If you have a way of being able to record your computer screen- capture it in succession, I would suggest for being able to see how someone 'colors' w/out making a huge vid, that whatever tut you have, you can add little gifs? You could even do that with using 'screen capture' using the history in your art program? OR do really really old stupid school and record your comp screen w/ a camera or your phone. xD;; That way you can show how it's done with strokes w/out words, and it's not necessary to have all info in a tut in video form completely... (and for the record, I think everyone hates their own voice lol).

I have made some tuts in the past, but nothing really great for cws... lol.

Someone just told me of this info discussed here, and Keith's updates and I had no idea. lol! I miss out on everything, but super excited for the upcoming changes! Yay!

Adding my two cents... They might be helpful or they might just be the crazed scribblings of an idiot??¿?

Anyways - Let me preface this by saying I know I've been on a hiatus for the last few months. So while I may be slightly (very?) out of touch right now, my absence has also kind of helped me look at our little CW community with a bit of a fresh gaze, of sorts.

This is what I see:

1. There are a LOT of good ideas mentioned on this thread thus far. It makes me really happy that we can work hand in hand with not only each other, but also Keith to help create the site we really want to use. I think this will be the key to making sure CWs are still a form of expression, creativity, and profit (because, let's be honest with ourselves: if there wasn't at least a little bit of a profit-driven appeal to CWs, then we'd all be selling wigs for 500csc slots instead of 700, myself included).

2. My thought on the "rough state of the market," as it were: in my opinion, I don't think it's quite as rough as it looks at first glance. There may be many items that aren't filling a single batch or recolors that never make it on-site, but I don't think we are beyond saving with the right ideas and cooperation (which I'll go into later). I think that this has to do with a combination of the influx of all sorts of different artists and commissioners and the way in which CW sub-communities have evolved. • Direct-to-shop CW submission has made it so that you no longer need 8-9 people interested in your item, meaning more and more items are popping up. Those get bought and sold in r200, the new items and submitters and artists get more exposure, and the amount of buyers of CWs hasn't grown as exponentially as the amount of people submitting and drawing new items, recolors, etc. • In addition, official non-cw art is getting better and better. We in the CW community sometimes simply buy CWs to support our friends and each other (I know I've slotted on many an item that I never use but cherish all the same for sentimental values!), but people not in this sphere often don't think that way. • For example, the bulk of subeta users that aren't in the CW community see a hair coupon for 250csc that has an ombré streak in it. Why would they pay 450csc more for a CW wig with an ombré as well? In the past, the discrepancy between CW art and official art was a MUCH larger gap than it is now. Those of us who love CWs for what they are (expressions of user-generated creativity that imo are what makes subeta so great) will continue to purchase them, but those not acquainted with CWs will not stick their foot in the door if they don't have to in this case!

3. This ties in with my final observation - I was scrolling through the news post talking about the pawn shop going away earlier today and I kept seeing the same thing: "CWs are cliquish," "artists make the same ponytail 300 times so why should I pay full price for one," "the forums are scary and intimidating," etc. I personally did not feel this way when I entered the CW game, and I don't think anyone who's reading this thread now feels this way, and it was kind of a shock to see that many members of subeta who aren't necessarily in the CW Community feel this way!

It got me thinking of how we can use the pawn shop-closing decision (which, after much thought, I am on board with) to our immense advantage in the CW community: to welcome these casual CW buyers and make it easy for them to get their foot in the door. If we can do this, it can stimulate the market, allow for a new influx of fresh customers with new ideas, tastes, and more. From there, we can take a look at other things to improve our market, like the other great ideas mentioned in this thread.

So, here's some random, spitballing ideas of how to make people feel welcome: • Adding a REALLY REALLY BASIC section to 's tutorial (or making a new tutorial) on how to claim a slot for a CW, how to join ping groups, and other related CW etiquette (paying within a certain time, suggesting recolors, etc). • A secondary shoutbox or chatroom/thread/etc for discussing fashion and CWs that prominent CW artists and submitters frequent - or more heavy use of the CW discussion threads • Legit maybe even a thread or sub-forum for "HI, I'm new to CWs! Here's my collection so far and here are some of my wildest CW dreams! I like the color pink, rollerskating, and someday I'd love to open a thread. What are some of your favorite tribute items?" idk just MORE DISCUSSION? Maybe we can in the mean time make a ping group for random CW-related chatting? • The ideas already mentioned of csc lottery, double csc bonus weekends, pawn shop at holidays, and official CW shops are also prime for getting more folks to care about CWs.

