Speaking as another UMA artist, who loves buying and using UMAs, I agree with you and the person who mentioned Furvilla. I've completely quit or not even bothered playing games where the customizability goes so far that there's no coherent site style. I don't play Wajas anymore and I don't think they have user-made art, but they do have staffed artists with a wide range of styles and not a specific site one, which is also jarring to me when I go back to look at it from time to time.
One thing I love about FR is their commitment to style consistency. Lines and shadows, to me, are what let us get really creative, while still preserving that. I think it's pretty neat, tbh! And I love when those lines and shadows are used as a part of the UMA art. I try doing that in my own work.
I like what someone else said earlier about lines and shadows making it clearer what is site art and what is user-made art. I make that distinction in my own head, too. It makes a lot of sense to me because it allows the staff to maintain the vision for their game while also giving users the freedom to contribute :)
Anon who brought up the site art vs usermade distinction here.
I ultimately am neutral on keeping the shlines rule. I am an accent artist, but I've never had too much issue with it. I find enjoyment in figuring out ways to have fun with the shadow colors, but I also tend to make my skins morph to the dragon and don't draw over them with complete disregard for the form underneath. Not that the latter is a bad thing! Some of the most creative skins I've seen fall under that category. But I do understand why artists who do the latter are more frustrated than I am.
I've had skins rejected for shlines before but all of them got through after a single round of tweaks. I've emulated bounce lights and reflections by making some parts of the shadows darker or a different hue than others. Staff doesn't care if the shadows are rainbow hued or vary somewhat in darkness in the same area. As long as they stay visible on first glance at the 350x350 png.
This is just a long winded way of saying I do personally enjoy working with the limitations that shlines give us, and I appreciate being able to tell site art from usermade art apart. But I also wouldn't mind it if the rules got overhauled. I just personally haven't that many frustrating experiences with the way things currently are.
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Re: Skin & Accent Rules
(Anonymous) 2025-02-02 07:42 am (UTC)(link)One thing I love about FR is their commitment to style consistency. Lines and shadows, to me, are what let us get really creative, while still preserving that. I think it's pretty neat, tbh! And I love when those lines and shadows are used as a part of the UMA art. I try doing that in my own work.
I like what someone else said earlier about lines and shadows making it clearer what is site art and what is user-made art. I make that distinction in my own head, too. It makes a lot of sense to me because it allows the staff to maintain the vision for their game while also giving users the freedom to contribute :)
Re: Skin & Accent Rules
(Anonymous) 2025-02-02 09:49 am (UTC)(link)I ultimately am neutral on keeping the shlines rule. I am an accent artist, but I've never had too much issue with it. I find enjoyment in figuring out ways to have fun with the shadow colors, but I also tend to make my skins morph to the dragon and don't draw over them with complete disregard for the form underneath. Not that the latter is a bad thing! Some of the most creative skins I've seen fall under that category. But I do understand why artists who do the latter are more frustrated than I am.
I've had skins rejected for shlines before but all of them got through after a single round of tweaks. I've emulated bounce lights and reflections by making some parts of the shadows darker or a different hue than others. Staff doesn't care if the shadows are rainbow hued or vary somewhat in darkness in the same area. As long as they stay visible on first glance at the 350x350 png.
This is just a long winded way of saying I do personally enjoy working with the limitations that shlines give us, and I appreciate being able to tell site art from usermade art apart. But I also wouldn't mind it if the rules got overhauled. I just personally haven't that many frustrating experiences with the way things currently are.