[Updated] Black Pearl Clarification

The Black Pearl

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We'd like to clarify a few things concerning the proposals for the Creative Space. We've had the time to see how things went and made some changes along with some additional advice.

For the Horses, Pegasus, Unicorns, Donkeys, and Ponies.


Using shadows in your creations:


We are probably going to add them ourselves in the future to have something that has the right perspective on the backgrounds, and that has a uniform texture across the coats.

You can use shadowing, but we ask that you keep them very light so that the images will fit with most Helios Ray backgrounds.

Cut out your edges more.


When we place the coats on a dark background in a lot of cases, there are stray light colored pixels all around the drawing. This makes it impossible to use on a dark background.
Tip Please take the time to take a look at your coat on a white and on a black background, in order to get rid of any leftover smudges or pixels. Also, look a little further away on just the outline. Often the coats have a smudge around the corners or along the border of the image.

Use the smudge or blur tool sparingly.


It's a pity to see a coat that has been worked on then filtered with a blur filter, and it comes out all smudgy. It's also a pity to see a coat with smudge marks on one side and not the other.

Be careful when playing around with reformatting an image.


Sometimes we get perfectly nice drawings of Sausage horses because the file has been altered, and the horse has been squashed or pulled in another direction.
This might be a great way of transforming an Irish setter into a Teckel, but it isn't very pretty on horses. Also, avoid making your resolution too low and giving the picture a pixel art look

Backgrounds


Using brushes is allowed.


They can be used as well, but we'd like to also remind you of the Black Pearl page information as seen in the quote below.

“Excess airbrushing is not allowed”. It is allowed but not too much!"

We have received tons of entries like this and have been very cool about it up until now. However, seeing the same tree used 4 times in different backgrounds is starting to get a little old.

From here on out, we'll start to be a bit more strict about this type of thing. This is due to the fact that it's unfair and the aim of the Creative Space is to work things with your own hands, not make photo manipulations. The same thing goes for photos or bits of photos.

Painting, blurring or smudging landscape pictures.


Moving forward, we'll simply remove the right to propose any creations to the Creation space forever for those who do try to do this.

Check the perspectives.


When you make a background, please consider that there has to be something for the horse to put his feet on. It's quite strange the have a picture with a nice pond in the background and the horse is floating in the middle of it in thin air.

The same goes for outer space and clouds etc. Just try and make the backgrounds usable for everyone, not just the Pegasus. Also, make sure that the horses won't look like giants in the middle of a forest when you decide to draw trees or other items.

Rules


Plagiarism is forbidden!
Respect the author's rights: we do not steal images off of the Internet; we do not trace photos; we do not use the basis of someone else if they have not given their authorization, preferably publicly.

What is plagiarism? Plagiarism is taking someone else's work and passing them off as your own.

We can take inspiration from a style, a movement, a mane or a coat without copy-pasting it. It’s the same idea for literature, graphic arts, video games or cinema - there is often inspiration taken from another creation. Inspiration is imbued with another creation in order to interpret it and create something new! Copying is recreating identically. Copying is not having a style or a vision of your own. Try to have the imagination and bring your unique personality to your creations.

Please also note that any cheating can get you excluded from proposing any artwork to the Creative Space forever and/or be followed by sanctions.
Players who submit an artwork not created by themselves, AI-generated or plagiarized will be permanently banned from using the Black Pearl.

Otherwise, all the usual rules still apply.

Before posting:


It is forbidden to mock or ridicule creations/creators
Don't post too many steps regarding your work to avoid flooding of the topic.
IT IS FORBIDDEN TO ASK FOR VOTES!

You are welcome to promote your creations or creations you voted for using #HowrseBP on social media or promote your creations on your profile page.

This topic can be used to help each other understand the Black Pearl rules with respect to your creative content.

Players who do not follow the rules are exposed to sanctions.

Regards
The Howrse team

 
Ow
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minkthepink wrote:

Just a gentle reminder that this topic is for getting help with creating your coats. Posting finished coats, especially just before voting, is dangerously close to advertising for votes, which isn't allowed as per the original post.


Oh, I´m sorry, default smiley (8) I am actually not looking for votes here, i just wanted to show finished artwork that i showed as a WIP before. Anyways, thanks for warning.
MIA_CZ
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MIA_CZ wrote:

i just wanted to show finished artwork that i showed as a WIP before.
Know that feeling Pusik.

I post WIP's but would love to show the finished piece too. Wish howrse made more threads for this kind of thing, with a bit less restriction on what can be posted. We have a great artist community on here and everyone likes to share their work. and I agree its not for votes. As helpful as feedback on WIP's are, I think feedback on end result can sometimes save others from submitting work with minor errors too. But ah well... it is what it is. default smiley (lol)
WhiteTiger
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@WhiteTiger -

Exactly! I agree with everything u wrote. There are so many great artists but we can´t see their amazing artwork just because of that rule default smiley (8). I think that there should be a topic for finished artwork since we can´t show it here.
MIA_CZ
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@ RowanGreen - I actually kind of hate that lineart I made default smiley xd it is so old and the proportions are not great. Anyway love the idea of making it more of a haffi! The hooves are maybe a smidge big in the front but you cannot really notice. The big problem with that lineart is that the humerus is too small making the legs look way too far forward, maybe I should redo that line.

