Question for master skinners

I'm not sure anyone would disclose how much they make, or their download numbers.  However, it can take years for one to reach Master status.

Took me 7 years to make Master. For me, it isn't about selling skins. It's about recognition. It is an honor to be named a Master. 

I doubt anyone buying a DX theme, Gef found that out, I'd say. Although I think I bought most all of his Master skins. 

I wouldn't count on any financial info to be shared here. 

Not a skinner myself but I would think that most of the Masters here would agree that if you are looking to make money, real money, from creating Desktop GUI's you need to go out into the broader commercial market.  Although I would imagine that you would need to spend many years establishing yourself.

Why not? I'm not asking for any accurate numbers, just some rough download count of any one skin would be enough. 

Yeah I agree too, I mean i'm not 'planning' to become a master skinner or anything but i'm just wondering if people actually buy them. 

Sure they do. I'm sure there is a slump during times of poor economy, as in now...lol.

Whalecore most if not all Master Skinners don't talk about downloads and money in the forums.  If you are interested in how anyone one of them might be doing you should probably PM one and see if they will discuss it with you.  Just keep in mind that PM'ing is private. 

Something else to consider also is that you need to be a Master Skinner here to sell you work through the WC site.  That doesn't mean that you can't have your own webpage and sell you work there.

I buy Master Skins.

Yes, I know that, I'm just wondering.

stardock takes 60% of whatever you sell, if you sell a skin for 5 bucks you do the math ....

It doesn't stop there, this would turn out to be reportable income, and If I'm correct you would pay taxes on the sale price of the skin or the $5 not what you get after Stardock gets their part for services rendered, not leaving you with very much per skin sold. 

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

pretty much.... id rather go work in the coca cola factory down the road,,,

If we could get a Master to dock their yacht, land their Learjet, or pull over in their Mercedes long enough, we could ask them.

They are all out doing their part to stimulate the economy with all that cash.

 Disclaimer: If any of you Masters do have any of the above, I'm sure you worked hard for it and deserve it.

Ditto

I am not selling here, but even when I was selling on my own website, I was lucky to make maybe $50 a month if that helps.

If I had to do it for money it would take all the fun out of it. Constant pressure to git 'er done. No thanks.

How old are you?

Yeah, although WinC is a really popular site, you'd need A LOT of advertising to get even near as many views. 

But I think that you guys are misunderstanding me, i'm only curious about how much money some designers might make from releasing master skins, like how you'd be curious about anything, i'm not 'planning' to live off of doing them or anything like that. 

17. 

I really do not think anyone is going to give you an answer on this Whalecore.  People make varying amounts, so there is nothing is really set in stone.  Average for one person may not even be close for another.

Understand, being curious is one thing. Asking a Master skinner a question like that is close to personal. The answers you did get are about as far as some might be willing to go. A better question would be is how they got started or what inspires them to do what they do. At 17 you shouldn't be concerned about making money as a skinner, not that your are but it sounds that way. I'm not a master, only an apprentice. Why don't you try your hand at skinning if you haven't already done so. Perhaps then you'd get a better feel for what others have said.

I don't really see how it would be personal, it wouldn't be for me at least (and yes i've done some skinning in the past), and asking what inspires you would be far more personal for me than some of my skins rough download count. It just feels like people are making a way too big deal out of a simple question. But of course no-one is required to answer. 

Also no i'm not that concerned about making money out of skinning yet, even if I was I wouldn't really imagine living off of releasing master skins on WC  

$0.0

I prefer to Give back to the community that has given so much..

Ditto.....but then again I'm not even trying to sell my skins

While it is fine to be curious, looking in the galleries you will see that download counts for Master skins are not publicly displayed. To me, that means that information is considered personal and private. You may get a Master to disclose that info in a PM but I doubt that you'll see anyone post it in a public forum. It may even be against the SD TOS.

Thanks Wiz. That's the point I was trying to make.