Sticky Where to get art & requesting etiquette

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We understand that many of the visitors in Smeargle's Studio come here in search of art or illustrations for their various projects and activities, so in order to help you find the right place quickly, here's a list of various places around the studio where art can be requested.

Do note that personal requests (such as avatars, signatures, banners for Trading threads and RMTs, and anything similar to it) need to be requested by our artists personally. Also remember that it is entirely up to their choice to do it for free or not, and it goes without saying that ellaborate requests should probably be handled as a commission.

The Workshop

Most of our requests can usually be referred here. If you have a community thread or project on the forums that could use some nice art in the first post, or if you are hosting a tournament that needs a banner, this is a good place to go. Anything else related to projects and activities on Smogon or Pokemon Showdown can usually be requested here.

Art for Articles

All of the articles that gets added to the website usually receives artwork, but if you have something that's gonna get featured in the Smogon archives or anything else that can be considered official Smogon business, make a request in this thread.

Requesting Etiquette

When reaching out to artists privately for personal art, or continuing discussion about your request after your post in The Workshop, please keep in mind the following:

  • Be upfront about your requirements, including deadlines - Make sure to be clear and concise on what exactly it is that you would like to see in the art, and if you're going through The Workshop, try to include everything in your initial post so everyone's on the same page. Mistakes happen and you might forget to bring up something that'd be an important part of your request, but don't expect the artist to accept dong unexpected changes mid-way through or towards already finishing the illustration. As far as deadlines go, please don't downplay it if it's a last-minute thing, be clear about it and someone might be able to jump in and help out, but if not, don't pressure someone into finish things sooner that you initially mentioned.
  • Respect limits of volunteer work - Please don't nitpick, expect multiple corrections or do-overs for your request. None of the artists are going into these illustrations hoping to disappoint the requester, but be reasonable. For the most part, you just get what you get based on what you asked for. If an artist makes a genuine mistake it's of course fine to point it out if it's problematic, but otherwise if you're going into a project expecting an elaborate piece with several change requests along the process, you're going into commission territory. Keep your expectations in check and reasonable!
  • Be mindful and communicate - Honestly, both you and the artist will get out of the interaction happy if you acknowledge their effort and keep in touch. If you reach out to us about progress we will most likely get back to you on how we're doing, and you might also get a chance to potentially notice if something major has been overlooked, which would otherwise be too late for once we get to coloring or finishing touches. Communicating well helps so much compared to just leaving the artist in the dark, and if we're on the same page everyone's happy with the end result.
  • Appreciation - Just a thanks or a kind word can mean a bunch. The nature of volunteer work can leave a lot of smogon contributors in general demotivated, and a lot of artists on the forums invest a lot of themselves into their work, so any kind of message on your end to remind them that you appreciate it could make their day. Try to keep that in mind!
based on old thread from Bummer & post from Shadowshocker
 
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