Art Forum Rules v.2 - Update to tutorials list! Also, filesize rules.

[Lexxy]

Welcome to the Art Forum! The following is a collection of rules and guidelines to help keep things running smoothly. The only hardline rules in here are ones that are indicated as bannable offenses. Everything else serves more as posting guidelines than strict adherences, though it is strongly recommended that they be followed as closely as possible; severe or repeated deviations from them can and will result in infractions. More than anywhere else, the content of this subforum is subjective and needs to be handled on a case-by-case basis. If you ever have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please feel free to PM me or another available modmin!



Giving Critiques:
Constructive criticism means giving advice that you think might improve someone's piece or hone their skills. Don't just tell them something is wrong—tell them why and make a suggestion! It also helps to point out something you think they did well. Rudeness and insulting remarks will not be tolerated.

Receiving Critiques:
If someone has gone out of their way to critique your work, even if you may not have been looking for it, try to accept it graciously, thoughtfully, and in the spirit in which it was intended. Disagreement is fine, but rudeness or dismissiveness is frowned upon.

Everything is Game:
All art posted here is open to criticism by any other forum member. Only the MSPA Fanart, Romantic Fanart, and Fanfic threads are exempt, though you are free to request critique anywhere.

No Whining:
While this isn't as serious an art community as places like conceptart.org, we aren't your doting mothers either. It's perfectly appropriate to remind people that you have asked for critique or technical help with something, but complaining that your work has been ignored or not commented on enough, as well as gratuitous self-deprecation, aren't conducive to a constructive environment. To further illustrate this point, I'd like to direct you to the excellent observations of friendly forumite, SkepticArcher:

show spoiler

hide spoiler

So much lately I have seen throughout the various corners of the internet that thing which
afflicts artists more than anything else: Lack of self-esteem.

This is definitely not uncommon, and pretty much anyone who draws will be familiar with the notion of looking at someone else's work and thinking "I will never be that good."

ALL of us do it, there is pretty much never a time where you can stop and be comfortable thinking "I am the best at this."

Anyone can say "I just don't have the talent for it" or "I'm too old to start learning" and "I'll never catch up to _____" It's true that artists who draw from the time they can hold something to draw with have an advantage, but it might not be in the way that most think. Artists who start young have one major advantage: Support.

When you think about it, no one is ever going to tell a little child their drawings suck. Positive reinforcement gives
people the confidence they need to push forward. Many people who excel in art had supportive families who encouraged them to keep up with it, while some artists who fall behind do so because their family is of the opinion that art is not a "real job", or a good hobby.

When it comes down to it, if you enjoy art, DO IT. Draw whenever you feel the urge.

Good artists are not born that way. Everyone sucks at one point. The only way to improve in art is to keep doing it. There is no secret to drawing, there is no special art gene or deciding factor that makes someone pop out "talented". While everyone learns at a different pace and in different ways, the most important part of learning to improve your art is to KEEP drawing, painting, sculpting, sewing: Whatever you enjoy working with.

If art is not an enjoyable experience because of lack of feedback, you can obviously either give up or keep going.

Personally, I look at art from sort of an aggressive viewpoint.

Whenever my work didn't get the notice I was looking for, I would be absolutely determined to make something better next time. "They'll have to notice now."

I was disappointed over and over again, of course.

Every artist goes through this many, many, MANY times. And unfortunately there isn't any way to avoid it. The only way to rise above it is to just keep plugging along.

You can make the experience better for yourself by finding something you absolutely love. Find a fandom, find a subject you really enjoy drawing, create characters, creatures, worlds, whatever. When you find yourself avoiding a subject or part of a drawing because "I don't know how to draw hands" or "I don't know how to draw trees", take the time to look at hands, or trees, or whatever, and DRAW THEM. Try drawing from different perspectives or angles if you haven't. You can never improve your work by not drawing a specific thing, and not giving it a try. Art is about observation and practice, at its root.

You can look at what artists produce in two ways:

"Wow, that only took them like two hours to do." or "Wow, it took them years of practice to be able to draw that in two hours."

I know the second view can be pretty discouraging to beginning artists. No one wants to hear they're going to have to work for ages to produce something they view as "awesome", but it's true.

On the upside, this means ANYONE can get to this point, if they are determined enough.

Anyone with the passion to stick with art for as long as it takes can produce something great. There are SO MANY fantastic, clever and underappreciated artists here, and I love seeing every single thing that goes into this thread.

Every.
Single.
Thing. (yes, even you Cal.)

