Oaxaca. As more dealers shipping to other parts of Mexico and abroad visited the rural villages, more exotic animals such as lions, elephants and the like were added, and eventually came to dominate the trade. Eventually, traditional paints gave way to acrylics as well. Another development that encouraged woodcarving were artisans' contests held by the state of Oaxaca in the 1970s, which encouraged carvers to try new ideas in order to win prizes and sell their pieces to state museums. In the 1970s and early 1980s, carvers in the three villages sold pieces mostly to store owners in Oaxaca, with only one carver, Manuel Jimenez, carving full-time. Most other carvers used the craft to supplement incomes from farming and wage labor. It was also considered to be a male occupation. In the mid-1980s, the influence of the Linares alebrijes was becoming popular and wholesalers and store owners from the United States, began to deal with artisans in Oaxaca directly. The desire of the foreign merchants for non-indigenous animals and the newly popular alebrijes affected the market. By 1990, woodcarving had begun to boom with most households in Arrazola and Tilcajete earning at least part of their income from the craft. La Union was less successful in attracting dealers and tourists. The boom had a dramatic economic effect, shifting the economies of Arrazola and Tilcajete away from farming and towards carving. It also affected the carvings that were being produced. Carvings became more complicated and paintings more ornate as families competed against each other. Specialization also occurred with neophyte carvers looking for a niche to compete with already established carvers. The craft continued to become established in the 1990s as more families carved and more tourists came to Oaxaca with the building of new roads. Some of these new Oaxacan crafters have extended the design to smooth – abstract painted realistic animals, especially the Mendoza family (Luis Pablo, David Pablo and Moises Pablo a.k.a. Ariel Playas), creating a new generation of alebrijes. While the sales trend has been mostly positive for Oaxacan alebrijes, it is dependent on global market fluctuations and on tourism to Oaxaca. There was a decline in sales in the late 1980s, possibly due to global market saturation and the dominance of repetitive, unimaginative designs. Sales rose again in the 1990s. Sales fell again in 2001, when tourism from the U.S. fell and fell again precipitously 2006 due