. . . . . ANTHRO OEKAKI . . . . .

_{(Dedicated to all the anthro artists using this funny tool)}

What is “Oekaki”?

1. ...from Wikipedia:
   
   Oekaki: is the Japanese term to describe the act of drawing, meaning "doodle or scribble".
   
   Oekaki Internet forum systems allow artists to draw pictures with a drawing program stored on a server and post their drawings on an Internet forum. Artists draw pictures inside web browsers with a computer mouse, a graphics tablet, or a touch screen. The underlying computer technology used in Oekaki can be a Java applet or ActiveX. Some Oekaki systems offer enough features to create professional-looking images. The resulting picture is usually in dimensions of a few hundred pixels wide or long. The most popular applets used on English internet forums are OekakiBBS, PaintBBS, and Shi-Painter.

The Oekaki subcategory is probably the most unknown and underappreciated sub cateory in the whole Anthro Gallery. Recently, we set a couple of polls to check how much our community knew about it, and over the 51% of voters (more than 140 people!) answered “What is Oekaki? o.O;;”.



As your Gallery Moderators, ^Katmomma and I have always tried to promote the Anthropomorphic art, and also to encourage knowledge and education about it. But, instead telling you all everything in a blah blah boring kind of educational class, we thought it was going to be more interesting in other way: We bribed our little minion, =Pixel-Spotlight, to help us and interview five of our oekaki anthro artists, and let them explain us why do they like and enjoy so much this tool (who can do it better than the artists themselves?), and also show you a little selection of the best oekaki art you can find in our gallery. We’re also going to feature two Daily Deviantations from this special gallery, today!

We really hope this lures you to check this amazing category in the Anthro Gallery. If you ever want to give it a try and use oekaki, feel free to check this free Oekaki BBS. You can even see some examples, and watch the animations to see how an oekaki picture can be done! If you draw something, don't forget to share it with us here in deviantART!!!

The Interviews!!!

So, our fearsome reporter =Pixel-Spotlight was nice enough to interview these amazing 5 artists: =griffsnuff, *The-kat, ~Chocolate-Rhinos, ~WickedFerret and ~kitsuneswirl and here is the whole talk for you to learn and enjoy!


Why did you choose Oekaki as a tool to create artwork?

=griffsnuff : I started drawing online in 2005, when I randomly came along an Oekaki site, so I registered and tried it out and found out how amazing it was, how simple and easy it was to use. My hand with a mouse of course weren’t very well trained xD, so my lines and everything was scary, but anyway, drawing together with people and getting comments and crits on the work you do really hanged me in the ways of an artist and I began finding my own style, and of course we all get inspired of the things we see around us. So I started using Oekaki bbs, and I produced a lot of random not really good arts xDD;;
*The-kat : Well, oekaki really sparked my interest in digital art and communities like DA. It was like my introduction to art on the internet and I've really grown fond of it as a result. The simple layout and tools of oekaki are easy to work with, and have so much potential: The little program really packs a punch.
~Chocolate-Rhinos : I started Oekaki'ing when I was about 13 I think (that’s about 8 years ago) I was just realizing that people post their artwork online on websites and eventually stumbled upon people who drew Oekaki, and wandered into the boards. I was originally drawn to Oekaki for the simple fact that it gave me the ability to show my drawings online and get feedback. I didn’t own a scanner, and I wasn’t surrounded by many people in real life who were willing to say much about what I drew, so it was a very cool (and very important) tool that helped me improve and branch out. Without Oekaki I don’t think I would have improved as much as I have these past few years.
~WickedFerret : Initially it was about joining a fun art community. The message board format of most oekaki boards really drew me in. So first I fell in love with the communities, and then I fell in love with the program. For me it's a perfect fit. Just enough tools to do what I want, without getting lost in a huge project. More flexibility than Paint, not as complicated as Photoshop.
~kitsuneswirl: I chose it because that was the first tool I used besides MS Paint. And I became comfortable using it.




How much do you think the average deviant knows about Oekaki, and do you think it is well represented/supported in our community?

