The Art Critique Guilds

About The Art Critique Guilds

Welcome to the Give-to-Get art community. We are dedicated to the idea that the best way to improve your art is to learn to look closely at the art of others.

How the Economy Works

• The Rule of 3: To keep the feed alive, you must write 3 thoughtful critiques to earn 1 upload credit.
• Likes earn Credits: If an artist finds your advice helpful and "Likes" it, you earn a bonus credit immediately.
• The Showcase: Exceptional work that sparks conversation (3+ liked critiques) is pinned to the public Showcase for everyone to see.
• The Reciprocity Loop: When someone likes your critique, your art becomes prioritized in their "Liked Critics" feed. Helping others is the best way to get help yourself.

Our Philosophy: The Power of Observation

Whether you are a beginner or a master, your eyes are valuable. We modeled our system around the concept of "active noticing" (inspired by Bianca Bosker). We ask you to note five specific things when looking at a piece of art.

This approach benefits everyone:

• It trains your eye: Slowing down to articulate what you see improves your own visual library and attention to detail.
• Fresh Eyes: You don't need to be an expert to be helpful. A beginner with "fresh eyes" often sees perspective or anatomical issues that the artist has become blind to after staring at the canvas for hours.
• Learning by Comparison: After you submit your observation, you unlock the critiques of others, allowing you to see what you missed.

Quality Standards

We value effort over expertise. To ensure this remains a place for growth:

Moderators reserve the right to remove low-effort critiques (e.g., "Nice work" or random gibberish). This ensures that credits are exchanged for genuine effort, not just empty words.

The system is designed to amplify helpful voices. If you write good critiques, you earn Likes, Credits, and visibility. If you write bad critiques, you will find it much harder to get feedback on your own work.

Terms of Service

1. Respect: This is a learning environment. Be polite. No harassment, hate speech, or swearing.

2. Original Work: Only post art you created yourself. No posting other people's art. No AI-generated images.

3. Appropriate Content: No illegal content. Sensitive content (gore/nudity) must be flagged using the "Sensitive" checkbox when uploading.

4. Fair Play & Security: Play fair. Do not abuse the credit system. Do not hack, scrape, reverse-engineer, or attempt to manipulate the site's infrastructure or API. Automated access (bots) is prohibited. You must use the website solely as intended.

5. Eligibility: You must be at least 13 years old (or the minimum age of digital consent in your country) to use this service.

6. Not a Portfolio Service: We do not guarantee permanent storage. We reserve the right to delete images and inactive accounts after a period of time. Always keep your own backups of your work and critiques.

Violation of these rules may result in content removal or an immediate ban without warning.

Privacy Policy

We believe in data minimalism. Here is exactly what we store:

• Email Address: Used solely for logging you in (Magic Link). It is never shared publicly or sold.
• IP Address: Stored securely to prevent spam and enforce bans.
• Session Token: Stored locally in your browser to keep you logged in.
• Content: The images and critiques you submit.

Data Retention: Unlike other platforms that hoard data, we regularly purge old images and inactive user accounts to maintain privacy and server performance.

Who sees this data? Your email and IP are visible only to site administrators for moderation. Your images and critiques are public.

Permissions & Legal

Your Content & Art Theft: You retain full ownership of the images you post. However, by using this site, you agree to respect the ownership of others. You may NOT download, repost, sell, feed to AI, or use another user's art without their explicit permission. Please note that because users are anonymous, it is generally impossible to contact them for permission, so you must assume you do not have it.

Usage of Critiques: By posting a critique, you grant the receiving artist a permanent, royalty-free license to use your suggestions, ideas, and feedback to modify, improve, or create derivative works of their art without attribution or compensation.

License Grant: To operate this website, we need your permission. By posting, you grant The Art Critique Guilds a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, transferable, non-exclusive license to host, store, display, distribute, and reproduce your content (including creating thumbnails/resized versions) strictly for the purposes of operating and promoting the service.

No Warranties (The "As-Is" Clause): This service is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to fitness for a particular purpose. We do not guarantee that the site will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure.

Critique Disclaimer: Critiques and advice are generated by community members, not professional instructors. We make no guarantees regarding the accuracy, quality, quantity, or safety of any advice given. You follow advice at your own risk.

Limitation of Liability: To the fullest extent permitted by law, The Art Critique Guilds and its operators shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, including loss of data or content.

Governing Law: These terms are governed by the laws of the Netherlands. Any disputes related to this service shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located in the Netherlands.