Family - The Dolling Community
The fine art of making cartoon dolls has a huge presence on the web. Estimating from Google search results, there are hundreds of thousands of doll sites out there, ranging from the extremely famous to the barely noticed. But a doll site itself is the result of the doller's varied efforts, from finished dolls and bases to tutorials and drag and drops. The real scene is happening on tagboards, guestbooks, forums, and instant message programs. That's where dollers gather together to talk and share their work for critique, and it's quite a busy scene. There are several major doll forums, and each has their own unique atmosphere.
The challenge for a doller in this scene is not so much how to draw the perfect folds, or shade the perfect hair, but how to feel like a member of the doll community. There is a lot of competition between dollers, driven by the many contests held at sites and forums, the practice of comparing one's own work to that of another doller, and the common practice of "sister" or "sibling" sites. It is hard to feel as if your hours of hard work and your bulging folders of bookmarked tutorial and base sites have amounted to anything when the doll community seems to ignore you.
Everyone would like to be well-known, admired, and envied for their work. However, this does not mean that being the best, most popular doller around should be your primary goal as a member of this community. It's certainly an honor, but with that recognition comes quite a bit of trouble, as direct-linkers, frankendollers, and witch-hunters alike will all be targeting your very well-known work.
The first and foremost goal of the dolling community should be to make every member feel as if they are a part of it, no matter how impressive their skill level or post count. Let us encourage new dollers. Let us give them honest but kind constructive criticism. Let us welcome them to our forums and make a point of getting to know those who seem to feel left out. Let us recognize each other with awards or gifts when our fellow dollers have excelled - not just by making better dolls, but by excelling in treating others in the community with kindness. Ignore the site counter and the post count, and start paying attention to the people behind the avatars. Sister site or not - each and every one of us is a member of this community, and that makes us family.
You're welcome to use the link buttons displayed in the sidebar if you wish to show your support for the community, either by displaying it at your site, or even sending it along to someone to let them know that they make you feel like a member of the family. No credit or link back is necessary, but it is appreciated. If you make a graphic of your own, I'd be happy to display it here as well.
