FanArt Rules, Guidelines, and Help Topic (All Newcomers Please Read)

[Agent Elrond]

THE OFFICIAL FANART RULES, GUIDELINES, AND HELP TOPIC:
NOW UPDATED WITH IMPORTANT NEW INFO AND 55.4% LESS FAT!

Before we start, are you familar with the TPM General Rules? Most of these are covered in the following forum rules, but there are a few extras which you should know about. Thanks.

Hello, welcome to the FanArt Rules, Guidelines, and Help topic. This thread contains all the basic and specific rules for our FanArt forum, plus some guidelines to help make your stay, and that of others, a more pleasurable and happy experience. Finally this is also a help topic; if you have any questions as to what should or shouldn't go in FanArt, simply state your case here, and the moderators will get back to you ASAP. Also, if you have any techincal questions about things like resizing images, color balancing, etc. simply post your problem here... and it may or may not be answered. If the moderators can help they will, but they may not know the answer. However, they'll try their best to answer your problems!

And now, without further adieu:

THE FANART RULES:

General Rules:

*No Stupid Pointless Annoying Messages (SPAM)

I.e. Anything that is off-topic, has no point, relavence, redeaming qualities, whatever, and is obviously just there for +postcount shall be deleted on the spot and the user shall be warned. Repeat offences will lead to Bannation From The Forum and Public Disgrace.

*No Flaming, Trolling, or Flame-bating

I.e. Posting inflamitory, mean spirited messages with the intent on causing great mental harm to other members for any reason whatsoever. Also includes personal attacks on other members. Any posts of this sort with have the the offensive bits edited out and replaced with a smiley of my choice, and the user shall be warned. Repeat offenders will be sent to the Admin Pit to be dealt with. *doom doom*

*No Unconditional Double-posting

I.e. If your post is the last in a thread and you wish to add something, simply edit your last post to contain it, instead of posting another one.

However: If you start or update an art thread and there have been no new replies within two days, then you may double post but only if you update the thread by posting new artwork. No bumping simply to bring it back up to the top. If you wish to triple post then you must wait an additional three days. Quad posting is prohibited. At this point it is usually better just to start a new thread.

Consecutive posters shall not be warned and it is not a bannable offence. The moderators will delete your double or triple posts without warning with a simple Doulbe Post remark. This is not to be confused with flooding, which is a bannable offense.

FanArt Specific Rules:

*No Hentai/Porn/Icky yucky sickpics

I.e. No nekkid drawn pictures of tasteless quality that might cause the average viewer's eyeballs to start bleeding. Also, crude innuendo is highly discouraged, even when there is technically nothing going on and it has a proper warning, you post it at your own risk.

Hentai/Porn will posters will have the offensive links edited out and will be warned. Crude innuendo posters will have the same done and lightly discouraged. Both kinds of threads shall be closed. Again, repeat offenders shall be banned.

HOWEVER:
Nudity, violence, blood, or anything mature themed are allowed, but only with the appropriate warning. Yes, these are allowed, as long as it’s not all out gore or porn. However, if you feel your picture is mature themed, even if it’s just a small bit of blood, you must not directly post the picture into your post, (using the [img] tag). Instead, post it as an attachment, or link, that must be clicked before the picture will appear. Include a fair warning above it, describing the contents, so there are no surprises. Thank you.

*No One/two word/emoticon replies

Basically, don't just say "That's Great!" or "That sucks!" or post some random smilies as a reply. Anyone who does this will have a warning edited into their posts for the whole world to see. Repeat offenders shall be Taken Away and Dealt With.

See the Posting Guidelines below for more info on this subjet.

*No posting just to request that a pic be drawn for you

I.e. All requests must go in the Official Request Topic, or another member’s request thread.
Ages ago, we had problems with hundreds of individual people creating threads for different requests they’d like done… well thankfully, we got rid of that problem, and we now have the Official Request Topic, which is always stickied at the top of the page. If you have a request you would like an artist to draw for you, please post it there. If you make an individual thread for this, it will be closed, and you will be warned.


However, members are allowed at any time to make a request topic of their own, in which people can give them requests to draw. When they do, they will usually post their own set of rules, which must be obeyed. If you have opened a request thread, and members are not obeying, please inform one of the moderators right away, and proper action will be taken.
If you want a certain artist to do your request, your best bet is to wait for them to open a request topic, or PM them.

*Always get Mod approval before starting any Contests/Games, etc.

I.e. If you have any ideas that are Fan Art related, such as games or contests, please let a moderator know right away, by PMing them, so they can approve it for you. If you try posting something like this that has not been approved, it will be closed. We love new ideas you have for Fan Art, but please PM us first to make sure it’s alright!
Once you get it approved, be sure to say mention in your topic that it has been approved, and who it has been approved by.

