Feedback Needed: Change to Oekaki Organisation

[Guest]

i think a sort of mixture of these would be good? for instance, sketches - simple - detailed? so one is for sketches and such, one is for lined or flat colored pieces, and one is for shading and bgs and such? i agree with pyroeis on the easier switch though. maybe you draw and then choose the category!

[.lucifer]

I'm all for this new way of organizing the oekaki! Having things listed by subject matter- and not an arbitrary scale of how "well drawn" something is- definitely sounds like a good thing to me. However, I'd like to suggest a small edit to the "Adoptables" board of the oekaki:

Please separate "Adopts" (as in designs made of natural animals unaffiliated with any adoptable center/species eg. cat or dog adopts, etc), and "Original Species" (as in a special adoptable center of a made up/fantasy species that the artist created/owned eg. Kalons, Simas, Feather Boas, etc) into their own boards.

They really are unique things, and should be treated as such. In fact, I'd go so far as to suggest having a "One-Off Adopts" board, a "Natural Species Adoptable Centers" board, and an "Original Species Adoptable Centers" board. This would definitely help keep things organized, and would lessen the frustrations of someone who were to be say, specifically looking for closed species adopts, or specifically looking for one-off cat designs unaffiliated with an adoptable center. It would also help things look a bit cleaner in the "Created Pets" boards as well, since you won't have one-off adopt batches next to highly detailed single-design references.

Slightly related, I have a suggestion for allowing users to create duplicates of their own drawings- without coloring them in and creating large color-in chains- you can find here.

[spirittai1]

just gonna toss in my two cents - i think resorting the boards into subject-based categories rather than quality categories is a great idea !! though i do think that, as others have said, maybe the current list could be reduced a bit. humans/humanoids, animals/anthros (including ferals, anthros, fantasy creatures, etc.), landscapes/scenery, and combo/other would probably be enough.

other thoughts - having a reference sheet category probably wouldn't be necessary, though honestly i think there's more than enough of them posted to warrant it's own category. i feel there's enough landscape/scenery art posted for that to have it's own category, as well. fanart, though, would fit into other categories anyways and having a separate board for it would probably just make things confusing so i don't think it's really necessary.

i also wanna say that i disagree with previous comments about keeping sketches/experiments - it seems to me like the entire point of replacing the existing categories is to remove worry regarding quality and polish of art when posting and instead focusing on making sure that art of the same subject can all be easily found in the same place; a sketch or roughly colored dog is still a drawing of a dog 'nd i don't really see the point in separating it from other drawings of dogs, y'know? keeping sketches would sorta defeat the purpose of subject-based categories, and it'd also be a pain if you want to post a work in progress that you intend to later finish. i also say this bc my art tends to have a sketchier quality to the linework nd i wouldn't want my finished works moved out of subject categories just because it doesn't look as "clean" as other people's stuff dfjhgdsj ... that's honestly part of the thing that keeps me from really using oekaki as is.

[Placebo]

Ooh yes now this is a change I'd like to see! I have some thoughts on all of the proposed boards + a few other thoughts of my own, so I'll work on organizing them based on each board proposed:

Should the board suggestions remain as they are in some capacity:

Human/Humanoid Humans and human-like species (vampires etc)

This would be a good board to implement! However, just based on the target demographic that chicken smoothie attracts, there aren't a massive amount of human artists as it is. I personally think that anthros should be included in this category for consolidation's sake (especially since bipedal anthros can look like a range of things) but I understand that not everyone would have this same opinion. Though I definitely think this board (or some iteration of it) would be crucial to see on the final list of boards.

Animals Real animals (living or extinct)
+
Fantasy/Made-Up Species/Anthro Fantasy, mythology, or otherwise fictional species

I do agree with hannabun here, at least in part. I think that Animals (fantasy and real) should be in the same category. This is because there are a lot of areas of overlap-- for instance, where would fantasy dog or cat breeds come in? Where would historically inaccurate dinos be put?)-- and it would cause confusion for people looking for where to put their art. I think this theoretically combined board could be renamed to "Feral Art", or "Animals and Feral Art" or something like that. I think mythology should be pulled out of the specific name for the "Animals Art" board since mythology can technically be seen across any range of these categories (not just fantasy species; human/humanoid characters could be derived from mythology, for instance)

Fandom/Fanart Anything from a fandom - e.g. cartoons, games, books

I definitely think this should be implemented. I don't have many thoughts about this, but I think it'd put some responsibility on the poster to make sure that when they post, the drawing's clearly demonstrated as fanart rather than OC content. And when the oekaki moderators are moderating, they need to not incorrectly categorize a fan animal (say Disney's Bolt, for instance) as a drawing of an OC or regular animal. Also, I'm assuming this board would include CS fanart?

