1. Wallpapers

This section of The Guide covers everything relating to wallpapers.

You will find information on:

> What a wallpaper (or wall) is
- Wallpaper Resolutions
- A note on image formats, sizes and quality

> The Submission Guide
- Submission and Approval
- The importance of Session Zero
- Collaboration
- Categories
- All about Signatures
- Writing Descriptions

> The Browsing Guide
- Downloading Wallpapers
- Note about Contributing and walls
- Commenting on Walls
- Favorites

> Wallpaper Rules
1. Ripping
2. Trolling
3. Sources

> Reporting

Scroll down, or use ctr+F to go to a section directly.

What are wallpapers?

A wallpaper (or wall) is a high quality image that you can set as your desktop background in your operating system. For AP, a wall must be at least 1024*768 pixels in size. Walls in AP's gallery depict one or more characters from a named anime, or game characters done in a similar style. AP does not accept unknown anime/game/manga/artist scans. if you don't know the name, don't upload it.

It is assumed that everyone submitting to the wallpaper gallery has at least an intermediate knowledge or understanding of Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, GIMP or equivalent. If you do not feel you have that much knowledge then please submit to Session zerofirst. Wallpapers that the staff decides do not meet their expectations in quality may be moved to session zero for further critiques from members to help make a wallpaper gallery ready.

Wallpaper Resolutions

We would love to be able to accept and provide wallpapers at all the weird, wacky and wonderful resolutions under the sun, but limitations of space, bandwidth and general usefulness prevent this from being practical. As such, wallpaper at AP can only be accepted in the following resolutions:

- 1024x768
- 1152x864
- 1280x960
- 1280x1024
- 1600x1200
- 2048x1536

Wide screen:

WXGA - 1280x800
WXGA - 1440x900
WSXGA+ - 1680x1050
WUXGA - 1920x1200
WQXGA - 2560x1600

Any wallpaper resolutions outside the above list will be rejected from the approval queue or deleted if found/reported. Please take note that 1024x768 is the minimum wallpaper resolution at AP.

Upon successful submission the gallery script will generate smaller versions of the image in several resolutions so that members have a choice and can download the resolution suitable for their computer. As this is an automatic process all you need to do is upload one version.

A note on wallpaper formats, sizes & quality

Wallpapers are generally saved as JPEG formats, as it is the most compatible image format. It also allows for reasonably sized images with reasonable image quality. You will find all walls on AP are in JPEG format as that is the only allowable format here for wallpapers.

Should you notice that your wallpaper appears to have deteriorated in term of quality after you uploaded it, or you see a wall with a lot of artifacts in the gallery, this may be because the file that was submitted was too large (bandwidth costs money, you know). AP has a dynamic size limit for files that allows larger files for higher resolution images.

The calculation of max file size for a 1600x1200 wallpaper is as below:

> (1600*1200)/1.5 = 1,280,000 bytes, i.e. 1250KB (1,280,000/1024)

What this means is that if a JPEG is saved on maximum quality it is inevitably too large, and the system will resave it at a much more reasonable quality setting. As Photoshop (or equivalent) users you should be aware that by utilizing "Save for Web" under the file menu (shortcut ctrl+alt+shift+s) you can fine-tune the quality setting on your images.

We recommend a quality setting of around 70% for walls. This ensures the file is of a reasonable size, but maintains a high quality. You can also refer to the below table for max file size limits.

FILESIZE LIMIT (STANDARD)

1024 x 768 = 512 KB
1152 x 864 = 648 KB
1280 x 960 = 800 KB
1280 x 1024 = 853 KB
1600 x 1200 = 1250 KB

FILESIZE LIMIT (WIDESCREEN)

1440 x 900 = 844 KB
1680 x 1050 = 1148 KB
1920 x 1200 = 1500 KB
2560 x 1600 = 2667 KB

Submission Guide

All wallpapers at AP pass through an approval process. There, your wallpaper is assessed by a mod, who decides whether it is acceptable for the gallery.

So what is acceptable?

Finished, quality wallpapers made by you depicting anime characters (or game characters in a similar style) from named series.