*No Art Theft or Posting of another's work

No stealing of another's work and claiming it as your own, and also no posting of another's picture at all, even with permission. If the person wants artwork posted, then they have to register here and post it themselves.

There is one exception: If one person has drawn a request and for one reason or another cannot post it, and asks someone else to, then that person may, provided that they say who drew it, who it is for, and why the artist can't post it themselves. No posting other people's artwork just to have it rated!

Art thieves shall be exposed, thrust on a stake, and then thown out the window. Stealing someone else's art and claiming it as your own is an Insta-BAN offense. Also, we shall inform the artist whose drawing you have stolen, so that they may take whatever steps they deem necessary as well.

People who post other's art and give credit, whether they got permission or not, shall either have their threads closed or moved to the proper location.

And now,

THE FANART FORUM POSTING GUIDELINES:

These are the "rules" that are bendable. Basically, it is preferable that you abide by these guidelines, but if you don't we won't kill you. Just humiliate and tease you.

Try to write good, constructive comments

Try to make your posts be at least 40 words in length. Say, whenever posting a picture, or replying to one, please take the time to write a decent comment.* It’s not that hard to put effort into your posts! Here’s a small guide to help you when replying:
• What do you most like about the picture?
• What do you least like?
• What do you think the best traits are?
• What can the artist improve on?
• Overall what do you think of the picture?
It’s not that hard. If you included all that, you would have a quality post. 40 words is not long at all.
Example of a good post:

Aww, so cute! ^^
I can't see anything wrong with them, really.. about their hands, chibis don't necessarily need very detailed hands, maybe just a bit bigger ones. X3 Also, Sora's shoulders seem a bit odd.. maybe a bit sharp? I'm not sure really. ^^'
They really do look adorable though. The eyes and the expressions're especially well done. :3 Great job~"

This post includes some of the things she likes about the picture, as well as what she thinks the artist should work on. (Note: this is constructive criticism, the only kind we allow, we will not allow things such as “That sucks!”)
This post is almost 60 words long. See? It’s not hard at all.

On the other hand, here's an example of a bad post:

Wow that pic is awesome! 10/10!!!111

This post is completely wrong. It would most likely be edited and the poster humiliated right away, as well as any post similar to it. (See the Rules above) For one, it’s nowhere near 40 words, for another it doesn’t include anything about the picture at all, no likes, dislikes, constructive criticism, nothing. Somebody could easily not have even looked at the picture and posted this! Follow the good example, please.

It would be prefered if no number rates (7/10, etc) are given at all unless the artist asks for rates.

There are exceptions to this rule, such as the request topic, but when posting your own piece of art, try and put some effort into explaining what it is, how you did it, etc, so your post is at least 40 words. Again, this is not hard!

NOTE: The TPM FanArt Gestapo reserves the right to delete posts of repeat offenders without warning.

*Just, don't be an Ass... please?

If you don't like the subject material, TOUGH
Do you dislike seeing characters drawn as babies/ morphs/ angels/ opposite gender/ any other oddity? Then TOUGH. What the artist draws is his or her own preference, and posting to say that you dislike seeing, say, an Eevee as a lean, vicious creature and add no other input, there will be a warning or a possible post deletion. Sorry, but Saffire Persian and Bulbasaur4 have little tolerance for people flaunting around their personal opinions. Have nothing constructive to add? Then don't post. We admit, we ourselves dislike pictures of some variety, but we respect that other people like what we may not, so we either don't post or turn to the artistic techiniqualities of the pic.*

It is absolutely fine to calmly state that you dislike something about a pic, but don't be insulting, and at least try to add constructive comments. Thanks.

*Please Post Pics Individually:

This pretty much just applies to people with deviantART accounts, or the like. Basically, we'd really appreciate it if you didn't just post a thread saying "Check my DA stuff and tell me what you think!" and then the link to your DA homepage. This is partly for our sake, because deviantART loads slowly for some people, and can be rather confusing to new people. And also for your sake, as someone who is browsing FanArt will probably not want to take half an hour out of their life and raid your DA gallery (awesome though it may be) and then write up good replies to 15+ pictures. As a result you will not get many replies.

Instead post links to the actual pictures, with a little comment about each of them.

*Note:

More guidelines shall be added as the moderators deem them necessary, so check back now and then. For now, enjoy posting, commenting, requesting, drawing, and all the other good stuffs that go on around here. Cheers!

FINALLY:

Any questions or suggestions regarding the rules may be posted here. Also, like stated above any technical questions you may have about what goes where, resizing images, converting them to JPEGs/PNGs etc. may also be posted, and we'll try to help you.

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Credits:

Original FanArt rules written by Nuriko.

Edited and modified by Iveechan.

Re-written and posted by Agent Elrond.

Edited and re-modified by Bulbasaur4