'Tis the season, yet again, to welcome one, welcome all to the...
~ NEWGROUNDS SECRET SANTA 2023 OFFICIAL THREAD ~
art by @WizardoFrank
Take a seat by the campfire as I regale you with tales of caring, sharing, and original character Christmas sleighing...
Originally started by myself and @D3writo and with heavy assistance from @Template88, Newgrounds has been hosting a yearly art trade-a-thon where the good people of NG can get together to celebrate the community's artistry's latent talent.
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What's different this year ?
We're not even sure... JUST KIDDING !!! THE RULES !!! THE RULES ARE DIFFERENT THIS YEAR !!!!!
You can read all the rules for the Secret Santa via the registration page, but I'd like to share a few cliff notes of what we changed for this year.
BIG CHANGES:
- We have a NG Secret Santa public Discord server for questions, as well as this forum.
- You MUST BE SCOUTED IN THE ART PORTAL this year !!!
- Your reference MUST BE UPLOADED TO THE ART PORTAL
- Your reference must be drawn by you and not by any kind of template software
- ABSOLUTELY NO AI ART OR THIRD PARTY CHARACTER CREATOR SOFTWARE
- NO panty shots or explicit boob (nothing rated M or promiscuous)
- ALL CHARACTER INFORMATION MUST BE ADDED TO THE USER PROFILE
- You CANNOT update your secret santa user profile once you're assigned a secret santa !!!
- If your reference makes the receiver uncomfortable, they are by no means obligated to draw it !!!
- All art forms (including GIFs, but not animation portal entries) are accepted as long as it's not a stolen asset
- You're encouraged to write "To:" and "From:" on your gift
- Reminder to upload your finished drawing to the Art Portal AFTER the big reveal
- We will be actively seeking feedback at the end of this event ^^
Other than these minor changes (and the whole automated system implemented by @PsychoGoldfish last year) we are on a fast track to having this as optimized as possible.
Note: If you aren't scouted, but have a bunch of art on the art portal, throw up some links and maybe you'll catch someone's attention! (If you are already scouted, please make sure anything you scout adheres to NG guidelines!)
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What is expected of me and how can I help ?
If you would like to participate:
- Be patient after signing up
- Be respectful to whomever you're drawing for by not ruining the surprise or letting them know you're drawing for them
- Relay all questions to event helpers, NOT the person you are assigned to
- Read the rules over twice if you have any questions
- End of day, Nov. 26th (11:59pm EST) is when everyone must have their registration/profile completed
- If all goes according to plan, Secret Santas will be assigned on Dec. 1st
- You have until the end of Christmas Eve, Dec. 24th (11:59pm EST) to submit your completed drawing
If you would like to help run the event:
By joining the Newgrounds Secret Santa Discord server, you can choose between a variety of roles:
- Event Manager - You would like to help manage the event. This includes organizing the artists into groups, which has the potential to spoil the surprise of who is drawing for who.
- Server Mod - You wouldn't mind answering questions both here in the forums, and in the Discord server.
- Backup Artist - Typically, out of a group of about 400 Newgrounds artists, about 5% don't end up finishing their drawing on time. This is where the backup artists come in handy by supplying art to those that drew for others but received nothing in return.
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Our main goal...
...is to have a good time and spread some Christmas cheer this year. Majority of the internet is separated by invisible barriers and conversation hurdles--this is your chance to meet another artist via their character and to have some fun with the creative personalities that make up our artistic ecosystem here on Newgrounds.
Have fun, you whacky individuals, and burn another yule log on the fire for us while you're at it ^^