@Stevie Lynn - I use autodesk sketchbook and think it is the easiest program to use. Saying that you still need skills and patience and lots and lots of practice (but also there are so many references out there)!

@HORSE_LOVER - I like your idea I do not think there are many HRs like that! But I might also want to add a bit more detail to it to make it pop more? I am a freak for details so it is a personal preference but you could make the grass more detailed and shades and maybe add different dark hues to the sky etc.

@Pusik553 - sooo fluffy :O love the colors and the fact you intentionally made him dirty. Either way I really like your anatomy, the whole horse is so balanced!
*Foxi*
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minkthepink wrote:

Just a gentle reminder that this topic is for getting help with creating your coats. Posting finished coats, especially just before voting, is dangerously close to advertising for votes, which isn't allowed as per the original post.


But posting a finished coat is just showing off your art :P it is not forcing anyone to vote for you and I have not seen anyone actually asking for votes directly. Would howrse consider perhaps making more CS threads? I know that equideow has an entire forum for the CS alone (including a topic that lets people post all their monthly submissions) and I feel like people on the international server love to talk about and share their art considering the CS is a massive part of the game at this point. Not to mention it is nice to see the progress someone has been making and seeing the final piece is just part of that progress. I don't feel like it is fair to criticize people for posting the art that they are proud of and that they want to show the community. Sorry @mink I just do not see your connection of it to asking/advertising for votes. Just my grain of salt though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
*Foxi*
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By Retired breeder, 5th August 2020 16:18:48
5
I finished the one of the two horses based on Diamond Apple coats I posted on the previous page. Hope you like it. c:
*Foxi* wrote:

But posting a finished coat is just showing off your art :P it is not forcing anyone to vote for you


But it does give the poster an advantage over other people as their coat is seen and people will know whose it is in voting instead of it being anonymous. The rule in the old topic was that this forum is for getting help, not showing your finished coats just before voting. I will ask admin if anything has changed regarding that as the topic has been restarted.

I draw your attention to the sentence in the original post- "You are welcome to promote your creations or creations you voted for using #HowrseBP on social media or promote your creations on your profile page."
minkthepink
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Glad you are happy *Foxi*! I'm not sure if I'm getting it in though. Had to choose whether to renew my VIP this morning and have not been lucky since.
RowanGreen
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@minkthepink - Well but if the problem is that i posted a poster then why didn´t u say something when i did it? default smiley (8) It´s ok to show it on the other versions, why not here?
MIA_CZ
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minkthepink:If you are going to send a pm to admins, could you ask them how showing finished coat equals to having an advantage? It makes 0 sense. Submitting coats is not anonymous,it never was. Get in a few coats and people recognize the art style. I would believe the "it has to be anonymous"-lie if nobody was allowed to advertise their coats on social media under #Howrse tag, show wips here in forums and other sites.


The coats made are not that anonymous. A lot of artists have their Deviantart accounts/Instagram, Facebook/YYoutube m.m and have time to advertise for their coats (and are allowed to due to being older and so on)), have an advantage because they post them there to advertize,but younger artist who can`t or are not allowed to use them are left behind.

Then we have the inequality between servers as well. Here we can`t post finished work,but on the polish server, they have 2 separate forums: one for wips and one for finished work. That puts everyone on polish server on same level of equality, but also puts them ahead of us because they are allowed to show their finished work ON the game-server, rather than being yeeted to social medias that not everyone can/or want to use for different reasons.

Here is a fun fact...the New forum that is directed to Creation-Challenge themed coats doesn't seem to have any issues with finished work being shown.

So please ask them to explain where the unfair advantage begins the ends (explain in depth,not copy-paste the rule of "no finished works shall be shown in creation forums " that started to be showed down everyones throats after what, 5-7 years of not caring/ignoring that rule?
Shishi no Seirei
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Thanks for the reminder mink, going forward I will be sure to always post in the context of asking for advice (unless you hear back from admin saying it's okay). I, and a lot of others, have already done what must be considered as advertising in the birthday creation thread before seeing this, but hopefully since that is just a temporary one it is okay.

*Foxi*: I looove your water horse, I like to pat myself on the back and think that I inspired the minnows in the mane and tail with my other comment default smiley xd Love the subtle scales too!
FoxyDancer
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FoxyDancer wrote:


*Foxi*: I looove your water horse, I like to pat myself on the back and think that I inspired the minnows in the mane and tail with my other comment default smiley xd Love the subtle scales too!


