I have news! Not in the literal sense, but you'll like it.

First on my announcement list would be to keep on sending in those pictures for the Redesign Contest. I have some interesting submissions, and it should be fun to see them all in the column in a month. I should also let you guys know, I don't have any way to prize you. So, if you win it's just the knowledge that your design kicked the most butt!

Second on my list. Are you all sitting down? As of May 1st, 2003 our searchable archives are completely up to date! That means when you click on them now you have as many as 940 artworks at your fingertips! Now, comes the bad news...in cleaning out some of the directories we lost some works both entered and being considered for entering into our database. What does that mean? More work on both our parts. If you submitted a work you absolutely know was in the past please send it to the submission e-mail with the topic "Archives Resubmit" and all I need from you is the name of the character(s), game(s) they were in, and title of piece(s) with the piece(s). You can submit them in a ZIP format or all in one shot, I don't mind...just be honest, I have a visual memory and remember 80% of what we used to have here. Don't try to be cute and sneak one by me.

Third on my list is our backlog is nice and large, but keep submitting. Don't stop because you think it's ok not to because we have a large backlog. Also, make sure to read guidelines. I have a .png in my inbox right now that's absolutely gorgeous but because it's a .png it went into the backlog.

Finally, starting on the last update, the rules update, the archives will be rebuilt for the year archives. Which means 1999-2003 are no longer up and available to the public, the past updates "Oy and Vey" and prior are being taken down and "I Rule You!!" will be the only one available for now on recent updates. This is to give me some time to figure out what I'm going to do now that a good amount of our archive(I'd say 200-300) was removed to have a higher quality gallery. Also, all game pages except for Xenogears, and the S' have been linked to their respective new archives. Expect that to be fixed later. If you spot any broken links in our archive, please e-mail them to me. There will be many in FF7 and FF8 as those were huge, sometimes mispointed links.

Artist's Comments: This is my character in RO, her name is Aela and she's a upcoming assassin ^^; I made this pic with both Windows Paint and Photoshop 7.0 . I think it came out pretty well =)

Curator's Comments: I once said I love Oekaki, and that still rings true. Though it's not the smoothest, best, most awesome graphic ever the sheer beauty and mechanics of the drawing make my mind hum in happiness. A few lines could have used closing, but considering this is MS Paint at work here I think you deserve to be worshipped. Awesome work.

Artist's Comments: I love the character designs in "Chaos Legion". Guess that's one of the main attraction to get me to buy the game ^_^;;. The painting is done in gouache + silver ink in the background. Originally I was thinking of drawing Sephiroth but I felt I've done too many fanart for him, so changed my mind after I've sketch out the face.

Curator's Comments: I don't see a trace of Sephiroth on this, so be proud. I love everything about it, great job!

Artist's Comments: Composed with my favorite program--good ol' simple and reliable MS Paint. I was originally going for more cell-shade, but I ended up with sketchiness instead. I never realized that parallel sketchiness could give a picture that "movement" feel.... Unfortunately, the lines started slanting in different directions, and I think that detracted from the effect. ^^; As for the subject matter, here's Dio, the male lead of the cutest RPG ever, wearing one of his scarier-looking costumes.

Curator's Comments: Anyone who can MS Paint like this is awesome. However, you do have a problem here. Your dagger is over-bending. How you have it put the bend is so sharp it would probably cut his own hand before it cut anyone else. Next time make the base of your blade a little larger and take into consideration your weapon has to be just as functional as the body, less curve is sometimes a good thing.

Artist's Comments: I did this art a couple months ago when i was 13 , its done with dry pastel and some computer effects. Ive been working really hard on my artwork so i hope yall like it!

Curator's Comments: Great job on the coloring, I love the eyes and the lips, and it really makes Rikku seem more of a person. Next time, pay attention to your shoulder area. Shoulders should always be as large or larger than the head. If you don't, it makes the head look super large and can even make a piece look worse, but this looks just fine.