You know why? Because this is quite possibly the best community I've been a part of. We've been given this big amazing thing to pull our inspiration from, and everyone's ideas stem from the same source but are so totally DIFFERENT that you just get these glimpses of absolutely awesome personalities behind the people who produce these great things.

You might not be a "Serious artist", hell, you may have only picked up the drawing pencil today, but man, I still want to see what you come up with. Because I want to see this community alive and kicking for as long as possible, and every little bit will help keep it rolling.

Post Your Own Work:
This subforum is dedicated to posting your own original artwork, which includes visual arts, photography, writing, and music. Original means that you are responsible for creating the majority of its content yourself, as in you are the one who drew, arranged (musically speaking), wrote, or photographed it. The only place you are allowed to post work by another artist is in the Art Discussion Thread. The only place you are allowed to post image manipulations (including the drawing on or manipulation of photos you yourself have not taken) is in the Image Manipulation Thread.

No Pedo:
This is a bannable offense. As such, you must exercise your best judgment when underage subjects are involved. To reiterate this important forum-wide rule in relevant context, nude*, pornographic, pregnant, or overtly sexualized depictions of children is 100% not allowed, nor is any suggested romantic involvement of them with an adult. The kids and the trolls are all 13. You may age them up. You may not do so to pair them with an adult or put them in sexual or suggestive positions. The guardians and carapace people (even Clubs Deuce) are all considered adult characters.

*This includes implied or obscured nudity. The boys can be without shirts, and age-appropriate bathing suits are ok too, but that's as far as y'all are allowed to go around here.

No Porn, Excessive Violence, or Shock/Gore:
Also a bannable offense. You're more than welcome to create work of this nature within the privacy of your own home, but you can't post it here. If you ever have any concern whatsoever that something you are about to post may break this rule, just ask a mod!

Tasteful Nudity:
Nudity IS allowed in this subforum, but is subject to restrictions. If the thread itself is not marked NSFW, you may only post a link with a warning--spoilered images still load, which is not good for people browsing from work or school type situations. If the thread is marked NSFW, you may post them in IMG tags, but please spoiler them with a warning out of courtesy for others. If you wish to post nude art in your personal thread, please edit the title to include a NSFW tag. As mentioned above, pornographic images are not allowed. Though it is already explicitly forbidden all over the forum, I will reiterate that there is to be no nude depictions of underage persons ever on this forum. Ever.



One Person, One Thread:
If you find yourself constantly dumping work in the doodle thread, or really want to bring particular attention to your work, make a thread for yourself! But please keep your work contained--multiple threads by the same artist featuring singular pieces will be locked.

All Questions Have A Place:
And that place is in the Questions thread. Anything not specifically related to a piece of art you are looking to get input on goes there.

Spoilering Images:
Do spoiler repeat/quoted images. Do not spoiler first-time-postings the new forum automatically resizes oversized images. unless they're oversized - the MSPA Classic theme does not auto resize. But if you have a large image feel free to include a thumbnail or a smaller version as well as the large (spoiled) original. And remember, if you spoiler everything you post, it might be overlooked!


Image File Sizes:
A few pointers about image file sizes. Firstly, anything over 500kB should be linked rather than inlined - this is to save peoples browsers from becoming slow, and also people may not want to expend vast megabytes of bandwidth on every page. But also remember that the longer your art takes to load the less people will stick around to see it! Also spoilering is not sufficient because spoilered images still load.

That said, there is really no reason anything short of a full-sized wallpaper at very low compression should even approach those limits. A lot of people will tell you that png's are 'better quality', but that is only true in some circumstances. For files with a lot of textures, gradients or transitions, jpegs at low compression will produce much better results. A quick guide to web-browser image formats. And again, there is nothing stopping you from providing a link to a larger file if you desire.

Cross-Posting:
Cross-posting images between threads within the Art Forum is no longer allowed, as it is untidy and defeats the purpose of having specialized threads. Cross-posting drawings from another subforum or another forum entirely is fine. If you would like to call attention to the original post in another thread (ie: sharing a Romart pic in Fanart), you may post a text link to it.

Group Projects & Game Mods:
These now have their own subforum within the Art Forum! Any completed project is allowed its own thread here to be enjoyed and discussed by all, but only once it is totally finished! All organizational and creative efforts--with the exception of WIPs--are to be conducted within this subforum. Please read the Group Projects Rules for more specific guidelines.

