Forum Rules and Etiquette

While Smogon has a general list of rules to follow and comply with, it goes witout saying that further guidelines that are only applied to Smeargle's Studio can be justified. Everyone who'd like to get involved in the Studio should be wise to look into these rules first. That way, you avoid unneccessary drama, and the moderating staff doesn't need to clean up any potential messes. Everybody wins! Not following the rules will either result in post deletion or thread locks, with a possibility for infraction depending on the severity of the offense.

If you want to have your own art thread, a minimum of three artwork is required.

This is probably the rule we see broken most, so it goes at the top! This generally refers to images, so it's perfectly acceptable to have three different pictures, drawings, and photos of the same thing, as long as they're not the exact same image. The same rule applies to Smeargle's Laptop, where three pieces are needed to create your own thread. If you want to showcase your written works or poems, then you either need three separate works, or that all of it together exceeds 1000 words. If you don't have enough to create your own thread, there are several mega threads where people can post and share their work:

Rate My Art /// General Sprites and Banners /// Writing Thread /// Music Thread

Smeargle's Studio is for original art.

To continue on the above rule, only artwork you've drawn, photographed, or otherwise made yourself from scratch are allowed. This includes digital art, traditional drawings, paintings, sculpting, written works, music, among others. This means that non-scratched sprites, as well as photo-collaged artwork, avatars, or banners aren't allowed in Smeargle's Studio, so please use the Smeargle's Laptop subforum for these. Do note that it's okay to share such visual works in your already established art thread, but, if the majority of your work is of that variety, then odds are that you're better off making a separate thread for it in Smeargle's Laptop.

Please keep your content appropriate.

Please do not make posts that are hateful or racist in nature. In addition, please do not post pornography or explicit, gore-intensive images or requests. Non-explicit works that are more suggestive will be judged on a case-by-case basis. Do your best to use hide tags and warn viewers if you're not sure your image is appropriate. The term Not Safe For Work (NSFW) is a good label to use in these situations, so that users know what to expect.

Do not necrobump threads.

While we allow the creator to necrobump their own threads with new content, as well as posting several times in succession (within reason), we ask that everyone else avoids bumping old threads with comments. There are plenty of users who would be happy if that artist was active again, so if they see the thread bumped, they can get their hopes up for nothing. So if an artist thread hasn't gotten any activity in a month, consider it a gray area. Besides, just press the like button on their posts if you want to show your appreciation for their craft! The only exception to this rule are community projects and ★ starred threads that aren't locked, since any member who feel that they have something to contribute to those threads are free to bump them with their thoughts or drawings.

Do NOT plagiarize.

Plagiarism means claiming that someone else's work is your own, which is clearly not allowed because we only encourage original art. Plagiarism will be met with hefty infractions, so don't do it. Traced images are okay, as long as you openly admit of doing it, and preferrably with a link to the original work.

Do not advertize.

Smeargle's Studio is not an optimal space to spread the word about projects or other sites related to Pokémon art, but it's okay to mention them if you have an art thread of your own where you post art dedicated to that project or site. Especially, do not advertise other people's art. If the original artist wants to share their art, they can make their own thread.

Try to put some substance into your posts.

Posting one-liners, such as "great", "this sucks", "cool", or anything else that can just be summarized by those words, is discouraged. Comments like that will get your point across, but don't really add anything to the forum, or help the artist know what they did wrong or right! If you genuinely enjoy someone's work, try to be more specific. If not, odds are that your post may be deleted, and spamming multiple threads with such comments may result in an infraction. If you want to show your admiration but have nothing to say, remember to use the like button! Also try to avoid heated arguments. If you've explained your angle but the artist won't listen, then walk away, and artists who feel that a user is being too adamant in their own art threads are free to either ignore those posts or involve the studio moderators.

That should be the gist of it. You don't have to be terrified of potentially breaking certain rules since we're generally a chill bunch who can understand that learning new rules can be difficult. If you have any questions about this forum, then ask a question in this thread, or consult any of the studio's staff members who are listed in this thread.