[Rules] Tower of Art (Updated 1/5/07)

[Damaris]

RULES FOR THE TOWER OF ART

Goal: The Art Forum is for the open sharing and critisim of artworks. Artworks posted must have been cerated by the member posting them.

Artists:
By posting your work in the Art Forum, you are sharing your work with others. However, you are not doing it for the sole purpose of garnering praise and showing the world how slick your art "moves" are. This for is for sharing AND critisism. They go hand in hand here. If you are not looking to improve your work and just want praise, go get a DA account.

Additionally, and this should go without saying (but I'll say it anyway), no plagraism of any kind. That is a serious, bannable offense.

You may post anything creative in the Art Forum. You are able to post (and are not limited to): drawings (hand-drawn or digital), artistic photography, stories, sprites, flash movies, comics, homebrews.

When posting your artwork, be aware that the forum display limit is 500 x 500. People can click to view the images (and will be able to see them full size), but they won't be able to see them at the proper size immediately.

You will not be able to host any pictures on the forum server. You'll need your own hosting for your artwork.

Index your art: Whenever you post up a new piece normally, also please update the first page to include the link to the new piece, as well as a link to the new post you have just made so people can find where it has been discussed.

Forumites:
As people posting in the Art Forum, it is responsibility to be civil and well-mannered. The people posting their artwork are sharing themselves. That takes courage. Posting a one word/sentance response does nothing to help them as artists.

If you can't say more than "this art is so awesome" (or the like) then don't say anything. You aren't helping anyone by giving them a useless pat on the back. Say what you like about the art, no just that you like it.

In the same vein, don't just tell artists they suck. Tell them what you don't like about their artwork. Be details, but still, be kind enough that you don't make them cry (as much fun as that might be, it's just cruel).

As always, no flaming/trolling. Report all complaints and/or concerns to the administrators.

For All:
Plagarism is defined as, but no limited to: claiming someone's work as your own; using someone else's work in your own without their permission and without giving credit; photo-editing or manipulating to give it a hint of your own style; or reposting someone else's work without their permission.

That said, SIGNIFICANT editing/manipulation of another's image is okay, but ONLY if CREDIT IS GIVEN TO THE ORIGINAL ARTIST. Plagiarism is a bannable offense, and will be handled at the administrators' discretion.

1. Always try to ask the original artist before using their art if at all possible, but nevertheless, ALWAYS give credit.

2. Tips to avoid being plagiarized:
         A. Put your signature on your own work in some way, such as name signatures in hand-drawn work, or watermarks in digital art.
         B. You will NOT be punished for forgetting to put some kind of mark in work you post here, but it is recommended to ensure that you are not plagiarized by anyone and to prove that it is indeed your art.

You MUST put "WARNING – NUDITY", "WARNING", "NUDITY WARNING", etc, etc in the thread title, in all-caps or you will be warned. Artwork with a sexual nature may also be posted, but only as a form of art. DO NOT POST Pornography for the sake of "HAY GUYS IT'S PR0N!" Extremely graphic images and child pornography will not be allowed, just like any thread and NSFW thread. And we mean this on the Child Porn. Posting Child Porn will result in an immediate ban.

However, if forum members have concerns as to the graphic-ness of an image, they should notify the administrators through Private Message. Do not leave every mess up to us to find and clean up. We need help sometimes.

[Gabi]

Oh, I never even thought of signing my work... But people still recognize it anyway.

What does NSFW mean? Sorry if I should already know this.

[xHaZxMaTx]

Not Safe For Work, me thinks.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

SFW = Safe For Work, ie, there's no obvious nudity, nipples, or questionable poses that might get someone standing behind you asking you if you really want to work there anymore.

NSFW = The reverse, obviously. Like, say, any of Ink's Saisa pictures.

(I mention this not for Gabi, who I think already understands, but to make it clear for anyone else who might still be having trouble with the acronym and/or concept :-)

[Gabi]

Ah, thanks.

All my drawings are SFW. It's my work at the office that's NSFW. How many people are actually forced to see porn as a part of their jobs?

[Darkmoon]

I did at my previous job. One of my tasks (when they came in) was to go through computers for court cases. That meant, usually, sifting through the computer to find any porn I could that could be used against the defendant.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Been there, done that.

Mail admin for a company of investment brokers. Shifty sorts.

since anything larger than a particular size was prohibited on the mailserver, it all stopped on the gateway. So guess who had the task of going through it daily and identifying if it was work related or not....

