Submission/Judgment Process and FAQ

The Process Itself:

When a piece of art is suggested to the group, it goes into a communal group message box where all of the group staff can see it. When we click on the submission we are taken to the 'comments' page of the submission that shows us how many people have voted (yes or no) on it, who voted what and an area where we can discuss the piece among ourselves.

After a piece receives the required number of yes or no votes, it is voted either in or out. All staff (not just the ones who are around when a piece is submitted) are included in the voting process and the majority of EI staff must vote yes on a picture for it to be accepted (or no for a piece to be rejected). A dialogue can be opened up between the suggester and the staff on this page as well (although the suggester can not view votes or private discussion). Sometimes these discussions may take as little as a few hours, sometimes we may spend up to a week discussing a work.

What we consider when looking at suggested works:

It seems that there has been a bit of confusion over what we are looking for with this group, our criteria and our standards. There are a lot of good artworks out there that we all love to death and want to suggest, but there are also a few things to consider as well before deciding that it might belong to this group:

● Style: Everyone piece and artist has their own unique way of drawing. Something that needs to be considered is whether or not the style is interesting, engaging and working for that particular illustration. Is the style well thought out? Is it relevant?

● Mood and Atmosphere: Technical skill does not count for everything. What makes a picture engaging and inspiring is your ability to connect with the work being presented. Does the picture have an engaging mood? Does it portray something? Is it simply nicely drawn/rendered/shiny/impressive with little more to add?

● Does the drawing have good anatomy? Is it a solid drawing? Not just drawings of people, but drawings of anything. Does the anatomy work with the style? Do objects being presented feel they exist in the time, space and reality of the picture? Are the technical aspects of the drawings drawn to a high standard?

● Does the drawing have good technique? Are the lines or strokes drawn with purpose and with skill? Do the colours flow the way they should? Do meaningless details try to distract from the mistakes?


● Did the artist put thought and reason into how they painted/drew the picture? Is the picture well thought out? Is it well composed? Does it flow well? Did thought clearly go into this or is it just nice for the sake of being nice?


● Does the artist understand what they are doing? Do they show a high level of skill in their chosen area? Does their skill level match or exceed those in the group's gallery? If you where a GM, would you give this a Daily Deviation? Would you feature this in a publication?

● Is it creative? Is it a drawing of a person's face, copy of a photo or a bowl of fruit with nothing more to add than what is put before them? There are a lot of very technically sound artworks out there that are simply copying something in front of them or a nice rendering of a character standing around. Regardless of how skilled the drawing is, if it does not offer us something new, interesting, mysterious or creative as an illustration, it is very doubtful that it will be accepted, regardless of how well rendered or nicely drawn it is.

Frequently Asked Questions

● Do you only accept certain styles?
No, we look at works of all style and judge them by their own merits, however we hold all styles and mediums to the same skill and quality standards.

● Do staff get all their picks automatically in?
No, all staff must go through the exact same submission as members, even the founder.

● The piece I suggested was accepted, but it's not in the group's gallery! Why?
After it is approved by group staff, it will send an invitation to the artist requesting that their piece appear in our group. If the artist is inactive, the invite sent expires, they ignore it or it gets rejected, it will not appear in the group. The artist has the final submission say. This of course only applies to other artists suggested, suggesting your own work will not require this extra step.

● What do you mean by elite? Can any artist have their work accepted?
We are referring to the illustrations submitted themselves. Who the artist is has no baring on any of our processes or considerations, nor does the other art in their gallery (unless we think it might be stolen). To put our name another way, it simply translates to "Best Illustration". Anyone who might tell you it means anything along the lines of "Elitist/Snobby Illustrators" either do not know English or are trying to cause drama, please either correct or ignore them respectively.

● I want to know more about why the artwork I submitted wasn't accepted.
Feel free to respond to our comment left on the submission to inquire.

● I have some suggestions for the group/concerns I wish to express.
You are welcome to note the group if you have any concerns.