New members, do NOT post without reading this first. (SPRITING AND PIXEL ART RULES)

[triptych]

See these text walls here?
there's this one
also this one
and this one
and also this one

Those text walls there are directed at people who are probably a lot like you. Don't be like the people those posts are directed at, that's not cool. However, if you don't feel like reading those posts, here's a set of

THINGS TO REMEMBER WHEN POSTING IN SPRITING AND PIXEL ART

1. You don't automatically get respect here.

You start with a clean slate, and your first few posts determine how you will be treated after showing your "art". On that note,

• If you show up here acting all high and mighty, shut the fuck up, you're an idiot.
  
• If you try fishing for compliments with comments like "here's my crappy sprites" or "I know they're awful but(...)", be prepared to have to deal with the fact that everyone on the forum will think you're an idiot. (because it's true)
  
• If you get all whiny and talk about how you suck after receiving a few blunt comments on your sprite, expect to lose a large portion of the respect you may or may not have already had. If you need an example, look here

2. If you get comments saying something along the lines of "your sprite sucks", don't complain.

Instead, look at your sprite and try to figure out why it sucks. If you still can't figure out why after some time has passed, CALMLY(that's the important part, don't want to get added to the list of threads up there, do you?) reply to the post requesting that the poster be more specific

3. Blunt critique and comments are very common here.

Do not complain about them or claim they are "trolling", you will almost instantly lose all respect and any chance for regaining that respect that you might have had

4. Don't expect lots of nice comments on your sprites if you're new here.

Chances are, you suck. Not even kidding, you probably suck. You'll get advice, but you need to get past the part where you're not actually good at all so you can accept critique recieved here with a level head.

5. If people are being "mean" to you, it has nothing to do with you being new.

You're just stupid. Seriously, you're just stupid.

6. Don't refuse critique and run away from the forum crying just because of some members being blunt.

If you come here to get feedback on some sprites and you honestly want to become a better spriter, you should be mature enough to accept that there are members you dislike as well as like.

7. Don't blame your lack of talent on the program you're using to make sprites with.

The tool you're using has absolutely zero impact on how capable you are as an artist, trying to blame your problems on MSPaint or whatever program you're using will just make you look childish and ignorant.

8. On the other end of the spectrum,

when you're trying to give critique but aren't sure exactly how to explain what you have a problem with, try your best to explain what you mean WITHOUT coming across as arrogant, or a smartass (that's the important part. You can try to explain what you mean, we don't have a problem with that. What we DO have a problem with is people who behave like bnewton did in this thread).

9. It's by being a regular member that relations will get better.

And that's only possible with what was mentioned above.

10. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE PAY ATTENTION EVERYONE HELLO HI LOOK AT ME!!!!!

Jesus Christ, would it kill you guys to upload your sprites there and post them here? Attachments are incredibly annoying, especially when I have to download the sprite only for it to end up being a shitty recolor. Not only that but it makes the poster look like an amateur. All you have to do is make an account, upload the image, and paste the link here. Make sure you put it between [.IMG] [/IMG] (without the period)

Please use these sites:

http://www.Photobucket.com
http://www.Imageshack.us
http://www.Pixeljoint.com
http://www.Tinypic.com
http://www.majhost.com
http://www.imagehost.org
(If you have any other sites, post them here) I personally prefer Photobucket.com
*Image links must end in PNG. GIF. BMP. JPG. or any other file type for images to show correctly.
*NEVER EVER POST JPG!, BMP isn't recommended either. PNG or GIF is fine.

**Users who use attachments in the sprite discussion board without a legitimate reason will recieve a warn. Your attachment will also be removed from the thread. You have exactly one day from the time I take action to fix the problem or your topic will be completely locked.

^^^ See this? Right here? I'm going to start strictly enforcing this rule. There is literally no excuse to not see this part of the rules now.

11. From now on, if you feel the urge to post in a thread here

but have nothing to bring to the conversation other than a reworded version of something that's been brought up before, DON'T FUCKING POST

12. If you're posting a spritesheet,

make sure that your tag isn't more than a note off in the corner of your sheet, make sure you're not making a point to show of "BLANK SPACE OMG XDD", and make sure your tag doesn't have any annoying recolors completely irrelevant to the actual sheet doing something near your tag and making it take up more space than is needed. Starting now, these will all be deserving of a light warning.

