News Archive

This is something of an inpromptu announcement, but after glancing at today's submission queue I think the issue needs to be acknowledged openly, once and for all...
(...and also better enforced by us, the staff):

Please review your image size before submitting it to your FAC gallery.

While we have no 'hard' limit or policy rule on how large an image file you can submit to your gallery, images larger than a certain threshold (about the 3 megapixel range) are always held for manual review by site staff. This has become, by far, the number one reason a submission is held for manual site staff review. It's actually becoming rare to see a submission queued for any other reason!

Apparently, a few of our users (not many, and you know who you are) are in a bad habit of submitting their art "as is" - directly from the scanner, camera, or digital art program. What you should be doing instead is keeping the original size/version archived safely on your computer, and creating a resized (i.e. smaller) copy for posting and sharing in your FAC gallery.

I'll be posting a longer rumination on this topic elsewhere and later, but if you have any thoughts before then feel free to post them on my user profile page.

Is it a week into March already? Well, in absence of any major news updates, have a happy Mar.10 day!

Again, if you've seen anything submitted that's good enough to be showcased on our front page, please let us know -- swing by the forums, or drop a reply on my profile page with the piece and we'll review it.

Yes we may already be a week in, but it's never too late to welcome in the new season.

Our first resolution of this year is to rotate the items on our main page. Do you have suggestions of good artwork worth featuring on our site's mainpage? Let us know!

We have a forum thread for tracking suggestions, but you can also just drop a link or two on, for example, my userpage. (I still receive those email alerts!)

Well, with only ten days left in the month, you know what that means: it's time for Christmas!

(Relax, I'm kidding.) Halloween is approaching in less than two weeks, and if it's known for one thing these days it's the costumes.

Anyone want to get into that holiday spirit? What would your favorite character (original or fanart) dress up as for Halloween? What other characters might they go trick-or-treating with?

This isn't limited to human/like characters, animal and creature characters are welcome too. If this idea inspires you, show what you've got in that imagination of yours - get creating!

What happened to July? No, I wasn't kept busy by the 4th...

Anyway, today I'm going to talk about the approval panel and EXIF metadata tags in specific. This one may run a little long, but I'll try to keep it quick:

What's EXIF? Well, among other things it records whether your image was created in portrait (vertical) or landscape (horizontal) orientation. Most scanners/cameras on the market these days will tag a captured image accordingly so that it can record the image faster, and when it is later viewed, the viewing program will 'know' if it needs to rotate that image rightside up before showing it to you onscreen.

Unfortunately, our submission process currently does not acknowledge these tags when it compiles resized (thumbnail) versions of your submission; this may cause some images (mostly digital photos taken in portrait orientation) to appear sideways after processing.

If this happens to one of your submissions, unfortunately it's your job to fix it. Exactly how to do this depends on your program of choice, but in general, try opening the image up in your editor, then save a secondary copy of it in a different file. After you've submitted (or updated) the piece, check back up on it later to see if our servers processed it correctly.

And that is all for now. Enjoy the rest of your summer!

This month is June, so everybody knows what that means, right?

Schools are out for vacation, the weather's usually pretty good, and - if you follow videogame news - the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is getting underway soon! Lots of videogame news is being released at once, who is inspired enough to draw (or write) about it?

On a sidenote, have you seen any really good work submitted to our site that deserves to be featured on the front page? We're always looking for new material to keep the Featured panel updated with, but to do that we need suggestions from you, the users. We have a suggestions thread in the forums here you can post in -- alternately, if you receive an error trying to log in to the forums, you can drop suggestions on my profile page. (I'm generally willing to strike up conversations.)

In approval panel news, on some occasions we've seen submissions filed without a matching Category to place it in and we think this may be a bug (the Category field has always been required). If you see this happen on one of your pieces, let us know what category you were looking for at the time because we'd like to gather more information and track it down.

It's been ... forever since our last mainpage update, hasn't it?

We apologize for that.

In lieu of major breaking news, here's a quick recap of some things happening lately:

- We're aware of a problem that prevents certain users from logging into the forums; it seems related to users participating from IPv6 based addresses. More information is available here.

- Recent additions to our submission category system include Undertale and Minecraft. Got any fanart of them you wish to submit? Go right ahead!

To those of you who are following us on Facebook:

Again, we apologize for the the lack of recent featured art updates to the Facebook page, This is an issue with Facebook's system for generating link previews. The issue has been reported and we hope it will be resolved in a timely manor. Thank you for your continued patients.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fanart-Central(Link)

The winners of the 2013 New Pheral Contest Contest are:

1. Issy's New Pheral Contest Entry - Cosplay Cat! with 70.5 points!

2. Chibibreeder's pheral entry #3 with 70.45 points!

3. FudgemintGuardian's Ink Cat (Pheral contest) with 67.25 points!

Each one of you presented a different/original pheral design of your own, and although first place was a tight race, all 3 places are on equal ground to be considered for the new FAC logo (in addition to the runner ups that did not place). Thank you so much for your submissions, and so sorry for the late update (midterms and classes always). However, the final verdict is finally over, and it is up to the FAC staff to discuss some pheral initiation in the future.

Your contribution and input is always welcome! DON'T YOU GUYS EVER STOP DRAWING.

- luckylace222

The 2013 New Cat Pheral Contest[/b] has officially started! The theme is: Design New Pheral

I am sick of the old cat pheral logo design! Are you? Lets think up and post some ideas, shall we? The top 3 places' concepts/ideas will help inspire the new FAC pheral logo!

If you are interested in joining, please visit the contest picture and ask any questions!

Deadline: September 6, 2013

There will be two judges (ShadowFalcon and luckylace222) for this contest, so results will have a second opinion!

The winner of the 2013 St. Patty's Day Contest is:

Firiel's St. Pat's - Infinity Complex with 75 points!

In this case, it's not all about the art. Firiel not only puts her own artistic splash on the idea of St. Patrick's Day, but builds a story around it that paints an amazing mental picture.

The 2013 St. Patty's Dat Contest has officially started! The theme is: Design a St. Patrick's Day outfit for your favorite characters, OCs, or yourself!

If you are interested in joining, please visit the contest picture or the forum post.

Deadline: March 31, 2013

There will be two judges (ShadowFalcon and luckylace222) for this contest, so results will have a second opinion!

Vote for your favorite 2013 St. Patty's Day Contest Theme! (The poll will close on March 16, 2013)

Even if you don't plan to enter the contest, we would still appreciate your contribution to the poll!

St. Patrick's Day -- a day of good ole' leprechaun gold fun and greenery is right around the corner! Help by submitting your contest ideas to the St. Patty's Day Contest NOTICE!

You have until March 6, 2013 to submit your themes for considerations!

The winner of the 2013 New Year Contest is:

SofeSmity's New Year contest Piece with 75 points!

A beautiful and soft watercolor piece with not just the custum of fireworks interesting looking ones at that), but also the custum of the lucky rabbit's foot! It is true; if you want good luck for the new year, start off with a lucky charm to keep you going! The angelic and warm feeling of the art piece juxaposes from the generic crazy/wild New Year tradition. It gives a sense of purity and a "clean slate!"

If you want to see the individual scores of each contestant.

The 2012 New Year Contest has officially started! The theme is: New year Kiss

If you are interested in joining, please visit the contest picture or the forum post.

Deadline: January 6, 2013

There will be two judges (ShadowFalcon and luckylace222) for this contest, so results will have a second opinion!

Vote for your favorite 2012 New Years Contest Theme! (The poll will close on December 15, 2012)

Even if you don't plan to enter the contest, we would still appreciate your contribution to the poll!

It is about one more month until New Years! Does it look like FAC is going to let go of this opportunity? With the new site version and new year coming up, let's continue with some new contest art by starting up the New Year Contest NOTICE!

