# Should I offer free fursuits?



## CavySpirit (Jul 10, 2013)

I really would like to practice suit making, but I really don't want to make a bunch of pre-made suits and HOPE they get sold lol So I was thinking maybe an alternative would be to pick characters I like and offer to make a free fursuit of that character, to get practice in without having a bunch of suits laying everywhere? c: I'd just have them pay shipping probably, but that's it.

Would that be a good or bad idea? XD I mean yeah, I wouldn't be making money and I'd be spending money out of my own pocket for all the supplies but I'd rather do that then have random unwanted pre-made designed suits sitting everywhere.

Any thoughts? Or any suggestions on how I can practice without losing money? I did host a raffle and still am waiting to get stuff from the winner to build his suit off of, but until then I'm exploring other ways that I can practice more. The raffle was a little too slow, and I feel like it wouldn't be fair for me to even charge cost of supplies since I haven't had as much practice, but what do you think?

Thanks for reading and I appreciate any input! c:


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## Nightlinez (Jul 10, 2013)

A raffle would be a fun idea! Have you ever thought of a trade? Do you have any 3D art/sewing experience with fursuits?


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## CavySpirit (Jul 10, 2013)

Nightlinez said:


> A raffle would be a fun idea! Have you ever thought of a trade? Do you have any 3D art/sewing experience with fursuits?



I have made 2 suits previously but mostly for fun so they weren't my best work(I glued all the fur on the head, etc..) I am currently working on a 3rd partial which I am going to sell and it's a huuuge improvement from my past heads XD I've got the hang of basic 3D shaping and stuff, it's just a matter of practicing to get better at it c: I love to sew!

I would consider a trade, but I am not sure who would be willing to offer a trade, plus I don't want to have too many suits laying around lol I only have 3 suits I'd want to wear and all 3 I plan on commissioning from specific makers. c: But maybe, I guess it depends on the trade details X3


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## Falaffel (Jul 10, 2013)

So many threads can be solved this way ~
doooOOOOooooOoo what chu feeeEEEeeell like. 

Seriously. 
Do what you feel is best because, ultimately, it all still comes down to what you want to do.


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## Nightlinez (Jul 10, 2013)

Sending you a note over FA for an idea ~


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## DarrylWolf (Jul 10, 2013)

Yes, but the problem is that you would need a mercantile perspective, given the raw material costs and the sewing machine cost. One free fursuit to a very lucky person would be nice, but after that you will need to charge to justify the cost of making a fursuit.


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## Tigercougar (Jul 11, 2013)

Dude, why put yourself in the whole financially like that? Just charge the cost of materials only, that's still gonna be a huge discount for potential buyers.


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## Lobar (Jul 11, 2013)

Be prepared to face a horde of whiny, entitled cheapasses.


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## Teal (Jul 11, 2013)

Are we talking full suits here? Which material cost alone will be in the triple digits.


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## Arshes Nei (Jul 11, 2013)

No.


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## Willow (Jul 11, 2013)

It would be better to create a guinea pig character and make suits for yourself before you try making stuff for other people. This just seems like a lot of unnecessary trouble and potential disappointment.


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## Trpdwarf (Jul 11, 2013)

Somehow I do not think you understand the point of practice. You should not be sinking your own money into making free suits for others. What you should be doing is choose a single design. Something you may want to personally wear. Do it. Then, take a look at what you did. What could be improved? What can be done different? Then do it again. Each time you redo to achieve that final good suit you learn valuable lessons. Once you get one design to something that is good, you choose another. Make it. This is how you improve. Because you wear the suits you make, you can best gauge what is going on, what is going wrong, what needs to be fixed/redone versus sending something off to someone who often may not be honest because they are simply happy to have a free suits, and unwilling to hurt your feelings.

EDIT: The other pro to do it the way I suggested is that in going through this process over and over you start to get a feel for "Is this something I would actually do as a job?". Once you start making for others seriously, it becomes a job. Some people after making several realize quickly they don't have the heart to be a maker for others. They just make for themselves. Others find they really have a knack. You won't know till you take the time to properly go through the motions.


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## CavySpirit (Jul 11, 2013)

Tigercougar said:


> Dude, why put yourself in the whole financially like that? Just charge the cost of materials only, that's still gonna be a huge discount for potential buyers.



