IMPORTANT: Gallery Stricter Rules!

I think that many of you have noticed that I have been accepting works that really should not be in the gallery.  It's one thing to have a few dollmakers here and there.  It's quite another thing to see literally hundreds of artwork from the same few people and even worse to see that they should not be in the gallery (or sometimes break deviantART copyright rules).  I am not singling out anyone.  There have been many people who have done this.  I recognize a certain amount (maybe even a great amount) of blame for the gallery turning into one big free-for-all sketch dump just because I don't like to disappoint people.  But there is a method to my madness.  The recent giant sketch dumps have been accepted from an important purpose: for me to weed out everything together and impose more rules.

I don't really know what to do for everything specifically.  Although, for the most part, it is pretty obvious what is a dollmaker, what is a screenshot from a TV show or movie, and what is a magnificent oil painting that took weeks for someone to prepare.  However, there is definitely some grey area.  So this is what I will do FOR NOW. . . .

(This means I'm using these as MINIMAL rules, and more strict rules will come later).

Anything that is a screenshot from a movie, TV show, or other media that is used without permission or Creative Commons License from a copyrighted image source.  If you use an image as such, it doesn't matter how much you've edited it; it's not even allowed on deviantART at all.

Basically, that means you can't just pause a movie or TV, take a picture of it, and then use it as your own creative work.  For example, if you are watching a movie on YouTube, press PRINT SCREEN, save it on your computer, and then upload it to deviantART, it does NOT count as your work!


Examples:

SCREENSHOT IMAGES WITH WATERMARKS WILL BE DELETED, REMOVED, OR DECLINED ON SIGHT!

Screenshots from Disney movies and TV shows that WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!  The easiest way to spot a screenshot is when it already has a watermark on it.  A watermark is a translucent image put on a picture to show that it belongs to something else.  For example, the Disney symbol in the corner is a watermark.  The easiest way to be able to tell whether something is a screenshot of a TV show or movie is the watermark.  Sometimes artists will put their own watermarks on images to claim ownership and prevent art theft, but those are usually put in the center of the image rather than in a corner.  Any screenshot with a Disney watermark on it that is not used with permission will be declined or removed from the gallery.

USING COPYRIGHTED IMAGES FROM OTHER SITES WITHOUT PERMISSION
<---- This is a picture of Chicha from The Emperor's New Groove.  I found it randomly on the Internet from a site called fanpop.com.  I didn't even do anything to this picture, so I definitely cannot say it is my own work.  If I were to use this picture on deviantART and claim it as my own artwork, I would be committing copyright infringement and breaking the rules of dA.  Now I STRONGLY doubt that you would get into any legal trouble, but there a lot of regular deviantART members who are very emphatic about the rules and might ask you to take down the picture or have deviantART delete it for you.  I'm not exactly sure how much trouble you'd get in, but it goes against deviantART's rules, so even if I wanted to let people put these things in the gallery, I couldn't.

ADDING TEXT TO COPYRIGHTED IMAGES
<---- This is the same picture as the one above except I put the words "*Rolls Eyes*" on it.  Even though I edited it, it doesn't count as being my own artwork.  It is against deviantART's rules just as much as the unedited picture.

EDITING COPYRIGHTED IMAGES WITHOUT PERMISSION
<--- So I had a bit of fun and edited the picture quite a bit.  However, that still doesn't mean I can use it on deviantART and claim it as my own.  Unless I have the permission of whoever owns the picture, I can't just edit it and say it's mine.  It's against dA rules.

"CASTING" PICTURES
<--- I've seen this type of image a lot before.  A "casting picture" is when you take a character (usually fictional) and match them up with a celebrity who you think should play them in a movie or TV show.  This one is Emmanuelle Chriqui as Chicha from The Emperor's New Groove.   Although I used to believe that people were pretty thoughtful and clever when making these photo mash-ups, it took about 30 seconds for me to find a good picture on Google Images and make this.  Thus, I am thinking it doesn't take very long for anyone else.  In casting pictures, the character and the celebrity photos are almost always taken from a copyrighted source and edited only for size.  So instead of making it more acceptable towards the rules, it only gets worse because now you have two photos that you don't own.  This is against dA rules if both pictures come from another site.  If you drew your own character and owned the picture of the celebrity because you took it yourself or found it on Creative Commons license, then it's OK.  But otherwise, it's against deviantART rules and the rules of Disney Heroines' gallery.

"DEMOTIVATIONAL POSTERS"
<--- This type of image is very popular on the Internet as well as deviantART.  It's a satire of "motivational posters" that you'd often see in an elementary school nurse's office or in a cubicle.  Motivational posters usually have a simple photograph and short inspirational caption.  "Demotivational posters" can have a picture of almost anything and has a caption underneath that's supposed to be funny.  Unfortunately, most Demotivational posters have copyrighted images on them that people find on a five-second Google search because they don't take very long to make or think of.  It is possible that some people use their own images or use Creative Commons or other type of credit, and that's OK.  You can do that on deviantART, and you can submit something to the gallery like that.  However, I would guess that at least 99% of all of them are from copyright material, so unless you have permission for all images or created the images yourself, do NOT submit one to the gallery because I can't accept it;  Demotivational Posters with copyrighted material without permission or Creative Commons license are not allowed on deviantART.

"MASH UPS"
< ----  I'm not really sure if it's officially called "mash ups," but that's what I call it.  Basically, it's when you take a bunch of screenshots or other copyrighted pictures and stick them together in a sort of collage.  Not only does this violate the rules on copyright, but there really is no effort in putting these things together.  They will be removed on sight from the gallery!

"MASH UPS" WITH TEXT
<--- Adding text to a "mash up" doesn't make it allowed in the gallery.  Neither does adding another Disney picture into it.  THESE WILL BE DELETED ON SITE!

"MASH UP" WITH ONE VALID PICTURE AND ONE OR MORE COPYRIGHTED PICTURES FROM DISNEY OR NON-DISNEY CHARACTERS
<--- Even though the Snow White part is acceptable, it does NOT make Jack Frost acceptable just because they are together.  Text doesn't help either.  You CAN put two pictures together if there is a least one Disney heroine from the approved list, BUT all content has to be allowed on deviantART, no misuse of copyright.

NEW DOLLMAKER RULES

Okay, I know that the dollmakers have been very controversial. I have no problem with dollmakers, but some people have been submitting anywhere from fifty to one hundred dollmaker pictures at once into the folder.

FROM NOW ON, THERE WILL BE A LIMIT OF ONE DOLLMAKER IMAGE PER PERSON PER DAY ACCEPTED INTO THE GALLERY!  ALL OTHER DOLLMAKER IMAGES AFTER THAT WILL BE DECLINED!  YOU CANNOT SUBMIT A TON OF DOLLMAKERS AT ONCE AND EXPECT THAT I WILL APPROVE ONE DAY AND WAIT FOR TOMORROW FOR ME TO ACCEPT YOUR SECOND, DAY AFTER YOUR THIRD!  ONLY ONE AT A TIME!

Example:
<-- Sinead O'Connor as Cinderella and Mulan as a eunuch (and a bit more authentically Chinese)



So these are the new rules.  I will be removing items from the gallery that do not comply, and these will be the rules henceforth.  If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or constructive criticism, feel free to reply to this journal.