Fan Art Gallery Rules

Manifesto (or why this document exists)

The Fan Art gallery has grown tremendously over the past few years, with more than 3,000 submissions and an average of around 5 new submissions every week. There is nothing else like it in the NIMH fandom that I am aware of, and I feel truly honored to host this gallery of incredible pieces of art.

As the gallery has grown, however, it has become more and more difficult for me to manage. First it grew beyond manual submissions with me hand-editing HTML for each new piece of work. Then I moved it to the Gallery software, and allowed artists to post new pieces as they saw fit, and allowed the community to comment them. On the whole, I believe this system is wholly responsible for the Fan Art Gallery's tremendous growth. But, it also fundamentally changed the way I handled art submissions. No longer can I vet every individual submission before it is posted, and neither do I want to. This requires some trust in the artists, and as such, all have agreed to certain rules that each have agreed to individually before they were allowed access, and things seemed to work smoothly.

But then, issues began to crop up. Sometimes, there'd be an image that I felt exceeded the boundaries, and it would be removed. At times these decisions were criticized. Sometimes I look at images now and feel they skirt the edges of the rules, but in an effort not to make waves, I'd let some pass that perhaps I would not have in the past. I feel in large part that is because these rules were not made public. Which is why I am making them completely public now. In much the same way as artist access has been democratized, patron access will now be similarly democratized. Since everyone has access to the rules, I feel I'll be better able to justify my decisions, and it will also allow more people to have a say in what they feel about a piece of art, a comment, or even the rules itself. I'm hoping that as people give feedback on all three of these things, that a better equillibrium will be restored and the process will be more open.

I have also made some revisions to these rules from the version that I have been sending out to artists, based on feedback that I have recieved. Images uploaded before these revisions will be allowed to remain, though I may, at my discretion, move them to a seperate area of an individual's gallery, and may require that one register for the gallery before accessing them.

So, without further ado, the rules...

Primary Rules

Many of these rules are inspired by the Yerf submission rules. If part of a rule is quoted, that is the original source of it, unless otherwise noted.

1. No Adult Material
   Pornographic or excessively gory images will not be tolerated. This includes "sex acts, implied sex acts, female nipples, any genitalia, bondage, excessive gore, dismemberment, adult themes (implied or otherwise), illegal substances (drugs), etc." It has always been my desire that this site be "family-friendly."
2. No Offensive Material
   This is mostly at the discretion of myself (Simon) or any moderators I chose to delegate this authority to. In general, this rule breaks down to: "no deliberately offensive political or religious statements. If you are specifically trying to heckle someone, don't post it here. We won't tolerate slander of any kind. Since 'offensive' is obviously a slippery slope, as a rule of thumb, if you post an image with sensitive subject matter, please expect that it will be pulled if someone complains."
3. No Intentional Plagiarism
   While it is assumed that most art here will be inspired by the Secret of NIMH and the artwork created for that movie, any other sources of direct inspiration for your works should be cited. If you are knowingly mimicking another artist's style, pose, composition, characters, setting or any other aspect of an artist's work, you must give credit to that artist, giving a link to the work, if possible (as long as the reference is in keeping with the family-friendly nature of the site). If an artist whose work has been cited objects to this, or the new work is not original enough, I may remove the piece in question.
4. Rules about comments
   These rules are the same as the forum rules, but are noted here as well.
   1. Be respectful of others. Remember the old adage: "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." If you are criticizing another's work, post constructive criticizm. Any other kind may be subject to deletion.
   2. No trolling, flaming or otherwise posting just to get a negative reaction or attention. This goes along with the previous rule.
   3. Do not post obscene, excessively violent, pornographic or otherwise offensive material to the forum. Remember, I'd like this place to be at least somewhat "family friendly."
   4. Do not advertize non-NIMH related things to the board (i.e. no spam). NIMH-related advertizements are acceptable for the following things: websites or other internet resources (such as other forums, email lists, etc), fan art, fan fiction, special events and gatherings of NIMH fans. If you want to advertize NIMH-related merchandize (such as an auction on ebay or whatever), please email me about it before posting, and I'll approve or deny it on a case-by-case basis.
5. Use of works and comments posted here
   The works here are protected by copyright so far as the law allows. Should you wish to use a work posted here in any way aside from viewing it on the site, or other personal or "fair" use as permitted by law, you must get the permission of the creator or owner of that work. See the site copyright information for more info.
6. Disclaimer
   As with all other areas of this site, you use this service at your own risk. I cannot be held responsible for the use or misuse of any work posted here by anyone but myself. Remember, your art is publicly available on the internet if it is posted here, and while I discourage it, it can be difficult to "get the cat back in the bag" if someone downloads it and misuses it. See the site disclaimer for more info.
7. Final Say
   I reserve the right, at my discretion, or at the discretion of anyone to whom I delegate this authority, to make any change to the gallery, including but not limited to removing an image, deleting a comment, editing an image's description, or disabling access to an individual's art or album, at any time and for any reason. Breaking a rule will likely result in an image being removed, however, egregious or repeated offenses may result in more severe consequences.