You have until December 7, 2012 to give me good New Year Contest themes. Do not break your artistic resolutions!

The new site version has been launched, and we need your help to complain, bicker, and explain all the bugs, glitches, etc. you see while you are browsing. Please direct all questions and messages to this forum post.

Lets make this new version work for all of us. There are many new features that you will enjoy!

The winner of the 2012 Autumn Equinox Day Contest is:

angel88's Breath of Life with 88.5 points!

With unlimited possibilities to explore the look of Mother Nature, angel88 utilizes warm colors and the very nature of Autumn itself to express a very well-done portrayal of our goddess in her natural habitat.

If you want to see the individual scores of each contestant.

Sorry it took so long to get this up. Midterms on top of our workloads this semester have been crazy. Hope you all have a great fall!

The 2012 Autumn Equinox Contest has officially started! The theme is: Draw your personification of Mother Nature in Autumn!

If you are interested in joining, please visit the contest picture, forum post, or my profile.

Deadline: September 23, 2012

Due to our busy schedules, luckylace and I have decided to extend the deadline.

Deadline: September 30, 2012

There will be two judges (luckylace222 and ShadowFalcon) for this contest, so results will have a second opinion!

Vote for your favorite 2012 Autumn Equinox Contest Theme! (The poll will close on September 2, 2012)

Even if you do not plan to enter the contest, we would still like your contribution to the poll!

It's that time of year again folks...

When the leaves start to fall and the animals begin to migrate or start their preparations for hibernation. The Autumn Equinox is quickly approaching! Go to the 2012 Autumn Equinox Contest NOTICE and shoot us your thoughts and ideas!

You have until August 26, 2012 to give us good fall and autumn-like related themes!

The FAC Criticism Week forum post has been created with all your suggestions for the website!

Please feel free to add more or refute some specific ideas. Do not be afraid! This is all for FAC!

Dress up the Firefox toolbar with these new FanArt-Central personas now available from Firefox Personas.

Fanart Central 1 Simple -

Fanart Central 2 simple -

The winner of the 2012 Independence Day Contest is:

Firiel's Fourth with 72.65 points!

"Presenting a fun and phoenix-like firework, Gandalf and his best friends Rainbow Dash, Sorn, and Leeli Wingfeather (etc) engage in a wonderful Independence Day together, complete with crazy stories and popcorn!" -And so is the story of Gandalf's exciting day off which will be told to children throughout the ages. A fun and well-lighted entry indeed!

If you want to see the individual scores of each contestant.

Everyone should have gotten drunk and unnaturally patriotic on Independence Day! If you have any extra rockets, shoot them outside your house/in a clear area now (it is a little late, but who cares)!

The 2012 Independence Day Contest has officially started! The theme is: Draw you and your friends (real or fictional) enjoying a fireworks show!

If you are interested in joining, please visit the contest picture, forum post, or my profile.

Deadline: July 13, 2012

There will be two judges (ShadowFalcon and luckylace222) for this contest, so results will have a second opinion!

Vote for your favorite 2012 Independence Day Contest Theme! (The poll will close on June 16, 2012)

Even if you don't plan to enter the contest, we would still appreciate your contribution to the poll!

FREEDOM!

Independence is an important part of our lives, and it's important we show that we appreciate it! Go to the 2012 Independence Day Contest NOTICE and throw out some ideas to show your nation you love living here!

You have until June 10, 2012 to give me good Independence Day Contest themes or the Revolution will start without you!

The winner of the 2012 Mother's Day Contest is:

VictorAndLizzy's mother's day contest with 79.6 points!

Her typical Mother's Day is packed with fast-riding snow sleds and loud screams down a snowy mountain-side! Who cares about making her cake and cookies; she can entertain herself! In addition to drawing her two anthro OCs well, she has shown her talent for simple but beautiful snow backgrounds. It is obvious their Mother's Day could not get any better!

If you want to see the individual scores of each contestant.

Whew, another contest down, 6,666 more to go! I hope everyone got their mothers, whether they like her or not, some form of gratitude on Mother's Day!

The 2012 Mother's Day Contest has officially started! The theme is: I am a hypothetical "mother" (even I am male) to my OCs. If they were real, how would I treat them?

If you are interested in joining, please visit the contest picture, forum post, or my profile.

Deadline: May 20, 2012

The winner will be announced May 22, 2012!

Vote for your favorite 2012 Mother's Day Contest Theme! (The poll will close on April 28, 2012)

Even if you do not plan to enter the contest, we would still like your contribution to the poll!

All the mothers or soon-to-be-mothers in the world, rejoice!

FAC understands what you have been through! In compensation for not caring about you for more than 10 years, lets start a 2012 Mothers Day Contest NOTICE in your maternal honor!

You have until April 14, 2012 to give me good Mothers Day Contest themes or your mothers will come and nag you!

The winner of the 2012 Valentine's Day Contest is:

_ren_tao_fan_'s I want you back with 82.85 points (she is too good at this)!

Her "different" kind of Valentine's Day picture makes us reflect less on the generic lovey-dovey romance and more on the issue of being with someone "forever," through thick and thin, and loving them despite a changed appearance. Would we want a loved one to come back to life on this special day or take it back when we see their "different" face?

If you want to see the individual scores of each contestant.

I hope no one was "forever alone" this Valentine's Day! However, if you were, I hope you bought yourself tons of chocolate to compensate!

The 2012 Valentine's Day Contest has officially started! The theme is: If you could have anyone for Valentine's, who would it be?

If you are interested in joining, please visit the contest picture, forum post, or my profile.

Deadline: February 25, 2012

The winner will be announced February 28, 2012!

Vote for your favorite 2012 Valentine's Day Contest Theme! (The poll will close on February 3, 2012)

Even if you do not plan to enter the contest, we would still like your contribution to the poll. Thank-you!

Enough about the doom and gloom for this year's impending catastrophes. Valentine's Day is coming up!

The 2012 Valentine's Day Contest NOTICE is up. You have until January 25, 2012 (that is right, only 3 days) to post your contest theme ideas for the Official 2012 Valentine's Day contest!

The winner of the 2011 Official Christmas Contest is:

tofuproductionz's Under the Mistletoe? with 82.98 points!

Her colorful and fun Christmas version for the Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword picture has also won her a specialized 2011 Christmas Contest Winner badge that I will pm to her to put on her profile/picture description!

If you want to see the individual scores of each contestant.

Also, FAC has increased its submitting limit to 5 pictures a day. Merry Christmas from FAC!

The 2011 Christmas Contest has officially started! The theme is: Who's Under That Mistletoe?

If you are interested in joining, please visit the contest picture, forum post, or my profile.

Deadline: December 31, 2011 ( this gives you guys time to enjoy your Christmas Eve instead of cramming a contest picture in)

Vote for your favorite 2011 Christmas Contest Theme! (The poll will close on December 10, 2011)

Even if you do not plan to enter the contest, we would still like your contribution to the poll. Thank-you!

The Official 2011 Christmas Contest NOTICE is up. You have until December 3, 2011 to post your contest theme ideas for the Christmas contest!

The winner of the 2011 Official Halloween Contest is:

_ren_tao_fan_'s Brrrraaaaaaiiiiiiiiiinnnnsss with 85.7 points!

Her gruesome and fun zombie version of our favorite childhood cartoon characters has also won her a specialized 2011 Halloween Contest Winner badge that I will pm to her to put on her profile/picture description!

If you want to see the individual scores of each contestant. I hope everyone had a great Halloween! See you next contest!

Just a quick reminder that there is only one week left in the FAC Halloween Contest -- if you want to enter but haven't drawn anything yet, get to it! Don't forget to post a URL to the picture in either the contest thread or luckylace222's profile (the contest host).