You'd be surprised at just what people get up to with each other. And anything handy, apparently.

[Kasarn]

If you can't say more than "this art is so awesome" (or the like) then don't say anything. You aren't helping anyone by giving them a useless pat on the back. Say what you like about the art, no just that you like it.

So, is this a rule or a general preference?

[Damaris]

Rule.

What we're looking for is people saying "OMG, how aw3som3- I love the way you drew [the foot/lace/hair/etc.]"  Or, like with Zina's work, you could comment on the wit employed in the picture (since she draws a lot of amusing things.)

Art requires a viewer to truly be art, and the art forum is good for people to flex their artistic muscles, but it's also good for helping viewers flex their art appreciation muscles as well.

[Kasarn]

Well, as long as it's something simple like that then fair enough.

I only asked because the generic comment debate is as old as the hills and it's probably worth being clear about it.

[Damaris]

oh, yeah.  We're not expecting people to be all "why, that reminds me of Pre-19th century realism" or anything like that.  Just feedback on what you like, and clarity (as much as possible, because sometimes it doesn't work out that way) on what you don't.

[AngelSephy]

All of my art is usually SFW(unless sprite bases somehow offend people lol). I mean since we have younger people on the forum, I agree with the warnings in the title.

And when it comes to my drawings, I made personal drawing bases to help me practice with anatomy. But mostly I use them to make outfits, or just to show people what a character look's like so they'll have a better picture in their minds when I mention one of them. Of course, credit always goes to the original image said bases were made from.

[zopey]

wait what actually counts as nudity? full frontal nudity or butt naked or front but with the the  privates covered or just a large exposior of flesh?   just asking

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

If you're not sure, label it.

If you're sure it's not, then you don't need to label it. If we disagree, we'll let you know - honest mistakes are honest mistakes, and the only time you'll get hammered for them is when they're egregiously stupid (eg, "I didn't know it was NSFW!" when it's a full-frontal pic of a flasher, showing everything...)


It's not like this is rocket science, now, is it? ;-]

[bill]

new rule guys


please try to keep your art to as few threads as possible. if you want to keep your 400 page dmfa fanfic and your mspaint sprite comics in seperate threads. just be sensible. there isn't a fixed number or anything, please try to use your best judgement so we don't have to. thanks.

[Tapewolf]

please try to keep your art to as few threads as possible. if you want to keep your 400 page dmfa fanfic and your mspaint sprite comics in seperate threads. just be sensible. there isn't a fixed number or anything, please try to use your best judgement so we don't have to. thanks.

I'm a little confused.  The rules, even the forum code itself seem to be geared towards preventing people digging up old threads, which is, effectively what you're suggesting people do.
Would you mind clarifying that a little, given that a great many pieces of writing here (e.g. 'Unseen Path', 'Quest of Twelve' and my own CJP series) can have large gaps owing to writers' block and so forth?

[bill]

Art forum isn't as strict about necromancy as other forums, if you're giving an update on an old story you have, post it.

Like I said, just use judgement. (AKA don't have 6 active threads on page one)

[Zina]

It's more or less to keep people from starting a new thread for each new piece of art. If you have a separate project that's ongoing, and you're actually updating it, then fine. If you haven't updated it in forever, you can always ask a mod to unlock the thread for you once you're ready to start again.
However, if you have five or more separate threads all for one or two individual pieces of work all on the main page, then the mods need to draw a line.

[Tapewolf]

It's more or less to keep people from starting a new thread for each new piece of art. If you have a separate project that's ongoing, and you're actually updating it, then fine.

However, if you have five or more separate threads all for one or two individual pieces of work all on the main page, then the mods need to draw a line.

Thanks, that makes sense.

[Kipiru]

It's more or less to keep people from starting a new thread for each new piece of art. If you have a separate project that's ongoing, and you're actually updating it, then fine. If you haven't updated it in forever, you can always ask a mod to unlock the thread for you once you're ready to start again.
However, if you have five or more separate threads all for one or two individual pieces of work all on the main page, then the mods need to draw a line.

I should have read this sooner 

[Mao]

Just bumping this thread to remind you all to read the rules for this forum.  Folks have been slipping into useless insults and shameless asspats with little to no actual feedback or critique given in their posts (and seemingly artists only posting for the latter).  That is not how this forum is to work.  We've been lenient given how inactive this forum is, but if things continue as they are I will start cracking down in here.

Fix it.