More or less than 50k a month? I think thats my range...

The highest trafficked sims are ones that hold popular events and it is impossible to get a store/booth there if you are not one of the most popular designers on the grid. The reason why there are soooo many events these days is because designers who could not get into popular events decided they will create their own, new popular event! Good news is that online platforms like Facebook or Flickr have now become an equivalent of high traffic sims and you can create a store there by posting good photos that will attract many people. Best of all - its free!

From my experience, you can make money in SL same as you can make it in real life - if you work hard. But there are few problems... In real life, you can make money (by money I mean something to pay bills, food, rent etc.) by doing a variety of no-skill or low-skill jobs like sell tickets or be a cashier or a cleaning lady, while in SL you need to have good skills in just a few fields to earn the same amount of money as an average cleaning lady. If you want to earn more you'll need excellent skills. A great thing about earning money in SL is that the money comes to you even when you're sleeping, the money flows all the time and you can just count it up and exchange for real dollars but in order to do this you will have to become amazing creator, who knows many people, who works on marketing at least one hour per day, who does tons of other things. Also, there needs to be some kind of a talent, if you're just an average person who has no idea about being talented or not then most likely it will be hard for you to earn some significant amount of money.

Yeah you're right, its not the same and we can't say anymore that "anyone" can create an account, login and start creating stuff. Now, anyone can login and admire creations made by skilled people. To be honest, I kinda like it this way. Ages ago, when I started to learn about the textures and different aspect ratios and why some textures take ages to load I understood the bad side of that "anyone can be a creator" thing - bunch of people uploading high res textures and not caring about lag and loading times. Content that will be used in an online world, that will be seen by more than one person (the creator) and is intended for sale needs to be optimised and amateur builders are less likely to do this properly.

Sometimes I wonder how it would feel for a creator of a place like this, like any of these you describe here, to read how people write memories and detailed descriptions of their creations, it must be a hell of a feeling! sorry I cut your post, didn't want to quote everything one more time, just want to say that its a beautiful story! It has deep emotions and humor and some really, really clever ideas -> LOL -> It reminded me of my first home in SL, while I was really homeless, was on a sim called Lost world where I was starting and finishing my daily adventures, teleporting my friends to chat, wandering around and even taking baths lol. Thats the place where I discovered a gallery high in the sky and decided that one day I will become a photographer in SL

Best way is to simply put the rent boards right there where your main traffic happens. You say traffic is growing which means more and more people are coming to your land. If they see an ad space they are going to rent it

This is my opinion so please don't take it as a rule or something... I am not sure about the signs with landmarks and other infos... You are limited with prims and its better to "spend" them on vendors that will generate some money than on signs that will give infos which people can easily pick up somewhere else. Right click on any of your items gives me link to your profile where I can find infos about your store, teleport links, where to go for redelivery etc. My suggestion is, if you really want to put something out, to place a little gift and inside that gift put the landmark, info notecard, write about your redelivery terminal and anything you find important. I've tested it many times, people are more likely to pick up your free item and get the landmark with it (or right click and check for the creator) than to take only the landmark. I mean, if they really are interested in your items, they'll get that LM anyway, you want to reach out to those that don't really care or don't know you enough to take that LM just because its there but might find your stuff interesting. I am not sure what kind of a feedback you want to get but maybe its better to ask it in a notecard which you pack with the product, for example you can write few lines saying you'll give a certain amount of store credits to customers that offer you constructive feedback. At the event, you'll only get those "ohh its nice, you did awesome job" etc. and people will hurry to the next booth...

Set up my booth in time and do some marketing, usually send blogger items and follow social sites to leave nice comments to those who used my items. Make sure to check my notecards/IM's more often during the event just in case someone did not get their item delivered and did not read my profile to see that I have a redelivery terminal at my store. At the fair I like to visit other shops while the sim is closed for public and we're all set (usually the last day of the setup) because its nice to shop in peace and quiet. Nothing special... I can give you advice not to apply on too many events at once, rather chose 1 or 2 that fit your themes. Later, when you get more familiar with everything, apply to more events. This way you will have enough time to "make things right" and not to feel too big pressure.

I live five sims east from the Ivory tower of prims there is my shop and my home is on a platform above it. I don't have a bed, room or even a building because I enjoy the feeling of freedom the platform gives me, there are not many people around me so the sky is clean.

This thread makes me want to try something like images you shown, they are all great! And is it allowed to post slurl here? I would love to see that sensual art show.

Windlight (SS) Atmos 00:00 2 makes the whole room dark. There are few more, I just took first one from the list In front of my avi is a candle with the light turned on, Intensity: 0.612, Radius: 1.800, Faloff: 1.500. Is this what you had in mind? Edit: typos and just to say that the candle had no texture in the light tab, you can upload any type of texture and it will modify the light in a way that it offers you even more control over it. Feel free to post real life image as an example of want you'd like to recreate in-world and I bet we can think of something!