After more than three months of near-constant web development, the Lightwyrm site is finally coming very close to release. This has been a monumental task for me, but I enjoyed every moment of making it, and I hope you will enjoy every moment of using it!

So what follows is a list of the features that have been implemented so far; please use this journal to suggest other features or comment on the existing ones.

As a note, this website is completely free, and all the features offered here are also free - there are no subscription costs, and there are no advertisements.

Seven bi-weekly article series:

"The past two weeks" - [A community and art summary]
"Wednesday Tutorial" - [A wide spectrum tutorial series]
"Game Theory" - [Discussions about different game features]
"Sunday Art Dump" - [A compilation of community and team sketches]
"Game Dev Talk" - [Discussion about the state of the industry]
"State of Animation" - [Focused on the digital animation industry]
"Conceptual Design" - [The work of a modern Concept Artist]

There will also be constant news about, and updates on, the status of the community. And there will also be features from other websites and articles by guest authors.

The Lightwyrm community is focused not on the displaying of your talent, but rather the honing of it. The biggest aim is to help you get better, and generate a highly educational environment.

There will be featured artwork by the Lightwyrm Team, demonstrating the best pieces in the community.
There will be a great deal of challenges based not on competition, but rather on collaboration between members and technique gathering.
There will also be something to do and draw every day to get you to practice a wide range of design ideas.

Some of the persistent challenges are:

Tag teams: Artists sign up for a 2-3 week long challenge in which they work to design and image in collaborative pairs. This is designed to teach teamwork and encourage the sharing of ideas and techniques right on the painting level with each other. Images are then posted in a specific gallery section for public viewing and artists are credited.

Monthly Draw Fest: Another collaboration activity, this one is on a 'slightly' larger scale. 10-15 people sign up to the challenge, then a starting sketch is provided and the participants develop it over a 30 day period. Everyone gets two days to contribute to the work. Completed images are then posted in a specific gallery section for public viewing and artists are credited.

The School is part of the Lightwyrm community.
It is an area for the Lightwyrm Team and mentors to give you advice and hold one-on-one conversations about your art work or techniques.

We will also include areas for more hands-on help, such as an area where you can post your WIP images for overpainting by other artists if you are stuck, or are seeking ideas/other help.

Design and composition discussion is intended to help artists with improving their image composition.

Plus numerous other minor areas.

We are not aiming to make another DA or Conceptart.org. That would be foolish and without much point. Why reinvent the wheel?

What our environment focuses on is fast paced learning for digital painters. If you are in the industry, or want to be in the future, are self-taught or have finished a degree and want to further advance your skills, then this is the place for you.

To take full advantage of this site you have to participate - this is not designed for idle viewing. If you think you have the time, and the dedication to work on honing your skills amongst artists of all experience ranges. Then this is where you should be.

We want to help artists achieve that goal, and we are even prepared to hire them out to companies that we are affiliated with - provided that they demonstrate a high degree of participation and, most importantly, progress.

Personally, I will watch for progress, from piece to piece, form sketch to sketch. This is an important part of an artist’s career - not only must you do something well, you must always strive to do it better than the last piece.

I can drone on for hours about the importance of this, but I am sure you already understand what I’m getting at.

If you want to be a professional digital artist, enjoy digital art, and want to be in a constructive environment. Then this is a place for you.

On the other hand, if you just enjoy making a few doodles here and there, or want to make money right off the bat, then this probably isn’t the best community for you.

Once it’s up you can take a look and decide for yourself. The biggest point is dedication to your talent, don't waste it - sharpen it like a samurai sharpens both his skills and his blade.

Dedicated Artists
Freedom of learning!
Honing your skills
Fun and hands-on learning environment
Sharing ideas and concepts
Jobs
Challenges
Getting Help and Tutoring

Plus a great deal more!

Lightwyrm is not an image host.
It is not a place to spam your work and leave.
This is not a place for idle browsing.
This is not a place for "L33t Sp3ak".
This is not a place for the "OMFG U R GUD" to "Good Coloring!" comment range.

Although the site features are comprehensive both from the technical and content perspectives, we are only four artists who have other jobs on top of this.

My hope is that this will pick up from the community perspective and allow us to generate the “continuous learning environment” that is required.

So help out! And I promise that I will help you in return, one way or another.

Follow me on twitter so that you can hear the latest updates and status of the community: Boris's Twitter