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Anatomy Needs Work - If you've received this rejection message, you may have a problem in one of the following areas:
- Proportion (some parts of the figure are drawn at a size or scale that doesn't match the rest of the body).
- Perspective or foreshortening on the figure (either the figure doesn't fit the perspective of the background, or the perspective on the figure itself is off).
- Stiff or unbalanced poses.
Blurry or smudged work/Image is excessively blurry or smudged - This usually means that your work has overly soft edges which interfere with clarity, that you've overused digital smudge or blur tools, or that you've submitted a pencil or charcoal drawing with fingerprints or accidental smudges on it. In the case of general blurriness or lack of clarity, you can rectify the problem by defining edges, refining details, and generally concentrating on sharpness. For digital artists, the smudge tool is a very powerful one if used correctly, but it can be overused: the smudge tool has a distinctive "running paint" look when overused, and this is best avoided, for the most part.
Comic-book style - It's fine to submit comic style art to Epilogue. This rejection message is reserved for images that actually have speech/thought bubbles on them. If your work is rejected for this reason, you are welcome to remove any speech/thought bubbles and resubmit.
Composition needs work - The composition could be cluttered, confusing, or skewed. Here are some composition pitfalls to watch out for:
- Is the viewer's eye being led off the canvas somewhere? Strong diagonal lines leading to the corners of the canvas can have that effect, as can strong lines or forms with nothing else nearby.
- Is the composition top-heavy or bottom-heavy?
- Are objects arranged on the canvas so that the eye is led from one to the next, or are they just randomly arranged?
Copyright infringement - Epilogue does not accept fan art, so if you submit fan art, you will be rejected for copyright infringement. This message is also used for art which either doesn't belong to you, or is a blatant copy of someone else's work. (Uploading plagiarized or stolen work to Epilogue WILL result in the removal of your gallery and membership).
Duplicate submission - Either you accidentally submitted the same thing twice (this can happen if you hit the submit button twice during uploading), or you've attempted to resubmit rejected work without perceptible revisions. If your work is rejected, please do not resubmit until you've reworked it.
Excessive use of filters - This usually refers to Photoshop filters, such as lens flares, watercolour/fresco filters, and so forth. However, we don't automatically reject any work which makes use of filters--any tool is acceptable if it is used well. This rejection message could also be read as "poor use of filters".
Excessive violence or vulgarity/Explicit sexual themes/Inappropriate subject matter/Suggestive or explicit nudity - While Epilogue is open to artistic nudity, and even sensuality, anything which would have a rating of R or higher if it were in a movie is generally unacceptable. Explicit depictions of sexual arousal and/or sexual acts will not be approved. Images featuring potentially offensive themes, such as drugs, sex crimes, excessive violence, et cetera, may also be refused at the discretion of the editors.
Image needs cropping - This simply means that when you scanned and cropped your image, you missed some white edges somewhere. To get your work approved, you need to remove said edges. There should generally not be whitespace around your work when you submit it to Epilogue.
Image size too small - Your image was too small, and the editor couldn't make out the details. Please upload it at a larger size.
Inconsistent or poor lighting - The lighting in your image doesn't make sense in some way. Here are some things to consider if you get this rejection message:
- Does the lighting on the figure match the lighting on the background?
- Is the light source consistent, or do some parts of the image seem to be lit from a different angle than others?
- Is the colour and intensity of the lighting consistent?
Incorrect genre selected - When you submit your work, you should pick a genre (sci-fi, fantasy, or anime). If the editors feel you picked the wrong one, you'll get this rejection message.
Lacking in contrast - Your image is lacking in clarity or effect because it doesn't have enough contrast. While it's possible to make great low-contrast images, every other element has to be twice as strong to make it work. If you get this rejection message, it's either because your image has such low contrast it's hard to make out, or because increasing the contrast would be the easiest way to make it work.
Needs minor touchups - This may be used to mean that there are several areas which need minor adjustments, or that there's one small area that needs work. It may also be used if you've had an image rejected for another reason, you've reworked and resubmitted it, but it still needs some minor work in the area it was initially rejected for.
Needs title - You forgot to fill in the title field while submitting. It's fine to call your images "Untitled", but there needs to be something in that field.
No background or setting - Epilogue only accepts finished-looking art with some form of background or setting. This can be as complex as a full landscape, or as simple as a stylized design in the background--as long as the image looks finished and complete. No matter how good the technique is, images of characters "floating in space" will not be considered.
No longer meets current standards - This was added when we were removing images retroactively to meet with our new guidelines, and should not be used any more. If you get this rejection message, it's likely that it was a mistake, and the editor meant to click a different reason.
