WCRPD Wiki:Charart/Guidelines

'''Project:Charart is dedicated to providing accurate, comprehensive art of all the characters listed on WCRPD. In order for the site to remain neat and strung together, we ask that you use only the pixel blanks provided to make character images for this site.''' = Project Basics =

Joining the Project
If you are interested in joining the Project, you must leave a heading on the talk page including your username and "join request" or something of that calibre. A project lead will approve your request within the next couple of days or sooner. Please do not spam admins on their talk pages or elsewhere to approve your request- this will result in them taking longer to do so. Once you are added into the Project, you will assume the lowest-ranking role available. As of the time of writing, the Project is very new and short on members, so higher roles are available more readily on a first-come basis. This is to ensure that enough higher roles exist to aid with the image approval process. For example, after the senior warrior roles are filled, new members will be placed into the Warrior category, and so on. Higher roles are given more privileges in the Project; for example, Warriors and above may tweak or redo images (with prior approval), Senior Warriors and above can CBA, etc. In order to rank up, you must get a certain number of images officially approved. This ensures that you have gained the necessary knowledge to be able to judge others' images. This is as follows: Apprentice rank: 2 images approved Warrior rank: 4 images approved Senior warrior rank: 10 images approved Do not ask Project leads to rank you up if you do not meet these requirements. Repeatedly spamming leads requesting a higher rank will eventually result in your removal from the Project.

Image Claims
Before you make a character art, consider... -> If you have permission to do so. If you want to make charart for a cat that isn't yours, you must ask the user who owns that character beforehand, and respect their right to decline. If a character belongs to you, you automatically own the right to its' art creation unless you explicitly give permission to someone else. -> If it is necessary. If your character currently holds a certain rank or has held it in the past, then that's alright. Please refrain from making charart for ranks that the character has not yet filled (or, at least, do not upload these for approval until that time comes). -> If you have the time to dedicate to the piece. Everyone works at their own pace, but please bear in mind that images cannot be up on the approval page forever.

Creating a Charart
In order to make your art, you need to first head to the main Project page and select the correct pixel blank for your cat's rank & pelt length. Try to make the choice of blank pertain to the life image, as using a longhaired blank for a character whose life image features a shorthair can be confusing. Oriental blanks must only be used where the life image features an oriental shorthair or similar, and where it is specified in the description that the cat is of an oriental build. If your cat is mediumfurred (i.e neither long nor short haired) you have the choice of either blank, although the longhair is recommended in this scenario. If your cat is an oriental longhair, contact Furze to obtain the correct blank (the files are on her computer, but not uploaded to the wiki as they are very rarely needed). Ensure that you do not resize the canvas throughout the whole image making process. This promotes consistency throughout the Project. Make sure your image is saved as a .png, and has a transparent background. It is also recommended to save the image in its' original layers (for example a .psd, .xcf, etc), as this allows you to easily make changes if needs be. Detailed tutorials on how to create Charart can be found here. '''The blanks available on this site, including all images made with them, must not be used outside of WCRPD. This includes images that you have created yourself, as they are still featuring the original blank. The only exceptions to this are use as profile pictures on fandom, or other social media sites (but credit to the artist must be given in this case). Do not use an image another user has made without their permission. Any reports of art theft from this site will be taken extremely seriously and reported to FANDOM.'''

Uploading your Charart
Once you are satisfied with your image, you may upload it to the approval page. Please be sure that the file is in .png format and named correctly. Examples of correct file names are "Pebblepelt.warrior.png", "Berryjaw.kit.png", "Tsuyoshi.loner.png", and so on. Remember to check that the image is the correct size and is transparent, then click "add new topic" in the top right-hand corner of the page, and create a heading for your post. This must include the character's name and a link to their page, a dash and "For Approval". For example: Furze'tuft (Kit) - For Approval Directly underneath this heading should be your image. Ensure you do not align the image, and that it is fully-sized (i.e not a thumbnail). You may add whatever text you like, but try to keep it short. End the post with four "~"s. Following your upload, other members of the Project are free to leave comments and constructive criticism. Please remember to be kind and respectful when leaving comments, and try to provide as much guidance as possible on what needs to be changed. The aim of the commenting system is to promote improvement, not to tear other users down. Positive comments and praise are allowed, but try to accompany these with a suggestion of some sort or else the page becomes cluttered. Any cruel comments belittling or mocking others' work will be taken down and action taken against the user responsible.

Giving & Responding to feedback
It may take between a few minutes to a few days for other users to leave comments on your image- it depends of the activity of the wiki at that time- but once comments are received, you are then expected to respond to these by adjusting the part of the Charart as suggested. Common suggestions include defining shading, cleaning up waste (stray pixels around the image) and adjusting colours to better resemble the cat's life image. ''Note: chararts do not have to resemble life images to a T, but at the least pelt colours should match. It is understandable that a life image of a cat may not perfectly resemble your character, e.g the eye colour may be different or it may be lacking scars, nicked ears, etc. Small differences are acceptable, but creating a charart of a white cat when its description or life image features a tabby would be unacceptable.'' Once you have changed the image to reflect the comments, please reupload over the original file and comment "reuploaded" or something of the sort under the post to let others know that you have made use of their advice. Some things can be easily corrected, such as removing waste or adding eye depth, whilst others may be far more complex, for example redoing stripes to match the cat's description or accounting for missing limbs, injuries or deformities. If you at any point get stuck, don't be afraid to ask project leads for guidance (but don't expect them to do the image for you). Both the Project leader and deputy are available on Discord, which can be found on their respective profiles, but contacting members through their talk pages first is preferable.

Outcomes
If an image has gone a few days without comment and project leads can see no further improvements that need to be made, the "For Approval" heading will be changed to "CBA". This stands for Comments Before Approval, which signifies the start of a 24-hour period in which the image will be approved if no further criticism is given. All comments following this will be reviewed by a Project lead and they will determine whether the suggestion is necessary. If yes, the CBA will end and the heading will be changed back to "For Approval" until a reupload is made and a lead CBAs the image again. If no, the CBA will continue. Once the 24 hour period is up, the image will be officially approved, archived, and can be featured on the character's page. ''Images that have not yet passed the approval process cannot be featured on character's pages. Placeholders are allowed, but they must use the Placeholder.png file.'' If a user does not reupload an image within a reasonable amount of time after receiving comments, they will at first receive a warning to upload the changes or risk having the image declined. This time period is unspecified, and depends on the amount of changes that need to be made and the expected time this will take. If the user still does not update the image within the next few days or state when they are planning on doing so, the image will be declined. The user must make the required changes to the image before putting it up for approval once again. If a user decides they no longer wish to work on an image, they may withdraw it. This can be done without permission, but the user must then wait a week before they can put that image up for approval again. This is to prevent abuse of the approval system. If a withdrawn image is reuploaded to the approval page before the time limit has expired, it will immediately be declined and the one-week counter will restart.

Use of approved images on WCRPD
Once an image has been approved, the only character page it is allowed to be used is its' own. Do not reuse chararts you have made for other character pages- every character must have an original charart. You are free to make other similar chararts for visually similar cats, but do not reuse the exact same charart for two characters (the only exception to this is in the case of twins). You must not copy or trace chararts from other users to use as your own without their prior permission. Chararts, whether they have been approved or not, are allowed to be used on user pages- however, please be respectful and ask the original creator of the art if it does not belong to you. You are allowed to make and upload your own charart for personal images, however, and this is not subject to any approval process. You are also permitted to request other users to make you a personal charart, however, please bear in mind that they may be busy and decline your request. Do not spam every user in the Project at once asking for art.