What's new
Star Army

Star ArmyⓇ is a landmark of forum roleplaying. Opened in 2002, Star Army is like an internet clubhouse for people who love roleplaying, art, and worldbuilding. Anyone 18 or older may join for free. New members are welcome! Use the "Register" button below.

Note: This is a play-by-post RPG site. If you're looking for the tabletop miniatures wargame "5150: Star Army" instead, see Two Hour Wargames.

  • If you were supposed to get an email from the forum but didn't (e.g. to verify your account for registration), email Wes at [email protected] or talk to me on Discord for help. Sometimes the server hits our limit of emails we can send per hour.
  • Get in our Discord chat! Discord.gg/stararmy
  • 📅 October and November 2024 are YE 46.8 in the RP.

Wiki Artwork: Quality Standards and Organization

Should we enforce quality standards for wiki artwork?

  • Yes

    Votes: 3 30.0%

  • No

    Votes: 7 70.0%
  • Total voters
    10
Wes

Wes

Founder & Admin
Staff Member
🌸 FM of Yamatai
🎖️ Game Master
Discord Booster
🎨 Media Gallery
I propose the following restrictions on wiki images:

- Max of 600px wide (550px near the top of an article so they don't bump against the TOC)

- Should have a blue BG #000040 or (#000020 for character art)

- Should be color images if possible

- Crude pencil sketches and uncropped scans should not be uploaded.

I also propose that I move, via file manager, all misplaced images to the correct directory. This would mainly be clearing out the root folder.
 
The only real problem I have with those proposed rules is the last one, about crude pencil sketched and the like.

I plan on getting quick, easy commissions done for the NPCs in my plot at some point, but since there are so many of them I don't want them to be too detailed or expensive. Probably just quick, uncolored lineart of upper body portraits.

Would that be allowed under such standards?
 
I think the BG color thing is a bit strict... I'm no artist, but isn't matching a specific color for the background rather hard? Maybe not so much for digital artwork, but I'm planning to buy a commission from a friend who works with ink. I can see that being a bit problematic.

Maybe a 'yes, but different standards' option is in order for the poll.
 
If it's inked, then something close should be fine. Alternatively, you could have him outline the image in black and fill in the rest of the BG with StarArmy blue after you scan it. Digital commissions are really the way to go, though.
 
I'd rather not impose a "no pencil sketch" type of thing. We have people of varying artistic talent that simply wish to share their own character artwork instead of having to buy a commission. And since the Commissions project is on hold, it'll be harder for people to get them without getting them on their own.

I can agree with size limits and the desire for cropping.

I don't think some of these folks are quite are digital art literate as some of us with access to GIMP; Photoshop, etc are. So asking them to make a transparency might be a little hard. I can help out with the background color conversion if you'd like.

Example: Just dropping a color background and cropping and fixing the spots not really clear:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v166/ ... o_edit.jpg

I just really feel that outlawing pencil art is lack a slap in the face of the players. We encourage artwork for reference, it shouldn't be a requirement to have to buy artwork if you're not up to the perceived standards. :/
 
I'd rather not see restrictions slapped onto wiki-images due to the simple fact that not everything is able to be cropped and shopped to preference.

I'll formulate more of an argument later when I'm awake... maybe.
 
The bottom line is that I want the site to look good. If a dark blue page has an oversized image with a bright white background and the character art is extremely amateurish, not even inked, and only takes up a small portion of the actual image, that looks BAD. It's not a lot to ask that people touch up their images or get a friend to before posting them, or that people put some effort into their art (or getting art).
 
Another option is for someone who is skilled to volunteer to take the files submitted and convert them to a proper size. Clean up the sketches and the like. This allows people who are not skilled to add pictures, since their pictures are submitted, and then cleaned up by someone else.
 
I propose the following solutions on wiki images:

- Max of 600px wide (550px near the top of an article so they don't bump against the TOC)
I like this. I already have Table of Contents issues.

- Should have a blue BG #000040 or (#000020 for character art)
Transparency. Problem solved

- Should be color images if possible
Yes and no. If a lineart looks good then it should be allowed for at least a Species page. Maybe not Character Art. Maybe every race has a Template image. I currently use my Profile Pic as the "No picture available" picture for Vekimen Characters.

- Crude pencil sketches and uncropped scans should not be uploaded.
Please yes... Make this a rule please ;^; Not that it's a problem, but who knows right?
I also propose that I move, via file manager, all misplaced images to the correct directory. This would mainly be clearing out the root folder.

Could I propose you make the File Manager a little easier to use? I have been noticing that my pictures don't stay in the wiki so I have to reupload all the time. How would I g about making a sub folder for the Vekimen?
 
Edto Xar'Sivaree said:
I have no idea, only thing I know is every time I go into the file manager to post my template picture, it vanishes. I have reuloaded the picture in my avatar like, 5 times now
Click to expand...
Wiki media don't vanish unless they're deleted, so was there a reason for them to be deleted?
  1. What's the image(s) you're referring to?
  2. What namespace are you using for the image(s)? Images in the root directory occasionally get deleted for not being in the right place.
  3. Images used on a wiki page can't be deleted until they're removed from the page(s). Were the images not used on a wiki article? If not, they might be deleted for being unused.
 
I think necessitating a bg for character artwork is a little bit unexpected as I thought transparent bg's were preferred, which was an assumption on my part. How do you feel about transparent bg's?
 
Ametheliana said:
I think necessitating a bg for character artwork is a little bit unexpected as I thought transparent bg's were preferred, which was an assumption on my part. How do you feel about transparent bg's?
Click to expand...
Transparent backgrounds are strongly preferred. The OP post is outdated. Please use the guidelines on the wiki style guide.
 
RPG-D RPGfix
Back
Top