It's decided! The theme for this year's FAC Halloween Contest is roughly as follows:

Draw your favorite character dressed in a Halloween costume (i.e. as a zombie or as a different character)

Characters may be from any source/series (anime/manga, games, etc.) and this also includes original and fan characters. The entry deadline is (but of course) Monday October 31st.

Further rules and information are available in the official forum topic here. To enter, post a URL for your submitted contest piece either in the contest's forum topic or on [url=/profile-luckylace222.php]luckylace222's profile[/url] (the contest host).

We are going to be hosting an official FAC Halloween Art Contest this year! Staff member [url=/profile-luckylace222.php]luckylace222[/url] has volunteered to oversee the details -- you can check it out in our forums area here. We want to get the contest theme decided within the week, so chip in.

(If you can't log in to the forums, don't panic -- contact an admin so we can activate your forum access.)

Just mentioning that tomorrow, Sep.19th, is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Go enjoy it, ye sea dogs!

In order to deal with a few recurring problem users, we have recently made a change to FAC forum access:

As of August 28th, new users no longer get forum access by default when registering an FAC account.

This also applies to PMs, because our PM system is forum based.

We apologize for the inconvenience. If you would like to post on the forums, please contact a site admin (such as myself or Battou) so we can specifically enable it on your account.

Fanart Central is now on Facebook

Here at FAC we have had a very merry Christmas with the registration of our one hundred thousandth user account.

To celebrate we have decided it is time for a breath of fresh air in the sites logo department. The original Pheral design lasted from 2004 to 2007, Pheral version 2 has been in place from 2007 to current. We have come to the conclusion to give you, our users the opportunity to redesign the sites mascot as well as Sam, his human counterpart.

Original Pheral design can be seen Here
Pheral design Version 2.0 can be seen Here
Original Sam design can be seen Here

One current concept that we do believe may be incorporated into the site is the use of a rotation of multiple logos, so this is not a contest. However only the best works will be chosen so, If you have ideas for Pheral Version 3, Sam Version 2 or just some suggestions on how to improve the existing Pheral and Sam designs Please visit our forum and post them in this thread.

We hope you have a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Today cstdenis issued another maintenance update for FAC.

A list of bugs fixed is available on my journal page (here).

There's probably still a few more bugs crawling around in obscure pages or error messages -- we're hearing talk of submission notices still broken :( -- so if you find any, you can report it to our Site Discussion forum.

It's here! FAC has now been updated to include the new site features we've been working on. You may already notice the "Popular Works" and the poll now included on our mainpage.

Some of the features you can now use are:
- "Scraps" system
- Comment Preview
- Expanded Search options

We also have a new set of rules, the Fanart Central Terms of Service (or "FACTS", for short) which covers general matters that apply sitewide (such as "no trolling"). We've had a copy of them available in the forums for over a month, so if you haven't read through them yet, please do so!

>> http://www.fanart-central.net/rules.general.php

Another new feature, very important from a staff point of view, is the ability for FAC site admins to issue timed suspensions for violations (such as spamming). Suspensions automatically expire after a specified length (ranging from 24 hours to 4 weeks, depending on the infraction), so there is no need for the admin to come back later and remove it manually.

Unfortunately there are still a few bugs left for us to work out over this week (and maybe the next). I'm currently maintaining a [url=/profile-Stratadrake.php]list of known bugs[/url] on my profile page, so if you run into something peculiar you may want to check my list first, chances are good we know about it already.

The "top two" bugs are:

- Error messages when you try to +Watch a user. We've already patched this in the RC domain, so as a temporary fix, when you want to Watch a user try replacing the "www" in the URL with "rc", and it should work.

- The "Delete comment" link isn't showing up on userpages (or submissions) like it should be. This has also been patched on the RC domain, but you can still contact a site moderator to have them remove offensive or disruptive comments for you.

Also, a reminder that comments are never truly "deleted" from our site; they're just hidden from view, and FAC site staff members can access removed comments at will. In fact, this ability is now "always on" for FAC staff members, meaning that if there's a removed comment anywhere on a page we're viewing, we will know about it.

So that's all for now. If you manage to find a bug that we haven't (yet), be sure to stop by our forums and let us know.

It's almost time to update FAC with some new site features, but we need your help to finish their testing before they are finally ready.

These new features include:
- Oekaki as a submission method
- "Scraps" system
- Improved Search functionality
- "Preview" function for comments
- ...and a lot of little changes in various places

You can use these features simply by logging in to http://rc.fanart-central.net/ with your FAC username and password.

Be advised that RC shares the same database as our current site, any comments or submissions you post from there will be reflected here, and vice versa.

There are a few bugs remaining in the new release that we still need to fix -- when you encounter one, please report it to our forums discussion thread so we can get it fixed (and hopefully soon!).

We're working on a new update to our end-user policies. The current texts are three years old, and since then we've set a number of administrative precedents regarding several vaguely defined matters, such as:

- Etiquette regarding usernames and profile page commentary
- Name changes vs. sockpuppet accounts
- Trolling, harassment and personal attacks

The current draft is available here:

>> http://forums.fanart-central.net/viewtopic.php?p=941650#941650

The development team have been working hard over the past months, and it's finally time for a new version to be released.

Here are the major changes/new features.

- Faves & watch list related:
- - Faves can now be customized for what kind of things you are notified for on a per-fave basis.
- - New CP for managing faves, new form appears when adding a user to faves. Only pictures/stories notifications currently implemented. Others for future use.

- Pictures related:
- - Added comments mode (on/off) to pictures submissions.
- - Picture cropping feature now works again.
- - Fixed bug were re-uploading a picture in a different file format didn't work.

- Comments related:
- - Profile comments can be set to normal (like now), friends only, or disabled completely.
- - Added a simple flood-control to help block duplicate comments.
- - Major core resdesign of picture comments to be (hopefully) more efficent and less of a load on the servers.
- - Replying to a comment now bumps the comment thread to the top.

- Notifications related:
- - Pictures notices now mention content advisories for new submissions.
- - Most of the notification code has been rewritten, hopefully the new pic notifications bug was removed in the process.

- Censor related
- - Word & URL filters have been added. Can be enabled/disabled in profile.
- - Picture/story content viewing filters always apply in censor-mode rather than hide-mode to your own pictures.

- BB Code
- - Several bugs fixed. Should help with story processing.

- Story related
- - Improved processing of smartquotes.
- - Improved Unicode support so less problems with weird characters.
- - New version of the Java editor. Should work better.

- Profile related
- - Fixed a bug with non-jpeg profile pictures causing an error.
- - Fixed bug that prevented profile from being edited when profile pic/avatar uploading was disabled.
- - You can now choose your top 5 submissions to be based off number of faves, number of votes, or newest.
- - Excessively long profile text now gets scrollbars in a box so the page isn't miles long.

Edit: April fools.

* BBCode Image Limit: You can specify in your profile options how many images you wish to view on profile pages and comments (default is 10). Any images beyond this limit will be displayed as text links. If you do not want to view any images, set it to zero.

* "Recent submissions" page now uses a calendar-like display format.

* Fixed a bug in e-mail validation for new users. If you are still waiting for a validation e-mail, see the instructions available here: http://www.fanart-central.net/revalidate.php

* Various tweaks to the bbCode tools. let us know if any comments or profile information do not display properly.

* Problems in the filters for yaoi/yuri have been corrected.

Earler this week I releases some new features (and many bug fixes) for the site. The development team has been working for months on these and they are now finally ready.


New Blog feature: You can now have a blog/journel/whatever in your profile.

The "Pending" tab from your user gallery page has been replaced by a new, expanded submissions page which, in addition to showing your pending submissions, can also retrieve notices from any submissions which may have been rejected by the AP. So if a submission hasn't appeared in your gallery after some time, and you didn't receive any e-mail notices about it, check this page first.

