Doll Creation FAQ and rules! Updated 23.02.08. READ!

[Elanorea]

This is the FAQ for doll related questions. To read a more general FAQ about the forums, go here

1. What is this forum for?
This forum is for showing off your handdrawn dolls, bases and pixel art, and talking about art other people have posted. Dollmaker dolls and talk about dollmakers should go to the Doll Makers forum.

2. What are dolls, anyway?

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

'Dollz', 'Cartoon Dolls' or 'Pixel Dolls' are small pixellated images, generally of people. They are mainly used online as Avatars, Signatures or just displayed as artwork on personal webpages.
Dolls range in size from being a few pixels high to a few hundred pixels high. Generally, dolls are human figures (mainly female), although there have been instances of animals being named "dolls." Dolls are generally dressed, and come in a wide range of styles.

To read more, go to Wikipedia

3. How do I make dolls?
You can make dolls using a dollmaker if you don't want to/can't draw your own. There are dollmakers on this site, and contrary to what many people believe, most of it is NOT premium only and you do NOT have to pay to make dolls (some special dollmakers are premium only, but most of them are free for everyone). Also, there are dollmakers on many many other sites if you can't find what you need here, just search and you'll find plenty of different ones. You can also edit the dolls you make with a program like Paint to make them more original.

4. How do I make handdrawn dolls?
First you need a base. Some good bases can be found at Xandorra's Place, ILCK and a load of other places. Of course, you can always draw one yourself if you think you're up to it. If you have a base but don't have any idea what to do next, then read some tutorials at Xandorra's Place. There is also a tutorial search engine on that site. After reading the tutorials, all you need to do is get drawing - make the clothes, hair, accessories, etc. Don't worry if your dolls are not very good, even the most talented dolls weren't perfect at first! And be sure to post your doll on this forum. We all want to see it

5. How do I make a doll site?
The first step is to make something to put on your site. Dolls, bases, maybe a dollmaker, tutorials, stuff like that. Of course, you can add more later. If you already have that, you need to find a good host. Freewebs, GeoCities http://www.thefreesite.com, Bravenet and many more offer free hosting. Some of these sites also have the option to upgrade your site to a 'premium' version for money. Most hosting sites have tutorials on how to make a webpage. If you need help with HTML, go to HTML Goodies.

6. How do I post a doll on the forum?
First you need to host it on an image hosting site like ImageShack orPhotobucket.
You should get a number of codes. Copy the one for forums (it should be something like this: [img ]http://pictureurl[/img ], without the spaces) and paste it into the message body when you post. Try to keep all your dolls in one thread, and do not post your dolls into someone else's thread!

RULES
- Chatting
Chatting is not allowed on these forums. This includes creating threads with no other purpose than to chat, and also hijacking other threads to chat with somebody. If you just want to talk to people, go to a chat room, and use PMs for personal matters.

- SPAM
SPAM means Stupid Pointless Annoying Messages, and is not allowed on these forums. Spamming is any kind of pointless and/or out-of-context posts, like when you post nothing but a smiley, post without adding anything useful (like when a question has already been answered and you say: "Oh, I didn't know that!"), when you post only one word like 'lol' or 'hi' or post multiple times in a row without good reason, or when you ask a question in a thread that was about a different topic (eg. there's a thread about premium, and you just randomly ask how to make a poll). If you need to ask a question, make a new topic, don't hijack other threads!

- Replying to SPAM
Do not be unnecessarily rude when replying to spam posts. The spammer might be a newbie, who doesn't know much about forums yet. One (1) polite reply telling the spammer what he/she is doing wrong is usually enough. If you see that somebody has already replied and said everything necessary, there is no need to make another reply. Usually there is no need to report posts or PM mods, as they will see the post by themself and deal with it as soon as they can. However, if the spam isn't dealt with for some time, you may want to contact a mod in case they've overlooked it.

- Questions
Please read all FAQs and forums carefully to see if your question has already been answered somewhere. Only make a new thread if you can't find an answer anywhere.

- Grammar
Please pay attention to your spelling and grammar. That also includes correct capitals and punctuation. We understand that everyone makes mistakes and some have trouble writing in English, but at least try to write correctly.

- Chatspeak
This is allowed in moderation. We can tolerate a couple of shortened words like 'u' instead of 'you' and 'r' instead of 'are' (though we would prefer if you didn't use them), but not entire posts written in incomprehensible chatspeak gibberish. Remember that this forum doesn't have a character limit so there is no real need to shorten your words.

- Gravedigging
Gravedigging means posting in old topics that have exhausted their purpose, and it is generally not allowed. Always check the post dates; if the last post was made more than a month ago, you probably shouldn't post. One exception to this rule is doll threads - if you are coming back from a hiatus, you are allowed and encouraged to bring up your old doll thread instead of creating a new one.

- Doll threads
Please try to keep your dolls to one thread. As stated above, doll threads are exempt from gravedigging rules, so you can and should bring your old thread back in most cases. Even though nobody will frown on you if you decide to start a new thread instead of resurrecting a three-year-old one, creating multiple doll threads in a short span of time is still a big no-no.
If you want to create a new thread for whatever reason, PM a mod and ask your old thread to be locked to prevent confusion.

- Guidelines for commenting dolls and Constructive Criticism:
- If you do not want Constructive Criticism (CC), please state this in your post.
- Respect the wishes of the doller. If she says she doesn't want CC, don't criticise!
- Make your comments useful. If the artist wants CC, you should try to give some. If you don't criticise, you should at least try to point out something that is good about the doll (ex. "Nice hair" or "Great shading").
- Don't get rude with CC. Remember, it is supposed to be Constructive Criticism, not flaming! Comments like "This doll sucks!" are not useful at all. Also, it is considered polite to always mention something positive, instead of just giving a huge list of everything that's wrong with the doll.
- Do not spam comments just to increase your post count. Spamming comments means posting exactly the same short comment in a number of threads (ex. "good doll"), or quoting a previous comment without adding anything. Comment-spam shall be treated as any other kind of spam, ie deleted.

If anything remains unclear about the questions answered here or you want to add something, post in this thread, so I can see it and help you. If you want to ask about something else, first look if there isn't a thread where this question has already been answered and only make a new thread if there's none. Try to specify what your problem is, don't just post: 'I need help', because then people won't know what you need help with and you'll most likely be ignored.

Thanks for reading and happy dolling!