[Updated] Black Pearl Clarification

The Black Pearl

You need at least 60 days of seniority and 5 karma points to use the Black Pearl.

We'd like to clarify a few things concerning the proposals for the Creative Space. We've had the time to see how things went and made some changes along with some additional advice.

For the Horses, Pegasus, Unicorns, Donkeys, and Ponies.


Using shadows in your creations:


We are probably going to add them ourselves in the future to have something that has the right perspective on the backgrounds, and that has a uniform texture across the coats.

You can use shadowing, but we ask that you keep them very light so that the images will fit with most Helios Ray backgrounds.

Cut out your edges more.


When we place the coats on a dark background in a lot of cases, there are stray light colored pixels all around the drawing. This makes it impossible to use on a dark background.
Tip Please take the time to take a look at your coat on a white and on a black background, in order to get rid of any leftover smudges or pixels. Also, look a little further away on just the outline. Often the coats have a smudge around the corners or along the border of the image.

Use the smudge or blur tool sparingly.


It's a pity to see a coat that has been worked on then filtered with a blur filter, and it comes out all smudgy. It's also a pity to see a coat with smudge marks on one side and not the other.

Be careful when playing around with reformatting an image.


Sometimes we get perfectly nice drawings of Sausage horses because the file has been altered, and the horse has been squashed or pulled in another direction.
This might be a great way of transforming an Irish setter into a Teckel, but it isn't very pretty on horses. Also, avoid making your resolution too low and giving the picture a pixel art look

Backgrounds


Using brushes is allowed.


They can be used as well, but we'd like to also remind you of the Black Pearl page information as seen in the quote below.

“Excess airbrushing is not allowed”. It is allowed but not too much!"

We have received tons of entries like this and have been very cool about it up until now. However, seeing the same tree used 4 times in different backgrounds is starting to get a little old.

From here on out, we'll start to be a bit more strict about this type of thing. This is due to the fact that it's unfair and the aim of the Creative Space is to work things with your own hands, not make photo manipulations. The same thing goes for photos or bits of photos.

Painting, blurring or smudging landscape pictures.


Moving forward, we'll simply remove the right to propose any creations to the Creation space forever for those who do try to do this.

Check the perspectives.


When you make a background, please consider that there has to be something for the horse to put his feet on. It's quite strange the have a picture with a nice pond in the background and the horse is floating in the middle of it in thin air.

The same goes for outer space and clouds etc. Just try and make the backgrounds usable for everyone, not just the Pegasus. Also, make sure that the horses won't look like giants in the middle of a forest when you decide to draw trees or other items.

Rules


Plagiarism is forbidden!
Respect the author's rights: we do not steal images off of the Internet; we do not trace photos; we do not use the basis of someone else if they have not given their authorization, preferably publicly.

What is plagiarism? Plagiarism is taking someone else's work and passing them off as your own.

We can take inspiration from a style, a movement, a mane or a coat without copy-pasting it. It’s the same idea for literature, graphic arts, video games or cinema - there is often inspiration taken from another creation. Inspiration is imbued with another creation in order to interpret it and create something new! Copying is recreating identically. Copying is not having a style or a vision of your own. Try to have the imagination and bring your unique personality to your creations.

Please also note that any cheating can get you excluded from proposing any artwork to the Creative Space forever and/or be followed by sanctions.
Players who submit an artwork not created by themselves, AI-generated or plagiarized will be permanently banned from using the Black Pearl.

Otherwise, all the usual rules still apply.

Before posting:


It is forbidden to mock or ridicule creations/creators
Don't post too many steps regarding your work to avoid flooding of the topic.
IT IS FORBIDDEN TO ASK FOR VOTES!

You are welcome to promote your creations or creations you voted for using #HowrseBP on social media or promote your creations on your profile page.

This topic can be used to help each other understand the Black Pearl rules with respect to your creative content.

Players who do not follow the rules are exposed to sanctions.

Regards
The Howrse team

 
Ow
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So many gorgeous GA's and Helios Rays this round - Kudos to you all default smiley (l)
Asfridur
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Hey all, this is my first time trying to submit a work, and it says the background I am trying to submit doesn't meet the qualifications... I seriously don't know what I'm doing wrong.

