Dear folks,

I have returned briefly after an out-of-state move, when I said I would be closing this group.  I still intend to close it unless someone else wants to step up to take my place.  I will not be on DeviantArt very much from now on, and will be signing off completely by late August.

The new admin must:

* Be willing to invest time in the group on a regular basis
* Enforce the rules of the group
* Maintain the original vision of the group, not turn it into something else

The two most important rules of this group are that all submitted artwork must:

* Depict creatures from actual world mythology, not those made up by the artist,
* Be complete, high-quality art.

The complete list of rules can be found under Group Info, but be prepared to decline many submissions because they do not meet one of the two main standards mentioned above.

Please message me if you want to be considered as a new admin for this group.  This group WILL BE CLOSED if nobody steps forward.

- :iconskyjaguar: SkyJaguar
Dear folks,

I will be stepping down in June.  My life is changing in a good way but I will no longer have time to spend on DeviantArt.  I hope to keep this group alive and am looking for a new group admin.

The new admin must:

* Be willing to invest time in the group on a regular basis
* Enforce the rules of the group
* Maintain the original vision of the group, not turn it into something else

The two most important rules of this group are that all submitted artwork must:

* Depict creatures from actual world mythology, not those made up by the artist,
* Be complete, high-quality art.

The complete list of rules can be found under Group Info, but be prepared to decline many submissions because they do not meet one of the two main standards mentioned above.

Please message me if you want to be considered as a new admin for this group.  

- :iconskyjaguar: SkyJaguar
Dear new (and old) members,

I recently declined a lot of art submissions to this group, mostly from new members who probably haven't read the rules.  I sent out a bunch of messages explaining why, and then those messages got deleted when I switched administration from my other DA account to this one (oops).

In short, there are two reason why I declined people's art:

1.  Creatures were not from actual mythology.  In order to be accepted in this group, all art must depict a creature that comes from the mythology of an actual culture.  It cannot be a species that you or a commissioner invented.

2.  Art did not meet our completion standards.  This is an elitist group, and all art submissions must be detailed and thoroughly complete.  We do not accept uncolored line art.  With rare exception, we almost always need some semblance of a background in the picture.  Professional quality is preferred, but other art will be accepted as long as it is detailed, colored, and has a good background.

If you drew a "real" mythical creature, such as a sphinx, griffin, or manticore, and I rejected it, then just add a background, and color it if it isn't colored, and then resubmit it.  :)

I am sorry for the missing messages, but I hope this clears everything up.  Thank you all for being a part of this group!

- SkyJaguar
Folks,

As you know, Bestiarum-Mythica is for pictures of creatures from actual mythology.  That means we do not accept monsters that you just made up.  But if a culture has the creature in their folk mythology, then it's on-topic.

The problem is, how do you define mythology?  This is a new group, so even I do not have all the rules figured out.  I thought I would let you all participate in helping me decide.

The potential mythology in question here is the work of H. P. Lovecraft.  Should Lovecraftian monsters be accepted in this gallery?  Meaning, does the work of H. P. Lovecraft constitute mythology of modern day?

I would not accept creatures from commercial franchises, like Pokemon, or Dungeons and Dragons.  And of course, any author can invent any weird critter, and that does not make it on-topic for this group.  But H. P. Lovecraft is a little different.  He lived a century ago.  Much of his work was written before 1923 and is therefore in the public domain.  Most importantly of all, his work is well-known to a lot of people.  So, should his work qualify as mythology?

And what about J. R. R. Tolkien, for that matter?  His work does not predate 1923 and is therefore not in the public domain.  But does that matter?  No one can deny the imprint that he left on modern fantasy.  Should his orcs and ents count as real mythical creatures?

I would very much appreciate your input.  :)

~ SkyJaguar
Folks,

I understand that some artists create multiple versions of the same art piece.  And that's perfectly okay for your own gallery.

But Bestiarum-Mythica is an Elite gallery for the best mythical creature art on DA.  We don't want any redundancy here!  So please only submit the version that you think is best.  

If you submit multiple versions, I will choose the one that I think is best and decline the others.  But please, don't do that on purpose just to test me!  Please respect the group intent here - that this is DeviantArt's awesomest, most elegant showcase of mythical creature art!  And please respect me as the group administrator.  Purposely making me pick when you know you can do it yourself is just not polite, okay?

Thank you all, and stay wonderful!

~ :iconskyjaguar-tfproject:

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