I was very lucky to be asked by The Sims 3 to do a community spotlight interview. Below is the said interview 🙂
The below is Copied from The Sims 3 website: http://www.thesims3.com/community_spotlight_fieryfemale
Community Spotlight Interview: fieryfemale
Earth Mother, Orla Dagwood, the Kennis twins – fieryfemale first caught our attention with these unique Sims ranging from mythical and magical, to celebrities, to sometimes sinister. But she doesn’t stop there – she’s also one of the top lot builders in the community – sharing lots as grand as her Siheyuan Chinese Courtyard fit for royalty to budget-friendly and cozy starter homes! See what draws her to The Sims 3’s Create A Sim, her inspirations for Sims and lots, and some of her own trade secrets on creating.
Download Siheyuan Chinese Courtyard HouseHow long have you been playing The Sims games?
I actually first ventured into the world of The Sims with the release of the very first The Sims game which seems like such a very long time ago now. It was fun starting off with this little Sim person who you could control and seeing all the little possibilities that could develop within his/her little world.What was your first creation in any of The Sims games?
It was with the release of The Sims 2 that first started my journey into creating. But those creations were mostly for my own game use. I do remember my first creation for The Sims 3 though, it was for my avatar for The Sims 3 community and was very quickly done in Create A Sim. I remember I was sitting at my computer trying to think up a name for her, and picked up a wild bird book on my desk, opened the page and it was a Scarlet Tanager and there you have it- my very first creation within The Sims 3 was born.Seeing your Sims on the Exchange is what initially caught our attention! What’s your favorite feature in The Sims 3’sCreate A Sim?
Most definitely the various facial sliders and colour swatches for changing, clothes, hair and eyes etc. I love the fact that each person playing The Sims 3 can pretty much start off with exactly the same Sim, but the end results can all be so very different. There is no limit really to what you can create if you put your mind to it.What part of Create A Sim do you spend the most time on?
I think the majority of my time is spent using the facial sliders. I can spend hours tweaking their face here and there until I get the result I want. I am actually an Artist in my spare time (I graduated quite a few years back now) and love illustrational stuff, so Create A Sim can be a bit like my own paintbrush on a canvas really. But the difference is, The Sims 3 allows your creation to come to life.Where do you get your ideas for your unique Sims?
As a child I loved all the fairytale stories and films, such as Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree stories, films such as Labyrinth, The Neverending Story, The Wizard of Ozand TV series like Buffy and Angel etc, anything with mythical creatures in really. I think my ideas stem from my love of those types of things. I enjoy creating Sims that are different from the standard ones that you may see within the game, it makes the playability so much more fun and interesting.
Download Earth MotherWhich of the Sims you created is your most favorite?
Hmm, well that is a hard one to answer, as I have quite a few. But my favorite I would say is my “featured” Earth Mother. When I first started sharing my creations on the community, I used to get quite a few requests from other members to create sims for them. I was then requested by the Build N Share team to create the Earth Mother for the Gnomelandia project, so she was pretty much created from my idea of what I thought she would be like. There were a few other Sims (The Dagwood’s and Drauntia Flidais) that I created alongside her and they are close favourites too. I have actually started reworking on them and my current project is building homes for them all.Not only do you create Sims, but you build lots. You seem to cover many building styles! What is your favorite style to build?
Yep, as you can see, I don’t really have one particular building style I stick to. My ideas for my lots tend to come from passing a house I like while driving somewhere or something I see in a film that then starts my imagination going again with different creations. I often have a vision in my head of something or a little story may develop which in turn then starts the ideas for my next build. I really enjoyed creating pagoda style houses with the release of The Sims 3: World Adventures, however you may of noticed my featured “Siheyuan Chinese Courtyard” house was built BEFORE the release of World Adventures. So I kind of set myself a big challenge in figuring out a way of making the traditional pagoda style roofs. It did give me quite a few headaches as you can imagine. But I got there in the end, with the help of “ConstrainFloorElevation off” of course. I think the reason I like the pagoda style houses, is because they are quite mythical looking and fit into my whole fairytale type creations.You seem to have a lot of starter homes in your Studio, what is it about starter homes you favor? Is there a particular type of player you build these for?
I wouldn’t say there is a particular player I build them for. Starter homes appeal to me because of the challenge aspect of them. Obviously you have a certain budget you need to stick to enable single sims or couple Sims to afford them, as well as trying to make them appealing as possible too. No Sim wants to live in between four basic walls with not much else, do they? So if you can achieve the basics for them within budget, it means they are comfortable from the word go. I hate to imagine a poor old little Sim living uncomfortably. LOLWhat are your favorite cheats to use when building?
“ConstrainFloorElevation off” is definitely a favorite of mine and I use it in a lot of my builds now. Obviously, my Siheyuan Chinese Courtyard house being the main one I used it with. I think that cheat was turned on and off almost continuously for that build. I also like using “MoveObjects on” as it is great for combining certain things together to make your own unique pieces of furniture. Of course you have to make sure you also do lots of testing afterwards, so that everything is still useable.Being part of Build-n-Share – what is it like having a set time to finish a lot?
