Welcome to Gaia! :: Arena Rules

You can only make two submissions per subcategory per day. We'd like to ensure that everyone gets a fair amount of exposure, and we don't want to flood an entire arena with a single person's work.

Make sure that the server you upload your art to allows remote linking and doesn't limit your bandwidth usage. We can't be held responsible if the arena causes you to go over any bandwidth limits you might have.

Images must be smaller than 640x640 pixels and 500,000 bytes in size. Be especially careful with animated .gif files-- they may look tiny on screen, but long animations can easily pass the 500,000 byte limit.

We accept images in .jpg, .png, and .gif formats only. No .bmp files, please. Generally speaking, scans of drawings and photographs will work best as .jpg files, while drawings made on your computer will probably look best as .png or .gif files.

By re-uploading or changing the URL to your image after you've submitted it, you will reset its statistics.

Submitting a piece to the art arena costs 1 Platinum.

Don't submit artwork you didn't create. This includes things like altering or editing the works of others and claiming ownership of them. We're very serious about art theft at Gaia, and our moderators will take action against those who try to pass off the work of others as their own. Our moderators may or may not catch art theft during the approval process, but at any time if your piece is reported and proven to be stolen, that engagement in art theft may cause your account to be banned from Gaia.

Don't submit them! We only allow completely original work in the Art Arena. Submitting copies and tracings will be treated as an attempt at art theft.

Put some pride into your work! Stick figures and quick doodles won't be approved, so don't bother submitting something unless you feel it's complete.

All arena submissions must comply with the Gaia Terms of Service. That means no nudity, extreme violence, or inappropriate/sexual themes, please.

We don't allow pixel dolls or Gaia avatar edits in the art arena because these things contain content that you didn't create. We ask that everything you submit be 100% original and created by you.

Working with others on a collaboration piece is perfectly fine, but you must make sure everyone involved gets credit and gives you permission to submit it. Don't upload anything until all of the artists agree that it's ready!

We do accept 3D submissions, as long as they follow the other rules of the arena. That means effort is a must-- no 3D models of cubes, spheres, or endless checkerboard floors, please!

You can submit photographs of these to the Art Arena. When you submit your photo, please have your Gaia username and the date you completed it written clearly somewhere next to it. We suggest writing on an index card with a permanent marker, which will make your writing highly visible. Just lean that index card up against your piece and snap away! If there's no card, or if we can't read it, we won't be able to accept your submission.

Artistic photography is allowed, but don't submit just any photos you've taken. Only shots with artistic appeal will be approved. Photos of yourself, your pets, or your friends may be meaningful to you, but wouldn't have the same appeal to everybody as a beautiful landscape photo, for example. A good question to ask yourself before submitting is, "Would a random person want to look at this?" If not, don't submit it!