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Commons Art FAQ Frequently Asked Questions |
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What is Art Theft and why is it so serious?
...To find out more please skip to the end of
this page!
If you are wondering about how to upload poses, please look here: for the Pose Uploader FAQ. If you are wondering about how to upload private rooms, please look here: for the Room Uploader FAQ. |
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What are those images above our names? | ||||||||
| Those are "poses" or "avatars" - your image that is used to represent you. We want everyone to express themselves as much as possible, so we encourage everyone to be creative, unique, and be yourself. That's why we allow you to upload your own poses. However, there are rules and guidelines you need to abide by when uploading your pose. | |||||||||
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I want a pose of my own! How? | ||||||||
| To obtain a pose, you can do 1 of 4 things. You may create your own, pay
someone else to make you one(called "Customs"), buy a pose someone is
selling(called "Premades"), or use a free pose that someone else has
labeled as free for all(called "Freebies"). Once you have your pose, you
upload it. (check the pose uploading tutorial for help). Once you've
properly uploaded your pose, sit back and relax. The Art Review Team
checks poses constantly, and chances are your pose will be reviewed
within a day or two, if not within hours. However, poses can be held up
to about a week if it is under discussion. To find free poses you should only trust the following three sources: The Commons Freebie Emporium Posepro.net's Photobucket Free Greyscales Photobucket With these, links need to be provided directly to the page showing the image where permissions is stated. Please do not directly link to the image if possible. Any other links on Photobucket, Google, Flickr, or other type of site will not be acceptable, unless it can be confirmed by the ART. Please be aware that if you continue to submit artwork for review with unacceptable links or information repeatedly, you will receive a warning notice from ART. This will similarly explain everything stated here. After this notice, if you continue to do this, you will receive a short ban for harassment of ART. So, please be kind and form good habits! As by providing the correct information when uploading an image, you are helping the process along and helping everyone out. And ART will greatly appreciate it! When uploading your own artwork!
-Please provide us with a link to your deviantART page(or any other art gallery). This shows us your style, so we can get familiar with the type of poses you draw + Link to a post on the WH Forums stating that you drew this pose - If you don't have a deviantART or other art gallery account, just post on the WH forums telling the ART that you indeed drew your pose + But I don't have a forum account! - WHAT?!?! Well, just sign up! It's easy and free! Just give the Forum Admins some time to approve, and you'll be ready in no time! You might also find the custom poses drawn for you by others rejected because you did not enter a proof of ownership link. Best ways to counteract this are:
- If the artist posts your artwork to show off their nifty skills, just link us to that post, and you'll be good as gold + Have the artist transfer the pose to you - Politely ask the artist to transfer you the pose, stating that this is indeed for you. If they need to prove that it is indeed their work, please follow the above guidelines + But the artist doesn't have time to transfer, and they like their artwork to be kept private. Would a screenshot of the PM containing the pose work? - Yes! Just take a screenshot of the PM that the artist sent to you, showing the pose, who the PM is from, and the time and date |
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What are the requirements and limitations for a pose? [ back to top ] | ||||||||
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File Type [ back to top ] | ||||||||
| Only .GIF and .PNG poses are acceptable. Currently we do not accept animated .GIFs. The maximum file size is 150 KB (153,600 bytes). | |||||||||
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Pose Transparency [ back to top ] | ||||||||
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Mirroring [ back to top ] | ||||||||
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Cleaning [ back to top ] | ||||||||
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PG-13 Rule [ back to top ] | ||||||||
| Adult or overly suggestive poses are not accepted on Commons. | |||||||||
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Size Standards [ back to top ] | ||||||||
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All poses must be within a certain size limit. These limits are both
physical pixel limits as well as more subjective limits which take into
consideration the avatar species and how the avatar is posed. If an avatar is too large or too small, it will look bad in the chat. Poses must be at least 25 pixels in height and width. They can't be more than 600 pixels in height or in width. PLEASE NOTE that images for most creatures (wolves, tigers, bears, etc) would be considerably smaller than the 600 pixel limit, and they would probably be less than 350 pixels in height / width. These charts display the more subjective limits of our sizing standards: Feral:  Anthro:  As mentioned previously, avatar sizes are somewhat subjective. For example, different types of canines will vary in size - a dire wolf is much larger than a fennec fox. Also, though your pose is within the max size height, it may be proportionally too big. Make sure your pose isn't too bulky and certain areas aren't too large! The MAXIMUM pixel size is 600 by 600 but most critters will be about half of that (at most 300 pixels in height or widthg). The MINIMUM pixel size is 25 by 25 and should be used for teensy things like bugs, pixies, etc. For help with sizing, you may want to try following this guide (it is a very big image!) |
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Shading and Highlighting [ back to top ] | ||||||||
| All poses are required to have some form of shading. The purpose it to give the appearance of weight and depth. You must have at least one layer of shading (darkened areas). Highlights are not required, but highly encouraged to keep your pose from looking flat. Shading must coincide with where the light would and would not shine. Randomly placing shadows on your pose, without regard to where the light is coming from will not be accepted. If you put thought into where the light would and would not hit, you should have very little problems with your poses being accepted. | |||||||||
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Color Schemes [ back to top ] | ||||||||
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Pose Outline [ back to top ] | ||||||||
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All poses must have a solid, dark, natural outline. It is generally
recommended that the outline is either black, very dark grey, or a dark
shade color of the pose it's around. Lighter outlines are not preferred
as they tend to appear to have a halo effect. Acceptable Outlines:
