MD style question

[Great Guba 4]

I recently uploaded my avatar, but it got rejected quoting "not MD style".
What would you recommend to change in the avatar to increase its chances of acceptance?
I would really like to have a sea bird as my avatar in the game.

[Chewett 5,155]

Im assuming you mean you uploaded the one you have as your forum avatar?

Is your role a seabird? normally the avatar will represent the role, where the avatar is normally a person in full or part.

[Great Guba 4]

Yes, the one I have as avatar on the forum.
I prefer to style myself as a rebel spirit, which is well represented by storm petrel, a sea bird.
As I understood, my submission was rejected because of inconsistency with MD style.
I am trying to understand what was wrong - as the picture is pencil drawn as required.

[Shadowseeker 147]

If I had to guess it would be details..your avy is basically a slash across the picture and leaving most parts blank- which isn't supposed to happen.

(Inofficial opinion here, don't weigh my words on a scale)

[Neno Veliki 297]

somehow i have a feeling that i heard somewhere that animal avatars wont be accepted anymore. maybe its that...

[Great Guba 4]

Maybe you are right... How about if I add some charcoal background?
before:[attachment=3026:bird sea avatar 3.gif] and after:[attachment=3027:bird sea avatar 4.gif]

Who is the judge in charge of accepting or rejecting avatar submissions?

[Chewett 5,155]

again, the background doesnt really fit in with MD style, which i guess whoever approves them wants. Iv never uploaded avatars, Nor do i really know what im doing, But with the background is worse, since its not just an item, it becomes more like a scene.

In regards to who approves them... i dont know, since i dont deal with them, i guessed it was Mur?

[Shadowseeker 147]

I think it happens too often- think he appointed someone.

Guba, in your case I'd want to get a close up of the bird- maybe cut some parts of the wings and just show the close up instead.

[Rendril 231]

Try to put more detail on the image. You can trim the wings and draw it bigger to better use the space.

[Fyrd Argentus 427]

Don't trim the wings - fold them into a W shape like the bird is diving.... that will let you get more detail on the body that won't dissappear at pixel resolution (just an opinion with zero influence).

The preferred style seems to be more what you can get out of an old-fashioned wood-cut ink-print block or stamp. Shade by line density a little more coarse than the pixel resolution.

The edges have to be alpha-zero to blend into the page. If you're going to shadow a zone, make it a pool or cloud that has a natural transparent edge.

[VonUngernSternberg 62]

In my opinion it is a problem of content more than shape. I have the same feeling of Neno, enforced by the fact that once I tried to upload an animal avatar too, receiving the same reply as you. Yet I have to say that it was not better than your seabird...

I'd try to give it a more human shape. Maybe trying to create an hybrid as in Raven's avatar, or maybe superimposing the image of a man to that of the bird.

[apophys 83]

@Fyrd - that position looks more aggressive; it doesn't fit with the purpose of the drawing.


There exist many inhuman avatars, so I don't think the problem is that it isn't humanoid. The problem is probably that it isn't personified. I.e. make the bird more of a personality than an object, as what it now looks like.


To achieve this, I agree with the other posts in that you should make better use of canvas space (whatever solution you use to this effect).


My personal suggestion would be to frame it better: draw it from a viewpoint somewhat off to the left and above of where it is (i.e. nearer to the axis along the wings), showing feet & tail, and clipping the upper wing slightly in the final product. As I see it, the upper wing should be nearly tangent with the upper border, and the body should be above the center point, leaving some empty space below the picture for character (to make it appear to soar).

But if you don't want to put effort to redraw it, you can try to cut half the wing in each direction and center on the body (it's probably not detailed enough for this to look good, however).