Landscapes/Scenery E.g. fields, forests, extraterrestrial, architecture
+
Objects/Other Objects and anything else which doesn't fit the above categories

I personally believe that these two boards should be consolidated, and I agree with bee on the suggestion of combining these two. Maybe into something that's more general, like Landscape, Objects, and Other, or something along those lines? I think there's too thin of a line between landscapes and objects for them to be separate boards. So, say someone draws a planet on a transparent/white background. Would that be a landscape drawing of a planet, or just an object? Same with a single tree. I think it could be argued both ways (depending on composition), which would bring confusion if these boards were kept separate.

I put the "Other" in the proposed title to possibly account for more abstract art that couldn't be easily defined as a landscape or an object. This could include even simple text art as well. I do also think that text art should be categorized on CS appropriately, and not just locked or deleted because it doesn't have a defined objective subject.

Reference Sheets For your original characters

I definitely think this needs to be implemented. This is just personal opinion and I recognize that everyone might not agree, but having a space dedicated to character ref sheets would be so, so useful! Would this include adoptable species references (as in, separates of adoptable characters)? If this doesn't include adopt species I definitely think that having a subboard in the "Created Pets" section for adopt species references would be perfect for anyone looking to add a reference of a character they've adopted/bought/etc. from the Adoptable Oekaki board. This would be alongside the ref sheets board. That way, the Created Pets section can be limited to just created pets people can browse through, instead of already owned designs that users want references of mixed in.

Combo for pieces that fit into multiple categories e.g. featuring both a human and animal character

I agree with hannabun again here. Most people may very well end up posting in the combo section due to the assumption that they aren't sure if their art belongs in a specific place. This board suggestion might be too vague in some aspects? Like, would a combo mean both a landscape + a human/animal/etc. subject? Do fully rendered pieces with detailed backgrounds and multiple subjects-- maybe in this case, just dogs-- go here? Or would they fall under animals?

Other Suggestions (not really limited to the proposed boards, but just some things I think would also be good to see!)

A tagging system. I don't know how feasible this is with CS's board system, but I feel like a dedicated tagging system would solve so many of these problems. Resorting the boards definitely helps the people posting, but what about on the observer's end? If people perusing the oekaki boards are looking for something specific, then they can just filter by tags to find what they want so much faster! This would be perfect for sorting by categories, art sales, and so much more. If this is possible in the near future, then I would love to see some form of a tagging system for art.

I think that sketches and experiments should stay, but be renamed(?). Maybe into something like sketches and wips? I do still think there should be a board for "scraps" so to speak, but the board's new rules should also make it clearly defined what a sketch would be. I agree with others that a sketch should be defined as something loose with minimal coloring, but it would also be important not to distinguish something with just lineart (or b+w) as a sketch even though it may be finished in the artist's eyes.

More specific Adoptable Oekaki boards! I agree with lucifer here; Alongside the sub board for created pets, there really should be more specificity for the Adoptable Oekaki board too, especially since some users are only interested in one type of species over another. Breaking down the Adoptable Oekaki boards into Fantasy|Realistic|One offs would be a good first step. Especially for the rise of interest in animal ARPGs.

Break Up the Comics and Series Board. The board is less about actual comics and more about "Ask me" threads with people's characters. Maybe break up this board into simply "Comics" and "Ask the character" boards.

Make an Artist Search board for Adoptable Oekaki. This would make a better distinction within competitions; maybe make this its own sub-board in Adoptable Oekaki?

[Centipedes]

maybe a feral category?? i don't feel as if me drawing pink sparkledogs fits in with real animals or anthros

also a feature where you could move your art to different categories without a mod's help?? most of my art is within beginner's oekaki due to the way it's set up,, when it should be in created pets and completed orders. maybe when you finish a piece you get to choose where it goes rather than picking at the beginning.

[Viiperfang]

I feel like instead of having Animals and fantasy animals different, and then anthro combined with fantasy animals, it should be something like
Feral/Quadruped as one board, whether realistic or sparkledogs or whathave you, and then Anthro as another?

[0Zero0]

One of my problems with this is that the new idea is to many boards. We already have a huge problem of people not posting where there supposed to post purely cause there not paying attention and with this, we have to stop what were drawing, pay attention if it's an animal or a human then probably exit out, and re-enter the board we want to post the art in if we are paying attention.

I'm thinking the boards General art, experimental (sketches & experiments), and Fandom art. this way there is less confusion on where to post your art rather then having to decide whether your drawing a cat or a hillside, or end up having to switch boards just to make sure your art is in the right spot. I also see a lot of the art just ending up in the combo area wether they show multiple kinds of characters cause it's a pain.

