Frequently Asked Questions

General

What do the icons represent?

	Watch artist/Add image to Favorites folder.
	Remove artist from watched/Remove image from Favorites folder.
	Block artist or gallery. Hides thumbnails of the artist or gallery across the whole site.
	Artist is offering commissions, click to see.
	Artist is offering prints, click to see.
	Artist is offering the original, click to buy.

What happens when I flag an image for review?

When an image is flagged, it gets listed on our content review staff's administration page. If the reason seems like a valid one, such as blood or a suggestive scene in a G picture, we will bump up the rating without notification to the artist. If we are unsure if the flag is necessary, we keep it around to see if more people flag it. This creates a community standard of sorts. If an image has multiple flags, we will take action on it of some sort. An artist will be notified if any of their images are removed with the reasons why.

Having an image bumped up in rating or removed is not a bad mark against an artist. We just consider it adjusting and getting familiar with the community.

How do I get a journal on my gallery page?

First, go into your account settings (either click the “Settings” tab under “My Home” or click on your name in the top-right of any page). Choose “Personal”. Put your blog/journal URL in the field labeled “Blog Link” then save.

That's it, your journal should now appear on your front gallery page. If you categorize your entries, you can filter which ones appear by putting the categories in the “Filter Blog by Categories/Tags” field below the blog link one. (e.g. "art, animation, movies")

I tried to do something, but got a page that says “Sacré Bleu!” What happened?

You have run into a bug! Something happened that caused an error on the server. While we do our best to test our code in multiple ways, sometimes a bug slips through.

When that happens, we are automatically sent an email notifying us of the error with the associated data so that we can work on fixing the cause so it does not happen again. If you have any further questions involving the error or it is of a critical nature, you can send a note to us through our Helpdesk.

Favorites and Folders

What are the stars in the folders for?
I would not favorite something if it was one or two stars, why not just include these on each picture on the whole site?

The star rating system is purely for personal use in sorting images in your folders. There are times where you have a favorite image, but it may not be as favorite as another, and so on. Also, when another user looks at your favorites, the ones with the higher star ratings will appear first.

Do the star ratings affect the popularity of an image?

No, they do not. They are purely for personal ranking of favorite images, and are deleted when a favorite image is removed.

Print Service

Where can I find more information on prints, like pricing?

Here!

Portfolio Application Process

Why do I have to go through a review to have a space on ArtSpots?

ArtSpots has a minimum standard of quality that we want to present our patrons with. In order to do this, we check to see if an artist understands the basics of anatomy, perspective, lighting and composition before putting work up on the site.

What are my chances of being accepted?

Currently, our acceptance rate for applicants is 38.7%

How long does a review take?

We try our best to get reviews done and respond within a month's time. Sometimes they may take a little longer because we want to do a thorough job reviewing them and offering helpful suggestions, and because we are completely volunteer-based. Right now we have a total of 42 applications in the queue, the oldest one being 440 days old.

What are the criteria for determining if an artist understands the basics?

These are covered under our portfolio submission guildelines. We also have a sample portfolio to illustrate them.

Aren't you rather elitist for only allowing "good" artists on your site? Art is subjective!

Art is subjective, yes. We do not judge pieces on their artistic merits. We are not out to determine what is or is not art, let alone "good" art.

We only look for measurable criteria in applicant's work. Muscles have certain shapes and fit together in certain ways. Proportions are measurable relative to a whole figure's construction. Perspective is mathematical in nature. Light acts according to physics and is also very much tied to perspective. These are what we look to see if an applicant understands. Any stylistic choices are irrelevant to what we look for.

Composition is the only thing we measure that can be considered subjective. We are not judging the composition however, but the thought that went into it. It is mostly "Is there no composition, just a white void with no thought on how to frame the character?" or "Ah, we can see they attempted to frame the character in some sort of setting or graphic design."

We are not trying to keep artists out. We want them in! Really! This site is designed so we can help you do what you can in order to get the basics down. Come in, participate in the community, and most of all, work and practice! It may take years, but we are confident that anyone reading this can eventually be part of the site… if they truly want to spend the time working to do it. There are things we offer that can help, such as our Critique and Redline forum group or our Library.

Aren't your criteria rather illustrative in nature?

Yes.

What if my work is stylized, or abstract?

Picasso could draw amazingly well. Many of the impressionists and post-impressionists did amazing preliminary sketches. Books of these can be found in bookstores or libraries.

Even cubists knew that before you could break the rules, you had to know the rules.

If you do abstract work, submit a portfolio that meets the criteria we set out. If you are accepted, you can then upload more stylized work.

I see work on your site that doesn't match your criteria!

Right now, once an artist is accepted into ArtSpots, they can put whatever they want into their galleries. (This may change in the future.) In fact, we love to see things like free, fun sketches which normally would not be good portfolio material. The portfolio is merely to tell if the artists understand the basics or not.

How are the applications reviewed?

Part of this was covered in our Review Process Transparency topic in the forums, where you get a peek behind the scenes.

When you submit an application it goes into a pending queue where it awaits three reviews. Our system works on a unanimous vote of acceptance from three reviewers. If it is a borderline (two-out-of-three) it goes into further discussion. Once it has finished being reviewed, if declined, it awaits a redline from one of our reviewers to help illustrate and better explain some of the points brought up in the review. Once this redline is finished, or if the application was accepted, it goes into a completed queue. Here reviewers can add or correct a redline to any application, accepted or declined.

Once we are certain an application is done, the result and comments are sent to the applicant via email, and the application is marked done and filed away.

Why aren't the reviews public?

The primary reason is objectivity. Even the reviewers cannot see other reviewer's comments until the application has finished being reviewed. Even then, the comments do not show who made them. This is so our reviewers can remain as impartial as possible when reviewing an application and not let other reviewer's comments influence their own judgement.