No matter what, all of these ideas (as well as some of the other ideas posed in this thread) will be all about teamwork and networking. I think if we strike while the iron is hot, we can use the closure of the pawn shop as a real opportunity for growing the market and the CW community!

/end rambling

edit: i volunteer to do voice overs, i have a face for radio

edit 2: holy hell i didnt realize i wrote so much, im so sorry

In regards to your post I would be happy to help with art advice whenever you or anyone needs it... but I must warn you that your money comment was a bit off putting. The reason artists charge more for their services is because they've gained the skills and have put in the work to inherit these skills.

To say an artist should be charging $40 instead of $80 (which is probably what that piece of art is worth especially if it's a backdrop) is quite honestly a slap in the face to most if not all artists.

Artists should be charging minimum wage, at least. That's $7.25 where I am from. That means a 5 hour commission is at least $36.50. That includes all your overlays, all your changes, and the custom item. In my humble opinion most artists should be charging AT LEAST $10/hr if not $15/hr (Which is livable wage here).

Furthermore charging $15 for a CI is fair considering it takes 1-2 hrs for a CI, and I don't think artists should charge less for them.

As for some artists charging for advice, I believe that is perfectly fair. It's no different than hiring on an instructor or a tutor.

Granted by no means do you have to pay these artists if you do not want to. Art is not an essential for living. If that is your or anyone else's choice then so be it, though you should still be respectful of the pricing and understand that when you are commissioning an artist you are paying for services that you cannot/ do not want to do yourself.

These changes are very cool. Thank you so much for all your hard work and hearing us out! I can offer up some tutorials if people need them, but I do know that there are some amazing artists who already have material out there!

Would you be able to do say a tutorial on shading clothing for example like dresses,etc?

I probably should have worded things better, What I meant is when you have certain folks who's art quality has not gone up or changed in some respect to make it worth the increase...Yes their art is good and always has been good but if there's going to be a $40 raise then I guess I feel the art should reflect that, If it's wrong of me to feel that way then I apologize and I apologize if anyone was offended as that was not the intent. I have no problem paying for good quality art and I know what it takes to draw cw's because I spent two days alone on just a shirt and that was the line art and coloring...shading didn't even happen. I would rather be in it for the joy of making something someone loves and seeing them truly happy with it then to gain a massive profit. I understand that for some folks it is how they are able to afford certain things in their lives and I think it is great that doing cw's can provide that for them so I know there is two sides to the coin but in some cases there are less then favorable underlying intentions. I also thank you greatly for being open to helping users around site with questions in regards to cw's :D

I would also like to know when the batch slot decrease will take effect as I have a couple things waiting to submit :D

Dunno who to ping! Everyone?! :) haha ~

I, along with many of you perhaps, was really shocked at the negativity in the news post - especially those targeting our community. I think we all realize that there really needs to be a better way of communicating between releasers / those who slot and especially those who do not.

I was just discussing a bit with - but would anyone else be interested in joining a small giveaway / open forum kinda thread in about a week where we could hold small games (like HA contests or random chance games or whatever) and also just show people we're quite normal and just really love making pretty things? And that there are ways to get CWs besides using RL money?

Not really sure about the logistics of this or even how it should be set-up, but wanted to just throw it out there. I was thinking of using the profit from some of my recent batches to turn into 100 CSC cards (mostly) / slots?? / commissions?? to give as prizes (?? since using CWs could just end up with them being pawned and that's... not really the point XD).

Just thought of another event - getting people into the forum can be kindaaa tricky ~ What about setting up a little scavenger hunt? We'll gives hints about which page / which thread and whoever finds the hidden item wins 100 CSC??

<3

Elitists ™ Kinda found some comments crude and borderline shitting on the community guidelines lmao.

I'm going to take my point here: Create a database open to everyone with each and every custom wearables on site.

• Colour code for: private items - public items
• Name of releasers and artists
• Slot price of each items
• Include little contact buttons (smail/comment)

Make a different forum where people can come and give their two cents about the whole custom wearable business.

If people are afraid of the forum itself, giving them lil games and csc will not keep them with us. At worse, they are going to think we are buying their "friendship" (it happened to me ...) The thing is that some people among us are targeted as elitists because we chose to make some of our items private. And yeah, I'm probably one of them with my Shark Strands. The thing is that I'm only doing one batch only because I don't want them to be devaluated. I want my buyers to be able to sell them for slot price and get their money back (or at least, trade for an item sought after/same price).

ps: very glad to see a new artist here ;)

I think people are forgetting that custom wearables are expensive from the start. We never break even tbh and people are assuming we are entitled rich people while we are not. I think we are suffering from the rotten apple itself. I really wish the price of submitting would be explained by a Staff Member ™ and categories explained better (some of them are borderline ridic price wise).

