Director of Artist Relations


Hello!

The purpose of Artist Relations is to strengthen the community spirit as well as network with fellow artists so that we may bring outside opportunities to you, and help you to hone your skills. The Gallery Directors are the first people you should go to regarding your galleries. They are the people you need to make gallery suggestions to, and ask questions about your specific genre, or seek knowledge from. They also act as your lifeline to the administration. They are here to support and listen, and I can tell you we've got incredibly talented, devoted and passionate people on this team, so get to know them!

Firstly, Happy New Year I hope you are prepared for another exciting year because we have great things planned !

IMPORTANT - If you have an complaint about a gallery director, disagree with their daily deviation choices, the way they handle the gallery, or some other thing you feel you can't discuss with them one on one, then I am your next step. Feel free to send a note or email me at moonbeam13@deviantart.com In the case of daily deviations, if you choose to belittle the artwork on the actual deviation page instead of following the procedure of contacting the gallery director or myself, you may find yourself banned as this is a violation of deviantART etiquette policies. Consider that a warning. Thank you.

Miscats are to be reported using the "report violation" button not by submitting a ticket to the help desk. Doing so floods the desk and decreases the efficiency of the HD team by having them filter through cases that they can't do anything about. Miscats are dealt with by myself and the Artist Relations team and we get hundreds of reports a day so please be patient, expecting a 24hr turn around on a miscat you report is not realistic.

While I will be filling positions for gallery directors in areas like Anthro, 3-D and wherever else I find a hole, I am not doing it until after I complete the review of the current team. I appreciate the enthusiasm of the community but I require time to assess the team and decide what is needed. Thank you

Please remember that I am taking suggestions for how to improve Artist Relations in the new year so feel free to send me your thoughts via note or email moonbeam13@deviantart.com

This article on Underrated Photographers is pretty great too

If you missed it make sure you check out Weekly Help Desk Updates 1-04-07

Miss an edition of the newsletter? Check out my journal

Looking for contests? Find a list of all AR sponsored contests here




The Key System
As you can see at the very bottom there is now a Key System. The way this will work is simple. If you have a specific inquiry or suggestion for a specific department, begin your comment with the appropriate Key Code, that way we can search the page and compile them and address them. Neat, huh?

Photography

It's been a wild year in the photography gallery. Not only did dA undergo a major version change, which created many different challenges, but we also made some big changes to the photography categories. We added new categories for closeups, performing arts, self portraits, expressive, political, horror and macabre, and more. We split abstract and surreal into separate categories because they need to be separate.

We also collapsed photojournalism and commercial photography categories under the main art photography umbrella, recognizing the artistic values of these genres.

There have been plenty of great contests too, whether official dA contests, dA sponsored contests, and user-created contests. These have helped deviants to push their talents to new levels, and earn cool swag too.

I've been impressed by how much the level of talent has risen in the dA photography community during 2006. The photography here just keeps getting better and better, and my jaw drops every time I browse the gallery. dA is really becoming a premiere destination for quality photography, thanks to its strong and lively community of artists and art lovers.

Next year we plan to keep working to make the photography gallery a better place. What kind of things would you like to see happen? Tell us!



Stock Art

Taking Stock and the New Year

I get by with a little help from my friends
I get high with a little help from my friends

Do you need anybody?

I need stock friends to love

...........

The biggest thing in Stock 06 was to add Sandi... ^oibyrd

We continue to have an online stock affair
I just love that girl. She is the DD queen
She is kicking my butt leaving open odd days so I will DD again

What does radioPooh do in stock?

Well I write the A/R article and I re-cat (a lot)

..... Onward to new horizons

Sandi and I talked

07 is the year of Stock

New Category structure

Descriptions

And

And

Contest (yes. with actual prizes)

and more Pooh DD's


Comics and Cartoons

Hello hello, guys and gals! I hope the holidays are treating everyone well and that you're lookin' forward to the new year! Nothing too enormous goin' on with the Comics and Cartoons gallery. Things are moving kinda slow because the flu finally decided it was time to make me and the family miserable. I'm still scootin' around in older submissions cleaning violations out and moving things around to better suited categories. Please keep in mind that if something is deleted or moved you're more than welcome to contact the +helpdesk if you have any questions! Your inquiry will be forwarded to the appropriate admin.

Just a little reminder to those who ink and/or color comic book artwork; While we completely understand that inking and coloring official comic book artwork (pages, panels, covers, sketches etc.) is fantastic practice we have to remind you that if you don't have valid permission to post said inked or colored artwork on dA from the copyright holder you can not submit it to your gallery or scraps. For example, if I inked and colored (let's just pretend that I can ink and color for a moment) a piece of X-men artwork that I found online I would first need to contact Marvel and seek their permission to post it online as my artwork. The piece of art is licensed to Marvel so posting it online in my personal gallery would be copyright infringement if I didn't provide evidence of permission. Crediting the website you found it on and/or the original artist is not good enough. Most sites that offer artwork like this will say that they are available for "free use"... however, these sites DO NOT always have the permission to offer the artwork by the copyright holders. Please check out these FAQs and if you have any further questions please feel free to note me and I'll go over it with ya.

