Warriors Wiki:Charart/Guidelines

Herein lie the basic guidelines for Project Character Art so as not to take up room on the main page.

Current Projects
This table on the main Project page is to be used to let others know which character and rank you are currently working on, so dispute does not rise on which member started working on it first.

Guidelines for using the table:


 * If your name is not entered in the table, enter it by editing the section and adding a row with your name in the same fashion as the others. It should be listed alphabetically.
 * Example:


 * Bramble
 * Charart
 * Date
 * Date


 * Using the model above, enter the character and rank you are currently working on in place of 'Charart'.
 * Please use the correct rank abbreviations to put beside your character; these are listed on the main page.
 * Example: Firestar (L)


 * Using the model above, enter the date of the day that you entered the character and rank, so you can be held responsible for getting the art done and not holding the character for a long measure of time. Replace 'Date' with the date of that day.
 * A single piece of art may only be on the table for two weeks, due to this being a more than adequate amount of time for an image to be done. Once an image is put up for approval on the talk page, the time limit is irrelevant, and once the image is approved/declined it can be removed from the table.
 * Please CHECK THE TABLE before adding a character to your name; arguments have been known to break out over who has laid claim to the image.
 * Pressing the Ctrl and F keys on your keyboard will pop up a search feature, where you can search the character and make sure it has not already been claimed.
 * If a member claims a character that is already on the table, that member will be given a 24-hour ban. There is no excuse for claiming a character that is already there.
 * If the same member does this more than two times, a 24 hour ban will be given and the member will be removed from the Project.
 * If a member enters a character without putting the date, the character will be removed.
 * If unperceived circumstances (such as the talk page being full) prevent a member from getting his/her image up within two weeks, the member can renew the character claim and date after the two weeks expire.

Membership Table
This table show which users belong to the Project, and lists users according to their qualifications.


 * When a user first joins the Project, he/she will be added as an apprentice.
 * If an apprentice becomes inactive right after joining, that apprentice can be removed from the Project.
 * If an apprentice becomes inactive for more than a month, that apprentice can be removed from the Project.
 * After the new member has gotten 3-4 images approved, he/she will be moved to the warrior listing.
 * Qualifications for being moved to a senior warrior on the table are listed on the nominations page.
 * If a warrior is inactive for more than two months, than that member will be moved to the elder listing.
 * If the elder remains inactive for more than three months, than that member will be removed from the Project.
 * Regular members may NOT edit the membership table.

Project Lead Duties
These include duties that other members may not do on the main Project page. The leads include the leader, the deputy, and the senior warriors.

Member Table


 * The leads may edit the members table as follows:
 * When a user asks to join on the talk page, any lead may add them into the table under the apprentice listing.
 * Once an apprentice is eligible, any lead may move them from the apprentice listing into the warrior listing.
 * If an apprentice becomes inactive for more than a month, any lead may remove them from the Project.
 * Once a warrior becomes inactive for the specified period of time, any lead may move them from the warrior listing to the elder listing.
 * Once an elder's listing has expired, any lead may remove them from the Project.
 * The leader or deputy may edit the table as follows:
 * Following a successful nomination, the leader or deputy may move a member from the warrior listing to the senior warrior listing.

News Section


 * Only one lead, designated by the leader, may edit the News section. As of now, the current news editor is Mousetalon.

Image Sections

 * When an image is put up for approval, a new section should be added, and the heading should read: ' Character - For Approval'
 * An image up for approval is an image an artist submits to be critiqued by all the Project members, and when it is seen to qualify for the best possible level of excellence, will be approved and placed on its respective article.
 * If the image is approved, declined, or withdrawn by its artist, the 'For Approval' will be changed accordingly to 'Approved', 'Declined', or 'Withdrawn'.
 * There are only ever to be thirty-five image sections up for approval at one time.
 * Discussions and declined/approved sections should be subtracted from the total section number to provide how many image sections are up for approval. If the number of images up for approval is at thirty-five, a user should wait before adding another.
 * Images that should not be put up for approval include fan-made characters and character ranks already completed.
 * A user is only ever to have one image section up for approval at any one time.
 * The image being put up for approval should be taken out of thumbnail; the coding should look like this: Firestar.warrior.png]], not like this: [[File:Firestar.warrior.png
 * Two different users cannot put up two different images of the same character rank at the same time.

Joining

 * A new section should be added when a user is requesting to join the Project, and the heading should read: 'UserName - Join Request'.
 * There are no requirements needed for the user to be accepted into the Project.
 * A Project lead will then add the user into the member list and provide any helpful links that the new member could benefit from.
 * It should be noted that a user does not have to join the Project to put up art and participate.

Discussion Sections

 * A new section should be added when discussions are started, and should have the topic being discussed in the heading of the section.
 * Appropriate discussions should include questions that adhere to the Project as a whole, an idea that could improve the Project, an error in the Project being pointed out, or a user asking for help with navigation of the Project.
 * Inappropriate discussion topics include personal user notices; i.e: absence notice.

