The Rules
There are now less than 1020 words of rules and the average adult reads 250 to 300 words per minute. So go put the kettle on, come back and read the rules, then go and make a cup of tea/coffee/hot chocolate/other. No excuse.
How To Submit Icons (read):
> Type the icon information (name, purpose, attribution if required) in your
post in a neat and orderly fashion without unnecessary decoration. Then
upload your image by clicking the attachment field or “browse” button
located below the post form. After finding the image, make your post.
> After posting, wait for the page to refresh. Now click on the “view" button
on the bottom right of the post. When it opens, copy the address that
appears in your browser address bar and go back and edit your post. The
edit button is at the bottom left.
> Add the image to your post by pasting the address you copied. Make sure
that "http://" (without quotation marks) is in front of the adress. If not
then type it there. Now highlight the link you pasted and click the "Image"
button above the text-editing field or simply place "[img]" in front of the
link and "[/img]" at the end of the link (without the quotations marks in
both cases). Now just click the "Edit Message" button located where the
"Post" button usually is.
I know there are better ways to do this but this is aimed at ensuring anyone can do it, regardless of their knowledge base.
Thread Rules:
> Try to post only icons and comments related to them. This is not The
Posting Competition.
Rationale: This thread may grow over the years (at which point this thread
should be locked and a new one created to maintain performance). Comments
will bloat it, slow down loading and make it harder to keep track of
submissions. If you're going to post commentary, please keep it relevant
and, above all, please stick to the commenting rules below, which reflect
general etiquette really but, sadly, still need to be said.
> By posting the image, you give TGC unrestricted permission to reuse the
image in any way they see fit.
- They can be trusted to honour any request you make for credit, the
above clause is for TGC's protection.
> You take full responsibility for any materials posted using you account,
regardless of whether your account was accessed by a third-party.
- Again, just to cover TGC. If your friend/brother/cat sneaked into
your room and you emailed them, they would understand if your case
was sincere. Being drunk doesn't count as a third-party, kay ;)
> Comply with the all the rules below.
Rules Regarding Comments:
> We're all guilty of digression, including myself. Let's try not to digress
here too much, lest we make The Posting Competition redundant.
> Do not insult other users, no matter how bad you think their art is. When
you criticise a piece of art, criticise the art, not the artist. Please be
mindful, too, of the fine line between constructive and destructive
criticism.
> Take criticism “like a boss”. If someone criticises you, learn from it and
work towards being better. Do not throw a tantrum.
> One criticism from a user and one rebuttal from the artist. End of
conversation. Go to PM after that.
> Don't make non-constructive posts. If someone already reported an image
for being offensive or not having transparency, you don't need to echo
them (Although, I'm still hoping that the image is reported to me via PM
and our valiant knight of reporting images is humble enough not to need
the accolade of “Great User Who Busts Wrongdoers”.
Submission Rules:
> All images posted must adhere to AUP.
> You may not use someone else's images without permission.
> You must attribute the original source for images you don't own the
copyright to.
> Formats: PNG, GIF only. You are encouraged to create your files in SVG
because it is scalable and, with regard to the new forums and SVG
support, it would make everything work "smoother". Sadly the upload
system for the forums doesn't treat SVGs as images in spite of the IMG
tags working perfectly on SVG files.
> Size::Space: I am going to tentatively say ~50kb should be a fair limit.
We don't want to end up overfilling TGC's server. At 50kb, we can have
about 200 images for the price of 10MB. Please note that a 16x16 24bit bmp
bitmap is ~4kb and an SVG with about 200 nodes is ~12kb so, realistically,
you'll probably never use even near 50kb unless you're planning a short
GIF movie in 16p. If that is your intention, try DeviantArt, they will
love you, especially if you "can draw" ponies and anime.
> Size::Dimensions: As mentioned before, the current icons are 16px in
height. This conforms to the default font on the current forum. As such,
your final image (what you post) shoulf be 16p (16 pixels in height),
however, your original can be larger if you're working in a raster format
(PNG/GIF in this case), you can make the original any size, so long as
what you post is 16p. Please note, there's no real restriction on width as
it doesn't mess up text-alignment, but, being reasonable, 100px is a
little wide. Use your common sense.
> Content::Content: Anything within AUP is welcome. Ponies, anime, whatever.
> Content::Type: This thread is for icons. It's not "image macros", it's not
for decorations for posts, it's not for bitmap fonts and it's not for any
other creative ideas I may have unwittingly given you. If you want that,
implement it somewhere else, but please bear TGC's server space in mind.
> Content::Transparency: All images must have a transparent background.
If you don't have software, see the software list for drawing software. If
you know of something not listed, post about it in the sister thread or PM
me and I will add it and even credit you for the suggestion.
> Content::Quality: Please, if you can't draw without stencils don't.
Generic things aren't needed. The purpose of this is to add new content to
the selection of forum icons to improve it. This isn't aimed at ego-
stroking. Just because you can make something passable, doesn't mean it is
necessary. This applies to similar icons, too. We don't need five
different smiling faces in only slightly different styles.
Free drawing software list
Note: If you have never used vector graphics before, you will find the learning-
curve steep for any vector graphics software. An understanding of images not
being represented in terms of pixels is essential. Practice.
+---------+
| Windows |
+---------+
> PaintDotNet:
Basic MSPaint-alike program with advanced functions and a very pleasant
interface. Quick to pick up.
> GIMP:
Advanced image editor that has lots of Photoshop functionality but lacks
the easy learning-curve due to its robust features.
> Inkscape:
A Vector-Graphics application that allows export to many formats. It's
probably the best free SVG editor but the UI, though quite usable, has
yet to mature.
+-------+
| Linux |
+-------+
> Pinta
Basic MSPaint-alike program with advanced functions and a very pleasant
interface. Quick to pick up. Almost like using PaintDotNet.
> GIMP:
Advanced image editor that has lots of Photoshop functionality but lacks
the easy learning-curve due to its robust features.
> Inkscape:
A Vector-Graphics application that allows export to many formats. It's
probably the best free SVG editor but the UI, though quite usable, has
yet to mature.
+-----+
| Mac |
+-----+
> GIMP:
Advanced image editor that has lots of Photoshop functionality but lacks
the easy learning-curve due to its robust features.
(Thanks Yodaman Jer for pointing out GIMP was on Mac)
Now let the fun begin.
"If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything" -- Wise Man
