Artist Primer

Whether you’re a new artist or seasoned expert, the information below will help you get the most out of VoD.

Your Importance

I would like to extended an especially warm welcome to you. This is a small place where we try and foster a sense of community, helping each other learn and grow as artists. We have a deep interest in, and passion for visual art. We also believe art should be explored with as few restrictions as possible. However, there are rules, and you are asked to kindly respect them.

Galleries

There are two gallery categories inside VoD:

• Main Hall - VoD's main gallery. Anything that does not contain extreme subject matter goes here.
• Back Room - Artwork featuring darker themes and extreme subject matter: Violence (includes rape and mutiliation), bestiality, hard BDSM, and death. Viewer discretion advised. You may post whatever you like, but please consider the sensibilities of viewers.

• Digital Art - Computer-generated, 3D-rendered images made with apps like Daz Studio, Poser, Blender, et al.
• Traditional Art - Drawings, paintings, and sketches.
• AI Generated Art - Generative art made with apps like Stable Diffusion and Midjourney. Image dumps of similar looking content based on variations of different prompts are strictly prohibited and will be deleted.
• AI Enhanced Art - Member art enhanced with generative AI apps like Stable Diffusion and Midjourney. Image dumps of similar looking content based on variations of different prompts are strictly prohibited and will be deleted.

Their redundancy is to ensure artists can easily determine which gallery category their work is most appropriate for, regardless of their chosen medium.

AI Art

VoD began allowing AI art on March 27th, 2024. Despite the adverse impact AI has had on creative industries, professional artists have found ways to incorporate it into their workflows and continue making a living. Hobbyists I talked to told me the ethical debate surrounding its process of scraping the web for datasets is a separate issue for them. As fellow hobbyists, they just want to have fun and test its limits, whether enhancing their original work or creating new images. I must adapt if I want VoD to stay relevant and be successful.

To that end, I created separate forums for AI art because of the extremely divisive nature of the medium - some people loathe and refuse to look at AI art whenever possible. I also want viewers to know whether they're looking at enhanced or generated art.

Hard BDSM

The Back Room's description above references something called "hard BDSM". This is of particular importance to be mindful of when sharing your work here.

The acronym means Bondage, Discipline (or Domination), Sadism, and Masochism. It’s a popular subject among artists. All characters involved are consenting adults and derive a great deal of pleasure from their experiences.

Hard BDSM includes: Choking, anal sex, electro play, fisting, needles, suspension bondage, whipping, caning, fire play, blood, urine, and feces.

If your work contains any of those elements, it belongs in the Back Room.

Constructive Criticism

Our goal is to promote a sense of camaraderie while encouraging constructive criticism. To that end, you should expect – and accept – that not every comment you receive will be filled with blanket praise. For discussion of artwork to be meaningful it has to concentrate on areas that can be improved.

Storage

VoD uses a shared hosting plan with unlimited storage and bandwidth. Nevertheless, I’ve configured a 4 MB limit for file attachments. If you’d like to share something larger, you’re welcome and encouraged to link to your favorite image hosting service.

Up to 20 images can be attached to a message. If you'd like to add more and you have your own hosting site, you’re welcome to link to it.