Promo Art By @Oddlem

Secret Santa Art Event - 2024 Registration

PLEASE READ ALL OF THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION!

IF YOUR REGISTRATIONS DO NOT MEET THESE GUIDELINES, YOU WILL NOT BE INCLUDED IN THE EVENT!

IN SEVERE CASES YOU MAY BE BANNED FROM FUTURE EVENTS!

What is the Newgrounds Secret Santa?

The NG Secret Santa is a once-a-year art trade open to the entirety of the Newgrounds community.

Participants of all levels are welcome and encouraged to join.

This year's event is being hosted by @serenefalconer! Give her a follow to see the latest news in your feed.

How Can I Join?

REQUIREMENTS: YOU MUST BE SCOUTED BY THE ART PORTAL TO REGISTER, AND YOUR ACCOUNT CAN'T BE BRAND NEW!

If you are an established, scouted artist, all it takes is a single click at the bottom of this page (when registration opens). 

Afterward, you’ll need to provide a few essential details and share some samples of your original character so your Secret Santa knows exactly what they're drawing.

Note: Please don't scout users for this event unless you are truly willing to stand behind their artistic ability. This could result in having your scouting privileges taken away if the quality of their work doesn't meet Art Portal standards. We will not be accepting accounts that were created just for this event (this happened last year, then people just deleted the accounts because they weren't proper newgrounders).

If you are not a scouted user, @LegolaSS is hosting the E Group Secret Santa.

If anyone else is hosting a Secret Santa for users/styles that won't qualify for this one, shoot @PsychoGoldfish a PM with a link and we'll mention it here!

How Long Do I Have to Register/Draw?

You have until the end of November 30th (Eastern Standard Time) to register AND complete your profile. (Any users with incomplete profiles will be purged!)

We will need a little time afterward to get everyone into their groups, but the plan is to assign your Secret Santas shortly after Dec 1st. You should get a PM when this happens.

The sooner you can get registered and complete your profile, the better. If everyone waits till the last minute, it could cause a delay in assigning Secret Santas!

Your gifts need to be submitted by the end of Christmas Eve (Dec 24, Easter Standard Time) so everyone can open them on Christmas morning.

How do I set up a profile?

Once you register, there will be links on the member hub to edit/update your profile.

The ideal profile would be laid out something like:

• Text at the top explaining who your character is. List any information you want your Santa to have, etc. If you have any hard rules for your character be sure to list them here. You can't get mad at an artist for doing things they didn't know about. You could also mention if you are fine with the artist taking liberties with accessories, outfits, etc.

• The reference art you want the artist to see. Add any reference images, character sheets,etc, to give the artist a few samples of how this character actually looks.

• Link to where we can find the character on the Art Portal. This lets our helpers verify the character is yours (reviewers will rat you out fast if it's stolen or fan art).

• If your actual rendered art is more polished than your ref sheets, provide some links to examples of your stuff, even if it's not this character, so we will know what artist group you belong in. These examples should be the same quality you plan on doing for whatever character you get assigned.

PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE LINKS TO ANYTHING RATED A OR M!!!!

What Types of Characters Are Allowed?

Characters MUST be your own original creations!

Do not submit characters that belong to anyone else, or characters that are just tweaked versions of existing characters. (We will not accept "Green Sonic The Hedgehog" or "My favorite Pokemon, but it has more stripes and a horn".)

You must also include at least one link to an Art Portal submission featuring your character as evidence they belong to you.

Because this is a character-oriented event, characters should be largely humanoid in appearance (no weird chimera looking fantasy creatures, or complicated mechs or anything like that). If you have a non humanoid character that is simple to draw, it will be considered. Do NOT submit things like animal sketches, that aren't actually characters.

This is also a family-friendly event. There will be absolutely no NSFW characters, or anything bordering on fetish, hyper sexualized, suggestive etc. Keep it clean, and horny free. We will also be denying characters that portray drug use, are super violent, or overly unsettling horror types. Remember, some 15 year old kid could end up having to draw your character with their parents looking over their shoulder!

We are also taking into consideration that a large portion of participants have certain comfort levels about what they are willing to draw. For this reason, we are still allowing anthropomorphic characters, so long as they aren't too far into furry territory. We're mostly dealing with these as they come, but if you know full well your character is a furry, we'll probably reject it because not many people in the general community want to have to do furry art.

Here's a rough scale explaining what we're talking about:

(There's some more examples in the Discord FAQ channel)

That said, there's a good chance there will be characters that we deem okay, but might be close to the line. If you are the type of person who would refuse to draw these kinds of things, even after we've filtered out the most obvious stuff, we suggest you do not join this event. We don't have time to change people around once everyone gets a Secret Santa assigned. Overly sensitive people who are prone to quitting are just going to make things more complicated for our helpers.

If you have any specific do's and don'ts that people should adhere to when drawing your character, be sure to include those in your profile. However, if you have SO MANY rules that they stifle the ability to be creative, we will reject your registration.

How Can I Draw My Assigned Character?

You can draw your assigned character in whatever style you think fits best. We just ask that you are respectful to the original artist. These characters have special meaning to their creators, and it's up to you to honor that. If they have any specific do's and don'ts, they will be included on their profile page. Other than that, the sky's the limit!