New e-mail notifications added for when your submissions have been Faved by other users. If you don't want to receive Faving notifications, you can disable them from your "Edit Profile" options. This feature has been missing for a long time and finally got put in place. Also you can now look up who has Faved a piece by clicking on the "Favorites" stat from viewing it.

There are now RSS feeds available of most of the site's content. you can put your favorite categories or artists into your feed reader and see updates automatically.

FAC and it's affiliates are looking for volunteers to help out with various parts of the sites.


Requirements for all positions:
* Free time. If you are busy and don't have time to put into the job you aren't much use.
* Independent learning. If you can't figure stuff out yourself when given the appropriate information resources you are not any use for this. I don't have time to explain every detail of everything.
* Actively using an instant messenger (any of them) is a bonus for all positions.

For all positions please provide your skills and experience and samples of your work. To apply send an email to help_wanted@fanart-central.net



Graphic Designer
------------
With the previous web designer retired, we need a new designer to help maintain the site design.

Responsibilities will include making new buttons/icons/banners/logos/etc as needed as well as working with the marketing/advertising department to make any graphics they need.

Must have design skills appropriate for the job.



Programmer
----------
There are many new features and improvements I would like to make, but I just don't have time to do them all.

Minimum Required skills:
Front end developers: html, css, javascript.
Back end developers: experienced in php and any sql database.

Desired skills: Expert in postgresql or any other powerful database system. AJAX experience. Flash programming.


Available projects
* Portal
* Tags
* stories AP
* various stories improvements
* New permission system
* More/better admin tools
* Oekaki based submissions
* Improve search
* Improve BBcode system
* various bug fixes (avatars/notifications/ratings/cacheing)
* Many more small features



Marketing/Advertising
---------------------
We need to get more visitors and are looking for people with skills in Marketing/Advertising to get them.

Responsibilities will include writing advertising text for text based advertisements like Google adsense/adwords and creating advertising banners on your own or in partnership with the design team.

Required skills: Sales/marketing/advertising.



Writer
------
I suck at writing. A skilled writer is needed for various writing on the sites. This position is currently largely done by Stratadrake, but he doesn't have the time to do all that needs to be done.

Responsibilities would include: writing the newsletters and the various text on the site such as rules/policies/about/faqs/this/etc.

Skills needed: Formal writing for most things, more casual writing for newsletters.

As you can all see, the new sight design is finally up after months of work and testing.

In addition to the new look, there are a some minor new features.
* Filters are now hidden by default so they don't waste space. Click the toggle link to show them.
* Favorite users and fans are now shown by their avatars.
* Favorite pictures can now be viewed in a gallery style.
* Past featured pictures can now be viewed in a gallery style.
* Picture score is finally visible.
* You can block users from commenting on you (block link on comments)

More features coming sometime in the future
--
* Portal
* Incoming links
* Tags
* License managment


For anyone who doesn't like the new layout, the old one is still available. Edit your profile and change the skin.

Lately we've been seeing some users upload very large pieces to FAC, images measuring in at 1600, 2000, even 3000 pixels to a side!

Now while we believe that in general you should be able to upload your art at whatever size you wish, there's a certain point beyond which we wonder why you need your image to be that large (or if some of you are even paying attention to its size at all).

Uploading a Very Large Scan of your drawings does not break any rules or policies, but it doesn't do you any favors either. If a scanned drawing appears much larger on-screen than it is in real life, this actually degrades the quality of the piece because the viewer can't see the entire thing onscreen at once, they have to scroll around and can only see small portions of it at a time.

Therefore, you should generally not need to upload an image any larger than 75 or 100 dpi, or which is larger than about 1500 pixels wide or high. We've seen drawings scanned at 150 dpi (1650x1250 pixels) and 300 dpi (3100x2500 pixels), and there's no reason a piece needs to be that large.

Therefore, double-check the pixel dimensions of your image before uploading it, and if it's very large, take a minute to resize it smaller before proceeding. If you need instructions on exactly how to resize a drawing, check out the Resizing Tutorials in our forums area.

The Fanart Central staff would love to thank all of the artists who contributed to our Design Our New Logo OR Banner contest, presented by Brickfish. Now that the contest is over, we have our winner. The prizes are a Sony Playstation 3 game console and Featured Artist for the month. We will be adding the winning entry as our new banner and announcing the Honorable Mentions soon.


We hope you enjoyed our April Fool's joke. For a laugh, we featured a surprise member and artwork as Featured Artist and Featured Pictures on the 1st of this month. The FAC Staff does hope you all had a very fun day and we anticipate another laugh with you all next year.

This month Fanart Central is running a contest sponsored by Brickfish to design new banners & logos for the site.

The first place winner of this contest will get a 60GB Sony Playstation 3! and the second place winner will get some merchandise from the FAC store.

This contest is so big it has its own site.

For full details on the contest including prize details, official rules, and how to enter visit the contest site.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone.

Happy Halloween.

In celebration of this holiday, the October newsletter is being sent out. For those who don't want to wait for the email, or who may not get the email, [url=newsletter-2006-10.php]you can read it here[/url]

In other news, I would like to announce the launch of Funart Central which you can read more about in the newsletter.

Update: To clarify the confusion some of you have, the transfer tool does a copy, not a move.

Update2: The "alphanumeric" bug in the transfer tool has been fixed.

I am processing a large number of bounce emails from the newsletter and invalidating the accounts they are associated with.

If you are affected by this, you should edit your profile and correct your email address. If you are sure your email address is correct in your profile, you can request a new validation email here: http://www.fanart-central.net/revalidate.php

The August newsletter is now available.

You can read it here: http://www.fanart-central.net/newsletter-2006-08.php

The July newsletter is now available.

You can read it here: http://www.fanart-central.net/newsletter-2006-07.php

I have disabled the spell check feature for all users and have set it to default to off for new users because its been causing problems with some browsers and slows down page loads a bit and has been causing some other problems. If you do want it, you can turn it back on by editing your profile.

FAC gets many small changes and improvements every day, most of which are not worth making a news post on the main page about. Such changes are posted in the Change Log thread in the announcements section of the forum. Its a good idea to keep an eye on it -- especially if you are having problems with the site.

A few notable changes from it:
* Picture deletion now requires a reason.
* Broken thumbnails can now be reported from a link on the picture page.
* Some new user picture posting and validation bugs were fixed.

Well over a year in development this new FAC comes with far more than just a new layout. It's a full core rebuild of the site with lots of new features.
 
A newsletter will be available soon with a detailed article on the new features, but here are some of them at a glance.
 
• Brand new color-scheme and design of the website. Specially selected bold, neutral colors have been used purposefully to help display your work off the screen giving it extra depth.
• New rating system to better allow people to filter content by their preferences.
• Images can now be submitted in over 90 file formats and are automatically converted as appropriate.
• Category selection is now much easier with a better select box when submitting work.
• No more picture lists. All pictures are now thumbnails and can be filtered and sorted according to your preferences. Same goes for the stories.
• Fanfiction file uploads should work better now and fanfiction also can be submitted via a text box with BB code formatting or a Java applet with formatting controls.
• Fanfiction also gets a new browsing system and the recent stories feature has returned.
• In most places on the site (comments, picture/story/profile descriptions), you will now find BB code based formatting buttons and a spell check feature.
• Search engine has been redesigned. I hope this interface will work better
• Pictures of the hour are no more. Instead selected good pictures will be featured on the front page. A random pictures page is also available for those who want more.
• Profile's now look much nicer with favorite pictures thumbnailed, thumbnails of your top pictures, the addition of blog support, and the ability to feature any one of your pictures as your best work. You also get to have an avatar on the main site now.
• By editing your profile you can now change a wide variety of preferences.
• You can now receive notifications when your favorite artist submits a new picture or story.
• New forums. phpBB now instead of Invision.
• This new version should be faster -- epically at peak hours. But, expect it to be slow at first as the system is tweaked and the thumbnails rebuilt to fit the new colors.
 