=griffsnuff : Well from were I come from no one has ever heard about oekaki and goes all whaaat when I tell them about it xDD. And I don’t think that many knows about them, but more and more is using them, I guess ^W^ thanks a lot to Oekaki art who is hosting free oekaki boards for people that invites their friends. Before that I don’t think it was that well represented and of course I’ve come across a lot of people here on DA who draws digital art that doesn’t know about oekaki C:
*The-kat : I think the average deviant has at least heard of oekaki, but I think it's more well known in certain categories of art. It seems to be more known in the anime community than anything else. It is very well supported and represented here on DA though. If you think about it, essentially, an oekaki board is a little mini version of DA in some ways. People join to post their work and get ideas and feedback. Oekaki boards are great environments for any kind of artist.
~Chocolate-Rhinos : I think Oekaki is a pretty well-known medium throughout dA. Most people seem to know about it (even if they don’t personally use it) but a lot of people seem to think oekaki is strictly for dumb doodles. Originally I did, and that’s what I used it for, but as you use something more and more you tend to work in techniques that turn doodles and sketches into really interesting works of art. Even something like oekaki (or MS Paint) can produce something amazing, given a little practice and knowledge about the tools. I like to compare oekaki to pencil drawings, most people use pencils strictly for doodles, sketches, and concepts, but some people have turned pencils into tools to create amazing works of art.
~WickedFerret : I'm not really sure, however the (newish) sorting system for uploading art makes me feel as if oekaki art isn't considered 'true' art here. It's turned me off a lot, so I'm not as active in uploading or browsing random art.
~kitsuneswirl : I don't think many deviants know about oekaki since some believe that their art would look best in like Photoshop and painter whatever. Seeing that awesome art is made in those programs(but awesome art is made in oekaki too). But oekaki is supported well in the community but I think not enough… am I making sense?




What do you think are the best advantages - and the worst disadvantages about Oekaki?

=griffsnuff : Well as me I started using Oekaki bbs which I have seen almost no one uses, the most used ones are paint bbs and shipainter, me myself use shipainter now after getting used to it. xD believe me it was hard, I just found out that there’s just so much you have to do if you want to use oekaki bbs, a lot of java downloading etc, enough with that xD. Well, oekaki bbs, what made that so easy was that every tool was visible you didn’t have to click on different buttons to get new ones and all the layers and colours were out already, but of course the down thing about it was that you couldn’t draw really bit if you wanted to have a good view of what you did, cause you couldn’t zoom down more than the canvas you choose. With shi on the other hand (I haven’t used paint that much so I’m not going to speak about it xD ) I loved how you could make the canvas float like out of the window into a new easy window, the lines somehow gets a lot more steadier than with oekaki bbs, and believe me I used oekaki bbs for 2,5 years so i know xD, and, well, it has a much more calmer look and after figuring out were everything was it got a lot more simpler to use xD
*The-kat : The best advantage of Oekaki has to be the simple interface and the leveled playing field. The tools you see there in the oekaki window are the only tools you have to use. There are no secret tricks or advantages. You just work with what is given to you, and I think that it is really interesting to see what different people can create when given the same tools. I think the biggest Disadvantage are the little glitches oekaki sometimes gets. There's no quick save, so when the tools start behaving strangely, or the web browser freezes up, there's always a small risk of losing the image.
~Chocolate-Rhinos : Oh the best advantage about Oekaki is that it’s incredibly incredibly simple to use, but it still has some more advanced tools that MS Paint doesn’t have (these tools make it that much easier). My best Oekaki friends are Undo, Mask, and Remask, without them everything would be much harder and take a lot longer. For disadvantages, well, I’d have to say that (referring to Paint BBS, the one I exclusively use) if you don’t like hard-edge pixels, you’re probably not going to like Paint BBS very much. There IS a watercolor tool, but if you’re into the softer, Photoshop looking stuff, I’d always go with ChibiPaint or ShiPainter. Personally I use PaintBBS because I enjoy the way it looks.
~WickedFerret : I love how simple the programs are. I find them easy to use, and most of the tools are simple to figure out. I tend to prefer ShiPainter, but will use PaintBBS or oekakiBBS depending on what I want to do with it. The biggest downside in my experience is that the images are always such a low resolution that they're useless for anything but viewing online.
~kitsuneswirl : Best things about the oekaki is that it is quite simple and easy to get used to. Worst thing maybe complications dealing with shipainter that many people come up with like disappearing layers or not enough layers and such.