Art Requests:
The Art Forum proper is for the sharing and discussing of one's own art, so there is really no room here for art requests (excepting in the fanart, romart, and fan fiction threads, in which requests are an established tradition). To prevent request threads from spawning in the future, there is now a dedicated Art Request Thread in the Group Projects subforum, as requests can be considered collaborations on a smaller scale. This thread comes with its own set of rules. Read them. Threads requesting artwork of any kind within the Art Forum itself will be locked. Threads offering to take requests are allowed, but fall within the One Person, One Thread rule. If you make one, that is also your dedicated thread. You may not make another one for unrelated work.

Commerce:
Andrew has respectfully requested that no one sell MSPA-related products or services without his explicit permission. For those of you who are interested in his reasoning on the matter, here are the words of the Big Man himself, via formspring:

show spoiler

hide spoiler

Here is a thing to understand first. If you accept a commission to draw a Homestuck character without my permission, does that mean I will file a cease and desist order? Or if you sell an HS sketch at a convention, will I hunt you down, kick over your table, and then muss up your hair and stomp on your glasses?

No, that would be silly.

I just clarified what the official position is, which is that you shouldn't attempt to profit from my work, or anyone else's for that matter, unless you have permission. It's not that I'm suddenly outraged people are doing HS commissions and stuff. I've previously taken an ultra passive attitude to all this. But the result of that, as well as the result in HS's growing popularity, has been a surging culture of casual copyright violation, which though seemingly harmless case by case, in totality is starting to look problematic. In particular, it seems to be leading to increasingly flagrant violations here and there, things which are more serious than a simple commission, and which I would be inclined to take measures to stop. It's easy to see how this trend develops. Someone notices wave after wave of HS artwork being sold by others, and presumes it's ok to take it a little further. And then further...

I think it's better to address this before it turns into a bigger problem. Honestly, the theoretical money I am losing is not what is motivating me here. When you do an HS commission, I can't really imagine how that translates to dollars leaving my pocket, other than projecting losses in the very big picture if stuff like that goes unchecked. It's mainly a little unsettling to watch so many people at once act so casually about profiting off another's IP without asking, and even more unsettling to imagine it spiraling out of control.

It may be the case that a sketch of a Pokemon sold to your friend is an unenforceable violation, and Nintendo will never get involved, but it is still technically a violation. Please understand the fact that it is unenforceable does not make it less of a violation. You have profited from Nintendo's property, without permission. Which is not to say there are not degrees of violation beyond this which are more flagrant, but we should be clear about it. Knowing that, you might decide to do it anyway. Or you might decide to ask Nintendo permission. (They would say no. I might not, though.)

Requiring you to ask permission isn't much of an imposition. But I hesitate to guarantee satisfaction even if you do, because for one thing, your email might slip through the cracks and I might not get back to you. It's happened before. I've had requests like this, and some I've responded to favorably, while others I didn't get around to replying to. Which I feel bad about, as I generally feel bad I can't answer all my mail, but that's how it goes. All I can say is, if you're wondering, ask. I may say yes. I may say no. I may not respond. If I don't, then you may use your discretion, while understanding the position I have taken. If you cross a line, there's a good chance you'll hear from me eventually.

I'd rather this not be about finding out exactly what I do or don't allow, and then just getting down to furiously attacking that wiggle room I give. I'd rather it be about respect for the property of artists. Everyone who this affects is an artist as well, presumably. If you're an artist, you should care about this topic and evaluate your standards, because you are undoubtedly hoping others will respect your work and your rights as well. Imagine you are at a convention, selling Pokemon drawings or such. If you knew one of Nintendo's most aggressive lawyers was lurking nearby, would you still do it? Is it fear of being prosecuted that motivates you to stop? Or is it the fact that you do not own Pokemon, and though it belongs to a multi billion dollar company that won't feel the slightest hardship because of you, it doesn't seem right, because these aren't your creations? Or maybe it is less about respect to the original creator, and more about taking pride in selling what you have created yourself, or at the very least, that which you have been given the right to?

And if the idea of selling black market Pokemon stuff makes you feel uncomfortable, where the owner has millions of dollars applied to a legal staff interested in crushing IP violations no matter how well intended, then why would you feel better about selling stuff owned by a guy without a tiny fraction of those resources, who has heretofore shown not even the slightest interest in taking action against his enthusiastic fans?

These are things for you to think about, and then act according to your internal compass on the matter. I am not going to TAKE YOU DOWN if you sell a sketch of a troll to a friend or whatever. I'm just letting you know my position, and will be reasonably content to let the fans govern themselves, unless certain lines are crossed. Then we will talk.

We have also decided that business in general is not to be carried out through the forums. If you do any kind of commission work and would like to advertise it in your signature with a link (ie: Click here for commission info!) that's fine, but you may not make threads to sell your services or products, and you may not actively advertise said services or products in existing threads. It has become too difficult and too widespread to moderate effectively.

