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Gatekeeper! We have travelled too far and lost too many to turn back! Surrender your blade!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxR-oKkwJLI

NOTE: suggestion to turn on CC/subtitles, as the dialogue is a little muddy in places.

This is from the classic Les armées du Conquérant / Conquering Armies, by JP Dionnet and JC Gal.

Slight backstory-- publishing house Les Humanoïdes Associés (or "Humanoids") had been established just three years before (in 1974), by Mœbius, Dionnet, Philippe Druillet, and financial director Bernard Farkas. It went on to change the world in terms of BD and comics, I humbly submit.

Now here-- there was a great deal of novel experimentation in this series, which could sometimes feel a bit archaic, yet sometimes feel beweirdingly progressive. In any case, these books are collections of short-story works about a Roman army-type takeover of the known Mediterranean+ world, but one which kept running in to unusual, unexpected, or even unholy problems.

So it's the emperor (conqueror) who kept tripping over his own shoelaces, one might say. But enough ado, here's the story link:

https://imgur.com/gallery/lets-all-raise-glass-to-bosom-friendship-of-alphons-donatus-from-conquering-armies-by-dionnet-gal-mature-bvd3rqL

In terms of pure comics-fandom, a big (maybe controversial) issue is the fact that these works were originally published in blazing, hot-detailed B&W, but recently got colorised like this. Now personally, I had a weird issue with the original B&W's kinda scorching my eyes (even as it highlighted the beautiful, detailed work by JC Gal).

Personally, I like these new colors. They seem tasteful and 'non-extreme.'

If you're curious, you can see below what the originals looked like: https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Armees+du+Conquerant%22+black+white+comic&udm=2

I found this a lovely little series, ostensibly meant for young Czech readers, but rather Grimm at times (as you can see).

[!](https://i.imgur.com/YigOCuf.jpeg) (page 2)

I'm guessing the series was published in the ~1970's. Happily for English-speakers, it was recently translated by one "Tomalakis." So then, here's 13 mini-chapters you can read:

----> https://imgur.com/t/pochal <----

Artist Jiří Kalousek worked effectively in a variety of styles, and passed away in 1986. More samples of the artist here:

https://www.google.com/search?q=%22jiri+kalousek%22+artist&udm=2

Michel Kichka is a cartoonist borne in Belgium with Jewish roots, who became intrigued with Israel, and decided to do a permanent move, marrying and raising a family there with his French wife.

\* "Aliyah" is a somewhat complicated word as I grasp it, but from what I understand at the basic level, refers to going back to one's roots / homeland.

-----> https://imgur.com/a/kjMohrs <-----

The way the sequence above concluded really shocked me, and even brought a tear to my eye, honestly. Me, I'm not remotely used to dealing with people like that, and yet I guess that's how it works in certain parts of the world? (gadzooks, mistress goose)

In terms of the comic itself, I found this sequence rather current & relevant to the USA, and a pretty excellent, interesting survey of the artist's life and Israeli culture. At the same time, it established little to no emotional connection with the characters, which is usually how we do these things, but... oh well?

https://www.bedetheque.com/auteur-23699-BD-Kichka-Michel.html *** EDIT: As we've clarified multiple times here, this story snippet has to do with neighborhood relations in an Israeli city. It is by no means addressing anything on a national basis, including Israeli relations with other peoples or nations. Attempts to highjack the thread in that direction directly breaks our #1 rule here (practice netiquette) and will be dealt with accordingly. Thank you for your cooperation.

This comes from a rather ambitious, five-tome series called Le jour des Magiciens ("Day of the Magicians"), by an Italian duo, Michelangelo La Neve & Marco Nizzoli. I found it much in the style of Alejandro Jodorowsky, full of fanciful ideas and powerful sequences that sometimes hit the mark, and sometimes seemed a bit nonsensical.