Are there any Oekaki pieces of art out that that really inspire you? They can be anthro or other!

=griffsnuff : I just can say this short, xD when I started drawing online everything inspired me, I remember my first fanart I got back there and it was just this weird feeling that someone in another part of the world actually drew me something xD It was awesome, I still got it hehe. I just loved solid drawings cause you got this look that was almost impossible with traditional, with the clean pixels 8D, now my most inspirations is my friends and music and nature with its colours. xDD
*The-kat : I really like the work of ~dorset. Dorset has such a soft, painterly style. It's really gorgeous.
~Chocolate-Rhinos : Speaking of specific pieces, honestly none too many come to mind, but people in general who use oekaki in inspiring ways, I can name quite a few off the top of my head: ~TheBlackMarket, ~Blue-Fox, *HedgehogBeeblebrox, =figsf, ~zack-sr, `loish, =xlnightkidslx, and ~dobie before I just rattle off every single person I know haha. There are so many more people I could include but that would take me ages to list (aka please don’t be offended if you think you should be listed here, you should be, just pretend you are).
~WickedFerret : I can't think of any pieces that really inspire me off the top of my head. I tend to be inspired more by an artist's body of work rather than one particular piece. Many of my oekaki idols have moved on from the medium, or vanished from the internet altogether. Although sometimes I like to just google up random oekaki boards to see what people are doing. Finding expert level boards always make me want to push my own oekaki art to the next level.
~kitsuneswirl : Oh of course. I enjoy pixel art or extremely detailed pictures. Because it takes time and patience to do those things in just regular oekaki. (something I don't have. x3)




What advice can you give to any aspiring Oekaki artists out there?

=griffsnuff : Humm… Oekaki is a great community (if you of course find the right oekaki board for yourself) if you want to develop your drawing skills with others and getting both comments and crits which can make you feel a lot better with what you create, and if you are terrified of being copied, don’t post art online at all, but if you like sharing what you make and helping others get inspired by looking at your art,its a great place, and I’m not only talking for myself cause I know that once upon a time you yourself were the person looking at others art for inspiration. C:
*The-kat : Try out every tool and really get to know the program! Get in there and try new styles and techniques. There are so many possibilities and the only way to discover them is to dive in and experiment with it all…
~Chocolate-Rhinos : Advice, advice. Well, first of all I’d say, as easy as Oekaki is, it does take a little while to get used to, it’s quite a bit different than Photoshop, and its different enough from MS Paint to feel a little weird (if MS Paint is what you’re used to using) but keep at it, and in the beginning don’t worry too much about perfection. Use the tools, figure out what they do, practice, and take criticism from people who know what they’re doing (also look for general oekaki tutorials, there are many many many of them on dA). Oekaki is different than most other drawing mediums in this way: it’s just about as public as you can get with your drawings online. You draw, then you submit, and everyone and anyone can comment on them and see them, so don’t get hurt and discouraged the first time someone says something that isn’t "Oh that’s awesome!" There are going to be jerks, of course, but there are also going to be a lot of people who genuinely want to help you, let those people in, and take their advice, I’m only sorry that for the first few years I was using Oekaki no one was really there to give me advice, so it took me a long time to figure out everything by myself. Oekaki is fun and easy, and they come with built in communities, so take advantage of that.
~WickedFerret : Practice! Finding a good board you can learn and explore on is amazingly helpful. Watch animations when you can find them. Listen with people give you tips, and the dodge/burn tools aren't instant highlights/shading. Mostly practice, and improving your art over all (anatomy, perspective, etc) will improve your oekakis as well.
~kitsuneswirl : Uhhh, chose the program you find the easiest and explore the program. You might find some nice features to it.




Any last thoughts?

=griffsnuff xD sorry for my bad English hehe 8D Hope this is what you looked for haha XD sdgsgwswhweh
*The-kat : Ok, I hope this is what you guys were looking for~ Thanks so much for the opportunity. This is really awesome.
~WickedFerret : I hope this helps!
~kitsuneswirl : Tell me if I answered some of these questions wrong please.. xD



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