FAQ #157: Can I use things created by other people in my submissions?
FAQ #257: I have permission to use someone else's work in my deviation. Now what?
FAQ #8: What does deviantART consider to be Art Theft?
FAQ #7: I'm not sure I understand if it's okay for me to use other people's work in my own...

The Day in the Life of a Deviant contest winners have been announced! I'm so happy with the winners and absolutely thrilled with the outcome as a whole. You guys really pulled out all the stops and made the contest a huge success! I'm still in the process of handing out all the prizes so if you're still owed something please sit tight! It's comin'! You can check out the winners and honorable mentions in this article.

Okay, that's that! I'm lookin' so very forward to 2007 and the amazing bits of artwork that's sure to come with it! Keep those pencils and other artsy utensils movin'! That's an order, by the way. Otherwise I'll have to sick ^delya on ya. She's a biter.


Anime/Manga

First of all, we'd like to announce that the 3rd issue of our Manga/Anime Monthly Newsletter has just been posted, so take a look at it here and give it some love, because it's full of various stuff this month! We'd also like to mention that we're currently cleaning up the galleries - from the back as well as from the front. Everything because of the recent big category changes that miscategorized lots of deviations from the past few years. So if you see your deviations being moved, don't panic, because it's not your fault, we're just doing the cleaning. Most of the deviations are moved to Scraps and there they're waiting for you to put them into right categories. More information about it you'll find in our Newsletter.

At the end, we all wish you Happy New Year!


Photomanipulation

Just before Christmas, the long-awaited renaming of the Animals category to Animals & Plants has been accomplished. In addition, the gallery descriptions for the photomanipulation gallery and its subcategories have been revised.

The photomanipulation gallery now also includes a bit more information as to what is not a photomanipulation.

The other descriptions have been revamped to reflect their respective purposes better, at times including a hint at what is not supposed to go in there as well.


When submitting your deviations, please make sure to read the descriptions!

Anything that doesn’t fit in will be moved to your scraps for you to find the appropriate category. If you are unhappy with my decision to move your piece, please write a help desk ticket before going all mad. We can always talk things over, but please be reasonable and give me the time to get back to you.

See also FAQ #634: Why was my deviation relocated or moved?


As the end of the year is getting nearer, I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy being here on dA with such a wonderfully strong community. And the photomanipulators have been nothing but kind to me since I started being a gallery director in July. Thank you all for your support and encouragement, the nice notes I get and the wonderful comments you leave not only for me but for everyone who needs it. For 2007, I wish you all the very best and hope we can continue the way we started out together and even make 2007 better than 2006 ever was

Please continue to contact me if you’ve got any questions/suggestions/problems to be solved – I promise not to bite.


Best wishes for 2007!




Digital Art

The vexel gallery has been sent in and will be set in place shortly when the $Moonbeam13 gets to it on her priority list. It was an interesting subject to research because there really aren't that many sites dedicated to the subject, and those that are don't completely agree because the medium is so new. Piecing together information from vexels dot net, freevexels dot com, answers dot com, and wikipedia, I was able to come up with this:

Vexel: Derived from combining the terms “vector” and “pixel,” a vexel is a type of image that has a posterized appearance similar to vector graphics but may contain raster elements. Vexels are images created using tools such as the pen tool or the selection tool for point to point plotting that may be gradient filled. Images that contain brushing or freehand strokes should not be posted to this gallery. Before submitting art to this gallery, please read the following definitions to determine if your art falls into this category. If unsure, please look at what already has been submitted and see if your art has the same appearance to this style of art.

Raster: A bitmap image that is made of pixels, or individual points of color. Being pixel based, they are resolution dependant, meaning they cannot be resized on a large scale without degrading the quality of the image. The two most common raster file types are BMP and JPEG. Photographs are an example of a raster image.

Posterization: The effect when an image is displayed or created using a small number of colors or shades to create distinct yet flat areas of different gradients or tones. Standard images use as many as 16 million individual colors but typical vexels use only a fraction of that to create the image.

Some sources said vexels were images that had clean block shapes but after looking at the art on various sites, not all had that characteristic. Some vexels looked very clean, similar to vector works. Because it wasn't evident in many of the works, it was left out of the description. What I tried to do instead was write something that was clear enough to understand and simple enough for people to post art to without creating a gallery full of miscat images. The good news is vexels are so new a medium that changes in gallery descriptions can be made after the community grows and develops. One thing was clear from the feedback here, people are passionate about the subject so if you have anything to add, send me a note.

For the sub-galleries, a wide enough range was created to allow future growth without needing to constantly add sections. These galleries include:

Fanart: Vexel images based upon an existing work, or copyrighted character. Fan characters also belong here. An example of a fan character would be a character that would fit into Sonic the Hedgehog genre.


Anime/Manga: Vexel images that are based upon characters from copyrighted anime/manga series. Examples include Inuyashi, Naruto, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell, and other known series.