I used Gimp to make it. It is a .jpg image. The size is 1.2MB (which equals 1,200KB), so that fits in the 2,000KB max size. I saw someone say it is supposed to be 2106x940 pixels for the background, so that's the size I made it... was that the wrong size? Could someone please tell me what I could be doing wrong?

When I clicked to preview it Horwse said:
"Your coat does not use the compulsory format (display format for the Golden Apple, for Helios' Ray)"

I double-checked everything and tried again, making sure I selected Helio's Ray. Thanks in advance for any advice.
Time4Fun
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Time4Fun wrote:

Hey all, this is my first time trying to submit a work, and it says the background I am trying to submit doesn't meet the qualifications... I seriously don't know what I'm doing wrong.

I used Gimp to make it. It is a .jpg image. The size is 1.2MB (which equals 1,200KB), so that fits in the 2,000KB max size. I saw someone say it is supposed to be 2106x940 pixels for the background, so that's the size I made it... was that the wrong size? Could someone please tell me what I could be doing wrong?

When I clicked to preview it Horwse said:
"Your coat does not use the compulsory format (display format for the Golden Apple, for Helios' Ray)"

I double-checked everything and tried again, making sure I selected Helio's Ray. Thanks in advance for any advice.


Hi!
GIMP can sometimes be finicky for JPEGs and HRs. I would make sure that there's nothing going over the edges of the frame. The frame size is supposed to be 2106x940, however, the picture inside should be 2006x840, then you put the image inside the frame so that the Black Pearl can read it correctly.
nash12
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By Retired breeder, 7th February 2023 16:58:52
Hi there! I don't know it this has been answered before, I scrolled for a few pages but it's too much information hahah
Does anyone know how many GA coats get through the elimination? I mean how many of the creations actually get published. Does it depend for the type of horse category? Does it depend on the server? Thank you!
Retired breeder wrote:

Hi there! I don't know it this has been answered before, I scrolled for a few pages but it's too much information hahah
Does anyone know how many GA coats get through the elimination? I mean how many of the creations actually get published. Does it depend for the type of horse category? Does it depend on the server? Thank you!


Only a few are chosen depending on the category, generally, it's roughly 13-16% of the total amount of coats per category. More GA coats get published than limited coats.
And yes, it does somewhat depend on the server, the French, Czech and Russian servers are usually the most popular among the chosen coats, sometimes even more popular than the INT server.
nash12
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Hi there! I'm not sure is that right place to ask my question, but anyway.. I have an acess to the test server of howrse and I've noticed that all my creations I sent this month have a red cross below to their "status". Does it mean that my creations didn't pass the voiting? Or does it a "fake" results?
Sever
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Sever wrote:

Hi there! I'm not sure is that right place to ask my question, but anyway.. I have an acess to the test server of howrse and I've noticed that all my creations I sent this month have a red cross below to their "status". Does it mean that my creations didn't pass the voiting? Or does it a "fake" results?


It just means that your creations didn't get enough votes, usually, if they're reported you'll get a message in red text on the creation on why it got reported.
If you only got the red crosses you can always resubmit them default smiley (y)
nash12
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nash12 wrote:

It just means that your creations didn't get enough votes, usually, if they're reported you'll get a message in red text on the creation on why it got reported.

But the results on this server appeared only today. And one of my backgrounds got enough votes because it has a green check mark, despite the fact that on the test server bg has red cross. So the results on the test server and on this one, apparently, are not related in any way. default smiley (y)
I'm sorry if I'm not clear enough, bcs I'm using google translate
Sever
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Sever wrote:

But the results on this server appeared only today. And one of my backgrounds got enough votes because it has a green check mark, despite the fact that on the test server bg has red cross. So the results on the test server and on this one, apparently, are not related in any way. default smiley (y)
I'm sorry if I'm not clear enough, bcs I'm using google translate
The test server uses old data. It doesn't follow the same "timeline" as the live server does. The Creation Space isn't truly active on preprod, so most likely it would show that no submissions made it through, because the development team doesn't utilize it on there
Legacy Ann
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I'm having trouble submitting a GA coat. I've followed all the rules and regulations and everything is within the proper format but I keep getting the error message (yes, I do have enough passes and the Black Pearl is open). It's a PNG file, 61 Kb (well under 200 Kb limit), completely transparent background, image is well within the frame, the frame has not been altered or adjusted, etc.