The plot involves "Lancaster," a renegade, modern-day magician, who's disgusted by the stagnation of his order, who has the idea to father an offspring to become a sort of new magi-messiah. This doesn't sit well with his old order, who keep trying to kidnap his son and assassinate the father. The mother of the boy is in fact "Ash" (the lead assassin's) sister, so the bad blood only builds, as you can see:

---> https://imgur.com/gallery/movie-esque-sequence-from-day-of-magicians-by-la-neve-nizzoli-bFiAH7N <---

(I thought it was a neat, movie-like juxtaposition, having the main action run concurrent with a children's story)

To be clear, the sequence above is fairly atypical, as this is mostly a plot and narrative-driven work, but with some intense moments as above. Here and there it can sag a bit under the weight of exposition, but otherwise moves forward with good storytelling, and of course delightful art. *** Btw, if you've already read this series and seen the sci-fi movie Zardoz, did you happen to make this connection?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwq5RYrm5kE

So... I was just re-reading Woodring's One Beautiful Spring Day, which was a grand attempt to tie together his major classics Congress of the Animals & Fran, and then another one, Poochytown.

Now, if you haven't read the first two? Then I strongly advise you to start screaming at the top of your lungs, running around like a headless chicken, and making your way over to the nearest comics shop tout de suite, even were that to involve a grueling dogsled race across the vast, desert wastes of Siberia. That's how amazing those two titles are, in mine humble bumble.

Okay, let's get to it-- (lol) So, what I really liked about the panel above was the fact that there's an optical illusion there of sorts, suggesting areas of "grey," even though the image is totally in B&W. You can see this around the pillars, and a bit around the roof of Frank's home. (might possibly help to unfocus your eyes a bit, squint, or just move closer or farther to the pic)

See what I mean..? Or no?

Another thing I love is the 'etched' quality of the sky. Just like the other areas of the image, using the thickening / thinning of the horizontal lines to suggest, well... everything!

[!](https://i.imgur.com/0Uhm8WD.jpeg) Okay, now here-- Frank and his GF Fran have had a HUGE row (fight), and he's starting to realise that he went overboard, and that sadly, she might not be coming back. That delicate little flower of his GF, that is.

(and men can cry; it's okay)

[!](https://i.imgur.com/Q3ZkhQG.jpeg) See, and here's the concern!

WARNING, MATURE MATERIAL AHEAD! PROCEED UPON THINE OWN RISK! . . . . . . . . . . . . . [!](https://i.imgur.com/l3lNAXB.jpeg) Oh my. So... no problem, I guess!? oO

In any case, I find American Jim Woodring a national treasure, and you can't have him, you delightful Euros, you! (lol)

Seriously though, I find Jim's line-work entrancing, precise and even delirious to the point of being an honorary LC-artist at the very least.

A riff on an old joke, but a relatively safe place to start, I guess. Things will only get weirder.

[!](https://i.imgur.com/qBJcot0.jpeg) [!](https://i.imgur.com/H3i2VBl.jpeg) https://i.imgur.com/qBJcot0.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/H3i2VBl.jpeg

> Artist Herr Seele ("Mister Soul," did I get that right?) was born in 1959 as Peter van Heirseele in Torhout, West-Flanders. His father was an office clerk and his mother a professional painter, who stimulated her son's artistic interests. His grandmother Valerie Haesaert was also an artist, and once won a national award for amateur painting. As a child, van Heirseele already drew complete comic book stories. --Lambiek

[!](https://i.imgur.com/BcHL2Yl.jpeg) [!](https://i.imgur.com/xsznHSp.jpeg) https://i.imgur.com/BcHL2Yl.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/xsznHSp.jpeg

> Writer Kamagurka, real name Luc Zeebroek, was born in 1956 in Nieuwpoort, a town near the Belgian coast. He came into the world with a bad Achilles tendon, which left him with crooked feet. The boy was bullied and suffered tremendous pain until an operation solved the problem. In the hospital, a young patient in the bed next to him died. All these traumatic experiences gave Zeebroek a combative attitude. In his opinion, life is so absurd, tragic and meaningless that it's best to not take things too seriously. Growing up, he therefore wanted to turn everything into a joke, even severe tragedies.