Again, YOU MAY NOT SELL HOMESTUCK STUFF WITHOUT ASKING ANDREW. Please do not ask a moderator or a member of one of the creative teams to ask for you if you can't get through to him either. I know he's busy and difficult to get a hold of, but you're really putting them on the spot by doing so and that is quite unfair to them.

If you have any questions or wish to report any kind of questionable activity, please don't hesitate to use the report function when applicable, or contact Blueberry, Tynic, Lexxy, or any other available moderator directly.

[Lexxy]

tynic says: Helpful links -- shamelessly cribbed from the PA Artists Corner since the forum software ate our last link dump.

Downloads

• A Bunch of Good Artbooks
• OpenCanvas v1.1 b71

Tutorials

My Lucky Seven's tutorial collection
http://delicious.com/SaturnsRings

Tracy (Lackadaisy) Butler's guide to facial expressions: A seriously great resource.
http://lackadaisy.foxprints.com/exhi...?exhibitid=333

A Few Notes About Inking - Michael Cho
http://chodrawings.blogspot.com/2009...ut-inking.html

Watercolor Painting Guide
http://handprint.com/HP/WCL/water.html

Paul Duffield's How To Draw Beta
http://spoonbard.deviantart.com/art/...-v1-3-40590655

Quick Sketching
http://www.drawalot.com/smblog/2007/...ng-techniques/

The Structure of Man: Video Tutorials on Anatomy by Riven Phoenix
http://the-structure-of-man.blogspot.com/

Basic Lighting/Texture/Form Tutorial and Reference Guide
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm

Creating Comics
http://www.comicon.com/ubb/ubbthread...Board=4&page=1

Team Special Olympics Tutorials
http://smokinghippo.com/TSOtutes/tutorial_main.html

Portrait Artist Tutorials
http://www.portrait-artist.org/

Scanning Line Art
http://www.steeldolphin-forums.com/h...g_lineart.html

A Buttload of Drawing Tutorials
http://www.drawspace.com/

Glen Vilppu Drawing Articles
1. Never Underestimate the Power of Life Drawing
2. Gesture
3. Spherical Forms
4. The Box
5. Introducing Material and Proportion
6. Drawing Ellipses
7. From the General to the Specific
8. The Landmarks of Anatomy
9. Seeing Anatomical Masses
10. Seeing The Figure As A 2D Object
11. Using Tone To Draw
12. Getting a Handle on Direct Lighting
13. Using The Idea Of Atmosphere

Eatpoo.com Guide for Art NOOBS
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=876

Iruka's Colour Picking Tutorials:

http://art-anecdotally.blogspot.com/...or-picker.html

http://art-anecdotally.blogspot.com/...cker-part.html

References

Concept Artist Link Index
http://www.turtleart.net/artists.php

Photographic Lighting Schemes (with examples)
http://uk.fotopunto.com/articulo-exp...ing-schemes_60

Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work
http://joeljohnson.com/archives/2006..._woods_22.html

Colour Theory Guide
http://www.worqx.com/color/

Blambot Comic Fonts
http://www.blambot.com/

Microsoft Web Development
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/ex...ner/web/tier1/

Pose Maniacs Drawing Tools
http://www.posemaniacs.com/blog/

Nude References
Pereza says: Here's a great source for nude reference
Its all old nudist stuff, natural lighting, and lots of people of all ages and shapes (not porn).
NSFW
http://nudiarist.blogspot.com/

Grid and perspective brushes for CS2:
http://www.photoshop-free-brushes.co...d_brush_14.zip

Books

Essentials/Basics

The Natural Way to Draw by Kimon Nicolaides
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards

Anatomy & Illustration

Dynamic Anatomy by Burne Hogarth
Dynamic Figure Drawing by Burne Hogarth
Dynamic Wrinkles and Drapery by Burne Hogarth
Drawing Dynamic Hands by Burne Hogarth
Dynamic Light and Shade by Burne Hogarth

Human Anatomy for Artists by Eliot Goldfinger
Anatomy For The Artist by Sarah Simblet
Artistic Anatomy by Richer & Hale
Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing From Life by George B. Bridgman
The Human Figure by John H. Vanderpoel

Learning Software

Photoshop CS2 Bible
Illustrator CS2 Bible

Comic Book Storytelling

Graphic Storytelling & Visual Narrative by Will Eisner
Comics & Sequential Art by Will Eisner
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
Perspective! For Comic Book Artists by David Chelsea

Animation

The Illusion of Life by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas
The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams[/QUOTE]


Videos

McGib's digital painting demonstrations:






Speedpainting Tutorial by Angel_of_Bacon

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...78083166388456

[Lexxy]

7/24 Addendum:

Amended the No Pedo rule to include the banning of partial or suggested nudity.