So how do you know if your wall is up to scratch?

Well, can you answer yes to all of the following question?

1. Is the wallpaper all your own work?

Using elements from other wallpapers in yours is not acceptable here at AP. Check out the scans gallery if you need some new material to work with.

You must include your signature on the wall to identify it as yours. Walls without sigs or with sigs that do not match your username will be deleted on sight. If a mod decides that your signature is not clear or that it does not make sense with your username or is in any way suspicious, it may result in the wall being deleted. As such, you should try to ensure that your signature is clear and that it requires no effort to understand or find - our time is precious and we aren't going to play hide-and-seek with the signature forever. It is recommended that you put your signature on the bottom of your wallpaper, in an easy-to-read font. This is where most signatures go, and where moderators will look first.

Please note that if your signature and username do not match you should explain the difference on your userpage - use the "profile" button above.

You must also include a description with your wall to explain it and to avoid any confusion. Descriptions are discussed below.

2. Is the character extracted well?

Off-color borders, jaggy edges or eaten away lines means you need more practice at extracting. It also means your wall doesn't look as good as it could, which is what we want for all of the walls in the gallery.

Why not visit Session Zero for some extraction tips?

3. Did you plan the background?

How long did you spend planning the background? Does the background suit the scan? Does it capture an element of the show or something about that character?

If you go for a simple wallpaper style, then it really needs to be good. If it lacks style, is poorly composed, or looks like you were just covering up for a lack of skill, it will be rejected.

If you don't know what you're doing try Session Zero. That's what it's there for, after all :).

4. Is the background done well?

If you just used a few Photoshop filters you need to invest more effort. If you just used a gradient or a solid color, that's probably not good enough.

If you just used a stock or you took a stock and used 1 filter, that's also not really good enough. The background is generally the area where you get to shine when you make a wall - try to really put some effort in it. In addition, it is important that the background contains a significant portion of your own original effort.

Other things you need to consider in your wall are the composition - how well does everything fit together and the color choices. Do your colors clash - is your wall an eyesore that nobody would ever actually use?

Wallpapers that are just an extension of a scan are also not allowed. While they may be time consuming, they are not creative and require minimal effort in the thought process to do. Wallpapers like this in the queue will be rejected.

We have nothing against simple walls here at AP, but they need to be done well and not just be an attempt to hide a lack of knowledge and skill.

Again, Session Zero is the place for you if you need help with making your wall.

5. Are all the elements clean and of good quality?

If the character looks messy, splotchy or has lines on it for no reason, you need to clean it. If the background is pixelated or messy for no good reason, you need to make it cleaner. If the final wall looks splotchy or the edges are unclean, you need to save it as a higher quality JPEG.

If the wall isn't clean and looking good it won't get in.

Now for the final test:

Be honest - could you use what you're about to submit as a desktop wallpaper for the next month and be completely satisfied every time you see it?

If so, we'd love to see it (but don't forget to add a sig and description ^_^).

Your new submission will be vetted against the above criteria by one of the moderators before it appears on the front page. You will be notified if they do not feel your wallpaper adequately meets the required standards and directed towards Session Zero.

Failure to meet the aforementioned requirements and the subsequent rejection resulting is accompanied by a paper fine. This fine is to make the community and those submitting take responsibility for ensuring their work is of standard before submitting it for approval.

If you can't answer yes, we'd love to see it and help you develop it over in Session Zero, NOT in the wallpaper gallery.

If you have posted in Session Zero and has not gotten any satisfactory or useful responses after a reasonable length of time, please contact hatesyou via PM, providing a link to your thread, and she'll be happy to give you a detailed critique.

Submission and Approval

When you first join the site, you can only upload ONE wall at a time. This means that you must wait for a mod to check your first wall and either approve or reject it.

If it is rejected you can uploaded one more wall, and so on until you get a wall approved.

Once you have uploaded a wall and it gets approved you can then upload a total of 3 walls in any 24-hour period.

These rules are in place to prevent flooding and the swamping of mods, and besides, who can make more than one top quality wall a day?