TV/Movies: Vexel images based upon a television show or a movie/film.

Books/Novels: Vexel images based upon published writings. Examples include the Harry Potter books, Lord of the Rings, and popular childhood stories.

Comics/Cartoons: Vexel images based upon characters found in comic books, cartoons, and full length animated movies. Examples include Disney works, DC and Marvel comics, Hanna Barbara creations, and similar works.

Games: Vexel images based upon board games, pc/online games, and video games. Examples include Dungeons and Dragons, World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy, and Neopets.

Music: Vexel images depicting characters or symbols from music bands or groups. Examples include images of the actual members, stylized band names, or band mascots.

Miscellaneous: Vexel fanart images that do not clearly fit in the other fanart sub galleries. Examples include creating an image of a fellow deviant, or making a work dedicated to their art.


Abstract: Vexel images that does not contain clearly defined shapes or symbols but instead rely upon emotion and artistic expression through the image.

Animals: Vexel images depicting real animals that can be found on in nature, or those that have gone extinct. Animals that are believed to be fictional should not be posted here but placed in the appropriate fantasy or sci-fi gallery instead.

Fantasy: Vexel images based upon fantasy places such as medieval settings or mystical lands. Commonly believed fictional creatures and characters should be posted here as well. Examples of this include castle scenes, elves, wizards, dragons, unicorns, and similar artwork.

Landscapes and Scenery: Vexel images that depicts nature and landscape scenes that can be found in the world around us.


Cities and Structures: Vexel images that depict buildings, cities, or similar rural structures.

Landscapes: Vexel images that depict terrains such as mountains, forests, fields, and similar landscapes.

Waterscapes: Vexel images that depict bodies of water such as lakes, oceans, coastlines, or waterfalls.


Macabre/Dark: Vexel images that use horror and dark moods to provide a more disturbing and shocking image.

Miscellaneous: Vexel images that do not clearly fit into the other vexel categories. Images posted here should only be done so after thoroughly reading the other gallery descriptions to see if your image does not fit into another section.

People: Vexel images that depict a person or group of people.

Science Fiction: Vexel images that depict speculative scientific discoveries, technological developments, space travel and scenes, and perceived life forms from other worlds. Examples include space ships, aliens, time travel, futuristic weapons, and similar subjects.

Silhouette: Also called line-art, this section is for vexel images that use two base colors to create the pattern of the image. The result is a flatter, bolder piece of art that uses the shapes and structures to create the image.

Surreal: Vexel images where the subject matter has a dream like, not true to reality type of nature. Art that contains real elements in situations that cannot possibly exist are examples of this type of art.

Vehicles: Vexel images that depict forms of transportation. Types can include automobiles, planes, trains, ships, and other modes of travel.

As you can see, there is enough diversity for vexel artists to post art to yet it's clear enough to not create a headache for people when determing where their creations should be posted. I'm a big fan of simple and clear. Some of these galleries will get much more traffic than others but I'm excited to see how they grow and develop.

On a completely different subject, I'd like to remind people that the only anime, anthro, oekaki, and comics/cartoons allowed in the main digital galleries is fanart. I've seen a trend of people using the fantasy galleries for this type of art, that's not the proper place for such images. These mediums have their own sections now, please use them if you create such art.

2007 is upon us, ^nighty and I have a plan for the digital galleries. Lots of great things coming, stay tuned. Keep an eye on the news articles as well, there's going to be even more exposure using that tool as well. 2006 was awesome for digital art but 2007 is going to be even better.



Wallpaper

Hi all, just a short newsletter from me this time around to wish you a happy and safe New Year.

It's been a great year for the wallpaper gallery and i'm very proud to be able to be a part of it. Please keep making my work here a pleasure! Here's to another great year in 2007!

We are just about to start judging the Exotica II competition, so stay tuned for the winners very soon.

A quick reminder that any desktop Screenshots should be placed in the Customisation > Screenshots gallery and NOT the Wallpaper gallery. Any screenshots, and by this I mean any captures of your desktop showing a wallpaper and icons and task bar etc in any os including Windows and OSX, will be relocated to your scraps.

Happy New Year All




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To direct your comments towards the right gallery director, optionally prefix your comments with the following acronyms:

PREFIX LEGEND

AR: for Artist Relations
PH: for Photography
AN: for Photography > Artistic Nudes
FP: for Photography > Fetish
SP: for Stock Photos
DA: for Digital Art
3D: for Digital Art -> 3 Dimensional Art
AA: for Digital Art > Anthro
DF: for Digital Art > Digital Fantasy
PM: for Digital Art -> Photomanipulation
PA: for Digital Art > Pixel Art
ANI: for Anime
AC: for Artisan Crafts
COM: for Comics and Cartooons
CON: for Contests
DI: for Designs & Interfaces
FL: for Flash
ICN: for Icons
POE: for Poetry
PRS: for Prose
ST: for Skins & Themes
TA: for Traditional Art
VP: for Visualization Presets
WP: for Wallpaper
RES: for Resources
FR: for Fractal Art