No reason given - Generally, if you get this rejection message, it's accompanied by an explanatory e-mail. If you get your work rejected for no reason, and you don't get an e-mail, you're welcome to contact one of our editors for more information.
Not Epilogue Quality - This usually means that your submission needs major work in several areas. It may also mean that you've tried to submit art that is drawn on lined paper, or has been torn and taped together, or is otherwise badly presented.
Not fantasy, sci-fi, or anime in theme - Epilogue is fairly lenient with our definitions of sci-fi and fantasy, and we do consider your written descriptions when determining whether your art has any sci-fi or fantasy content or not. If you get this rejection message, it means we couldn't see any sf&f elements in your work or in the description. Anime submissions do still need to fall within the sf&f genres. Horror is also acceptable--it can be placed under fantasy or sci-fi, depending on the era.
Objects appear flat or pasted - Generally, this means that the foreground elements don't match the background elements, or that your work is poorly shaded, resulting in a flattened effect. You may receive this rejection message if:
- Foreground and background lighting is inconsistent (a character with daytime lighting in a nighttime scene, for instance).
- There are sharp lines around objects which don't seem to belong.
- The style is inconsistent (cartoon characters pasted onto a realistic background, for example).
- Foreground and background perspective doesn't match.
Poor use of medium - This can refer to work of any medium that is lacking on a technical level
Perspective needs work - Either the perspective on the foreground and background elements doesn't match, or the perspective just generally needs work.
Poor compression (JPG artifacts) - There are JPG artifacts on your image. Try compressing it at a higher quality and resubmitting. Epilogue resizes all large submissions to 700 pixels wide and slightly compresses them, but please keep in mind that many of your gallery visitors are still on dial-up connections, so please do not upload images over 100 kilobytes if possible! To optimize file quality and size, you may pre-size your images to 700 pixels wide and save at a jpeg quality setting of high (60-80%).
Poor/low quality image - This refers to reproduction quality, not the actual quality of your drawing, painting, or sculpture. You may receive this rejection message if you submit a bad photograph of your work, or a blurred scan.
Poor photomanipulation - This refers to photomanipulated images that are lacking in composition, or are simply technically poor. It may also be used for photomanipulations which use low-quality photographs and suffer for it.
Poor scan quality - This is probably the single most common reason for rejection of traditional art from Epilogue. If there are any scan lines, obvious paper folds, blotches, seams, or scanner yellowing on your work, it must be fixed before submitting. Professional presentation is important.
Problems not addressed - This reject reason is used when an artist submits an image, gets rejected, then submits it again with the same problems still showing. It is different from "duplicate submission" in that the image HAS been changed, but the problem is still there.
Text on image - If you incorporate text into your image in a tasteful and seamless manner, or if it's an integral part of the image, it's fine for Epilogue. However, if text appears to be stuck on as an afterthought, or if the typesetting/penmanship is poor, you may get this rejection message. Your copyright or website information is exempt from this, of course, but it does tend to look better if you keep that information as small and unobtrusive as possible.
Unfinished artwork, sketch, doodle/Unfinished work - If you receive either of these rejection messages, it means your art doesn't look finished. While sketches, doodles, and works in progress often have great artistic merit on their own, Epilogue is for finished work only--sketches and doodles which can't stand on their own as finished works will not be approved, regardless of your skill level. Sketches or studies which can stand on their own, as complete works in and of themselves, may be accepted at the discretion of the editors.
Upload error or broken image - This means there was a problem with the file you uploaded. Check the filename and remove any non-standard characters or spaces. Also, make sure the image is a 24-bit .jpg in RGB mode. Any graphics program should be able to save in this format.
Unrefined or lack of detail - This rejection message causes a little confusion. If your art is very detailed and you received this message, it means that it's the "unrefined" part that applies. If your work is highly detailed and you've still received this message, the problem may lie in one of these areas:
- The basic shapes underlying the details may be weak
- The textures aren't realistic in an image that's intended to be realistic
- The levels of detail are needlessly inconsistent in different parts of the image
- Some areas of the image appear unfinished (a gradient-fill sky in an otherwise lovingly-rendered image, for example)
- The style is confused or inconsistent.
Painterly styles, impressionism, and even abstraction (as long as it somehow incorporates fantasy themes) are all welcome--the "unrefined or lack of detail" message has nothing to do with style--it indicates a problem with technique.
More help - If you've read through these explanations and are still confused about why your work was not approved, please visit our Art - Works in Progress forum for further assistance.
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