13. EDITS, RECOLORS, AND TRACES CAN ALL GO FUCK THEMSELVES.

If you feel like posting any of these here, you will be warned. No one wants to see these. They're all decent starting points if you're trying to get into pixel art and spriting (Except tracing. That has always been stupid and will continue to be for the remainder of forever.), but they're not anything to show off. If you're going to post something here, make sure that it's custom.

14. As mentioned before, Hazing new members is very common

While these exact words weren't used, it was still implied. If you're new here, people are generally mean to you; hopefully you understand this by now. We don't do it 'just because', we do it to see if you're willing to listen to comments given to you no matter HOW harsh they are, and attempt to dig something useful out of them. We do it to see how far you're willing to go (in a sense) to get useful critique.

Will you cut and run after receiving a few harsh comments? Or will you suck it up and try to pull any shred of helpfulness out of comments that seem to be utterly useless if you look no deeper than their face? How you handle this 'test', so to speak, determines not only how well you fit in here, but how well you're able to accept critique in general. Because in order to improve in any way shape or form, you DO need to be broken down again and again, the more you're broken down, the stronger you become, this applies to anything, art included. The more you learn to suck it up and try to dig something useful out of a comment, or to realize that you're NOT God's Gift To Art, the better you'll become and the more you'll improve.

[Vipershark]

requesting a sticky itt

[triptych]

i requested one before it was even made euheuheuhe(that's why it's already stickied)

vuporshiek got "ownde"

[Vipershark]

oh!!!!!!!!!!

[triptych]

by the way updated the first post so its easier to read

[Chris2Balls [:B]]

I suggest you clean up the linked posts (the typos mainly, you could actually structure them better too idk). I like the idea. Also, a thing to add:

-If you come here to get feedback on some sprites and you honestly want to become a better spriter, you should be mature enough to accept that there are members you dislike as well as like, you're not going to refuse critique and run away from the forum crying just because of some members being blunt (but to the point)
-It's by being a regular member that relations will get better. And that's only possible with what was mentioned above.

anywayyyy that's what i wanted to add

[TomGuycott]

Those threads bring back memories... bitter, assholeish memories. Good thread, doubt it will be read though. It's good to have to link to when someone's being totally fucktarded.

[Marth]

Rather well done post, and useful one too. However I see this getting ingored by half the new members, sadly.

[Saltonara]

It's true. Look at how many new members request something IN Sprite Discussion, when the Requests Forum is right there.

[Vipershark]

Rather well done post, and useful one too. However I see this getting ingored by half the new members, sadly.

more than that

[Gors]

1up,

[superfly johnson]

good thing all my sprites are original and i have my own style

but seriously, this advice is useful.

[triptych]

I suggest you clean up the linked posts (the typos mainly, you could actually structure them better too idk). I like the idea. Also, a thing to add:

-If you come here to get feedback on some sprites and you honestly want to become a better spriter, you should be mature enough to accept that there are members you dislike as well as like, you're not going to refuse critique and run away from the forum crying just because of some members being blunt (but to the point)
-It's by being a regular member that relations will get better. And that's only possible with what was mentioned above.

anywayyyy that's what i wanted to add

I'll probably get around to fixing up the posts later this week when i'm not so hilariously lazy, but yeah thanks for reminding me about that!

adding your two points to the first post right now

[Ultimecia]

Some suggestions:

- Don`t try to be a smartass. The chances are you`re going to get owned.
- Don`t use the excuse of being new and didn`t knew the rules (they are written all over the places) or don`t being able to speak English (if you can`t understand English, why you`re here in the first place?) to be rude or an idiot. If you`re a jerk, you`re going to be trolled.
- Don`t blame your lack of talent on MS Paint. We got some beautiful sprites here done 100% on Paint. It`s like they say: a bad artist blame their tools.

[DioShiba]

I'd like to add a suggestion after remembering this thread.

-On the other side of things in SD, If you think something is wrong with some other guy's sprite and you don't know how to give criticism, don't even say anything at all. Chances are you'll probably start a shit fest over it and if you are terrible at spriting, you'll end up being a hypocrite.