Because of this major rating system change, everyone should check that their pictures are rated appropriately under this new system and adjust them as necessary. Everyone should also edit their profiles and adjust their rating preferences there too.
 
This was a huge amount of work, and I couldn't have done it without the help of the site helpers, beta testers, and all the members who have given suggestions to improve the site.
 
There are still more features planned that I couldn't get finished fast enough, so watch for more new features in the coming months.

Submissions, comments, new registrations, etc to FAC will be offline tonight starting at midnight and lasting 8-12 hours. Forums will also become read only for several hours during this.

After a much longer than planned downtime, the search is back.

<p>A few weeks ago, I added 2 new links to the top of the site: FAC <A href=store.php>Store</a> and <a href=gaming.php>Gaming</a>. Check them out.</p>

<p>There are many bug, security flaws, and problems in Internet Explorer. Some of these bugs and problems affect the display of FAC on that browser. Therefore for optimal browsing of FAC and many other websites I suggest getting <script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-4717691008556110";
google_ad_output = "textlink";
google_ad_format = "ref_text";
google_cpa_choice = "CAAQzcLH7QEaCD_4BVTjvVryKLGsuIEB";
//--></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>. It is a faster and more secure web browser.</p>

The submission policy has been updated, check it out here <a href=rules.php>FAC Rules & Policies</a>.

<p>FAC now has a store where you can buy merchandise. We have shirts, mouse pads, mugs, and some other stuff.</p>

<p>Check it out <a href=https://www.spreadshirt.com/shop.php?sid=5308>HERE</a></p>

<p>Merry Christmas and happy whatever other December holiday you celebrate.</p>

<p>In other news, the origional category has been removed. Its contents have been murged with Miscellaneous. These 2 categories served more or less the same purpose and were causing confusion so now they are one.</p>

The move is complete. There were a number of technicial problems during the move and more downtime than I wanted because of them but I think the site is now finally stable again.

The thumbnail problems should be completely fixed and the database should be more stable now.

There is still a small problems the the search engine, but I should get that cleared up later today.

As you have probebly notices, there have been some major problems lately with the thumbnails. To solve this and other problems, FAC will be moving to new servers this weekend. Sometime this weekend (late tonight or tomorrow) image submissions will be disabled, and at some point all other submissions (eg comments) will also be brefily disabled.

This months artists of the month are <a href=user_thumb.php?aid=Florence>Florence</a> and <a href=user_thumb.php?aid=Seifer-sama>Seifer-sama</a> check out their work.

Email server crash wasn't as bad as I feared. Email and search are back up, but I still suggest using the forums for most of your help needs--its faster.

<p>FAC's email server has died. Looks like a hard drive crash. Don't expect email replies anytime soon. </p>

In the mean time, please use the forums for support questions.

This month's Artists of the month are <a href=user_thumb.php?aid=Sephiroth>
Sephiroth</a>
<a href=user_thumb.php?aid=WynaHIros>WynaHIros</a>. Check out their work.

Recently some pictures have been showing up broken on FAC. The problems should be fixed now.

This month's artists of the month are <a href=user_thumb.php?aid=punkaddict>punkaddict</a> and <a href=user_thumb.php?aid=Eevee1>Eevee1</a> check out their work.

<p>This month's artists of the month are <a href=user-Sorceress_Ultimecia.php>Sorceress_Ultimecia</a> and <a href=user-butterfly111585.php>butterfly111585</a> check out their work.</P>

<p>In other news, I've recently started a new site. <a href=http://www.anime-vidcaps.net>Anime Vidcaps</a> An anime pictures site for image captures from anime.</P>

<P>If you like looking at vidcaps or making them, check it out. </p>

<p>An anime pictures site for image captures from anime.</p>

<p>If you like looking at vidcaps or making them, check it out. </p>

<p><a href=http://www.anime-vidcaps.net>http://www.anime-vidcaps.net</a></P>

Since I keep getting emails about it. Yes fanfiction submissions are having problems, I'm looking into it but its a hard bug to track down. You can try submitting in another format. Plain text and html should both work, the others are more questionable.

<p>Tho late, this month's artists of the month are <a href=http://www.fanart-central.net/user-Yambe-Akka.php>Yambe-Akka</a>
and <a href=http://www.fanart-central.net/user-lil_artizt.php>lil_artizt</a></p>

<p>This month's artists of the month are <a href='user-Faith.php'>Faith</a> and <a href='user-Marla.php'>Marla</a>. Check out their work.</p>

<P>Due to an error related to the database, all submissions since 1:30 am are lost. Please repost your images, comments, forum posts, etc. as needed.</P>

<P>Sorry :(</P>

This month's artists are <a href='user.php?aid=rafusen'>Rafusen</a> and <a href='user.php?aid=JarJarrBinx6'>JarJarrBinx6</a>

All existing fanfiction problems appear to now be fixed. If you have any problems with it AND you are following the instructions, let me know.

<P>FAC is now on a new faster server. This should make the site faster</p>

<p>There are also new thumbnails being generated with a nice shadow effect</p>

<p>There are problems with the fanfiction submissions on the new server and I am working on them</p>

January's Artists of the month are
<a href=http://www.fanart-central.net/user.php?aid=Look>Look</a> and
<a href=http://www.fanart-central.net/user.php?aid=DrewGardner>DrewGardner</a>.

This month's artists of the month are <a href=user.php?aid=Len>Len</a> and <a href=user.php?aid=Jagermeister317>Jagermeister317</a>.

<p>November's artists of the month are <a href=user.php?aid=jessie>Jessie</a> and <a href=user.php?aid=poonyo>Poonyo</a></p>

A little late this month, but October's artists of the month are <a href=user.php?aid=kobayashi>kobayashi</a> and <a href=user.php?aid=Adanhen>Adanhen</a> check out their work.

<p>Due to the money being made by the Google banner ads, I have removed the popups. Although not a profitable as I initially hoped, they are making enough to cover the server costs so the annoying popups get to go.</p>

<p>In other news, I've made some recent much needed and long overdue improvements to the fanfiction system. See the forum announcements if you want details.</p>

<p>This year Fanart Central will put the spotlight on worthy fanart central members who you will nominate and vote for! For more details on the awards you can check out the site discussion forum <a href=http://www.fanart-central.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=3432&st=0&>here</a>. The actual nominations should be done <a href=http://www.fanart-central.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=3640>Here</a></p>

<p>September's Artists of the Month are <a href=http://www.fanart-central.net/user.php?aid=animark>animark</a> and <a href=http://www.fanart-central.net/user.php?aid=Kate>Kate</a>. Check out their work.</P>

<p>In other news, since I don’t think I ever made a formal announcement about it, I removed the image size restrictions a while ago. Instead, the images are automatically resized for display.</p>

<p>August 2004's artists of the month are
<a href='pictures.php?op=thumbnails&artist=beastofoblivion'>beastofoblivion</a>
and
<a href='pictures.php?op=thumbnails&artist=Jack'>Jack</a> Check out their work.</P>

<p>In other news, fanart central is now selling banner advertising space. Check out our <a href='advertising.php'>advertising</a> page for details if you are interested. I'm sure everbody would much rather banner ads than popups.</p>

<p>As of now, we are cleaning out and organizing the "Original" category
section. Any help by the users to clean the category out and place
pictures in their proper places would significantly help the staff and
cut the amount of time it will take drastically. If you have anything
in the Original section, please just make sure that it is in the proper
specific category, including the sub categories.</p>

<p>This means no <BR>
angels, fearies, etc, (Go under fantasy)<BR>
real people, (It is its own category)<BR>
games (have their own categories under Games), <BR>
or any official anime or manga characters should be placed under the Original category.</p>

<p>Please make sure everything is placed accordingly and properly to their
sub categories by what the picture is of. We would greatly appreciate it
if the users would take a few minutes to just check this and save us
the time having to move all of pictures and art ourselves. And
remember, this will be taking place in "Original" category, and all sub
categories under it. Thank you.</p>

Due to continued validation difficulties, I am deleting all outstanding validation requests and sending new ones for all artists who are not currently validated and have agreed to the rules. This will cause temporary problems for some people trying to approve right now, but will hopefully fix the problem many people are having.