Artist's Comments: After all those complicated pictures . . . . I wanted to relax with this simple yet cute picture! *^_^* Her hair turned our quite fancy. **hehe** But it's still good. It's not everyday when I actually like my drawings but this one would be in the cute list!

Curator's Comments: Simple and great it is, very cute character, and the pencilwork is very nice. Always remember, though, pencilwork looks better if you clean up any smudges around it or any scanning grey at the top.

Artist's Comments: It is watercolors work!

Curator's Comments: Absolutely beautiful watercolors at that. I don't have a single comment to say other than great job!

Artist's Comments: Wouh long time that I send a picture on this site ^_^; this is one of my fav' character from FFT; Izlude. Picture done with watercolor and ink ^_^

Curator's Comments: Goodness, this is a complex picture I had to look at a few times to see if the big Izlude was the smaller one. It isn't, it's completely repainted. My only advice, would be pay attention to perspective. If you look at his left knee, it's turned slightly to us. If this were happening, he would not be able to prop himself up like that. Other than that, awesome job. I love his expression.

Artist's Comments: Young gun Cloud Strife, having arrived in the industrial metropolis of Midgar, is in need of work. And what better vocational calling is there for a dude with such a big sword than that of the mercenary-for-hire? Lines were done up real quick with Uniball pens for a draw-off I was in on. Colors were an experiment - Photoshop gradient stuff that I've been studying for 'bout a week now. Anyway, lemme' know what ya' think, if ya' want. I'd appreciate it. Oh yeah, an' this is one o' those cases of long time viewer, first time submitter, too. XD So, uh… Hiya! ^_^

Curator's Comments: I love your depth of field here, but the gel-lense effect is a no-no. Barbara Streisand uses them, and we all know she's pure evil. The coloring here is just plain awesome, and so is the pose, but I'm iffy on the upper torso. It works, overall though; just get rid of the soft glow because Cloud ain't no stinkin' soft glow kind of guy!

Some parting notes about upcoming changes, and some I've already taken liberty to put into effect.

1. From now on, any and all submitted works should follow this naming scheme: "artistalias_titleofwork.jpg". I know that converting a picture to jpg is lossy, but if you do it right it won't be. Photoshop 6+ users, go to File - Save for Web - JPG High. Save the file to 50 or above, and this will make an almost lossless, but small image. GIF and PNG, although both good filetypes, are often a load issue. GIFs, though small, can lose information if you have more than 256 colors; which is many pieces of art here. PNGs, though lossless are a big file and some can't even load PNGs. JPG is the only small alternative here that won't end up with you wishing you'd done. Also, I prefer JPGs for update images,as GIFs only get nice and small like in our thumbnails. GIF and PNG could be put into backlog, so don't chance having your work put up the week you send it in!

2. Starting this update and every update to follow I will not be allowing Xenogears, Final Fantasy 7, or Final Fantasy 8 artworks at a large pace. If you look at our game list then look at our searchable archives you notice we have a lot of excellent games not even covered by art, including Persona 1, Parasite Eve 2, Super Mario RPG, and others with little amounts like Valkyrie Profile. The only way I can think to encourage people to play these and, if you have played it, draw art of it is to cut off the games with 80 or more works. That's FF7, FF8, and Xenogears. I will post some works if they are great works like today. However, we won't have updates dedicated to these games anytime soon. So, get out there and work on art for the lesser known games(psst we even support X-Men fanart now, how cool is that?)

3. Coming soon will be a list of games we are looking for art from, and even specific characters we'd like, an update to the submission guidelines, and an update to the fanart FAQ.

We're also now accepting tutorials, you'll find out how to submit these soon so don't submit them just yet. Give me time to update the guidelines and then send them in. They should be updated by this Friday at the latest. Send in contest submissions, you can send in ANY supported game, and they will probably be posted. Don't be shy, because even the best of artists thought their work stunk.

Oy, this is long. Thanks to everyone who sent in e-mails and gave me private praise as I worked on the archives. They kept me going when I wanted to stop and just give up. Thanks, and I'll try to continue to be a good curator. Now it's finished, I promise...