To submit a wall, press the submit button at the top of the page and follow the instructions. Make sure to include a title and description with your new submission.

All walls submitted by members pass through an approval process. So what does this mean?

It means that a moderator will examine your wall to see if it meets the required standards. The standards are covered by the 5 points listed above. In addition, you should note that only walls that are in normal wallpaper resolutions will be accepted. The list of accepted resolutions is given above.

Until your submission is accepted, the wallpaper will not be visible on the front page. If the wallpaper is rejected you will receive a PM detailing why.

If the wall is rejected, please do not repost it unless directed to by the mod. Instead, post it in Session Zero and ask for help or crit or whatever. When posting in session zero, make sure you give details of what you need help on, that way people can be given a direction. Say anything you like or dislike about the wall, and if it had been previously rejected, say why.

If the wallpaper is accepted it will appear on the front page and people will be able to comment on it. People who "watch" you (see your friend list) will see the wall in their friends wallpapers tab up top.
Please allow at least 24hrs following a submission before chasing. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that walls are approved in a reasonable time frame, sometimes there are lulls in the availability of mods and peaks in the volume of submissions meaning it can take a little longer.

We appreciate your patience.

To chase a wall, the best thing to do is contact a mod directly. For a list of mods, please see the staff group. Please note, however, that if we get a PM only 5 minutes after you have uploaded we will not be pleased and you could wind up getting a fine.

The importance of Session Zero

Session zero is of vital importance to AP.

The thing that really marks AP out is that we aren't just a place for you to come and upload your walls and for people to make simpering, pointless comments and add absolutely everything to their favorites. The core of AP is that it is a place you can come and get genuinely useful feedback, criticism and help with your wallpapers.

And the main place for this to happen is Session Zero.

We recommend that all new and inexperienced wallers use Session Zero. Heck, we recommend that all users make some use of session zero, as that's what the site is really all about.

And on top of all that, there are no fines in Session Zero, so you can earn a nice little paper bonus (our way of saying thanks for using the system properly) by posting there. You can find Session Zero under the Gallery tab. Previously Session Zero was just a forum where you would post your wallpapers, but in order to help people and get their wallpapers more attention, it is now the new addition to the gallery. The forum still exists though, and you can find it here.

Collaboration

For walls where you have collaborated with another user you can choose to share credit and paper between you. This can be set at the time of upload by entering the appropriate information - simply enter the name of your collaborator into the box. If you enter the name of someone you did not collab with, this may result in removal of uploading privileges, so make sure you only use this when it is a REAL collab.

Categories

Please be careful to choose the right category when uploading a wallpaper. Make sure to check both under the original Japanese name and the western version, where appropriate. If you do not know one of these, use Google to search for it.

If a category is simply not there, use the category request link to request the category. It is important that you do this before submitting your wall and don't just upload to some random category. Wait for the category to be created before submitting. When requesting categories please be sure to check under alternate names of the series and that the category itself fits animepaper's scope.

Wallpapers made from your own fan art should be posted in the Artist's Alley section of the forum.

Wallpapers made from fan art or doujinshi by recognized or highly skilled artists must be submitted to the artist's category. Not the series - indicate the series in your description. This helps us to keep tabs on what is "fan art" and what is not. An example is a wallpaper using the fanart of Misuzu of AIR by Keiji Gotoh must go under Keiji Gotoh's category, and not AIR. Only artists with published doujinshi, anime, manga or game art will be accepted.

Submissions to the "Original Anime Art" category need to fit the intended scope of the category. The category is ONLY for "anime-styled" drawings done by the waller, or by a close friend that you then made into a wall. They MUST be original characters and can not be fan art nor doujinshi. Again, this is for ANIME STYLED ARTWORK ONLY.

The definition of "anime-styled" may be a little hazy in some cases. Generally, anime is recognizable due to a few consistent traits. Quite often facial details (especially eyes) are simplified and characters hair and proportions are exaggerated. That's not to say that only wallpapers with characters are acceptable but as a rule of thumb, they are easier to recognize as anime.