Yeah, but since I'm still a beginner my suits aren't going to be the best right away or anything, I'd feel bad that people have to pay cost of materials when I'm still getting the hang of shaping heads and stuff^^;
Here's my past 2 suits:
http://cavyspirit.deviantart.com/art/Fursuit-Completed-Parts-298450401
http://cavyspirit.deviantart.com/art/Blakat-Fursuit-Head-2-361578985

I would hate to have someone pay for a suit with poor shaping, which is why I want to get a lot of practice in X3 I don't want to disappoint anyone is what I mean, especially since they paid for the supplies and all.



Trpdwarf said:


> Somehow I do not think you understand the point of practice. You should not be sinking your own money into making free suits for others. What you should be doing is choose a single design. Something you may want to personally wear. Do it. Then, take a look at what you did. What could be improved? What can be done different? Then do it again. Each time you redo to achieve that final good suit you learn valuable lessons. Once you get one design to something that is good, you choose another. Make it. This is how you improve. Because you wear the suits you make, you can best gauge what is going on, what is going wrong, what needs to be fixed/redone versus sending something off to someone who often may not be honest because they are simply happy to have a free suits, and unwilling to hurt your feelings.
> 
> EDIT: The other pro to do it the way I suggested is that in going through this process over and over you start to get a feel for "Is this something I would actually do as a job?". Once you start making for others seriously, it becomes a job. Some people after making several realize quickly they don't have the heart to be a maker for others. They just make for themselves. Others find they really have a knack. You won't know till you take the time to properly go through the motions.



I totally understand what you mean by making the same design over and over to get improvement. Only problem I see with that is having a bunch of practice suits of the same character. It'd most likely be a personal character so I wouldn't be able to sell it and I'd feel horrible just throwing out the older versions. Or did you mean it in a different way? I don't have a lot of storage space for a bunch of suits, so that's why I was thinking it'd be better to make suits people would enjoy c: And yeah, that would be the downside to sending suits to people, you never know if they're being honest or not about the quality^^; Thanks for the input, I really appreciate it! c:


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## Arshes Nei (Jul 11, 2013)

Then why get advice, just do what you want to do and spend your money the way you want.

It's like this with a lot of hobbies. I don't get money to practice on art. I gotta bust my butt and practice on my own, then sell artwork people want.

I don't get money to practice on building things to sell them. I get money because someone actually wants a quality product I build - like a PC or whatever.


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## DerpyTurtle (Jul 12, 2013)

There's a lot of problems with making fursuits for other people while saying how much practice you need. It's just extremely unprofessional and usually when I see someone doing that I get the impression that they're young and don't understand the fursuit business. You won't find professional fursuit businesses doing that. Some might hold raffles when they're getting started, but that's _after _they're sure of what they're doing, and it's to get their name/work out there. Not to practice building fursuits as a whole.

You're saying how you wouldn't want to just throw away the older suits -- if they're not worth keeping or selling then why make them for other people if they might just throw them away as well?
EDIT: I just realized that was because Trpdwarf said to make the same design multiple times, but still. That basically means that there's so much improving you need to do that if those people got a new version either from you or someone else, they might as well just throw the old one away. Get to the point where they wouldn't _need_ a new version and throw the old one away before you go making them for people.

Practice on your own. Especially for the reasons stated in the above posts. You need to be able to test (wear them yourself and see first-hand how things handle, visibility, ventalation, etc.) and examine them yourself and progress each time, not just send them off and never see them again or be able to look back on them to improve on (at least not in person) and as was already said, you might not get all the feedback you really need if someone else has it. When people do all their practice suits for other people, it often just leads to doing the same thing over and over and not really improving because you don't actually know what's going on with those suits as far as comfortability, durability etc. It's a costume, and you need to be able to be aware of the _inside _of your things as well, not just the outside appearance. This is something people actually wear on their body, not a plushie. Plus, it helps to be able to see them side by side to compare and see your improvements.


I made a suit in 7th grade. It's all going to be thrown away. That's just part of the process. I would never consider making them for other people before I'm able to make quality suits that would be worth buying. I'm going to be doing multiple personal suits for myself before I start making them for other people, regardless of how much I charge.


And in case you were considering what others said about having them just pay for materials, long story short: there's no reason people should give you money, even if it's for the materials, for you to _practice_. Otherwise they might as well just buy their own materials and _practice _themselves. If there's money involved they should be able to know what they're getting.


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