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The Sims 3: Artist
Master of the Arts Lifetime Wish Walkthrough
By Tom Schlueter (Metropolis Man)
Brush Up To Stevie Ray
Stevie Ray Frazetta is a character named after my favorite guitar player, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and one of my favorite painters, Frank Frazetta (I opted for more of the Italian Frank look than a Stevie Ray look). I’ve created plenty of guitarists and painters in Sims 3, so the Master of the Arts Lifetime Wish seemed to be a natural for my first walkthrough. It's a very simple Lifetime Wish to complete and tailor-made for players like me who sometimes just want to put their brain on auto-pilot. Enjoy!
The Best Traits for an Artist in the Sims 3:
Artistic
Duh. Double duh, right? It goes without saying that Stevie Ray Frazetta is Artistic out the wazoo. This trait will boost the rate at which he learns both the guitar and painting skills. And when he’s an old man and decides to write his memoirs, the Artistic trait will help him there as well.
Ambitious
Definitely a staple trait for most of my Sims given I typically play challenges and the main concern in those is getting things done as quickly as possible. Ambitious is going to put the big wishes into Stevie Ray’s head and when he fulfills them he’ll be rewarded with more Lifetime Happiness points.
Over-Emotional
This gets my vote for the best trait in the game. Bar none. Assuming you kick your Sims out the door with all needs green to begin their day of skill building or career climbing, Over-Emotional just multiplies the speed at which they’ll achieve their goals. This trait is so killer because it not only increases the speed at which Sims learn skills, it's also directly tied to the number of Happiness points acquired.
Loves the Outdoors
Another no-brainer for this particular Lifetime Wish and many others as well. Buy a beach front lot for your artist Sim and they’ll enjoy a hefty Beautiful Vista moodlet.
Perfectionist vs. Virtuoso
It comes down to one of these traits to wrap up Stevie Ray's traits. Perfectionist would increase the value of the paintings and would make his meals taste a little better. Virtuoso would bring in more tips. Since this is a short-term character I went with Virtuoso. You’ll soon discover that for the really big money it’s all about tip playing with this character.
Week 1. 477 Sunnyside Blvd. What else can be said about this little slice of heaven but, location, location, location. The Beautiful Vista moodlet is incredible and will assist in building those painting and guitar skills that much quicker. The downside to this chunk of real estate is it sets you back 6800 Simoleans and there will only be enough money left over for the basics. Bottom line: your struggling artist will have to get up close and personal with nature for about 2 weeks while he saves enough to build a real house.
One thing I do with brand new Sims that may be different from other players is I immediately have them sleep in their Sleep-Slave Double Bed. I really want that nice Well Rested moodlet before some serious skill-building happens. And it doesn't take long because new Sims are practically all green anyway. So, as Stevie Ray woke up from that first outdoor cat nap he got 2 painting wishes. Those wishes dictated how I played the first week, namely, painting first, and guitar later. I just concentrated on getting a cooking skill from the library, buying a couple Nice Lettuce from the grocery store (one to plant, the other to make the first round of Autumn Salad for dinner), and then paint, paint, and more paint. By Wednesday of the first week, Stevie Ray already had a Nicely Decorated moodlet from the paintings he was throwing up on his two bare walls. I think he was trying to distract the neighbors walking down the sidewalk and seeing him use the toilet only a few feet away.
Week 2. There was a landmark 2-day period at the beginning of Week 2 that pulled everything together for Stevie Ray: He mastered the painting skill, and finished all of the painting challenges. But, I still had him live like a bear in the woods for a few more days while he cranked out the paintings that he promply sold to pay for his new digs in week 3. Week 2 also saw decent improvements from a new generation of lettuce plants, so the Autumn Salads were nicer and the resulting eating moodlet was welcome for the onslaught of guitar skilling in week 3.
Week 3. Guitar. Guitar. Guitar. Almost no painting at all. Once Stevie Ray hit level 5 in guitar I immediately had him purchase “Yes Ma’am, I do” from the Bookstore. And herein lies the cornerstone strategy of this build and the Rock Star build as well — training your guitar player to play for tips. By "training" I mean cueing up multiple Perform actions of a particular song. As soon as they begin playing the song, you cancel the cue, and they move to the next one. Rinse and repeat as many times as you want. The relationship between the size of tips and the number of times compositions have been performed (see Guitar Skill Journal) is very strong. But, at some point you’re going to get bored with this method of training your guitar player. I raised his Perform number to about 75 and that was plenty. If I had wanted him to achieve the Money Maker challenge very quickly like in the MAX Skills Challenge where speed is of the essense, I would have probably taken the time to raise the number to 150.
Speaking of the skill challenges, let me throw in my 2 cents on the painting and guitar challenges. The painting challenges are Brushmaster, Proficient Painter, and Master Painter. You may finish the Proficient Painter first, but not likely. The smart strategy is to stick to painting only small paintings to achieve Brushmaster as quickly as possible to increase the painting speed. In fact, I didn't have Stevie Ray switch to large paintings until all 3 painting challenges were completed because at that point it really makes sense to do so for the best income — a) you'll be painting faster (Brushmaster), b) your chance of a painting resulting in Brilliant or Masterpiece value is far greater (Proficient Painter), and c) all of your paintings will be worth more (Master Painter). So, every single painting challenge adds some kind of value to encourage you to stick with the skill long after you finish the challenges.
Sigh. And then there are the lowly Guitar challenges.: Master Guitarist, Guitar Star, and Money Maker. The only benefit of accomplishing the Master Guitarist and Money Maker challenges is obtaining a new master track you can perform. Whoop dee doo. Completing the Guitar Star Challenge actually provides a solid benefit — more money from tips and performances. That is...IF you can actually complete the challenge. I've never done it and it's become a well established fact on many Sims 3 forums that you basically have to cheat and force the opportunities necessary to complete this challenge. Too bad.
Week 4. Everything was wrapped up at the beginning of Week 4 for Stevie Ray when he achieved his Lifetime Wish. One thing that's interesting to me is the amount of time necessary to master various skills. It's quite clear that painting does not take as long as guitar. I don't know why. Things came to practically a standstill when Stevie Ray was at about an 8 1/2 guitar skill level. I sent him to the spa to get the most expensive package and that helped him play for longer stretches to master the skill. But, it still took another day and a half.
Most of the acquaintances he had from a couple tip playing sessions in Central Park were invited over to Stevie Ray's nice house for one last hoorah. Everyone had a great time. The combination of 3 of Stevie's Masterpieces sitting on the easels and his level 10 guitar skill sent his guests' moods through the roof. Of course, playing for tips at your own party is downright rude, but I highly recommend it!
As far as Lifetime Rewards go, the only real Lifetime Reward that makes much sense is the Extra Creative reward to boost painting value. But, as you may find out as I did in the Centurian Challenge where I played a guitar player using the training trick and pushed the Perform number very high, individual tips will eventually be thrown at your guitar player that will be higher than any Masterpiece could ever be worth. I'm talking 10k+. It takes an iron stomach to do this, but the resulting tips are pretty amazing. The Steel Bladder, Dirt Defiant, and Hardly Hungry Lifetime Rewards are also helpful when your guitar player is in the park or standing in front of the theatre for long stretches of time.
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