If you have a wallpaper that you aren't sure is appropriate, please don't hesitate to seek the opinion of the community via Session Zero or by contact a staff member.

To make things absolutely clear, there are NO miscellaneous or unknown categories at AP. Do not ask for them. Do not submit your unknown stuff to random categories or "Original Art" and do not upload SCANS into this category.

Signatures

NOTE: SIGNATURES ARE A GALLERY SUBMISSION REQUIREMENT!!!

Signatures are bits of text that you add to your wall, normally once it is finished, in order to identify it as your work.

Many people like to include the name of the series, the copyright for the character and/or the series, their name and a link to their wallpaper website.

A signature can look like whatever you want, but we would recommend your signature should be small but not to the extent where we are unable to read/find the signature at all and unobtrusive (ideally it should fit underneath the task bar) using text to indicate your username. However, what is most important to us is that there is a clear link between you, your username and your user page and your wallpaper's signature.

Your signature MUST be in English. English is the language the Staff speaks, and English is the language members must speak, therefore it only makes sense that English is the language of your signatures. Any other language will be marked as not having a signature, and deleted.

What this means is that if you have a sig that is different in some way from your username, we need to see some sort of explanation as to why this is. The best place to put this explanation is on your userpage by editing your user page (hit the profile button at the top - detailed elsewhere in the guide).

Similarly, if your sig is a link to your website, you should fill out the appropriate parts of your userpage to indicate that it is your website.

If the sig and the username do not "make sense" (i.e. does not match or relationship between the signature and username cannot be established) the wall will be deleted on sight (or rejected in the case of approval processing).

Writing a description

When you submit a wallpaper here at AP, you are given an opportunity to add a description to your wall.

We appreciate that not all AP members have English as their first language, but you should make sure to utilize this opportunity properly. Think about it - this is the only way anybody is going to know anything about your wall and the process you went through to make it.

Questions you should consider when writing your description are:

> What was your aim when making the wall?
> Was it difficult to achieve this aim?
> Did the wall go through any revisions?
> How long did it take you to make?
> Are there any bits you really like? And any bits you don't like?
> Is there any aspect you would like people to pay special attention to when commenting?

We are not asking for an essay, but whatever you put, walls submitted to AP must have a good description with decent content, clearly written, in legible English, otherwise they will be deleted on sight. For non-English speakers, you may find a translation service such as babelfish to be of some use.

Browsing Guide

You can browse through the wallpapers from the front page, through the wallpaper gallery listing, or via an individual's userpage.

On the front page you will see a list of the half dozen most recently uploaded walls. For more walls, listed in reverse chronological order, click the "see more wallpapers" link. You can also randomly browse the walls using the thumbs presented at the top of the page - click around, you might just see something interesting.

Alternatively, if you are looking for a wall from a specific series, click the "gallery" button at the top, and then the "wallpapers" option. Here, wallpapers are listed alphabetically by category and you will find a quick link to each letter grouping. Alternatively, use ctrl+F to find a specific series directly. When you click the link for a specific series, you will find thumbnails of all of the wallpapers uploaded to that section listed in reverse chronological order.

The last way to browse walls is to see all the walls an individual has uploaded. Go to their userpage and click the "View My Wallpapers" button.

Thumbnails

When you see a thumbnail for a wall you like the look of in the gallery listing, click on it to take you to the download page.

The download page gives you the following information:

> A larger preview thumbnail
> The wallpaper name
> When it was uploaded
> The name of the user that uploaded it
> The series category
> The image dimensions, or resolution
> The file size
> The number of times the file has been downloaded
> The number of favorites the wall has received (click to see who added it to the favorites)
> The number of comments the wall has received

Along the bottom of the wall you should also see the following:

> Download - view the wall in full. If you are thinking of commenting you must full-view the wall.
> Report violation - for reporting any rule infringements.

And if the wall is yours you can also access the following:

> Edit - allowing you to tweak everything from the title to re-uploading a replacement version of you make changes.
> Delete - allowing you to delete the wall.

Downloading

To download a wallpaper, browse to the thumbnail, and either click on the "download" link, or directly on the thumbnail of the wall.