Please refrain from using 3rd party character creators, clip art/open assets, AI art, etc. Stolen/AI art will get you on the “Naughty List”.

You are welcome to use out-of-the-box mediums, such as 3D/CGI, actual paint, clay, etc, as long as you are creating everything yourself.

We also recommend that you sign your art with a TO/FROM tag of some kind.

What If I Don't Like the Character I'm Assigned?

We review every character, during registration, to ensure they all fall within our guidelines.

By participating in this event, you acknowledge that you may be assigned a character you don't particularly fancy. It's your duty to make the most of it and bring joy to someone else. If you don't like your assigned character you're still expected to complete the drawing without any disrespect. 

Quitting or being disrespectful will land you on the "Naughty List" and prevent you from joining future events.

If this is a concern for you, or you're worried about encountering potentially offensive/triggering concepts, it might be best to reconsider your participation. We all want to enjoy the event without unnecessary drama or anxiety.

How Are Group Assignments Made?

The quality of the sample art on your profile plays a significant role in determining your group assignment. We assess the level of effort and skill displayed in your samples to ensure that you're matched with artists of a similar caliber.

If your character submission doesn't reflect the effort you plan to invest in the event, please provide additional images or clarify your intentions. Remember, you'll be placed in a group based on the effort displayed on your profile. If you are a top-tier artist with a lower-quality profile, you won’t be added to the top-tier group.

(Note, if you ARE a top tier artist, but would prefer a lighter challenge, by all means submit a profile reflecting the effort you want to put forward!)

Please keep in mind that, even though we are grouping people based on the talent and effort displayed on their profile, there will still be a spectrum of overall skill in every group. It’s possible that those on the higher end could get matched with those on the lower end. This is especially possible when we have high participation levels.

Please do not take offense if your Secret Santa doesn’t have the same skill level as you do. Be gracious, and understand that another human being made a real effort to give you a gift.

What If I'm Assigned to Someone I Don't Get Along With?

We hope that participants in this event can put differences aside and embrace the spirit of giving. However, if you're assigned to someone you can't tolerate, you can request to trade your assigned user with someone else. We'll do our best to accommodate such requests, but remember to reach out as early as possible. Once artists start drawing, it becomes challenging to make adjustments.

Our system has access to your blocked user list, and will attempt to pair you with users you have not blocked. However, depending on who is in your artist group, and how long your blocked user list is, this may not always work.

If you anticipate conflicts, it might be best to reconsider joining the event. We want everyone to have a good time without unnecessary disruptions or anxiety.

How Do I Submit My Gift?

To submit your gift, visit the member hub and find the link for submitting a gift (this will be available after you are assigned to an artist). You can either upload your image directly or provide a link to an Art Project (Linking an art project is ideal if you want the whole site to be able to vote on, and review, your work).

If you link an art project, DO NOT PUBLISH IT EARLY! To avoid spoiling any surprises, you should set the Publish On option to Dec 25th, 2024 so your art will auto-publish on Christmas morning.

Note: Linking an art project will allow our event managers to view your project preview page, but your art will remain hidden from the general public until it is fully published.

Also, be sure and add the Secret-Santa-2024 tag!

What If I Can't Finish My Drawing on Time?

Your ability to inform event organizers promptly plays a crucial role in addressing this situation.

If you need to drop out before assigned characters are distributed, you can quit the event with no consequences.

If you must drop out and it's still early, notify an event organizer, and we may be able to reassign the person you were drawing for to someone else. However, if you wait until your Secret Santa has already begun work on your character, you'll need an exceptionally compelling reason to avoid landing on the "Naughty List."

If your drawing is nearly complete, and you know you can finish it promptly, let an event organizer know, and you may be given an extension.

If you know you have a lot of events in December (Finals, holiday travel, longer shifts at work, etc), please take a moment to be sure you are actually going to be able to see this through. This is a real commitment, and not completing it not only ruins the experience for your gift recipient, but means our helpers have to put in more of their personal time as well.

If you can't 100% commit to completing your art on time, please refrain from joining this event!

What If My Secret Santa Doesn't Submit Anything?

In a few rare cases, your Santa may have been given an extension. In all other cases, we have dedicated substitute artists ready to ensure you still receive a gift. Please be patient. If we have to call in a substitute artist, they won't likely start drawing until after Christmas, but they will make sure you get something awesome!

Oh, and the buttface, doo-doo head that decided to ruin your Christmas morning? They will be put on the Naughty List and won't be able to ruin anyone else's Christmas in future events.

Can I Create Drama During This Event?

I know, I know. Nobody is actually going to ask this question, but there's always the people who want to show up in the forum or Discord to see if they can push everyone's limits.

This event is all about joy, generosity, and goodwill. We encourage constructive feedback, but if you're intent on causing unnecessary negativity and drama, you'll be placed on the "Naughty List", (and probably banned from wherever you are causing a ruckus). Let's keep this event in the spirit it was intended, and remember to be respectful and considerate of your fellow participants and the volunteers who are giving up their personal time to make things run smoothly!

I have more questions, who do I talk to?

We have a friendly little Discord server you can join, full of helpful people! You can also get help in the Official Forum Thread.

The Discord server will have an FAQ channel with a lot of helpful information, so be sure to check that first!