Sculpting — Show me the Money

[Metropolis Man]

You can check the consignment store for the items that haven't yet sold (click the register and either Cancel Consignments -- this option will only appear if you have something consigned! -- or Buy and the items from your household will be grayed out).  The notice that you receive every day at maybe five? o'clock only list the top three items, so it's certainly possible that all your items sold.  You could do the math yourself with the grand total of sold items minus the values of the three "top sellers" of the day.  My Inventor often has ten or fifteen items (maybe more, I never really counted) sell in one day.

Wow. Well, I'll reconsider the consignment shop. My da Vinci walkthrough guy has almost maxed out Painting — that's what I started with given it's what I'm most familiar with and know the ropes and what to do. I wanted to build up some money to buy scrap right from the workbench and never have to go to the junkyard. That seems like a horrible waste of time if you don't have to.

I think after I max Painting I'll keep at it until I max the Painting career. Right now I think I'm at level 6. So, maybe the consignment store can help me achieve that. I'm almost at 30k happiness points and I was planning on doing meditative Trance Sleep since that's often my go-to reward for self-employed Sims. But maybe a Mid-Life Crisis (picking up Born Salesman), plus points spent on the seller reward would aid me more in selling paintings at the consignment shop and wrapping up the first career. When that happens I'll move to Inventing.

Metro, did you check to see if the dollar amount of your consignment sells matches up to the dollar amounts for your career progression (that is, the amount listed of what you have sold, and the amount listed of how far until your next level)?  And that the correct sim sold the items to the consignment shop?  I don't know if your sim would get credit for his creations if you sent your "utility" sim to the consignment shop instead of your Sculptor.  I haven't tested it myself, but I've had my sims, so far, only sell their own creations.  The profession bar did fill up correctly for my sims (in fact, I got up to level 8 sculptor all in one "sale" because the items I sold that day were, I believe, Great quality or better.  I mean to say, they were expensive).

More great news on consignment. I'm sold. I think I'll change my strategy to what I outlined about and skip MTS for now.

Edit: Also, unrelated to the above, my sim died while sculpting something out of metal.  I didn't see what happened but his ghost was orange and he was smelly.  Sorry I'm not all caught up on what the different ghost colors mean.  But just, you know... be careful.  He was lucky and everything.  Poor guy.

Yikes.  

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EDIT: I thought about this a little more and I think a smart plan of attack is to have the Mid-Life Crisis right upon hitting lvl 10 in Painting and just dropping Artistic. That trait has no bearing on painting value and does not factor in to sculpting or sculpture worth.

[enigma1717]

Edit: Also, unrelated to the above, my sim died while sculpting something out of metal.  I didn't see what happened but his ghost was orange and he was smelly.  Sorry I'm not all caught up on what the different ghost colors mean.  But just, you know... be careful.  He was lucky and everything.  Poor guy.

Was it a metal sculpture by any chance? When I made my simbot I decided to start playing him for awhile since I had already completed my LTW on the sculptor and put him on autopilot. Well, here I am lollying around the simbot, and lo and behold the sculptor dies. He had lit himself on fire, and died from the blowtorch malfunctioning. I'm under the impression though that this had to happen at least twice, because I've never seen a sim die from the blowtorch in one pass, or maybe it is because I always put myself out. However, he had a death flower from his high level gardening he grown while getting the life fruits for the sim bot.


Edit: Oh, and metro man, I had the EXACT traits you listed, but I ditched ambitious for loner, because he just didn't have time to socialize but with anyone but the consignment store owner on his occasional trips there.

And also did anyone else notice a new special gem cut you get called sculptor's cut that is basically 3x modifier for I believe it was either 150 or 350?

[Pam]

And also did anyone else notice a new special gem cut you get called sculptor's cut that is basically 3x modifier for I believe it was either 150 or 350?

According to the Prima Guide, it's the Sculptor's Egg, available right away for $175.

[Jonna]

Was it a metal sculpture by any chance? When I made my simbot I decided to start playing him for awhile since I had already completed my LTW on the sculptor and put him on autopilot. Well, here I am lollying around the simbot, and lo and behold the sculptor dies. He had lit himself on fire, and died from the blowtorch malfunctioning. I'm under the impression though that this had to happen at least twice, because I've never seen a sim die from the blowtorch in one pass, or maybe it is because I always put myself out.