Please note, it does not cost any papers to download or view wallpapers. However, the number of wallpapers you are allowed to download is dependent on your current user status:

> Non-members - cannot download wallpapers
> Members - 15 walls in 24hrs (see example below)
> Community Member and Senior Member - unlimited

If you exceed the allowed number of wallpapers in any 24-hour period you will see a message telling you that you cannot download any more walls. You will now be prevented from viewing any more wallpapers for a while. Furthermore, if you continue to hit the limit and do nothing other than leech you will eventually be denied access to wallpapers altogether for an indefinite period of time.

The calculation that's made is based on time. So, if you have viewed or attempted to view 15 wallpapers in the last 24 hours (backwards from the current time) you will still be prevented from viewing walls.

Please ask permission from the author before you repost a wallpaper elsewhere, many wallers prefer to have the choice to upload it themselves.

Wallpaper Download Example

Since this seems to cause a lot of confusion I will give you an example:

Its Tuesday afternoon, at 1pm.

You browse to AP and click on a link to view a particular wall.

At this point, the server looks back and checks its records. Since everything you do is recorded, it counts the number of times you've tried to look at any walls in the preceding 24 hours.

That means that it looks all the way back to Monday afternoon at 1pm and counts the number of times you viewed a wall (downloaded or clicked on the thumbnail) between then and now.

If that number exceeds 15, it shows you the contribution message instead.

To re-emphasise, this isn't based on fixed 24hr periods, nor is it some Boolean flag. It's a dynamic, time based calculation.

And it's never wrong.

Times on AP are given in "count back" format, indicating how many days, weeks and hours something was submitted. This should help you to get an idea as to how long ago it was you looked at a wall, etc.

End Example


If you hit a limit, the best thing to do then, is wait a full 24 hours before even attempting to view another wall.

If you still can't view anything 48 hours later you should log out, clear your cookies and your cached files, restart your browser and then log back in again. This will almost certainly cure the problem.

If the above message is still displayed and you have tried waiting 24-48 hours and tried clearing your cookies, then you have reached the leecher limit.

The leecher limit is the number of walls you are permitted to download given your activity level. If you never post on the forums, and you never comment on the walls it stops you from being able to see them.

So how can you avoid seeing the message altogether?

Well, the simplest way is to join in with the community - post in the forums, make useful crits on walls, get to know some of the members, upload scans and make some wallpapers. This is called contribution and if you make enough good contributions, you may even get promoted and the limit won't apply anyway!

However, spamming is heavily frowned upon. If you spam you will be banned. It's as simple as that - a policy of zero tolerance is operated.

Note about Contributing and Walls

Contribution is the term given to your participation in the website.

In other words, it does not just mean uploading wallpapers or scans. There are many other ways to contribute to AP that include:

> Posting interesting stuff on the forums
> Making useful and helpful comments on wallpapers
> Posting your artwork in artist's alley
> Posting your work in progress walls in session zero
> Creating, joining in and being active in groups

As the expression goes "You get out what you put in".

If you contribute quite a lot of AP, you can take a look at the Paper People Group. It's a group for members who have contributed a lot of AP and has rewards for those members in the group. These rewards can run from music to even manga and scans! Your contribution to AP will be worth it.

Commenting on a wallpaper

Here at AP we like to give our users the opportunity to provide critique on the wallpapers people upload.

To comment on a wall, download it to have a look at the full-size version. Then, scroll down to the bottom of the page and type your message in the comment box and then hit the submit button. You may use any of the BBCode in your message (see the forum section of the guide). Don't spam.

Good critique is a vitally important part of AP. This community is built upon the idea that fair and honest criticism can help anyone improve. We can all be guilty of assuming that our work is perfect, and it should be your aim when commenting on a wallpaper to look at it objectively and give a balanced opinion.

Here are the questions you should consider:

> What do you like about the wall? And why?
> What don't you like about the wall? And why?
> How do you think it could be improved?

