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Inventor
Original Poster
#1 Old 24th Oct 2014 at 6:39 PM
Default An independent painter
The goal is to survive - and hopefully (but hopelessly) to prosper - just by making and selling paintings. The real aim is to experience at least a bit of what someone has to go through in order to become a professional artist.

A. THE SINGLE SIM VARIATION

1. Create or download a Sim.
A hint: most artists don't look like artists at all, other do their best to look the part. In other words, Goopy will do just as well as a Picasso clone. Your choice entirely. The same goes for aspirations and likes/dislikes: some artists love talking about art and meeting other artists, some hate both, etc.

2. Place the Sim into a world
- the base rule. keep it cheap
The ideal place to start would be the cheapest flat in Belladonna Cove's City Center Lofts or one of mobile homes there. If you don't have Apartment Life go for the cheapest starter home and buy the cheapest stuff available, essentials only. (No, TV is not an essential but a bookcase is.) Just don't forget to buy an easel.
If your Sim has a house he may own a cheap (I am beginning to repeat myself) car as well - an artist I know had a Trabant for years and years..Otherwise, he or she should walk everywhere (I know taxis are free but).

3. Money
Having settled the Sim, give him enough money for the next week's rent (e.g., 904 Simoleons in the case of the flat above) and 200 Simoleons for small expenses. (When my Sim painted his first masterpiece he sold it for nothing. He burst into tears and I felt that he just had to get out and have a drink.) Take the rest away.

- the base rule: no cheating. It just ruins the experience.
"Cheaty" is more of a problem. Selling or keeping the Humble PC feels cheaty to me (there is a mod that takes care of that). On the other hand, I have in my game a cheap car that enables your Sim to become a cab driver, thus earning some (though not much) additional money: that does not feel cheaty. There are many objects like that.

3a - Running out of money
Most likely this will happen, probably sooner than later. In this case two main solutions are allowed:

- the Sim may take an additional career, but only until he or she has gathered enough money to continue on his or her own; also, don't go above the second or, at most, the third level of a career. The artist career is a good example: "canvas stretcher" is stretching it a bit (ahem) but quite a few young artists make some money from caricatures and/or souvenirs; "comic book penciller", however, already represents an unwanted specialization. - After the Sim has gathered enough money he should abandon the career; he may reenter the same one or begin any other career should the need arise.
In short, the Sim can become anything for a while, from a caricaturist to a criminal; just don't make him a politician - some standards must be maintained. Also, should he, against all rules, continue the artistic career he will finally become a Hirst, thus ending his life in fame and shame. You have been warned.

- the second way. I won't disclose it. Suffice it to say it has been/is being taken by quite a few aspiring artists, male and female. Rest assured that you'll think of it soon enough.

- additional possibilities are offered by objects mentioned above. In such cases you'll just have to use your own judgement - "cheaty" or not?

B. THE FAMILY SIM VARIATION

In this case, the challenge starts as the teen stage is concluded. All the rules above apply but some additional choices have to be made:

1. Will the Sim start his artistic career a) immediately or b) go to university?
- if the answer is b), will the Sim aa) study art or bb) something else?
- if the answer is bb), will the Sim change his mind during the study or only after he
will return?
There are many famous cases of people studying something completely different - e.g., Matisse and Kandinsky both studied law, and so on and on.

2. Will the Sim, after he grows up or returns from the university, a) stay at home with his parents or b) try to make it on his own?
- if the answer is b), will parents help him financially or not? And will the Sim accept their help?
A lot of young artists feel that they have no other choice but to stay at home, with all the minuses that implies. And not all parents decide to cut off and disown their artistic progeny - though some do.

C. THE "I JUST CHANGED MY MIND" VARIATION

Of course, a Sim can decide to become an independent painter at any point of his life and career - just think Gauguin. In this case, he should leave everything but his easel behind, restarting his life as a single Sim; all the pertinent rules apply.

A couple of possible questions:
1. Will the family that the Sim left behind help when he gets in financial trouble or not? And will he accept their help?
2. Will he persevere or try to come back? And will the family allow him to come back?

We know how these questions were finally answered in Gauguin's case, but other possibilities are always open.

Scoring: I don't think it is necessary but if you really want it you might try summing up how much Sims got for all of their works - who will make more, Goopy or Picasso?

And finally: this is all about art so be creative - bend the rules, create new ones, whatever - just use your imagination!
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Inventor
Original Poster
#2 Old 26th Oct 2014 at 1:35 AM
This is not part of the challenge, therefore a separate post.

I tested the challenge in other Sims games as well. In these cases (but not in the case of TS2) I made Sims paint constantly for two days (they did get to eat, sleep, etc - I am not THAT cruel). My aim was not only to see how far they would get but mainly to know how much they would sell their paintings for at that pont - in other words, to determine whether the challenge made any sense or not.

The results:

TS
By the end of the second day the painter reached level 4. He was able to make two canvases a day (he absolutely refused to make any more; that only happened in this game).and he got 40 Simoleons for the second one. His rent (for a small house that I built across the street from the base game starter house) was 125 Simoleons.
The problem here are the paintings - not only are there, as far as I know, only three variations, all of the same size, but also you can do nothing but sell them. Many artists like to keep the works they really like (of course, others are completely indifferent) and this is impossible in this game. Exchanging works with other artist (that is quite common in RL) is also not possible. Still, the challenge could be played.

TS3
By the end of the second day the painter reached level 6. He was able to make three large canvases a day and he got 275 Simoleons for the last one. His rent (for the cheapest starter house in Sunset Valley, the one with five flamingos) was 87 Simoleons. In other words: no real challenge here. Your Sim might not become a Hirst but he would surely become a Koons - just keep drawing your inspiration from those flamingos.

TS4
By the end of the second day the painter reached level 5. He was able to make four large canvases a day and he got 298 Simoleons for the last one. (In "classic" style - prices vary considerably from one style to another.) The first rent for his house (the smallest in the green 'hood - I had to evict some poor sod to get it) was 306 Simoleons. I think that was a weekly rent (I am not sure because I am not really familiar with the game) but in any case, he could make that much with one painting, so no challenge here either.

BTW, some artists paint for days on end and then come back just for some minutes to work on a detail, or do not come back at all for quite a while - Leonardo was known and even famous for working like that. Others paint like diligent artisans, starting at, say, 8 AM and finishing at, say, 3 PM. (This is, however, most typical for writers.) Quite a few work at several paintings at the same time - that's possible to mimic in the game, of course, if you can afford several easels. And so on.
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