I hope you’re enjoying the message board. We aim to give the OM forums a fun, relaxed, friendly and informative atmosphere. To keep things in running smoothly, a few key points need to be understood:

Constructive criticism

It’s easy to reply to forum topics with a statement saying "I don’t like your artwork", but that isn’t helping anyone. And saying "your stuff sucks" will just make you look like an idiot.

Instead, be polite. Perhaps note what you like about a picture and what you think needs some work. Most importantly, explain WHY you feel it needs some work and suggest how they can correct errors. This proves very useful to aspiring and experience artists alike.

i.e, instead of just saying, "the hands don’t look right", say:

"the hands don’t look right because the fingers are far too short. To ger proportions right, I’ve found it’s useful to use my own hands as reference. I’ve also noticed the distance from the wrist to the knuckle is about the same as the distance from the knuckle to the tip of the fingers."

People will appreciate this sort of advice a lot more and your comments become more respected within the forum.

Being able to take the good AND bad

You must be willing to accept criticism. It can be difficult if you’ve worked hard on a picture which you’re happy with, but as an artist, you need to be willing to improve and take on board other’s interpretations of your work. You don’t have to agree with every comment, or act upon advice if you honestly feel it won’t work, but please listen to other’s advice and be respectful of other’s comments.

Give and you shall receive

If you’ve posted work and have received a reply, it’s important to reciprocate and add feedback to their posts. Everyone wants their work commented on but being selfish and just posting your own work won’t win you any fans.

Taking a little time out to reply to an artist’s work is always appreciated. A good rule of thumb is to post at least 3 comments in other artist's threads for every new image thread you start. You never know, that next critique you leave for a budding artist could change his life just as someone could do the same for you.

Quality over quantity

Getting a high post count by constantly leaving a one or two words on people’s topics isn’t cool- it’s just boring. Instead of just reply with "Good work", how about at least saying: "Good stuff, I love the character style and the way you’ve used to purple tones to create a sinister mood."

Leaving feedback doesn’t have to be a chore- Have fun, joke, show ‘em you know your stuff and ask the artist questions. I find it interesting and to find out how long it takes people to complete their art, what their influences were, techniques they used etc.

Many thanks for taking time out to read these guidelines, and we look forward to you participating within the Organic Metal forums

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About this category- Finished Work:
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This section is to include, but is not limited to:
• Full rendered / coloured artwork and CG art
• Fully finished pencil drawings (not doodles)
• Fully inked line art
• Other Traditional mediums- paints, charcoal, dog poo on canvas
And may include: stories, scripts, poems or any other creatively produced work, such as photography, animation, web design, music etc.

1) Although it’s not compulsory, finished artwork should take time to complete. This doesn’t necessarily mean spending days on a CG like I do, but to keep the quality high, please don’t post quick sketches and doodles.
2) When submitting Inked or Pencilled art, be sure to consider very carefully whether you will post it as a finished work or consider it as a work-in-progress.
3) If you have used any reference material for your artwork, please mention it and give credit where necessary.