And the things you shouldn't comment on:

> What you thought of the series. Try joining in the Anime and Manga forums.
> The pose of the character. It's not the job of the Waller to mess around with a scan.
> The resolution. If it's wallpaper sized that's good enough - try checking out the Waller's website if you want a different resolution.

You should always be looking to suggest how you think something can be improved. If you like something, try to detail exactly what it is you like about it. What we don't want to see are "I like this!" or "I hate this!" comments, as they aren't very helpful to anyone.

We know it can be difficult sometimes to comment on a wall, especially if you like it, but try to think of the comments you'd like to see made on your walls that would help you improve. And remember to be civil.

The same also applies to wallpapers which you do not like. If you have nothing to say except for insults and inflammatory comments, then don't say it.

Wallpaper comments are monitored and your ability to comment may be disabled should your comments be deemed to be consistently of a very poor standard. This may be without warning, and it is permanent - not reading the guide is no excuse.

Favorites

A favorite is a wallpaper you like a lot, obviously.

To add a wall to your favorites, tick the box below the comment box, write your comments and then hit submit.

Adding favorites does not earn you paper, though good comments will.

To emphasize the point, you must post a message in order to add something to your favorites (if you like it that much, surely you can find something good to say, yes?). Only wallpapers can be added to your favorites, not scans.

Wallpaper Rules

1. Wallpaper Ripping

If the wallpaper is not yours do not post it, doing so will earn you a ban. There's nothing wallers hate more than having someone else claim their work as their own.

Sharing a wallpaper that you are crazy about is also not an excuse for uploading other people's wallpapers. If a wallpaper is not made by you, don't upload it.

Even if your brother/sister made the wall, or you are personal friends with the waller and they give you 'permission', do not post the wall here. If it is not yours, or you did not collaborate in making the wall, do not upload it.

In order that your wallpapers are clearly identifiable as yours, please ensure that you include a signature. Walls without signatures or with signatures that do not match the username of the person uploading will be deleted on site by moderators and admin's. You must also include a description to help prevent any confusion.

2. Wallpaper Trolling

Do not spam wallpapers.

Do not post nasty comments or anything in any way offensive to the user or the wall. If you think you have been ripped, or you find a wall offensive, etc, use the report function to tell a mod - do not post on the wall.

Also, please don't give vague replies.

Giving the artist your true opinion is fine, we personally hate sugar coating, but instead of saying "Your wall sucks..." try "Your wall sucks, because..."

Well, maybe not sucks!

3. Sources

Do not use other people's wallpapers to make your own.

Do not modify other people's wallpapers and call it your own. Examples would be as follows:

> Altering the color.
> Applying filters/brush effects over an existing wallpaper.
> Placing another extracted character over the existing character.
> Extracting a character from another wallpaper.

Similarly, don't just slap a scan on top of a stock and call it a wall.

Where you have used stocks and brushes please pay careful attention to any stated terms of use.

When using a vector, re-cg or scan extraction someone else has made, provide appropriate crediting.

When using fan art by a famous artist, it must be uploaded to the artist's category, not the series. Indicate the series in the description.

No Doujin scans or wallpapers or unknown artist fanart will be accepted. No stealing someones art from deviantart either. Only wallpapers made from official artwork for that game/anime/manga/artist will be accepted.

Reporting

If you see a wallpaper that violates any of the above rules, or if you are aware of a wallpaper that someone has uploaded that is not their own, please use the report function to inform the moderation team. Whilst every effort is made to ensure these do not get into the gallery, mistakes do happen as we are only human.

And please do not use the report function for anything other than reporting rule violations. Misuse of the reporting system will result in punishment at the mod's discretion.

To report a wallpaper, make sure to provide any appropriate links. Just saying "This is ripped" is almost useless to us, but saying "This is ripped and here it is on the original website...", or "here it is uploaded to minitokyo..." etc is something we can act on.

Other Sections of the Guide

1. Wallpapers
2. Scans
3. Vectors and Re-cg's
4. The forum
5. User page Guide
6. Paper Guide
7. Groups
8. Deletion Policy
9. Quick Help (FAQ)

Click on one of the links above or go back to the start of The Guide