Just a quick note that the moderator applications for the journal folder are still open!  Now on to the cool stuff!

My fellow club mod =Vampire-Sacrifice and I had ideas for a contest for a while, then I had real life slap me in the face a bit, but now we're back to business...finally!

We are going to recycle the much-loved but very neglected theme of "Special Edition!"  We want you to create the pony you would have most liked to see as a special edition pony in the MLP toy line.  It can be seasonal if you want, but don't restrict yourself to just that simply because of the time of year!  If you thought that there should have been a hamburger-themed pony somewhere along the line, now is the time to create it!  

Entries of ponies in non-FiM format is strongly encouraged.  We want you all to remember that this club is dedicated to ALL My Little Pony generations, not just the new one!

The winners will be chosen not by us, the mods, but by you, the members!  Read below for details.



Rules:
1. Contest is open to members of the My Little Pony Club only, so if you'd like to submit an entry but you're not a member, please join the club! Here is a link to the rules for joining: [link]

2. Please follow the rules of the club and deviantART when submitting your work.

3. Each member may submit up to five pieces of art!

4. Digital drawings, traditional drawings, customs, and pony photography are all acceptable entries.

5. Enter new, original work only. Please don't re-use art you've created for other contests or people.

6. Submissions must be received by May 5,2013 by 11:59 PM CST. No entries will be accepted after this time.  That's a whole month!


To submit:

DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR ART TO DA!! We want this contest to be as impartial as possible, so please don't post your art for all your friends until after the contest is over. Please submit your entry via note to the club, title the note "Contest," and then link to a non-deviantART website such as Photobucket or Snapfish containing your submission. If you need help with hosting your picture, then note the club so that we can assist you. When we receive all the contest submissions, we will post all the entries for voting. Once voting has closed and the winner has been selected, then please feel free to submit your work!

We will check to see that you haven't submitted your entry on your dA page, and if you have, you will be disqualified. So please don't do it!!


Voting:

Once submissions have closed, we will upload each submission without the artist's name.  Only one vote per dA member, please!! To vote, just comment on the deviation you choose, and please include the words "I vote" in your comment, so that the admins know it's a vote and not a comment on the artist's work. In the event of a tie between two or more entries, we, the admins will put our two cents in to break the tie, otherwise we're staying out of it. Good luck!!


Prizes:

FIRST PLACE:  Six-month dA subscription from ~severedanomaly and =Vampire-Sacrifice and one fully colored picture of one or two characters from =Vampire-Sacrifice

SECOND PLACE: Three-month dA subscription from  ~severedanomaly and =Vampire-Sacrifice and one fully colored picture of one or two character from =Vampire-Sacrifice

THIRD PLACE: One-month dA subscription from ~severedanomaly and =Vampire-Sacrifice and one line art of one character from =Vampire-Sacrifice

Super special thanks to my cohort =Vampire-Sacrifice for the art prizes and subscription donations for the contest!

Hey everyone!  We're swamped with our own stuff and we need help to keep the group going!  Now accepting applications for a Creative Writing Moderator!  Duties are pretty simple - read through the creative writing submissions to determine if it is acceptable to the club.  Extremely poor grammar, adult themes, bad language, and non-pony content are not acceptable, but pretty much anything else goes!

Must be age 16 or over to get this position.  Sometimes we have stuff get submitted that is not appropriate, so please be aware of that.  Also, of course, this is a volunteer position, so love of the genre is needed!

I'm feeling pretty relaxed about this, so, to apply, please note me with the following things:

~ A quick note about why you feel you are a good choice for this spot.  

~ Two pieces of creative writing that you find on this site (doesn't have to be pony-related) that are examples of good grammar skills, cohesive writing ability, and appropriate material (that is, something that does not violate our rules).

~ Two pieces of creative writing that you find on this site that are examples of something we would not accept.  Poor grammar, bad language, inappropriate themes, etc.