[Lexxy]

8/3 Addendum:

Disallowed cross-posting between Art Forum threads.

[tynic]

Second post has been reinstated, in part. If you come across any good tutorials or references, drop them in the questions thread and they'll be gradually incorporated here.

[Lexxy]

Oh hells yes, best second post! Thanks tynic

[Lexxy]

8/9 Addendum:

Clarified what does and does not constitute one's own artwork in the Post Your Own Work rule, and where to post art that does not qualify.

[Lexxy]

8/10

Added a no whining rule after reading SkepticArcher's fantabulous rant. I've been trying to think of the best way to deal with this issue, as I think it is a point of concern here, and I think this pretty well covers it.

[Lexxy]

8/18 Addendum:

Added a provision for the new Group Projects subforum!

[tynic]

8/21: added some painting demonstrations by McGibs, aka Jesse McGibney, to the second post

[Lexxy]

8/30 Addendum:

Added a provision for the Art Requests Thread in Group Projects.

[Lexxy]

9/3 Addendum:

Added a provision for posting art with tasteful nudity.

[Lexxy]

9/20 Addendum:

Expanded No Pedo rule to include pregnant depictions of underaged characters (NOT ALLOWED OKAY? OKAY).

[Lexxy]

11/23 Addendum:

Further clarified the No Pedo rule, even though I can't believe I have to keep adding things to the list.

A little more common sense please.

[tynic]

11/24 - updated the second post to include some colour picking tutorials by Iruka.

[Lexxy]

11/28 Addendum:

Clarified the No Pedo rule again, this time to explicitly state that the carapace people are considered adult characters and may not interact with underage characters in a romantic context.

If you've drawn or written something and you have any concern at all it might violate one of the rules, please PM it to a mod--we are happy to screen it for you, and even if the content ends up being inappropriate, you won't get in trouble for asking. Likewise, if you see a post that you feel is questionable, use the report feature! That's what it's for

[tynic]

I added Tracy Butler's Lackadaisy expression guide to the second post up there - I really recommend checking it out, especially if you draw a comic/webcomic.

[Lexxy]

2/26 Addendum:

Added rules and guidelines for selling art-related goods and services. Selling MSPA/Homestuck merch without Andrew's permission is absolutely not allowed.

[NotASenator]

Everyone please welcome Blueberry as another Art Forum moderator. She has a lot of experience in the community and I'm sure will be a valuable part of the team.

[Blueberry]

hi guys! glad to be here.

i am now reading all active threads in the art forum, and just wanted to post a few general notes:

- please remember to spoiler oversized images. If it stretches out the forum, it is too big. I know that the forum resizes based on the width of your screen, and screen sizes vary a lot - so a general rule of thumb is not to go wider then 650px (the width of an MSPA panel). If it's bigger than that, spoiler that sucker! And remember that you can put a thumbnail or smaller version outside the spoiler!

- if you're reading this, do me a favor and reread the rules. Seriously. Even if you know them like the back of your hand.

- please try to keep off-topic chatter to a minimum in the threads that have a specific purpose! Lookin' at you, image manip/romart/fanart!! I know you guys are just having fun and enjoying the community, and I'm really happy about that, but when the threads are cluttered up with chatter (particularly inside jokes) it makes it that much more intimidating for new users


also i'm probably going to clean up this thread in a couple days and remove all the now-irrelevant posts (like the Duck Rule ones) just because it feels cluttered to me. edit: done!


dftba!


fake edit: oh also if you have any questions or concerns, i am the "on duty" mod right now since Lexxy is busy being a SUPERLEXX and needn't be bothered with the affairs of mortals! so pm me! or tynic if it is Serious Business, or if your problem is with me i suppose~

[Lexxy]

5/28 Addendum:

As stated in the revised rules, Andrew's official stance on selling MSPA-related products or services of any kind is that it may only be done with explicit permission from the man himself. As such, this has become the forum's official stance. We are also no longer allowing goods or services to be actively advertised within the forums. Links to information regarding commissions for original work may be included in your signature.

[tynic]

Hey! I've managed to rescue most of Andrew's old tutorials from before the server shift! Some of the images didn't make it, but the bulk are intact. You can find them here: http://smokinghippo.com/TSOtutes/tutorial_main.html