Retirement Income..NO this is NOT an Ad on how to make money!

roberthutchinson

I am a draftsperson by trade and I like to draw, but I cannot draw anything freehand such as characters. I stumbled upon 3D artwork a few years back starting with DAZ Studio. I found that with this program I can "draw" characters and I really enjoy this. I like to play with shadows and lighting. My forte is female rendering and especially glamour and pinup type art. I will do nudes, but in a flavor that brings out the beauty in a female and not for pornographic purposes. I used to have a wedding photography business and I took many classes on posing and lighting. Obviously this was to my advantage with 3D artwork. Anyway, enough about my background. I am approaching my retirement years and wish to be able to do much more 3D art and make some additional income from it. I am reaching out to all of you for ideas, experiences, etc. that can help me formulate this. I know that many of you sell your characters and clothing. Although this is not out of the question for me, but I have a program called Lightwave and I cannot understand how to make anything with that program, so I do not see me making characters and clothing from scratch. Is there a market for pinup calendars or some other vehicle to sell my artwork? It appears that the market is saturated with 3D art and in order to make any income, one has to become very good at it which I am willing to do. What avenues have you taken that are bringing you supplemental income? Is 3D art just a hobbyist venue? I have loads of software; DAZ Studio Pro 4.7; IClone6; Carrara Pro 8.5; Bryce 7.1; Lightwave 11; and Poser 2014 although I really have not mastered them. I feel I have the arsenal to get really started. So, anything that anyone can shed some light on this would be appreciated. I really would like to supplement my retirement years with something that I enjoy and can do at home with no set schedule other than some possible deadlines in getting some art completed for a client. Thanks in advance.

Proxima Shining

I don´t make any income from 3D art but I know some people here do. There is Aidana WillowRaven, who frequents this forum. She makes book covers for clients using DAZ Studio (google her name, she has a website for her business, where she also shows her art). Other people make comics (both free and paid for). You could also make picture book(s) for kids and publish on Amazon.

On DAZ website are several stories of people who use DAZ studio for their job, like here:

http://www.daz3d.com/explore/user-stories/explore-john-van-fleet/

StratDragon

you can sell anything 2D, use 2D figures and animaions in games, 2D book covers, etc as long as it remains 2D, you cant sell "3D Data" you can selll "3D Output that becomes 2D when rendered"

If it's something particular you specialize in you may want to try deviant art and post some of your work and offer commissions.
As for learning software there are many videos already on you-tube that run from very professional to complete waste of time but for the most part they are free and you can generally find a handful of individuals who you subscribe to after you are comfortable with thier perticualr style of teaching.

I was getting by with Daz Studio and Blender for scenery, Reality/LuxRender for output and Photoshop for post work but there are not enough hours in my day to work and responsibilities at home and then find time to get busy on commissions, though I did a few to see if it was something worth pursuing.

McGyver

Check out DeviantArt... http://www.deviantart.com
If you haven't already done so.
DeviantArt allows members to sell their art via their site... There is a lot of competition, and I have read several threads where individuals who are pretty good artists have complained they they have never sold anything there...
Personally, it's not easy to break into, and there is tons of competition... There is a lot of competition from the users of professional high end software like Maya, 3DS Max, Modo, Zbrush, Cinema 4D, etc... Granted most of the users of that software are more inclined towards animation or games, their skill levels are pretty high and the software allows them more options... Add to that the fact that many of these people are professionally trained and went to school for this sort of thing.
Once you get a little good at this, you could try using your skills creating commercial advertising art for local small businesses... It's boring and does not pay well, but it is income...
There is also the possibility of picking up illustrating work for novice authors... Maybe through writers workshops or advertising on a bulletin board at a local library...
Once again, not a lot of cash, but it builds experience.
Creating a portfolio of work is very important... You'll have to have a nice body of work to show potential clients.

But, yeah this is more or less the "hobby" end of the 3D world... Though many people do make some income at this, and some are even successful at it, the majority are just having fun.
The real trick is finding people outside of the 3D realm who have the money to have someone make renders of their ideas and look at all this as though it is all magic...

The rare few times I've been paid to do anything in 3D that could be considered "art", it involved me having to create models of things that were not available and were based on (very,very, very vague) notions of someone's "designs".
Imagine working from this: "it's like an aircraft carrier, only it's a space ship, but it's really a city, but it's not like the Death Star, but it can blow up planets, only different..." with an a grainy image of a styrofoam packing insert attached as an example.
But anyway, maybe even picking up some modeling skills wouldn't hurt, you never know when it might come in handy.

You could also buy some 3D magazines like 3D World or 3D Artist, they always have articles explaining how to improve your work or make income at CGI... Personally, while I feel they can be inspirational, after a while it just becomes a lot of noise... Do this, don't do that, blah,blah, blah options and overlapping ideas...

Really... Find something you like to do, get good at it thinking of it purely as entertainment and stress relief and if you are really good enough at it to convince other people you are good at it, then maybe you'll get lucky and make money at it.

This was probably useless info, but good luck anyway.