Project Lead Duties
These include duties that other users are not permitted to do on the Project talk page. The Project leads include the leader, the deputy, and the senior warriors.

Archiving

 * Everything on a talk page should always be archived and stored away safely, so anyone can look back at something for reference.
 * Discussion sections should be archived in the current Discussion Archive, any approved image sections should be archived in the current Approved Art Archive, and any declined or withdrawn image sections should be archived in the current Declined Art Archive.
 * Talk page sections should never be blanked. No user is permitted to blank a section off the talk page or cover it with something else.

Approving/Declining
Approving is the process of accepting an image into the main database for use in the main namespace articles.


 * When a Project lead believes an image is qualified enough to be placed on its article, the image should not be approved right away. Instead, the customary 'comments before approval' or 'CBA' should be placed in the image section for twenty-four hours.
 * If during the twenty-four hours someone critiques the image, the twenty-four hours will expire until the artist complies with the criticism. The hours then can be restarted by an additional CBA.
 * If the twenty-four hours finish with no criticism, then a Project lead should post 'Approved' in the image section and change the heading to Character - Approved.
 * The section can then be archived in the current approved art archive, and the image in question will be placed on its respective article.

Declining is the process of refusing an image for use in the main namespace articles.


 * Reasons for a Project lead to immediately decline an image are as follows; copyright infringement, a completely unneeded image for whatever reason, an image that has been claimed by another user (see Current Projects section of page), two separate images of the same character rank up for approval simultaneously; newest one should be declined, and an image that is a fan-made character.
 * Reasons for a Project lead to decline an image up for approval are as follows; lack of work on updates to image or the user becoming unable to work on the image.
 * When declining, a Project lead should post 'Declined due to (reason for declining)' and change the heading to Character - Declined.
 * The section can then be archived in the current declined art archive, and the image link should be given  tags so it can be deleted from the wiki without leaving redlinks.

Accepting Join Requests

 * A lead should accept a join request whenever one crops up, unless the user is ineligible.
 * The lead should thank the user for his/her interest, and provide any links that would be beneficial to the user in the Project.
 * The lead would then add the new member into the Project table on the main page, under the listing of apprentice.

Image Guidelines
These are guidelines for how an artist should choose to portray a character.

Clan Leader Blanks

 * The Clan leader blanks should only be used to depict traditional Clan leaders, and not leaders of regular groups or even other organized units, such as BloodClan.
 * A traditional Clan would be the Clans who recognize StarClan and the Warrior Code (ThunderClan, WindClan, RiverClan, SkyClan, ShadowClan)
 * Clan leaders who did not receive their proper name and nine lives but still were shown as a leader of their Clan will be given a depiction with a Clan leader blank.

Rogue Blanks

 * All adult cats that are classified as a rogue in the books should be given a rogue blank.
 * All BloodClan cats are depicted with modified rogue blanks, with toothed collars and dog's teeth sheathed on their claws.

Alternative Images

 * These are images made that reflect an author mistake in the book, mainly a major description change.
 * An alternative image should NOT be made if only the gender of the cat is changed.
 * An alternative image should be made if a major injury happens to the character in question, such as Briarlight or Brightheart. The alternative should be made in the same rank.
 * Discussions can occur to discuss if an injury is major enough to count.
 * An alternative image should be made for a pelt color change or a marking change. Eye color only does not count.
 * If in the same instance in the book, both the eye color and the pelt color change, an alternative can be made displaying both.
 * An alternative image should NOT be made when a synonym of a color is used in the books; i.e: ginger instead of golden brown, cream instead of yellow, etc.

Comments

 * Be detailed when critiquing; the artist may not know what you mean otherwise.
 * Explain how to fix something, don't tell the artist to fix it.
 * Do not post just to restate a comment. This creates clutter and long, long sections.
 * Compliments are great, but they cause clutter. Do not post just to say, "Great job!"
 * Exception:If there have been no constructive comments for 24 hours, it is permitted to say, "I see nothing wrong, wonderful job."


 * Do not post conversational comments; that is, comments with no constructive merit. This is not a chatting page, this is for solid, constructive criticism.
 * The artist is entitled to his/her opinion as well as others, and well-worded, polite debates are permitted. This may be about color, markings, or the formation/texture of the image.
 * Caps, multiple exclamation points, and insults are not permitted.

Behavior

 * Members are expected to be polite and courteous towards their fellows, in critique and discussion.
 * Aggression and any form of personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Violation of User Conduct

 * If a fight starts up between two or more aggressive users on the talk page, the participants are to be given a 24-hour ban. Their comments will be struck out.
 * If the artist is involved, he/she will also be given a ban and the image will be declined. It may not be re-submitted for a week.
 * If the same users start a fight more than two times, they will be given a ban and they will be removed from the Project.
 * If a member uses caps, multiple exclamation points, and/or insults another member, that member will be given a warning by a Project lead.
 * If behavior continues, a 24-hour ban is given, and possible eventual removal from the Project.

Copyright

 * Under no circumstances should artwork of the cats from the Warriors books be used in this Project; they are copyrighted, and the Project encourages original art.