As you have probably already noticed. I enjoy a challenge and the Build N Share’s definitely offer that. It is one thing to build a lot, but it is something else to build a lot with a certain number of requirements within a certain time period. Sometimes you can start off with an idea, but can already be well above budget before you even start putting the furniture in, so you really have to think carefully with your designs. I think that is one of the reasons it has become so popular on The Sims community and of course there are the fabulous ideas for the challenges, Addict and Anjubee come up with each week.
Download Garrarus Country Cottage – Starter HomeDo you grow attached to your creations? If so, how?
Definitely, they are my own little pieces of artwork in a way. That said, I love to see how others have used them in their game. The fun and enjoyment I get out of creating them wouldn’t be the same without sharing them with others.Do you have any trade secrets that you’re willing to share with aspiring creators?
Funnily enough I always have my sketch book with me, so even when I haven’t got access to a computer, I am drawing down ideas for my next creations. There is nothing worse than an idea popping into your head, but having nothing with you to record it on. Graph pads are great for drawing out plans for lots as you can use the squares as equals to the grids you get on a lot with in The Sims, so that is definitely something I would recommend a Sims 3 builder to have. That way there is no risk of forgetting any ideas you may have.With the information that’s out there on The Sims 3: Ambitions, what are you looking forward to, creatively, with this upcoming EP?
The Sims 3: Ambitions sounds like it was an expansion pack designed for me, LOL. I can’t wait to get loose on it and see what unique creations I can come up with. I love the sound of all the new careers that will be available and the story aspect of the game as you embark on their careers with them, it will give so much more to my creations I am sure. I can’t wait to try out the stylist career and make over some Sims, for the better or worse. That sounds like great fun to me. Some of the new building tools sounds really useful too and will certainly make building a little easier. In fact I think The Sims 3: Ambitions is going to be very popular among The Sims 3 Creative Corner community.Do you have any websites that promote your work you’d like to share?
Yep, I sure do, you can check out all of my creations at Sim-Artistic and of course I am often found on the Creative Corner.HUGE thanks, fieryfemale, for taking part in our interview! Don’t forget to visit her Studio and download her creations in her My Page and to check out her Sim-Artistic blog!
May 14, 2010 at 9:19 pm
hey! i have some creations on the sims 3 website but none have gotten more than 60 downloads ho can i make them be downloaded some more? if you could tell me it would be a great help!!!!! by the way check my creation out search “Anneliesse Mckenzy” in keywords and check her out< also please add me as a friend!!! thank you
May 14, 2010 at 11:32 pm
Hi there Alexis, unfortunately there is no sure way to guarentee lots of downloads, it really does depend on what may appeal to other simmers out there. However there are a few things you can do. One is to join in with the creative corner part of The Sims 3 forums, there are some great like minded creators, who will give you invaluable support and advice, there are also various challenges posted frequently which you can join in. The Simguru’s frequent the boards often and if they just happen to see a creation of yours that they like, who know you may even get a feature :).
Also another things to do is to change the standard screenshot of your uploads. This allows other simmers to see your lot in more details. You can read about how to do that on this thread: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/59754.page
I hope that helps 🙂 – thanks for stopping by my page.
May 27, 2010 at 11:34 pm
Hey fieryfemale! I really love your creations, you have obvious talent and choose interesting and useful subjects for your creations. I imagine you get a ton of requests, but I was hoping if you had time you might take a stab at Laura Prepon (Donna from That 70s Show) for me? I have tried making the cast several times and have had some success with other characters (my Eric and Kelso sims are decent) but I am struggling with Donna (Laura Prepon) and Jackie (Mila Kunis). A few other creators on the sims3.com have good renditions, but your celebrity creations are the most detailed and accurate I’ve seen. So, I was hoping if you had time in the near future, you might try making Laura Prepon/Donna (and others from the cast if you’re feeling ambitious). I appreciate your consideration. Thanks, Liz
P.S. Here are some pics of Laura Prepon and the rest of the cast for reference (if you decide to take my request lol)
June 9, 2010 at 2:48 pm
Hey,
Sorry I took so long to reply to this, it went into my spam folder, so have only just seen it. I will try and give this a go for you when I get some spare time.
June 2, 2010 at 1:42 am
Hey there! I was wondering what it was you used to make your awesome creations. I tried the TSR Workshop but i have had issues with downloading the pluggins for it. I dont understand Anything about Modthesims.com, I also have issues downloading anything from that that site. I would really love to kno how to put Elf ears on my sims 3 ppl without it being an accessory.
June 9, 2010 at 2:47 pm
I dont really use any mod programs or plugins apart from a few items such as the elf ears which I have downloaded from places such as Modthesims. The elf ear option then appears in create a sim.
For all my sims I just use Create-a-sim within the sims 3 game and for my lots, I use cheats such as constrainfloorelevation and move object.
If you check out the creative corner forum on The Sims 3 website, there is a stickied thread titled Tutorials, I can’t get on there at the moment to copy the link here. But there are lots of useful tutorials for building etc.
Good luck 🙂