I've done this once on a pet site, but never with real currency. The idea of selling ideas in such a way seems either too easy to take advantage of or too easy to get out of thinking creatively. Of course this is for personal uses... as far as commercial uses go, it's the only way to keep things tidy and legal, I suppose.
Buying the rights to a design? I didn't know that was possible. Someone could just copy a design down to the very last detail but change one single thing and call it their own. I've seen it happen a lot. Sucks.
I think character designs are too personal. It feels cheap, fake, and rather like stealing. I liken it to taking a story from someone else's life and incorporating it into your own, where you make yourself the hero and tell it as if you experienced it. No matter how many times you tell it, even if you believe it a little, the story is never really yours.
I would probably never buy a character to make my own because it would feel too strange. I would similarly never sell one because it would also be so weird to see someone else using my creation and I am pretty sure I would want it back.
On the other hand, I could see selling the basics of a character, like the work you do for game companies or the kind of stuff people do for adoptables. It's not as well developed and personal as the sort of character that I would really call my own, so I wouldn't feel as off about doing something like that.
I don't really have a problem with other people selling characters if they don't have the same attachment-to-chracter hangup as me, haha. However, I would be disappointed if I saw someone else using a character and then found out it wasn't their creation, but only if they were doing it without crediting the original creator.
COOL: because Im looking at it from the stand point where someone wants to make a movie, or game of illustrated novel W/E and they then hire an artist to sketch up designs for characters/creatures for them to use because they are incapable/have better things to do...Did I misinterpret the poll?
It would be neat to see how another artist interprets what your character would look like. But on the other hand it wouldn't be your art and you couldn't call it your art. *shrugs* Its whatever the person would like.
It would be cool to see how another interprets your own character. Then again, it wouldn't be your personal art and one could not call it their own. *shrugs*
To me purchasing someone's character/creature design is like drawing a character/creature from a TV show or something its not truly your own! But if you feel like your out of ideas i suggest asking a friend about what they would like in a character/creature and then tweak the idea as much as you like!
I voted 'No' only because I prefer to toil on my designs rather than fork money for someone's. It kinda defeats the purpose of getting better at it. However, as many have said above, your mileage may vary. As a pertinent example some people make good money selling 3D digital models of various critters "off the shelf".
Sta.sh
Devious Comments
I would probably never buy a character to make my own because it would feel too strange. I would similarly never sell one because it would also be so weird to see someone else using my creation and I am pretty sure I would want it back.
On the other hand, I could see selling the basics of a character, like the work you do for game companies or the kind of stuff people do for adoptables. It's not as well developed and personal as the sort of character that I would really call my own, so I wouldn't feel as off about doing something like that.
I don't really have a problem with other people selling characters if they don't have the same attachment-to-chracter hangup as me, haha. However, I would be disappointed if I saw someone else using a character and then found out it wasn't their creation, but only if they were doing it without crediting the original creator.
CONCEPT ARTIST stuff..
However, as many have said above, your mileage may vary. As a pertinent example some people make good money selling 3D digital models of various critters "off the shelf".