An "Advanced" board has been added to the oekaki!

[Bovidae]

I know it's been said before but it seems that some of you have the impression that photorealism = advanced
Ok no,,,
The board requirements only say that you must have a good handle on anatomy. It is possible to have exaggerated and stylized art that still is anatomically correct you guys.

The categories are not in place to degrade artists
If your ego is not extremely inflated you should be able to tell if your art belongs in intermediate or beginners or whatever
The beginner boards are great actually! You can show off your skills and PRACTICE without having to be overwhelmed by a ton of art that is better than yours. I said it, yes, THERE WILL ALWAYS BE ART THAT IS BETTER THAN YOURS AND THAT'S OKAY!!! You should use that fact as a tool to improve. Don't just sit around feeling sorry for yourself. That's not cool you guys.

So if you're offended by these boards please step back and remember that there will always be better artists than you; there is no need to be discouraged by this. Use this as a learning experience!

[zelay]

I know it's been said before but it seems that some of you have the impression that photorealism = advanced
Ok no,,,
The board requirements only say that you must have a good handle on anatomy. It is possible to have exaggerated and stylized art that still is anatomically correct you guys.

The categories are not in place to degrade artists
If your ego is not extremely inflated you should be able to tell if your art belongs in intermediate or beginners or whatever
The beginner boards are great actually! You can show off your skills and PRACTICE without having to be overwhelmed by a ton of art that is better than yours. I said it, yes, THERE WILL ALWAYS BE ART THAT IS BETTER THAN YOURS AND THAT'S OKAY!!! You should use that fact as a tool to improve. Don't just sit around feeling sorry for yourself. That's not cool you guys.

So if you're offended by these boards please step back and remember that there will always be better artists than you; there is no need to be discouraged by this. Use this as a learning experience!

This completely.
If you guys dont like the advanced board so much, then dont click there! Now lots of you can post in the intermediate board without having to be 'put down' because its not 'good enough', and you can feel encouraged to keep moving on, one board at a time.

[Teeze]

If you are unhappy about your art - do something about it. Practice to improve. I do all the time, and my gallery is (sometimes) a reflection of that. (I admit I have many doodles.)

This is true, galleries do reflect how much an artist has practiced and improved. Doodles are not necessarily a bad thing to have in your gallery though; they might not be as nice as art that has had more time put into it, but they are still an important part of drawing since they allow artists to experiment with different styles or to step outside their usual subject matter and draw something different. Doodles are also a good way to practice drawing specific things that are giving you problems. They also make go warm-ups to more complicated drawings or distractions to ease your nerves if you are stressing over commissions, work, or school (although it is important to make sure to go back to those activities once you are finished doodling).
Doodles should not be the only form of drawing an artist does though. An artist can get better by doodling but it will be slow going since they are not really challenging themselves. It is best to draw both doodles and more complete drawings so you can take advantage of the pros of both kinds of drawings.

If a beginner's piece is placed among the advanced, it wont hardly get noticed.

Actually, even though the beginner's art would be overlooked in favor of the advanced art, I don't think it would be accurate to say that it wouldn't get noticed. Art that is of a drastically lower quality than the art around it will stand out, just not in the way the artist would want. They would not get nearly as many comments as they would have if they had posted in the appropriate board and the comments they would get would probably be rather negative and eventually the art would be moved to a lower level board.

Evaluate yourself though, and place your art where you feel comfortable. A lot of my art is in sketches because that's where I feel safe - I challenge you to find your safe zone, and stop fighting this adjustment.

It is ok to post in your comfort zone, but anyone who is serious about becoming a better artist should not draw in their comfort zone. In order to get better it is important to challenge yourself to draw things you normally wouldn't or in ways that you normally wouldn't. For example if you normally take 5 minutes to draw a picture, try taking 20 or 30 minutes. If you are comfortable drawing dogs than try drawing a horse once in awhile. And if you usually do your shading a certain way, try doing something different on one of your drawings.
That being said, it is still important to practice specific things that you want to get better at. If you want to get good at drawing dogs then you should practice drawing dogs, but by drawing other animals you will be able to see the differences between them and will allow you to more fully understand what makes a dog look like a dog and how to better portray them.

[fishheart]

I don't know wether to agree or not. I know what it feels like to not know where to post your drawings. I currently haven't tired an intermediate but will as soon as I get home from vaca I guess.
It's I'd very off putting to see the comments that say This doesnt belong here. If I notice someone post in the wrong forum, I contact a mod and ask if the should move it. I don't try and be rude I know how it feels to get told your drawings armrt good enough for a certain category. Mabye someone should make a section for "Oekaki help" where you could read about the different categories and how they are described like Tess described in the first post.

[Cherry]

Wow, SplashofOrangeJuice, you said mostly what I was trying to say in my post on pg. 22, but a lot nicer. XD
I think everyone should draw out of their comfort zone, I know I need to. I just draw people.
A specialty is fine, I think, but try something new to mix it up! ^^

[Ellies]

It's is great, I love this idea I can't wait for people amazing artwork to be produced

[Bunny x]

Thanks Tess

[.Kat.]

I love this idea!
I can actually post in the Intermediate group c:

But, I do have one problem. The background thing. A piece of art doesn't need a background to be complete. I did a micography portrait, it looked something like this (but no this piece of art is not mine it just gives you an idea) -xxx-. I didn't add a background on mine, I just left it blank. And it looked great, in my opinion. Shading and everything. But no background.

You can use these two as examples if you want, I think they would either go in Beginner or Intermediate. I know how to use Oekaki It's just that my mouse is horrible for this kind of stuff... And by the way, I don't like going for realistic stuff, I stick with more cartoon like art.

-xxx-

-xxx-

[BeaztVibe]

Would it be too much to ask if the artists got pm's saying what they could improve on if there stuff gets moved. cause then it won't be a terrifying mystery and they won't feel as in the dark and hurt if they had a criticism to work on and not a sweep to a lower category of drawing

[tinydoodles]

Would it be too much to ask if the artists got pm's saying what they could improve on if there stuff gets moved. cause then it won't be a terrifying mystery and they won't feel as in the dark and hurt if they had a criticism to work on and not a sweep to a lower category of drawing

That would take a lot of effort from the mods to PM everyone who had their art moved. And since there's now a more defined criteria for each board, you can probably tell generally that that's what you have to work on, since it doesn't fit in that board?