You 100% inspired the minnows default smiley xd that is all you. Alas, my imagination is not as fantastic...
*Foxi*
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By Retired breeder, 5th August 2020 23:21:52
1
I tried literally everything, and it still says I'm not using the template! Help! (I'm trying to submit a Helios' Ray design and have 40 minutes left default smiley :o)
Retired breeder wrote:

I tried literally everything, and it still says I'm not using the template! Help! (I'm trying to submit a Helios' Ray design and have 40 minutes left default smiley :o)


Send it to me if you want and i'll format it for you
Starynight
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By Retired breeder, 6th August 2020 00:03:55
1
Well it appears I couldn't get it to work in time... *sigh*
Arrggghhhh, Literally if I'd had another couple of minutes I'd have had it up. So frustrating... too much time spent today trying to raise passes. Decided in the end I'd buy some, but there just wasn't time.

Well, there are things I didn't get done on it, so I guess I can still post it. Maybe it will get entered next month without the birthday stuff. That got done last minute and looks pretty rough anyway.



I'm now laughing. That is definitely not really finished... Anyone want to play spot the stupid mistakes?

One of these days I'm actually going to get over my tendency to do things at the last minute.....
RowanGreen
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About my Haffy: I like the mane and tail (though they do need some tidying around the edges). I'm not sure they fit with the rest of the horse though. What do people think? Can I get away with them with just a bit of tidying up or do I need to do more to fit with the style of the rest of the horse?
RowanGreen
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By Retired breeder, 6th August 2020 16:22:00
5
RowanGreen wrote:

Anyone want to play spot the stupid mistakes?

Was "Haffy Birtday" on purpose? With the missing h in birthday?

RowanGreen wrote:

About my Haffy: I like the mane and tail (though they do need some tidying around the edges). I'm not sure they fit with the rest of the horse though. What do people think? Can I get away with them with just a bit of tidying up or do I need to do more to fit with the style of the rest of the horse?

I'd make the mane fit with the rest of the horse better, it's look more "finished".
'Haffy' was deliberate, 'Birtday' wasn't default smiley :s

(Also, when I wrote the cloud writing the colours in the background were less strong. When I strengthened them I found I'd written 115 instead of 15...)
RowanGreen
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By Retired breeder, 7th August 2020 02:19:35
3
I'm trying for a coat in Sept. or Nov.- critiques? (Blue is fire)
The chest neck and head is a little wonky, but other than that I don't think it's too bad. Constructive criticism is more than welcom default smiley :d
Hey HORSE_LOVER, I really like the concept. Note that lines cannot stray into the grey area around the template as then your submission won't be accepted. What program are you using. If you're wanting to get more detail then often working on a larger canvas size and then shrinking down onto the template can work.
EmmaKate66
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I'm working on this WIP at the moment. I still need to work on the lower legs/hooves and head. I'm stuck on the mane and tail - I was going to continue with the grey to white ombre look but now I think it looks too boring. Any thoughts?


EmmaKate66
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RowanGreen wrote:

About my Haffy: I like the mane and tail (though they do need some tidying around the edges). I'm not sure they fit with the rest of the horse though. What do people think? Can I get away with them with just a bit of tidying up or do I need to do more to fit with the style of the rest of the horse?


Call me strange, but I'd actually like to see the rest of the horse done more like the mane and tail and horn... default smiley :p
(a bit more like what you've done on the jawline and nostril, although more of a colour match - under the belly looks good)
gaff
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@ Gaff, thanks! The line under the lower jaw was done last minute, so I definitely intend to blend it in a bit like the belly. Glad you like the hair too. I guess I will probably duplicate that layer and try a bit of blending and shading: hopefully get it to match more without taking it too far away from what I've got. I end up with so many layers 'saved just in case/so I can compare'.

@HORSE_LOVER: good start. Looks a lot like some of my first sketches. I agree it's best to start on a much larger canvas and then shrink to fit the template after. Couple of thing I'd change: the tail currently looks like a puff of hair coming out of the rear. Remember horses actually have a tail like a dog's under the hair. Also the back hooves appear to be upside down. Ouch! Front and back hooves both flex more to the back than the front: flexing forwards the bottom line of the hoof shouldn't be much off the horizontal. (I know, it's only rough, so if you had already seen those or I'm misinterpreting the current blobs then excuse me!)

@ EmmaKate66: I think you need to add some colour. Nothing in real life is totally greyscale. I'd add some yellow to the mane and tail. You could also add some colour to the shine on the horse's body like it's picking up some environmental colour. Eg a bit of green or blue. And maybe a bit of yellow to match the tail.
RowanGreen
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Re the discussion about finished work being allowed in here. Just seen some more coats got pulled. And it's usually because of copyright. Seems to me it's harder for anyone stealing art to get through if more people are posting their WIP in here. Maybe the rule should be that you can post finished work if you've posted WIP. That way it would be an incentive to post WIP to (maybe) get some advantage. Maybe those who can show they've done the work should get an advantage.
RowanGreen
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