Unacceptable Outlines:
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Personal Preferences [ back to top ] | ||||||||
| Everyone has their own drawing style. This is perfectly understandable. However, keep in mind that there are set anatomy and physical limitations. That being true, your style may be unacceptable at times, and need to be adjusted to comply with our standards. | |||||||||
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Offensive Material [ back to top ] | ||||||||
| Anything offensive will not be accepted. This includes obscene jestures, hate symbols, and the like. | |||||||||
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Blood/Gore [ back to top ] | ||||||||
| A small amount of blood is acceptable. Any sort of wounds that appear self-inflicted are not acceptable. Zombie poses are acceptable but may not have too much gore in them. If you are unsure whether a pose is too gorey contact a member of the ART. We judge poses containing blood/gore on a case-by-case basis. |
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Aesthetic Quality [ back to top ] | ||||||||
| We strongly encourage proper anatomy. There are several good tutorials on our forum, as well as other sites, such as DeviantArt. While it doesn't have to be perfect, please realize that the better the anatomy, the easier it will be to determine the species. We allow many species on Commons, but most are restricted to private rooms. If we can't tell what species it is supposed to be, it will be rejected or placed into a category that seems most fitting. | |||||||||
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Modifications [ back to top ] | ||||||||
| All poses must appear 80% of an acceptable species. Usually up to 2 major mods are acceptable. If it's an extreme mod, where it is hard to determine if there is still any remaining acceptable species in the pose, it usually isn't acceptable. Some mods do not go over well and are unacceptable, such as taurs, wolves with beaks, etc.. | |||||||||
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Props [ back to top ] | ||||||||
Most props are acceptable. Weapons are allowed as long as they aren't
held in a threatening manner, except on Howloween.
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Plushies [ back to top ] | ||||||||
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You are allowed to either be a plushie, or have plushies in your poses.
Plushes must be clearly inanimate or they will be rejected. The easiest
way to achieve this is adding stitches. There is no limit on the number
of plushies allowed in a pose. Here are a few reasons why your plushie pose might be placed into the "mythical" category: - the plushie is the main focus of the pose - the plushie is so large that it overwhelms the main character in the pose, or no main character is evident - the plushie shows movement or special effects - the plushie shows signs of life These just happen to be the most common reasons - other reasons will be dealt with and discussed on a case-by-case basis. |
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Mounts [ back to top ] | ||||||||
| Mounts are acceptable, but try not to go overboard. The creature must be being ridden or otherwise clearly look like a mount. Acceptable mounts would be horses, small dragons, etc.. | |||||||||
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Pets [ back to top ] | ||||||||
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If it's a small
pet, there is no limit to how many you can have in a pose. Larger pets
should be limited to 2 per character. Pets cannot be the same species as other characters in the pose, e.g. if you have a pose of a horse with a foal, the horse or foal (or both) should be a plushie. |
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Gag & Mini Poses [ back to top ] | ||||||||
| Gag poses, or "joke poses", are poses that are meant to be drawn with simplicity or poor aesthetic quality. Gag and Mini poses require little shading, aesthetic quality, highlighting, or anatomy. All other standards still apply. | |||||||||
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AFK Poses [ back to top ] | ||||||||
| We are extremely lenient with AFK (away) poses. You may have any quality pose. You may have just a wolf head, a feather, a sillouette, a computer, anything. The main requirement is the letters "AFK" must be written somewhere around your pose, so that it doesn't appear that you have a pose that'd normally be unacceptable. | |||||||||
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Additional Rules [ back to top ] | ||||||||
| Clipart is usable if appropriate sources are provided. Modding is only allowed if the original artist says so. | |||||||||
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Who are the Art Review Team members? What do they do? [ back to top ] | ||||||||
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You can find out the members of the Commons Art Review
Team (or simply "ART") by visiting this forum post The ART's job is to review uploaded poses and rooms. They've been trained to accept or reject submitted art based on the set guidelines, and protect against art-theft. Like any other administrators, all of the ART are real people, and deserve your respect and patience. | |||||||||
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What is Art Theft and why is it so serious? [ back to top ] | ||||||||
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Art theft is when you take a piece of art work, drawing or photo, and
claim / use it as your own personal work when you are not the true
owner. By uploading a pose, room or other artwork, you are taking
responsibility for it and you will be banned if you use copyrighted art
without permission. This is very important: you need permission to use
other people's artwork. Taking someone's art and modifying a couple
things on it is still theft. You are allowed to use references as long as
you do not trace it. No one can copyright a position, but if your pose
outline matches up exactly to a photo or artwork you will be banned. Some
people sell poses, and if you try to use one without paying for it, that
is also art theft. You cannot upload copyrighted characters (like
Digimon® adoptables) but you can dress up your wolf in a Digimon®
costume. You cannot use found clipart or images from Google. Art theft can be many things, so please clear all up questions ahead of time with the ART, rather than risk the consequences. Even if you do contact the ART before uploading, make sure you still fill out the permission explanation box to ensure a quick review. We take art theft so seriously, it has special series of consequences. For your very first offense of confirmed art theft, you are given a warning. Your next offense results in a three day ban. The third offense is a two week ban, and then any subsequent offense is a permanent ban. Questions? Ask the ART via forums or email. You may also decide to contact them personally via forum PM, chat messaging system, or in the chat. But please note that the ART are people too, and they deserve respect. Do not harass the ART. Thank you! |
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Helpful Links
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