The other reason is because not everyone wants their applications seen. It is a vulnerable thing enough as is, putting artwork up for review, and there have been cases with other sites where users would make inappropriate comments based on either the work submitted, or the reviews that resulted. We have no problem dealing with concerns on a one-to-one basis with artists, or opening up parts of the process when they get criticism, such as redlining. But, as far as applications as a whole go, they will remain private.

What if I do not mind my application being seen?

Post some of your portfolio pieces in the "Would this get me into ArtSpots?" critique group. Our reviewers frequent there and you will get their assessment whether it would be accepted or not.

How do I know how my work compares to those being reviewed?
What things I should watch out for in my own work?
How do I know if my work is good enough to get in? Where are the examples?

We have a sample portfolio that shows examples and explains why they show the things we look for. It also goes over various pitfalls and what not to include in a portfolio. Another way is to visit the "Would this get me into ArtSpots?" critique group to post a prospective piece and get an evaluation from our reviewers.

Why did I get a redline?

Since art is inherently a visual medium, we can describe what needs to be fixed in a piece, but it helps to also show this as well for better understanding. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a red line or two is worth a few hundred.

We redline work because we care about our applicants and want to see them get into ArtSpots. Redlines are a very effective way of pointing out areas that need to be improved or focused on.

My application was accepted, but I also got a redline? Why?

Artistic skill is a constant learning process. We hope that while on ArtSpots, every artist continues to work on improving their art. Even if an application is accepted, it may have some weak spots. Before an application response goes out, a reviewer may add a redline based on comments.

My redline is awful, it didn't show me anything, and even it had errors.

Redlines are merely suggestions, and mainly used to illustrate points brought up in the response letter. For example, if only anatomy proportions are mentioned, you may get a few lines showing proportion but no lighting. If perspective and lighting are mentioned, you may only get some lines that try to indicate what we meant and nothing more, resulting in what seem to be partial redlines. We are not trying to redraw your piece perfectly from scratch, we would not be able to find the time for everyone!

Sometimes a redline is just one or two lines. In many art schools, it is common practice for an instructor to come up to a real media piece, a full rendering that seems complete and has taken 20 hours or more to finish, and draw over various spots with a white conte pencil or just plainly repaint certain spots. On that note, be thankful this is just a digital medium and we are only offering suggestions for next time. :)

If you do feel the decision we made was wrong and the redline was a poor example, feel free to tell us through our helpdesk. We will listen and provide a different redline if necessary.

Your redline changed the style of my work!

To be frank, we do not care about style when reviewing nor when redlining. We are not out to change your style, but illustrate the points brought up with anatomy, perspective, or lighting. We are merely pointing out those measurable criteria mentioned in the review, and an artist cannot help but draw with their own stylistic elements. You can take that information and incorporate it into your own style how you please. For example, if you do fully rendered work and you had lines drawn over it, we are not asking you to simplify to just lines, we are just pointing out issues with the underlying drawing.

Sure it's easy to use a tablet and photoshop to redline a real media piece.

We are just looking at the drawing skill underneath. Many mediums take practice to match the drawing framework underneath the media. We are just suggesting choices for next time, such as use of darker values. Just using a single graphite pencil you can illustrate all four of the fundamentals we look for. Media is technique applied on top of a drawing.

Copyright and "Art Theft"

What is your policy on copyright infringement, or “art theft?”

In short, we do not endorse or tolerate copyright violations. Any art that is traced or copied noticeably from an original, copyrighted work is considered a violation. Some places allow this as long as credit is given to the original artist. Here, it is at the original artist's discretion whether or not they allow a copied work to persist.

When determining if a piece of art constitutes an infringement, we look at the current U.S. law regarding copyright and fair use.

According to the Legal Guide for the Visual Artist, "…the test for copyright infringement is twofold: (1) proof of access by the infringer to the work alleged to be infringed must be shown (or, if the similarity between the two works is great enough, this access can be inferred); and (2) the jury must conclude that an ordinary observer would believe one work is indeed copied from another."¹

Fair use is defined by four criteria: (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether or not it is for profit; (2) the character of the copyrighted work; (3) how much of the total work is used in the course of the use; and (4) what effect the use will have on the market or value of the copyrighted work.

Some people may claim that the original art does not have much, well, originality in its composition. For this we refer primarily to the 1992 U.S. Second Circuit court case of Rogers vs. Koons. The contention was a copyrighted postcard photograph made into a sculpture. (Do a search for "String of Puppies" on Google Images.) In the case, it was stated "the quantity of originality that need to be shown is modest—only a dash of it will do." And, "No copier may defend the act of plagiarism by pointing out how much of the copy he has not pirated."¹

¹Crawford, Tad. Legal Guide for the Visual Artist. 2001 Allworth Press, New York.

Does copying an idea constitute copyright infringement?

No. An idea being copied does not constitute copyright infringement. It is the execution of that idea in a piece of art which is examined.

What is the process for reporting copyright infringement?

First, the one reporting it must be the owner of the original image. We will ignore requests by third parties claiming that two pieces are similar or that one infringes on an other. We must hear from the original artist.

Second, if you feel a piece of yours has been infringed upon, contact us via our helpdesk. Be sure to have the original ready to display upon request.

What if I feel that my work was unfairly marked as copied?

You can respond to the original notifying email if you want further clarification of the decision. We will listen to both sides, but err on the side of caution. We will also not mediate between artists—any direct copyright disputes must be handled off-site.

Where does fan art fall under this?

Fan art is of a tenuous nature. As long as it is not sold and used for profit there is little that can be done, especially if it falls under parody and fair use. Some companies even encourage works by fans. We allow artists to post a small amount of fan art. Further clarification can be found in our rules.