How to Post Your Art to the SCP Wiki

Intro:

So you want to post art to the site? Great! Here's a quick guide on how to do so.

Generally, posting art to the site doesn't have any requirements besides the art being related to the SCP Universe, the page it's posted on having appropriate tags, and that page being in the art category. If you're following the style of older pages and posting as more of a hub for you and all your work, we usually recommend having at least three to four reasonable quality pieces ready to go and on the page when you first post. You are more than welcome to edit the page over time and add more art, but when it's first posted and people first see it, it's best to have some of your stronger pieces already there for folks to look at!

You now also have the ability to post art pieces individually or in smaller batches rather than all in one place if you would like to do so. Posting these pages isn't any different than what's outlined here besides the tags being slightly different. If following the old hub page style, please include the artist tag, if you're posting individually or in smaller batches, please include the artwork tag.

When posting art, you're free to customize your pages however you want. Additionally, art pages have some more flexibility when it comes to uploading images in comparison to other pages on site. You have two options when it comes to adding images to your art page - hosting on site, and hosting off site. With whatever method you decide to use, please read the technical content policy page first. It explains rules on file size, what file types are allowed, and where you can host your image files if you decide to host them elsewhere.

All art pages must be primarily created by the poster and as such cannot be works you commissioned (as in someone else made the work for you) or AI generated work.

Creating the Page:

We recommend that you make a sandbox page first before posting to the site. This way you can play around with embedding images, formatting, getting feedback, and all of that jazz before making the actual page on site. You can make a sandbox here.

Another thing we recommend is running your image files through this site before uploading them anywhere, as it'll help cut down on file size. This is especially useful if you plan on uploading to the site itself, or just have giant art file sizes in general. Additionally, if the file is still very large, and you want to make sure your page loads quickly, you can throw your art in a collapsible. The code to do that can be found here.

As for which of the two options to use regarding where to host your images - generally it's up to you. Hosting offsite is easier if you already have an account on Imgur or DeviantArt and want to upload images posted there to your page quickly, and it's also useful if your files tend to be larger and you want to preserve quality. Hosting onsite keeps all your images in one place and should you clean up your art accounts elsewhere, you won't accidentally unembed an image.

If you are hosting your images offsite:

  • Go to either Imgur or DeviantArt, whichever you prefer.
  • Upload your art to said site. DA will need an account, Imgur will not.
  • Once uploaded, copy the art's source link or image location link. Usually you'll need to right click the image to get this link
  • Go to your sandbox, open the editor, and click on the image insert wizard.
  • Follow the instructions as the box provides them, or alternatively instead of the wizard you can use
[[image SOURCE LINK]]
  • When you save and close the editor, this should embed the image. If it doesn't, you have the wrong link.

If you are hosting your images onsite:

  • Go to your sandbox page, making sure the editor is closed.
  • Go to the bottom of the page, click on files, and upload a file from your computer.
  • Once the image is uploaded, go back to the editor and open it.
  • Go to the insert image wizard and select the attached file option. Follow the instructions as provided there.
  • Save and close the editor, the image should now be added to your page.

Customizing the Page:

If you're new to CSS, a good place to start is the Wikidot syntax page. It contains a bunch of formatting methods to try, explanations to how they work, as well as visual examples. Another good page to check out is the SCP Style Resource page, as it builds upon syntax page with more specific examples of stuff you've probably seen around the wiki. While these are both great places to start, remember that if you ever see something really cool on another user's page and wondered how they did it, you can go to that page, scroll to the bottom, click on options, then source code, and see the code used to customize the page.

If you want to change the look of the entire page itself - colors, layout, buttons, and so on - themes would be the next thing to look at. Themes are another way to customize pages, and you can find a list of them here. While not required to use, one theme that's recommended for art pages, as it's made to optimize how images look, is the Monotypical Theme. It also has easy to understand customization options should you want to tweak things slightly.

The last piece of customization to think about is any text or captions you want to have with your pieces. It's encouraged that you add small blurbs to your pieces or just to your page in general, but by no means are you required to write a full essay on your art pieces. The blurbs can cover your process, what inspired you, what the art is about, or whatever you think is most relevant. Think of these like the little sentences you'll find next to pieces in a museum - they're completely optional, but there to help your viewer if you find that necessary. You can place these in an info module, the captions under the pictures, in the body of the page itself, or in your author post in the discussion thread for the page.

Posting the Page:

Once you have your page finished in your sandbox, it's time to post it! You're in the home stretch here.

  • Start by heading on over to the contribute page.
  • Go to the section titled "Artists and Artwork".
  • In the box, type whatever you want your page to be called, then create the page. The box in the "Artists and Artwork" section automatically puts the page in the art: category for you, to save you from having to manually type it out. Anything art related is required to be posted to the art: category, and will be renamed if found otherwise. Old art pages' urls will remain unchanged and grandfathered in.
  • Once the page is created, it’ll bring you to a new, blank page with the editor open.
  • At the top of the page, add the rating module. The code for that is
[[>]]
[[module Rate]]
[[/>]]
  • Go to your sandbox, copy ALL of your code, and paste it into the editor under the rating module.
  • Save the page and close the editor.
  • If you hosted your images onsite, reupload all your images to the files of this page.
  • Add the artist tag in the tags section if this is a old style hub page, add the artwork tag if it's not your main hub. Optionally, you can add additional tags that apply as outlined in this guide here; however, if you're unsure, leave it to the tagging team.
  • Also optional, but encouraged that you add an author's post in the discussion thread if you want to put your blurbs there, any additional crediting info, or just a nice note.

That's it, congrats on posting your first pieces of art to the site!

Video Walkthrough:

Are you more of a visual learner, or are still confused about something in this guide and want an example of what to do? Don't fret - Many thanks to IronShearsIronShears for making this spectacular video guide to walk you step by step through the process!

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