Bienvenue to the Gallery. Due to an unsuccessful attempt to scan cheese and wine for our fabulous gallery opening, we have been informed that real food cannot be posted in cyber-space (sighs).

However, welcome to this black tie event at the fabulous 21+ EGAG art forum. Here are some rules and tips for posting in this forum.

1. The most important Rule: Please label your thread topic carefully. This is two fold. I do ask that we specify a "rating" on threads. This is an absolute must with threads that contains material others could be seen as offensive. I will have to brush up on Gaia rules. Also, it organizes, say, manga-style drawings from watercolor paintings.

2. Links are your friend. Please explain what links are for. I realize things such as artistic n***s don't work with Gaia's TOS. HOWEVER, if you link to another site, your DA account, photobucket, etc, ALWAYS warn others in your posts of any content that they may be offended by. I realize the human body is art- but due to different backgrounds and importantly Gaia's TOS, we must always use caution of having certain types of art linked without warning.

3. Consider your critique carefully. The goal of this guild is to foster the growth for artistic members, or members who are wanting to embark in artistic endeavors. We're not saying you have to write "I love it!!" for every piece. However, it's best not to reply negatively UNLESS you have something constructive to say.

Good: I like it, but the line quality seems a little thick- you may want to switch to a (name of outlining tool of preference) it will boost your quality.

Bad: OMG, that SUX, r u 5???

4. There are many styles. I repeat, there are many styles. Keep this in mind when critiquing people's work. One of the toss ups in art is the clash between abstraction and verisimilitude (semblance of reality). I am a personal believer in developing one's own style for expression and practicality reasons. Some styles may blend high realism with abstract/cartoon elements-- proportions when drawing people is an example of this. Some of us are proportion impaired and/or like to emphasize particular features of the human face.

5. Play nice, don't make me come in there. I will send you to bed without supper!!!