<P>July 2004 featured artists of the month are <a href=user.php?aid=Selphius>Selphius</a> and <a href=user.php?aid=Chibi-Robin>Chibi-Robin</a>. Check out their work.</p>

I have fixed the "invalid password" commenting bug, and I think I fixed the validation bug. Request a new validation from your profile if you were unable to validate your account before.

<p>This month's Artists of the month are <a href=http://www.fanart-central.net/user.php?aid=fallenangel>fallenangel</a> and <a href=http://www.fanart-central.net/user.php?aid=ryosen>ryosen</a></p>

<p>In other news, there are a few problems with the site for some people. I am aware of them and am working on them, so you don’t need to email me about them<BR>
1. This site is unable to send any email to Verizon email addresses. This means no comment notifications and stuff, and validations will not work. Due to Verizon ignoring my emails, this may never get fixed. Use another email provider.<BR>
2. If your email address breaks/broke and I invalidated it because of bounced emails, you will be unable to re-validate it. I'm working on fixing it.<BR>
3. Some people seem to be getting an "Invalid Password" error when commenting. I think this may be related to profile editing. I suggest not editing your profile if you are worried this may happen. If it already has, you'll just have to wait for me to fix it.
</P>

<p>This month we have a new feature starting--Featured Artists of the month. Every month the site helpers, who with the category cleanup and approval panel see a lot of people's work on here, will be choosing 2 of the many skilled artists on here for be featured artists of the month.</p>

<p>This month
<a href='user.php?aid=belliebuik'>belliebuik</a> and <a href='user.php?aid=Noot_das_Schaf'>Noot_das_Schaf</a> have been chosen. Check out their work</P>

<p>For those interested, <a href='http://www.fanart-central.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=1599'>Here</a> is the thread proposing and discussing this on the forum.</p>

<b>Submission quality guidelines.</b>

<p>1. Put effort into your work. Don’t submit every little doodle.</p>

<p>2. Lined paper drawings will generally NOT be accepted. Draw on unlined paper. For all those who draw in class, stick some unlined paper in your binders. Another option is to trace your art on to a clean sheet of white paper before scanning. If you are skilled with computer graphics you can clean it up in Photoshop or something, but this will work poorly unless you know what you are doing. Read <a href='http://www.fanart-central.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=1077&view=findpost&p=19558'>Lasher's Rant</a> on lined paper drawings in the forum if you want more on this subject.</P>

<p>3. If you are posting official characters and they are not identifiable, you should really practice more before submitting your work.</p>

<p>4. Keep the size of the picture to less than about 600 pixels wide. This size allows those who use 800x600 screen size to view them without having to scroll to the side.</p>

<p>5. Scan your work well. EccentricSage has written up some guidelines for scanning <a href='http://www.fanart-central.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=1077&view=findpost&p=19599'>Here</a>. If you don’t have a scanner get one or find somebody with one, digital cameras usually a very poor substitute for a scanner, they tend to have serious light level problems (if you can do it well, then that’s fine, but few can). Or learn how to draw on the computer.</p>

<p>I was considering purging the "quick sketch" pictures. But I've decided not to do so at this time and just leave it up to the artists to voluntarily remove their poor quality work in favor of their better stuff. Why show off stuff that is less than your best work?</p>

<p>For anybody who doesn't like this, there has been a forum topic about this up for almost a week. People have had the opportunity to provide input on this. I got no negative comments about quality rules, so I'm implementing them. You had your chance.</p>

<b>Categories</b>

<P>The category cleanup team has been working hard to cleanup the category system for the site. With almost a thousand categories and around 38000 pictures it will take quite some time but they are working hard</p>

<p>To support their work, make sure you submit your pictures in the best category available. For example if you have a picture of Kagome, put it under "Anime/Manga > Inu-Yasha > Kagome" not "Anime/Manga > Inu-Yasha" or just Anime/Manga. This will keep the site organized and easy to use and fine what you want.</P>

<p>Pictures not submitted under the best category will be rejected. The categories for series change all the time as the cleanup crew does them. Check for the best subcategory when you submit a picture for a series.</p>

<b>Other news</b>

<p>I don’t know if I will ever get a new chat room up, but Sanoshi has provided a <a href='http://www.geocities.com/pwasano/facrules.html'>groupboard paint chat</a> for the site to use. </p>

<p>There are lots of contests running. This news post is already too long so I won’t list them. If you are interested look in the contests forum</p>

<p>If you can see this, you are on the new server. It may take a few days for the main address to update for everybody, but it should be accessable to anybody via <a href=http://new.fanart-central.net/>http://new.fanart-central.net/</a></p>

<p>All submissions are re-enabled.</p>

<p>The old site can still be accessed (read only) from <a href=http://old.fanart-central.net/>http://old.fanart-central.net/</a> You can use that if somthing happens to the new server.</P>

<p>Site move will now start.</p>

<p>The picture uploads will be disabled so I can copy over the pics.</p>

<p>2 or 3 hours later, the rest of the site will be made read only.</p>

<p>Shortly after that the new site will be opened, and a link to it made available.</p>

<p>Those who follow the forums will have known about this ahead of time =P</P>

<p>I have setup a <a href=imageboard.php>Random Image Board</a> for the site where people can post many of the things that violate the rules of the main site.</p>

<p>In other news, I am considering offering paid accounts with no popups and other special features. Check out <a href='http://www.fanart-central.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=876'>this forum topic</a> for more info and to comment. I know the popups are annoying, but somthing has to pay the expensive hosting bill</P>

<p>In contest news the following contents are currently running:<Br>
<a href='forums/index.php?showtopic=833'>Furries Contest</a> - Deadline April 1st<BR>
<a href='forums/index.php?showtopic=849'>A Gothic Drawing Contest</a> - Deadline March 6th<BR>
<a href='forums/index.php?showtopic=881'>The Cosplay Contest</a> - Deadline TBA<BR>
<a href='forums/index.php?showtopic=882'>Classical Contest</a> - Deadline April 2nd<BR>
<a href='forums/index.php?showtopic=696'>Chibifying Contest</a> - (couldn't find a deadline)<BR>
<a href='forums/index.php?showtopic=727'>Yu Yu Hakusho Contest</a> - Deadline March 14<BR>
<a href='forums/index.php?showtopic=713'>Anything You Want To Draw Contest</a> - Deadline March 5</p>

<P>Starting later today all new picture submissions will need to be approved by somebody on the Approval Panel. This means new submissions won't appear in the new picture list right away.</p>

<p>In chatroom news, the chat page now has a set of rules on it for the chatroom. Also a roleplay room has been created. Roleplaying is no longer allowed in the main room.</p>

<p>In contest news, there is a chibi contest, an anything contest, and a Yu Yu Hakusho Contest running. Check them out in the contests forum if you are interested.</p>

<p>Due to some confusion, I'll provide a direct link here to the new validation email request system. <a href='profile.php?op=SendValidationEmail'>ONLY CLICK THIS LINK IF YOU HAVE <b>NOT</b> RECEIVED A VALIDATION EMAIL</a></p>

<p>The number of validation problem emails has slowed down and I think everything with this is now working. The problems with AOL and Yahoo have been fixed, and I have confirmed that it is not being caught by Spam Assassin. I see no reasons why any should not be getting through now.<p>

<p>If you still have not received one you can request a new one be sent from your profile. For anybody having problems reminder the following things<br>
1. If may show up in your bulk mail/junk mail folder if you have one (doesn't seem to for hotmail, may for yahoo) <BR>
2. You MUST be able to accept mail from fanart@ctgameinfo.com (and preferably apache@ctgameinfo.com and cstdenis@ctgameinfo.com for optimal assurance of receiving stuff). This is directed at users of AOL and Yahoo mainly which can block mail from everybody except ones you specify. <BR>
3. Make sure your address is correct. I see some with typos. <BR>
4. If you get more than one, only the newest one will work. (If you are impatient and request a new one then the old one shows up the old one won’t work)<BR>
</p>

<p>If You followed these instructions and still didn’t get one within 8 hours email me and I’ll check the mail log and see if I can track down the problem</P>

I hope this to be the last news item on this subject I need to post.