I also would like to keep sketches & experiments cause I want that separate from pieces I have a plan for. sometimes when messing with oekaki and such, or don't have a full piece in mind so I just want to sketch it out first.

[grafaiai]

in the case of a general art & fanart split like 0zero0 and others suggested, where would something like fan characters like pokemon OCs go? im down for fewer categories overall instead of many specific categories (like i said before; specific categories feel restrictive and are prone to missorting, plus it splits viewer attention and youll get fewer eyes on your art overall), but i dont know if fandom/nonfandom is a split we necessarily need.

[76heart]

I think this is a wonderful idea!
however, as others have mentioned I think that is way too many boards and I can already feel myself getting stressed at seeing how cluttered it'll look as well as figuring where my art goes.

I really don't see why there would be a need to have separate boards for realistic and fantasy animals personally? I really feel like those should be combined as others have said. I know others have said this too and suggested calling it something along the lines of feral, but I feel like "animals and creatures" or just plain "creatures" may be better? feral doesn't really include a whole lot of things when I think of it at least, and I feel like it's a bit too specific and far too furry term oriented when it comes to something as broad as animals? like when I hear feral, I think of furries, and cats, and dogs, and first and foremost because I worked with rescue animals; stray animals from the streets that aren't fond of humans. I don't think of geckos, deer, horses, etc, and I'm sure it's the same with a lot of others. I have absolutely nothing against furries, but calling it something like ferals just doesn't feel right to me.

as for landscapes/scenery, and objects, as others have mentioned, I really feel like those should be consolidated into one as well. perhaps under a name like "backgrounds, scenery, nature, and objects"? as someone who mainly draws objects like swords and staffs and stones and plant vines, and then small little night skies, and as someone who's wanting to draw flowers again, having those all in one place would be really wonderful.

for fanart, I'm not super sure how I feel about having that board, but I feel like if it is to be done, there needs to be a sub or entirely separate category for characters you have made that are in preexisting worlds if it's wanted for those to be put there too. I wouldn't know where to put my dragon age inquisitors or arcana apprentices for instance, because while it is still technically fanart, it's not like if I drew pikachu and the humanoid section would be far more fitting for me at least, and even then I'd still much prefer to draw them there if I ever did. if there was a fanart category, I feel like that shouldn't include your own characters from those worlds. I also wouldn't really want to separate my human drawings of my kalons for example, from my human characters from games too I guess? it would be weird having them in two separate places and more complicated to navigate and find.

reference sheets is another I'm not too sure we need, but only have those for my kals so I can't really comment. I feel like it could be helpful though the more I think about it? so scratch me saying I'm not sure we need it, I think having it would be a really excellent idea.

instead of combo and other, perhaps just a general art board would be best? it would be nice to have a category where anything goes and a middle place for things that are a combination of the other categories or for those who are unsure, and it feels a bit more welcoming and cozy than "combo". other probably wouldn't really have many things either, so an everything category would probably be good for that? although now that I think about it other would probably hold a lot of design and texture things so perhaps just turn combo to general or something where mixes of everything go.

I also really feel like sketches and experiments should remain as well, with the same title. the issue with it now is it being a safe haven from judgement, and if that judgement is removed it'll return back to it's purpose, and people can post their sketches and mess around and experiment there without suddenly interrupting whatever main board there is with one of those cool paint bucket things.

maybe a sub category for photorealistic art somewhere would also be nice?

though it's not related to these boards, I also think having a closed/original/open species and then a normal adoptables species divide would be absolutely magnificent.

[Raptocidic]

I personally like the idea of this way of sorting categories, but I have two main issues with it.

• I personally don't see why there should be a distinction between real and made up animals.
As the category suggestions are right now i can see a lot of drawings involving multiple characters could end up in 'other' because people want to draw their dog character with their made up but definitely canine character.

A better alternative would just to have feral, anthro, and human/human-like. Made up creatures would just go into whatever category they seem to fit, so feral made up creatures would belong in the feral category.

• We absolutely need somewhere to post sketches, experiments, and unfinished art/rough mock ups of art we don't intend to complete. It would stop the other categories from being flooded with sketches (and art that's otherwise a rough concept) and in general would be a nice idea. I think a lot of artists here wouldn't be comfortable posting their quick sketches to a specific category so a place just for sketches and stuff that isn't complete and finalised work would be great.


Other:
- I've seen a suggestion about merging anthro and humanoid but I don't like this idea- the anthro art would make it really difficult to ever see human art.

-I would class humanoids with animal ears/tails who are otherwise human to belong in the human board, since those seem closer to human than furry/anthro.