I was wondering if it was possible that he had caught himself on fire; I merely had higher expectations of myself being able to notice my sim jumping around while on fire.  He was not singed at the time, and it did happen rather quickly.  I think.  It's possible that I didn't notice because I might have been detonating a junk yard with my Inventor and did not realize I needed to make sure my other sim didn't catch on fire.  In other news, my Inventor caught on fire regularly while Inventing.

[Carl]

Has anyone managed to unlock the dragon topiary yet? I've started taking opportunities and have made about 40 topiaries but can't get dragon to appear.

[Jonna]

Has anyone managed to unlock the dragon topiary yet? I've started taking opportunities and have made about 40 topiaries but can't get dragon to appear.

Is this the topiary shaped like a dragon?  I mean that's what it sounds like, and if so, I've made a couple and it was, like everything else I assume, random.

[Carl]

Is this the topiary shaped like a dragon?  I mean that's what it sounds like, and if so, I've made a couple and it was, like everything else I assume, random.

Yeah it's pretty harsh. I think that some may never be learned in a normal Sim lifetime. That will either keep it fresh or frustrate. I haven't yet figured out what the artistic trait does to help but it does have the icon next to the actions. I just swapped out loner for that trait, so maybe it was just to boost skill gains.

Anyway, topiaries are pretty fast and I was hoping the dragon might be pretty valuable as a masterpiece.

[Jonna]

Anyway, topiaries are pretty fast and I was hoping the dragon might be pretty valuable as a masterpiece.

Lucky for you, you have me!  I had my Sculptor churn out some "topes" for you.  He does have all the sculpting challenges complete (except for the ice one) and has the Artisan Crafter. 

Dragon Dougherty: Masterpiece x1 = $2,647.  Brilliant x2 = $1,456 and $1,472.  Good were between $756 and $955.  I also had one nice but its head had been chopped off, worth $931.

The topiaries I had left on my lot were: Penguinopoly, Brilliant worth $1,323; Anna the Panda, Brilliants worth $1,132 and $1,334; and Felix the Giraffe without a head, Brilliant worth $1,315.

I am not sure if the lack of head raises the value or lowers it.  If nice is less valuable than good, then according to the above about the Dragon, lopping off your creations' heads is a great idea.  This is a random occurrence, in case you haven't seen it.  You just receive a notice that things didn't go according to plan.  You have to View the item in order to see its grade and value.

[Nibbles]

I know Painting and Guitar have an exploit. If there is an exploit for Sculpting then it would be more profitable when creations don't so long so complete.

[Saltypaws]

I like the fact you make at least decent money from the start.  My sim just started sculpting and made a bust worth over 600 simoleons.  He was only on lvl 4 sculpting and the mermaid he did was gorgeous.  The book said could a sim could do ice sculpters at lvl 6, but mine did his on lvl 4.  Turned out pretty cool, then when he tried another ice block, he licked it and got his tongue stuck, almost fell off my chair.  I got a pic, guess should have posted it.

[samoht04]

Yes Post it! 

I think one of the Character Brothers will now become a Sculpter! 

[Simbacat]

Sculptors can make quite a bit of money. My sculptor is at level 7 of her career and makes all her money with sculpting. She has bought herself a car and redecorated her bedroom, all with money made from sculptures. So far it is my favorite profession.

[Saltypaws]

Yes Post it! 

I think one of the Character Brothers will now become a Sculpter! 

[MomOfMany]

LOL Salty that is good! Makes me want to take up sculpting for my Sims next!

[Leto85]

Anyway, topiaries are pretty fast and I was hoping the dragon might be pretty valuable as a masterpiece.

Lucky for you, you have me!  I had my Sculptor churn out some "topes" for you.  He does have all the sculpting challenges complete (except for the ice one) and has the Artisan Crafter. 

Dragon Dougherty: Masterpiece x1 = $2,647.  Brilliant x2 = $1,456 and $1,472.  Good were between $756 and $955.  I also had one nice but its head had been chopped off, worth $931.

The topiaries I had left on my lot were: Penguinopoly, Brilliant worth $1,323; Anna the Panda, Brilliants worth $1,132 and $1,334; and Felix the Giraffe without a head, Brilliant worth $1,315.

I am not sure if the lack of head raises the value or lowers it.  If nice is less valuable than good, then according to the above about the Dragon, lopping off your creations' heads is a great idea.  This is a random occurrence, in case you haven't seen it.  You just receive a notice that things didn't go according to plan.  You have to View the item in order to see its grade and value.

Nice numbers man! But you should have started with the ice. After making 25 sculptures from ice you are already halfway in completing all the challenges.