<P>There was a problem the last few days that resulted in mail directed at this site to bounce. If you were trying to send mail and it bounced, it should work now.</p>

<P>In contest news, Verg's Naruto contest has ended, the results are up in the contests forum. There is currently an Invader Zim contest running anybody who likes that check it out in the contests forum.</P>

Due to continued problems, I've sent out another batch of validation emails for those who have still not validated. I think at the least, I've fixed the problem for AOL users.

For those who did not get a validation email yesterday, check now. I resent about 200 that got stuck in the mail queue and never went through before.

<P>
Q: Why are you doing this?<BR>
A: Due to abuse, I am validating all email addresses on the site. Among other reasons, I am sick of bounced emails from notifications.
</p>
<p>
Q: I can't submit content to the site. It says my email is invalid.<BR>
A: You need to follow the instructions in the validation email before you can submit more content to the site.
</p>
<p>
Q: I didn't get a validation email.<BR>
A1: Make sure your email address is correct. Check closely.<BR>
A2: Check your 'Bulk Mail' folder if you have one. Some systems will filter it into there.<BR>
A3: You can request a new confirmation email by Slightly change your email address (capitalize the .COM or somthing).
</p>

<p>
Q: The link in the email didn't work<BR>
A: The site was down the morning of the 23rd. Try again now.
</p>

<p>I am doing a mass mail out to validate all existing email addresses in the system. If you did not receive one, the email address in your profile is probably incorrect. You will need to correct it and follow the instructions in the email to be able to submit content to the site.</p>

<p>If you get more than one confirmation email you have more than one account. go <a href=check_dup_accounts.php>Here</a> to remove unused duplicate accounts. (Note: there was a bug in that when I first put it up, it should work now)</p>

<p>All pictures are back online and everything should work. Some changes were made, so if you get an error send an email to cstdenis@ctgameinfo.com and i'll look into it. Also, all the old "quick sketch" images were purged before the move to save site resources.</p>

<p>Everybody should go <a href=check_dup_accounts.php>Here</a> and remove any duplicate accounts you have.</p>

Yes, Its back. It'll be another day or 2 before the pictures are all uploaded and the forums many not be back 'till tomorrow, but its comming along.

<p>Fanart Central was shutdown a few days ago due to MASSIVE bandwidth (data transfer) use.</p>

<p>To solve this problem the following changes will be made:<BR>
* Limit to 1 submission per day. Few people are skilled enough to create more than one high quality work of art per day.<BR>
* Submission approval panel. This will decrease the number of inappropriate and very low quality images submitted.<BR>
* Prevention of bandwidth stealing<BR>
* If this isn't enough, a mirror will be setup, probably only for recent submissions or something. (If you have access to an unmetered T1 or better connection and want to help, contact me)
</p>

<p>For today, no viewing of pictures hosted locally and no uploading new pictures. Tomorrow I expect to enable viewing again, then uploading the day after that, if all goes well.</p>

<p><b>Rules</b><br> The sites rules have been revised. These new rules were created with heavy input from the community in the forums. Each user must agree to the new rules before being permitted to submit any content to the site.
</p>

<P><b>Site Cleaning</b><BR>
I have done some cleaning out of the categories and there is more coming. There are also way too many very poor quality pics on this site. Remove your poor quality work and show off your best stuff instead. Also, those of you that have pictures that violate the new set of rules must remove those pictures.
</p>

<p><b>Christmas</b><br> I have put up a Christmas skin for the site for those who want a more Christmassy looking site.</p>

<p><b>Contest</b><br>
There is a Christmas contest running right now. Its on 'till the end of the month so there is still time to enter.

There is also a Naruto contest running that closes Jan 20 for those who like that very popular series.
</p>

<p>Everybody should read and contribute to the discussion on the forums on what should and should not be allowed on this site (in terms of stolen picture stuff). You can find it <a href=forums/index.php?act=ST&f=15&t=224>here</a>. Its your chance to get involved in how the site is run.</p>

<p>For those who dont use the forums, the accounts are part of the site, just login with your username and password you use with the rest of the site</p>

I have created a Halloween skin for the site. It is set as the default, but many people may have the origional skin explicitly set. Anyway, you can choose if from the skin select box if you are interested in using it. Or get rid of it, by choosing another.

I have finally coded in editing of chapters for fanfiction. Also, last 7 days of new fanfiction is linked from the front page like pictures are.

<p>Due to a server problem, the site was down for about 5 hours this afternoon (maybe longer, dont know about its status before i got up)</p>

<p>It was a minor problem, there should be no dataloss and it should not happen again</p>

<p>The fanfiction section has been removed. It is no longer a section, but completely integrated into the site.</p>

<p>I have created a new set of nav buttons to replace the old rather crappy looking ones. The order and locations of buttons have been changed around in what I'm hoping is a more logical streamlined system.</P>

<p>Some changes have been made to the picture listing under the categories and user sections and more smaller changes will be comming as I have time to do them. Lastly, the who in chatroom bar has been removed becasue I can't get Kotoko to work and dont expect it back anytime soon.</p>

<p>The message board/forums are back up. I modified invision to integrate with the sites user database so some functions may not work, espically profile based features. But posting and reading should work, I'll tweek other features later</p>
<p>Contest 8 is up. Go see it on the forums</p>

I just did a large site update. Nothing will look differetn, but if i broke anything let me know and i'll fix it.

Popups are back. They are set such that there is only one multi-popup per person (per computer) per day. Please allow one popup to fully load to ensure this site gets credit for it (This site used massive space and bandwidth). I only get credit for one popup per person per 24 hours, so allowing more to open does nothing good.

I forgot to re-enable the user registration and profile editing. They should work now.

The site is now back up. The messageboard is still down, but everything else should now work.

<p>Some people have been attacking the site, posting crap on the message board, and some other stuff. </P>

<p>Becasue of this, I have had to ban all submissions from a few locations, most notably all AOL users. This will probably only be temporary, but I’m busy for a few days and don’t want to deal with this. Those same groups of users are also banned from the chartroom. </P>

<p>In other news, the second round of voting for contest 7 has been open for a few days, go to the contests page to vote.</p>.

Contest 7 voting is finally up. Contest 8 is open. See the contests page for more info.

<p>The following users have invalid email addresses. If you are listed below, fix your address. I encourage everybody else to check their addresses too, invalid address + comment notification = bounced emails.</p>

cloudy, Chibi_Trunks, YamiAnubis

Contest 6 results are up.

The server this site is on is getting a new IP address. There may be some downtime while the DNS update propagates.

Contest 7 is open, contest 6 voting is up. Go to the contests page for more info.

<p>I've added several new features and changes. </p>
<p>New rating system has been made, the old one will still be around too for a while.<br>
Picture page has been improved a bit. the links were moved, and the number of views is now displayed.<br>
You can now have a list of your favotite pictures, stories, and authors/artists. This can be viewed on your profile page.</p>

I've tested all of the stuff, it should all work, but let me know if you find any bugs or problems.

