Gallery FAQ

The Gallery itself

What is this place?

Thirty-some years of sketchbooks, paintings, and works-in-progress — over 3,500 images and counting — scanned, organized, and annotated by the Jaguar (that's me!). Some of it is finished work. A lot of it is the road to the finished work, which is the part most galleries never show you. That's on purpose... I want you to see all my mistakes, fits and stops, all the dents and frustrations, so you know that even someone who seems to know what they're doing only learns what they're doing by failing...!

Do I need an account?

Not to wander. Anyone can browse as a Tourist with a monthly budget of image views. An account (free — we use Google Sign-In and take nothing but an anonymous ID, not even your email) gets you favorites, a display name of your choosing, and a seat by the fire when there's conversation happening. Supporters get the whole archive, unmetered.

Why do the paid tiers exist?

Plainly: the Gallery costs money and time to run, and the supporters are why the door can stay open for free viewers. A Chimerical Denizen pass — via Patreon, Locals, or a season/annual pass at studiomcah.com — buys unlimited access to everything, including the deep archive.

I've always run my communities this way, allowing others to help people who can't afford full price, and I've never been disappointed.

Content and Warning tags

How come so many of the scans are so sketchy?

As I mentioned earlier, I'm putting everything from each sketchbook online, even the mistakes, the quick takes, and the nearly invisible stuff I moved on from quickly. Part of this is for my archival purposes... the other part is my way of letting you into the process. As long as I can make the scanner see some kind of line, I'm throwing it into the processing queue!

But I notice that some sketchbooks have missing page numbers? What's up with that?

Sometimes the page numbers are missing, or are literally blank! I tend to leave a fragment of the page when I tear out the perforated part, and sometimes I label it so I know what's gone, and sometimes it's just mysteriously missing. Othertimes, a sketchbook will have "100 pages" on the cover, but when I scan it, I'm only getting 89 or 90... so I don't know where those pages went. I also usually skip page 1, because I just write sketchbook meta-data on there (Sketchbook number, dates, my contact info).

What are the warning tags, and what do they mean?

Every image that might catch someone off guard carries one or more of these. You can hide any category entirely from Settings ("Hide images tagged…"), and hidden means hidden — no thumbnails, no teasers.

• Intimacy — implies significant emotional or physical intimacy. Not necessarily erotic, or even literal; but it might be embarrassing to witness, and you deserve to decide.
• Questionable — content of uncertain rating or maturity: anything from depressing commentary to questionable situations. This is the catch-all for pieces I'm not sure how to tag, but that shouldn't end up as the image of the day for random passersby.
• Spoiler — would materially spoil future books, or the endings of existing ones. If you're mid-series, this tag is your friend.
• Unclothed — I draw nude outlines before the figure, so underdrawings aren't tagged; this tag is for nudity that looks intentional or finished.
• Violence — implies injury, or depicts threatening or dangerous story scenes.

I hid a tag. Will I still run into those images somewhere?

No. The filter follows you everywhere — browsing, searching, favorites, feeds, the front page. If you find a leak, that's a bug; please report it.

Chatter (the notes on artwork pages)

What is it?

On pages where the artist has written commentary, members can leave written notes below it — impressions, memories, questions, links to other pieces. Think marginalia in a friend's sketchbook, not a comments section. I read everything and can reply to it, and probably will if you ask a question or summon me...!

Who can read the notes? Who can write them?

Any signed-in member can read them and write them, free accounts included. Visitors without accounts just see that notes exist ("6 notes in the chatter"), not what they say. Since notes aren't anonymously signed, they can't be read anonymously either. Fair is fair!

Why can't I comment on some images?

I need to write the first comment! So if you want to comment on something and I haven't described it yet, hit the 'request artist commentary' button!

Why can't I reply to another member's note?

I don't want anyone to feel chased or singled out or summoned. This is a low stress environment! If you want to respond to someone's comment, you can do so in a comment of your own. "LibraryCat had some excellent points!"

Are notes anonymous?

No. Every note is signed with your display name, even if your activity is otherwise set to private. That's part of what makes moderation easier. (And why I keep the chatter locked to people with accounts.)

Can I edit or delete my notes?

Freely, and forever — with one exception: once I've replied to a note, it locks shortly afterward, so an answered exchange can't be rewritten out from under my reply. You can still delete it though!

What are those little marks on some notes?

Accolades! I can give those! A steel trap remembered something I lost. An archivist ties works and ideas together. Brings insight, I put on a comment that I think deserves reading by everyone!

What's "following" a page?

Respond to a piece and you'll automatically follow it (you can unfollow); you can also follow any page you're curious about. New notes on followed pages show up in your on-site notifications. Nothing is ever emailed to you — we don't have your email.

Somebody's note vanished. What happened?

Probably nothing dramatic: people delete their own notes, and occasionally I prune things that don't follow the House rules — see the House Notes page for what gets something dinged. If you think a removal was a mistake, write to the address at the bottom.

Are there rules?

A few and you'll recognize them from other places I've moderated like Livejournal and Discord: this is a place for encountering the alien, not fighting them. Keep the language clean, don't promote your own wares, don't badger the artist or each other, and what's said in the Gallery stays in the Gallery — no screenshotting members' notes elsewhere. You can read the long version on the House Notes page; there's also similar, but more formal editions in the Terms of Service, but it's all basically the same ideas.

Can I put links in a note?

Links to other Gallery pieces, yes, please — connecting works is half the fun, and there's a picker to help! Outside links don't work, except to the artist's own sites.

Privacy & your data

What do you actually store about me?

Very little, because I hate keeping personal data: an anonymous Google ID, the display name you invented, your preferences, favorites, view counts, notes you've written, and pages you follow. No email, no real name, no IP logging on your activity, no trackers. Your Settings page shows your entire footprint — everything in the database, itemized.

What happens to my stuff if I delete my account?

It goes away — favorites, follows, view history, display name, all of it, and by default your notes too, every word, unless you decide you want to leave your notes behind as a gift for everyone else. If you do, your notes will be permanently detached from any name; it'll just say 'a departed member.' Default is removal; nothing is kept unless you choose it. The artist's own replies remain either way, marked as answering a note since removed.

Can I delete just one note, without deleting my account?

Any time. I don't take hostages!

Odds and ends

What's a finish request?

A button on unfinished pieces that tells me "I'd love to see this one completed someday." I pay attention to this, it gives me a direction when I'm feeeling like doing art but don't have any great ideas that day...!

I found a bug / I have a question you didn't answer.

Write to jaguar@mcahogarth.org. It may take me a bit to get to it, but I will!