There have been some journals going around with good suggestions for how you can help keep this site an active and friendly place. That's great, but you know what I think a still small site like this really needs? Heck, what any art gallery site needs: That people take the time to help each other out with what I suppose we're all here for - Art!

When I was a wee teenager I learned a lot from better artists who took the time to critique my work and make suggestions for how I could improve it. That kind of advice is invaluable and I'm still really grateful for it. Even as I have gotten better at drawing and to some extent can criticise myself, I still appreciate any critiques I get and sometimes even depend on them.
But these days I feel like we're so overwhelmed with content - it's hard to remember to slow down and really look at individual pieces of art long enough to be able to say something useful about it. Maybe that's why I hardly ever see anyone write critiques anymore. There's always more art to click through :/

I haven't been any better myself for a long time. It's too bad, all of it, and I feel like making my own small contribution to do something about it. So, I've made a little mission to dish out at least one helpful critique here every day.

While it's still undeveloped (you can't browse through more submissions that are marked for critique than what is shown on the home page), Weasyl's 'request critique' feature makes it easy to find someone who needs help with a drawing. Apparently there's also a section in the forum where you can request critique.

Anyway, my plea is, if you're ever browsing here and feeling bored or whatever, pick a submission at random and offer some help the best you can. Especially if it's an artist just starting out or trying something they're unfamiliar with.

Chances are you'll make someone happy and maybe even help them a tiny bit towards becoming a better artist :)