Guidelines

While not necessarily hard and fast rules, please take into consideration the following when posting material to the Art Gallery. It is expected that these guidelines are consistently followed. If they are not, it may be grounds to remove pieces or disable an artist's upload access.

1. NIMH-related Art
   NIMH-related art is defined as art set within the NIMH universe. This can include characters and settings of your own invention, such as NIMHmuck characters, characters from Fan Fiction, and the like. If you are drawing art of a setting or character that was created by someone else, it is expected that you ask permission before posting it. Artists are encouraged to post as much NIMH-related art as possible to their gallery.
2. Non-NIMH-related Art
   Any art that is not NIMH-related, by the definition set above, is in this category. While I allow non-NIMH art, I expect the majority of an artist's art on the gallery to be NIMH-related. If possible, this art should be placed in a seperate sub-album on your gallery.
3. "Anthropomorphic" Style art
   In general, the style for drawing characters that is most well received is the style that was used in the film. This, however, should not limit your experimenting or use of other styles. One popular style deserves additional mention: "Anthropomorphic" style. On this gallery, this is defined as a style where characters are given a recognizeably human form; usually this means having breasts, longer legs and arms, and a more humanoid shape. Often, this form can lead to a picture becoming more suggestive and skirts very close to the edge of the rules. Even if you omit the details mentioned in Primary Rule #1, "nude" images (where the character is in anthro style and not wearing any additional clothes aside from their fur or scales or what have you) may fall under scrutiny here. If you decide to use this style, be careful to observe the other rules closely, and be prepared to see the image removed from public view if I receive complaints about it. Adding clothing to "nudes" may help to mitigate this issue.
4. Private Albums
   The Gallery software allows the creation of albums not visible to the general public. It is expected that any image posted to a private album follows the rules set in the Primary Rules. One exception is the "Private Album" I create for you when your gallery is created. In this area, you are allowed to post images that you are unsure of in regards to how well they fit within the rules. This album cannot be moved, changed or made public in any way that allows anyone besides yourself, myself, and any moderators to whom I may delegate this authority in the future to access it. Be warned, however, it should not be considered a holding area for images that are blatently in disregard of the rules, such as pornographic images.
5. Modification of images or gallery
   You may create, modify and/or delete images or albums that you own at your discretion and at any time, so long as the above rules are followed. If you wish to delete your entire gallery, please email me first and wait for my response before proceeding. If it is important for you to move these images out of public view, please hide the album by using the "Edit Permissions" control panel or by using the "Edit Album" link and checking the "Hide" option. If you are unsure how to do this, just ask me to do it in your email. Doing so can allow an easier re-introduction into the gallery, should you change your mind. Please remember, deletion is irreversible--do not expect me to be able to restore any picture or album from a backup, should you change your mind.
6. Loss of edit/upload privileges to your album
   If, in the unlikely event that you lose the privilege to edit or remove images in your gallery, and you want to do so, please contact me with your request and I will honor it promptly, so long as any edits fall within the rules. Deletions are made unconditionally.
7. Links to other galleries
   Links to other art galleries, so long as they fit within the other rules, are allowed inside your image or album descriptions or summaries, should you wish to promote your art posted elsewhere. These galleries do not have to be NIMH-related, but they should not include publicly-viewable pornographic materials. As long as they also follow the primary rules #1 - 3 above for publicly viewable images, they do not have to follow any of these secondary guidelines.

Also, have fun. The fan art gallery is all about showing off your talents, getting feedback and developing a sense of community. The rules are meant to facilitate this, not to get in the way of it. :)

Lastly, if you have questions or feedback related to these rules, please contact me.