My co-mod and I will be reviewing the submissions as we get them and we will move forward from there.  We will be accepting applications until we find the right fit for the group!  And one more thing....THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

If you're not writing notes to either mod or the group itself asking why your submission was denied, then feel free to skip to the end of this note.  If, however, you are, then this is for you.  I have a few points to make...

1.  We are not denying your art because we think it's "crap."  We would never try to squash a budding artist's enthusiasm like that.  Nine times out of ten, the submission is denied simply because it was put into the wrong folder, and you should check that first.  We just don't have time to accept and then move art that has been submitted into the wrong folder.  

2.  If your work violates our rules and guidelines, we will deny it without explanation.  If the folder you submitted to is correct and your submission was denied, then review the rules and make sure your art complies.  There is a rule about cleaning up photographed art that you likely violated.  Honestly, that rule is there because we care about our art and want you to care about yours.  You spent hours drawing that pony, why not let people see the care you put into it by cleaning up the eraser marks and scanner shadows in an editing program before you submit?  GiMP is free for download and is almost as nice as Photoshop itself and, if nothing else, MS Paint will work to clean up your images.  If you, for whatever reason, cannot use either of these programs, then please get in touch with us and we will help you out!

3.  If your work was denied, it does not warrant sending a rude or threatening note.  This is nothing short of harassment and if it continues, we will boot you from the club and report you to the deviantART staff.  Harassment is unacceptable and we will not tolerate it from our members.

I apologize if this is coming off as harsh or mean or anything, but we are volunteers and we do the best we can to make this little club something fun, so please respect us as we respect you.

And since I hate to write a note with such a depressing message and nothing fun upbeat to mention, here's your good news:

CONTEST STARTING NEXT WEEK!!!!

Have a great weekend all!

Hey pony peeps!

I've been noticing a lot lately that sometimes, if a submission is denied, the artist that submitted it will resubmit it in the same folder, often immediately after denial.  It's pretty uncommon for us to deny a submission on accident, so there's a reason that this has happened.  If we accidentally deny your deviation, we comment to apologize and ask you to resubmit.

The overwhelming majority of the times that deviations are denied are because you've submitted to the wrong folder.  As stated in the rules, we aren't required to respond telling you to submit to the proper folder.  It takes a lot of time to comment to each member that has erroneously submitted to a folder and that is time we don't necessarily have.  First thing you need to do when you see that your deviation was declined is double-check the folder to which you've submitted your piece.

If you feel that your submission has been denied in error,  PLEASE DO NOT RESUBMIT IMMEDIATELY!!  There is a link on the submission notice for comments.  Please use that to ask us why we denied the submission.

I'm not asking this because we're lazy, or mean, or anything else like that.  I'm asking this because this club is a community each member should do his or her part to make our community better.  We love you guys and your awesome art and we want to do our best for you!

In other news...

Do you remember that contest that we ran back in November that ended up flopping?  We got a lot of interest in it, but there just wasn't enough time for everyone to get submissions done.  So we're going to give it another shot here soon.  This time, I figured there's no reason not to give you guys a whole month to get it done!  Keep an eye on the journal for the date for that, and refer to this entry: [link] if you don't know what the heck I'm talking about.

Ciao for now!

she has been oohed and aahed over but not bought. so here she is for raffle to celebrate 7 years of customizing by yours truly.


as of june 15th i will have been enjoying this wonderful and versatile art form for 7 years! i have enjoyed every minute of it! i'm running this a little early because i am looking fwd to buying a house and moving in late spring/early summer, and i'd rather have her shipped before that. please celebrate with me and join this raffle for the stunning tiger lily!


please read the rules carefully:


1. DO NOT MENTION "RAFFLE" IN THE PAYPAL TRANSACTION instead put "celebration" please and leave your arena/deviantart id.
2. 1 ticket for $1, 10 for $5
3. winner will be chosen by random.org
4. all shipping is free, including international
5. my paypal addy is RevRuby @ gmail.com
6. raffle ends april 30th! she will be shipped may 1st
7. if 100 tickets are sold a second pony prize will be added!

updated list of ticket holders here: [link]