<p>Popups were changed to one per person a day a few days ago, which I think is a much more reasonable level of annoyance. </p>

<p>All I ask for this is that you allow the one (multi)popup to fully load because I dont get credit for it if it doesn't. The recent stats show that less than half of you are. </p>

<p>If this keeps up, I'll have to increase the number of popups to make up for it.</p>

Popups are back for a few days while i test them. I know they are annoying but they are necessary. If they are effective, they will remain, but be adjusted to be much less frequent.

Contest 5 voting is up. Contest 6 is open.

<p>I finally got around to making the award for contest 4. The results are up. You can see them on the contests page linked above.</p>

<p>Contest 5 is almost over, if you still want to enter do so now. For more infomation see the contests section on the messageboard.</p>

<p>I have added the ability to receive email notification of new reviews in your pictures. You can enable it by editing your profile. Also in the same place, you can now hide your email address from your public profile. </p>

<p>Anybody who does no have a valid address in their profile, please add one, I need to be able to contact people if there is a problem with your pictures or something.</p>

I have added the chatroom. It can be accessed through the link above with all the other site links.

The site was down for about 3 days due to some DNS changed. I would have put up a notice here ahead of time if anybody had bothered to tell me about it >:o. Anyway, if the site goes down for more then a few hours, I put up a notice on http://fanartcentral.cjb.net.

Contest 5 is now open, info available <a href=http://ctgameinfo.com/fanart/discus/messages/12/184.html>here</a>. Contest 4 is now voting, you can vote <a href=contest.php>here</a>.

Contest 3 voting is now closed. You can go to the <A href=contest.php>Contest Page</a> to see the results.

<p>Contest 3's voting is now open. Go <a href=contest.php>here</a> to see the entires and to vote.</p>

<p>Contest 4 has also been announced. You can see it <A href=http://ctgameinfo.com/fanart/discus/messages/12/152.html>here</a></p>

After a few days downtime due to hardware problems with the server, we are back.

Contest 2 voting is now closed. The winner is Lola. see the <a href=contest.php>contest</a> page for details.

Contest 3 is still open, you can go <a href=http://ctgameinfo.com/fanart/discus/messages/12/113.html>here</a> for more information

I just did a large cleanup of the categories. Mainly, Several from the main level were moved under Misc.

Contest 3 is now up. Go <a href=http://ctgameinfo.com/fanart/discus/messages/12/113.html>here</a> for information and to submit pictures.

Contest 2 has ended. Voting is now open. You can vote <a href=contest.php>here</a>

<p>Another user has been discovered posting stolen artwork, <b>baby-kittin</b>. Three have been confirmed by the origional artist, and others are suspected.</p>
<p>In responce to this increasing amount of stolen artwork, I have created the <a href=wall_of_shame.php>Wall of shame</a>.</p>

I have made a large update to the site, for details on what is new and changed see <a href=http://ctgameinfo.com/fanart/discus/messages/4/76.html#POST411>this messageboard post</a>

Just a reminder to everybody, especially <a href=http://ctgameinfo.com/fanart/discus/messages/5/102.html>Hinorashi</a>, posting artwork done by others and claiming it as your own is not acceptable behaviour here.

Voting for Fanart Contest 1 is now open. You can vote <a href=contest.php>here</a>. Voting closes Jan 15.

Just upgraded the PHP server. After fixing some configuration, everything seems to work fine, but if you find any new bugs, <a href=http://ctgameinfo.com/fanart/artist.php?op=show&artist=cstdenis>contact me</a>. Expect some new features appearing over the next few days.

I'm in the process of ading some upgrades and bug-fixes to the site. Until I get that finished, new accounts with usernames that have capital latters will not work properly.
Suggestions for site improvements can be posted <a href=http://ctgameinfo.com/fanart/discus/messages/4/76.html>here</a>

<p>I Have started a new fanart contest, check it out <a href=http://ctgameinfo.com/fanart/discus/messages/12/88.html>here</a></p>
<p>
Rizubeth has also started a fanart contest, check that out <a href=http://ctgameinfo.com/fanart/discus/messages/12/85.html>here</a>
</P>

Merry Christmas everybody. And Happy Holidays for those who don't celebrate Christmas.

<p>There is still time to enter the Fanart Challenge/Contest 1. If you have not seen it, go <a href=http://ctgameinfo.com/fanart/discus/messages/12/37.html>here</a>.
</p>
<p>I'm going to be doing some work on this site over the winter break. If there are any features you would like to see, or suggestions for improvement, post them <a href=http://ctgameinfo.com/fanart/discus/messages/4/76.html>here</a>

I am disappointed in the lack of use of the message board. 10 people indicated in the poll that they would use it, so why have only 2 people posted?

<p>I have added a <a href=discus>Message Board</a>. All users automatically have accounts on it with the same username and password you use on the rest of the site.</p>

<p>If you have a problem post in help (you do not need an account to post there curently)</p>

<p>The site has been having various server problems as you may have noticed, but I think they are more or less fixed now. Basically the server was moved to Singapore causing it to be really slow for oveseas traffic, but now has been moved again to fix the problem.</p>

<p>Appearently angelfire.com does not, or at least does not anymore, allow off site linking. The faq has been updated and so has add picture page to prevent such pictures from being added.</p>

<P>New poll added. Result of old poll: Adobe Photoshop is by far the most popular program used by artists

here with over 55% of the votes.</p>

<P>added ability to change picture category under the edit picture page.</p>

<P>Categories moved around and changed. See <a href=changelog.txt>change log</a> for details</P>

Although there were some initial problems with the transfer, everything seems to be fixed now. If you find any problems, email <a href=Mailto:cstdenis@hotmail.com>;me</a>.

<p>If you are seeing this, you are looking at the site on its new server. </p>

Uploads are enabled.

Upload away

file upload and file copy options will not work for a while because the server this site is hosted on has run out of space. I will post another message when this is fixed.

Categories are now displayed in a hierarchical way in the add picture page. This should make it easier to choose an approprate category.

<p>A small bug has been discovered that caused all recent artists names to be set to "fullname". The bug has been corrected and affected full names have been removed. </p>

<p>Anybody who cares about your full/alternate name, <a href=artist.php?op=edit>update your profile</a>.</p>

Large update to the links.<br>
Front page now shows 10 latest pictures, insted of 5 becasue pictures tend to be posted in large groups.

<p>Site design has been changed a bit. Now includes some javascript error checking on picture adding. Adding a comment opens up a news window to enter the comment, this way you can look at the pic while commenting.<br>

Please choose your categories more carefully. Several artists have been choosing categories very badly.
I'm working on a better category choosing method to help with this.<br>

I have added a new rating system for pictures. Once there is a significant number of ratings, I will display the top rated pictures on the front page, as well as the newest.<br>
Links have now been added, not much there yet, but i'm adding stuff regularly.<br>

The next change I'm planning is a new nav bar, i've beel looking into a flash one, but due to compatability reasons, I need to setup a non-flash one too.<br>
The other next change it unregestered users able to add comments.</p>

We have a new poll, this time it makes some sence.<br>
Results of last poll: 84% of you like Squares.

<p>I've been doing some work on the site and made some improvements.</p>

<p>I sorted the categories.<br>
Only artrists that have submited pictures are listed.<br>
Security increased<br>
Some general astetic changes</p>

<p>Comming soon: links, registration not requited for commenting, More astetic changes.</p>

<p>I'm looking for any suggestion on changing the layout or color scheme. If you have any ideas post them on the <A href=discus/>message board</a> Or <a herf=artist.php?op=show&artist=cstdenis>Contact me</a> directly</p>

<P>There was a problem with the database causing some data loss. The users and pictures were restored from the automatic backup, however the news and recent comments have been lost</p>

<p>Results of last poll: Many people like cheese</p>