Quick side note: Hope everyone is safe and well. I'm sure many CS members and their families have been impacted in some way by the spread of corona virus, and we wanted to let you know the CS team is thinking of you all in these difficult times. CS is always open and ready to welcome you aboard!
Now to the point of today's topic: we are considering big changes to some of our Oekaki boards, but we need your feedback! This is a long topic, but please read and join the poll/discussion!
Our "general art" is currently being sorted into Beginners, Intermediate, Advanced, and Sketches/Experiments.
- There are some problems with this sorting method.
It is just a matter of opinion to decide if art should be ranked as "beginner", "intermediate", or "advanced" quality. It can be hurtful having others judge your art using these labels, and it's common to have a different opinion about where things should be ranked.
Because of this, the sketches/experiments board has become a kind of "free-for-all" with a huge range in quality of artwork. Many of these are detailed, high effort drawings that don't meet the description of a sketch or experiment. These are mainly posted by people who don't want their art to be judged by our ranking system.
The beginners/intermediate/advanced boards have poorly defined criteria, so there is a huge mixture of quality and effort within each board.
Many artists specialize in a particular subject such as animals, humans, anthro, landscapes. If you're not interested in other subjects you may not enjoy browsing everything grouped together.
We would like to suggest an alternative category system: this would be based on the drawing subject, rather than quality/standard.
Boards that would be replaced:
- Beginner's Oekaki
- Intermediate Oekaki
- Advanced Oekaki
- Sketches and experiments
Art in the other Oekaki boards like adoptables and avatars won't be affected by this.
Our suggestions for new replacement categories: (this is a draft - will be edited based on feedback)
- Human/Humanoid Humans and human-like species (vampires etc)
- Animals Real animals (living or extinct)
- Fantasy/Made-Up Species/Anthro Fantasy, mythology, or otherwise fictional species
- Fandom/Fanart Anything from a fandom - e.g. cartoons, games, books
- Landscapes/Scenery E.g. fields, forests, extraterrestrial, architecture
- Objects/Other Objects and anything else which doesn't fit the above categories
- Reference Sheets For your original characters
- Combo For pieces that fit into multiple categories e.g. featuring both a human and animal character
Please vote and comment with your thoughts and any other suggestions for the Oekaki organisation or desired boards!