Any ideas what is going wrong? Something vital I am just missing?
Veren
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I have a question. I worked with a friend on a drawing for a game. It's not an official thing in the game it's just our thing. It looks really cool and it is horse themed. Would it be allowed to be submitted if it was collaborated on?
AlphaQuokka
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Veren wrote:

I'm having trouble submitting a GA coat. I've followed all the rules and regulations and everything is within the proper format but I keep getting the error message (yes, I do have enough passes and the Black Pearl is open). It's a PNG file, 61 Kb (well under 200 Kb limit), completely transparent background, image is well within the frame, the frame has not been altered or adjusted, etc.

Any ideas what is going wrong? Something vital I am just missing?


Sometimes if a single pixel goes over or touches the edge of the frame it won't read it properly, if you would like, you can PM it to me and I will format it for you.

AlphaQuokka wrote:

I have a question. I worked with a friend on a drawing for a game. It's not an official thing in the game it's just our thing. It looks really cool and it is horse themed. Would it be allowed to be submitted if it was collaborated on?


As long as the other person you collaborated with is aware of what it is, and is ok with you submitting it, then yes there shouldn't be any problems. The drawings can't be fanart of anything too, even if it's subtle you might have to be careful.
nash12
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newest wip <3



lines by darya87
Starynight
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anyone else run into Diamond Apple creations submitted this month?
мσяѕ σвѕ¢υяα
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@Starynight

Looks great!

Also I thought that diamond apples weren't a thing anymore?
superocelot02
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Do we find out tonight if our creations made it or do we have to wait until the 25th/26? I also noticed that my cancelled submission didn’t disappear after the voting ended (and if this should be more in game play lemme know and I’ll move it).
Cybertron
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superocelot02 wrote:

Also I thought that diamond apples weren't a thing anymore?


The item itself isn't available. But the coats submitted are on the game somewhere.
мσяѕ σвѕ¢υяα
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мσяѕ σвѕ¢υяα wrote:

The item itself isn't available. But the coats submitted are on the game somewhere.


You are correct, the item is no longer available. However coats were never submitted for this item. The item was given to an individual horse and then the owner of the horse used the apple to apply lines and/or patterns to that horse only.
funnyone
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Cybertron wrote:

Do we find out tonight if our creations made it or do we have to wait until the 25th/26? I also noticed that my cancelled submission didn’t disappear after the voting ended (and if this should be more in game play lemme know and I’ll move it).


We get results midnight on the 24th default smiley :)
Starynight
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Hey! I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask but I have a question regarding drawings for the GA:
Is using watercolor brushes allowed for drawing GA coats? I know that excess blur and airbrush are not allowed for Helios Rays, but I was wondering if realistic watercolor-styled coats would be accepted or not since its a bit more blurred and blended due to the brushes and blending.
Hokkaido07
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Hey - i’m trying to submit an artwork horse coat and it’s on the provided template but I can’t seem to get it to work because no matter what I size it (1600*1600px, 800*800, 400*400 pix) I keep getting told that “ Your coat does not use the compulsory format (display format for the Golden Apple, for Helios' Ray”. It’s a PNG, the background is transparent, what am I doing wrong?
Atsila
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Size is under 2 mb as well.
Atsila
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Atsila wrote:

Hey - i’m trying to submit an artwork horse coat and it’s on the provided template but I can’t seem to get it to work because no matter what I size it (1600*1600px, 800*800, 400*400 pix) I keep getting told that “ Your coat does not use the compulsory format (display format for the Golden Apple, for Helios' Ray”. It’s a PNG, the background is transparent, what am I doing wrong?


Normally this means that your art isn't being read correctly by the system. You can't change the size of the template box and you have to make sure there's no stray pixels going over it.
nash12
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i plan on submitting my own designs once my seniority reaches 60 but i was curious if we can only use gimp or photoshop? i use clip studio
blobbbfish
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blobbbfish wrote:

i plan on submitting my own designs once my seniority reaches 60 but i was curious if we can only use gimp or photoshop? i use clip studio


You can use any graphics program, even microsoft paint. It just has to be your own work and not AI generated or edited.
EmmaKate66
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