I SORRY TO PING you again but I have a question. xD Is this new 6 item limit going to be like, you HAVE to do 6 in the first batch? Or are we going to have the option to bounce between 6 and 10 items for the first batch? There are some things where 6 for one batch would be much appreciated, but there are some items that don't require it and I would hate to have to release say, 16 copies (two batches with the change) instead of 20 copies (2 batches now) if I could fill the 20 but not necessarily 26 (technically three batches with the change?). I'm assuming only the first batch will be 6 and batches after that are 10 based on your post, but correct me if I'm wrong or something. ;o; I only ask because if we can't change between them, that takes away the chance for me to break even/make profit in an attempt to at least make back a little bit of what I had to spend to commission the item, to begin with.

I think it's only 6 to get the item onsite. After that, you can always put it in your shop with 14 available copies to release the usual 20 copies.

But I'd just wait and see what staff is planning with these features, it seems like these are just the basic ideas they want to do, details have yet to be planned (and then revealed)

This more pertains to reselling/buying CWs on site than anything else, but .. .

I think it might be beneficial to have a thread for pricing help on CWs specifically. A lot of what I've read from people who are a little nervous to get into the market is that they don't really know what certain CWs are worth (is it worth 600 CSC? is it worth 2000 CSC? WHO KNOWS), and they don't want to offer an amount that's too low. I know we have the price help forum, but I don't think it would be a terrible idea to have a centralized location for questions like these. Something like the Custom Wear Identity thread, but more specialized. I think it would be easiest if it was (stickied) in the r200 subforum for visibility and ease of access?? But I guess it technically fits in the price help subforum. I think it would help promote some conversation between veterans of the market and newer members of the market, and it would also be a great resource for everyone. I mean hell, I've been into CWs since the start and I don't know what some of what I own is worth. O:

But finding a program has been hard. XD You do live streams, does that have an option to record instead of doing a live stream ?

I'll try to work on doing a clothing one second! I am currently working on one for my style of hair. I know there are a lot of tutorials on hair / wigs already, but I feel like seeing a variety and not just limiting new artists to 'one thing' to look at might help them develop their own style, or come up with their own techniques? Also just wanted to let you know too since we talked the most, that I'm working on a tutorial for hair as well. P:

Sweet, can't wait to see ! I was thinking of doing a hair one later on, too, once I figure out how I want to do my future tutorials (still looking into the recording bit !). I 100% agree with various artists just showing how they do things, whether or not one of that kind has been done. As you said, variety !

If you figure out a program for recording that is either cheap or free, please let me know. (Cheap being 30 or under I think :X) I think for now the one I'm doing is going to be image based, but I'll add some additional progress gifs as well if I can get photoshop to cooperate T___T oh the reasons I moved to Sai SCREECH

[edit] and the cheap thing being one payment only, I cannot afford monthly payments that high x'D

I believe the program that you can download is separate from picarto in general. You can just use it to be able to able to stream, but I think (but don't quote me) you can just record too. I'm sure I've seen it on my program where it's recording w/out streaming and it saves it to your comp as an MP4 file. It's basically an open source recorder. I'm seriously in bed sick atm, or I'd look it up for you, but you can find the suggested recording programs on picarto's site. =)

Oh... I will only do free bruh. I am poor. You mentioned Picarto didn't work for you, but is that because of the site or the suggested software ? Judging by the Open Broadcaster software, you can save and upload to a different site (I am thinking youtube).

Aw, you feel better ! Looks into it Seems Open Broadcaster is free too !

That's kinda a bummer. I'm probably alone in this but I really hate sticking anything in my CW shop at all, if I can avoid it. There's just something about that part in general that I'd rather not have to deal with (sending out invites, etc). Might just be me personally. x'D I'll probably have to resort to that, though.

Ikd, I'm kinda hoping that we'll kinda get the pick and choose (would be nice) but we shall see. xD

Either I did something wrong when I downloaded OBS, or there was a bug, or my computer is literal ass (which IDK, I can run GW2 just fine? And all the games I have on stream??) But it literally caused my computer to crash every time I opened it :X

That is odd. I wonder if they've fixed bugs ? Their site says they did a re-do basically. I did also find this one that seems alright. But I haven't looked into it much. I think I might go with OBS though, since it's more common and it may be easier to find help on if I get lost/stuck ?

I'll do some research too later when I have a bit more time x'D I have UHHHH maybe put a few too many things on my plate all at once and I want to accomplish those before adding a new task rofl x'D

Understandable ! I have things spilling off my plate. So, naturally, I grabbed a second plate.