[!](https://i.imgur.com/cSfvqcS.jpeg) [!](https://i.imgur.com/GpyHhf4.jpeg) https://i.imgur.com/cSfvqcS.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/GpyHhf4.jpeg

More (and I mean more): https://www.lambiek.net/artists/s/seele.htm https://www.lambiek.net/artists/k/kamagurka.htm

"C-H" is an outrageous, absurdist Flemish-Belgian comic published for over 40 years.

[!](https://i.imgur.com/UKWjSM4.jpeg) https://i.imgur.com/UKWjSM4.jpeg

[!](https://i.imgur.com/FtxBmFT.jpeg) https://i.imgur.com/FtxBmFT.jpeg

Believe me, the three above are the barest, most-kid friendly examples that still contain some chuckles that I could find at the moment.

Also, and I hesitate to say this, but-- CH is also about shitting. I mean, the characters delivering excrement and making jokes out of it. I don't think I'm going to post that stuff, but if you like, you can search on all that.

(even "Mr. Hankey" from Southpark is somehow more appropriate XD)

. . .

[WARNING] [MATURE] [WARNING-BELOW]

. . .

The lead comic from the Dental Floss tome is this: [!](https://i.imgur.com/M6R2KjT.jpeg)

Haha, gotta love that last panel for the Red Rackham vibes. 😁

So, I found Alas to be a nice, provocative read that also raised a lot of unsettling questions. It's set in a Paris of ~1900, in which anthropormorphic animals have caused humans to go near-extinct, hanging on here and there only in the wilderness. Story-wise, a hunting party finds a little human family of four, slaughters the parents, then captures a small boy and a girl named "Leaf." The rest of the book involves her story, as well as a porcine protagonist, "Léopoldine."

[!](https://i.imgur.com/cd3dKai.jpeg)

> Why does Leaf, a little human captured by poachers, cause such a stir in the country's political and scientific class? She speaks, of course! But that is not the only reason for the prosecution to which she will be subjected, despite the help given to her by the journalist Fulgence and the young Léopoldine, a science student and daughter of a famous professor. From traps to incredible escapes, from false leads to real dangers, Fulgence and Léopoldine will end up discovering the terrible truth. Against a backdrop of political intrigue, romance and dementia, a romantic adventure whose feline, porcine and canine actors demonstrate very... human concerns. --Bedetheque

[!](https://i.imgur.com/UhsVHFQ.jpeg)

Thematically there are definite resemblances to Orwell's Animal Farm and similar works, for example in questioning whether humans and other animals can ever properly get along without the former mistreating the latter (and vice-versa). Also-- are hierarchy and the need for control utterly inevitable, whether within the wilderness or urban settings?

[!](https://i.imgur.com/bkTrW5M.jpeg)

At ~70pp this reads quickly, and is more of a thought-experiment than something which aims for definitive conclusions. I wouldn't quite call it a classic, and it didn't exactly give me a 'cheerful, satisfied feeling' after reading it, but it's a fine story and good food for the thinking person, particularly one skeptical of man's footprint on Earth, let's say.

I was not previously familiar with the work of writer Hervé Bourhis, artist Rudy Spiessert, nor colorist "Mathilda," but they're definitely on my list from now on. Oh, and the publisher is Dupuis, 2010.

EDIT: Evidently a free English ebook was available for some time at this link, a service I was unaware of until today. Folks might want to check that site out for other free e-graphic novels.

I've read my share of whimsical, surreal graphic novels by Manara, but this was one of the few times I've come across one his short stories. In this one, I was thoroughly impressed how he tackled the chilling, abusive power of the Italian Catholic church in post-Ren times.

I also thought the jump cuts in the story were truly masterful, in which the reader gets exactly the amount of necessary info and context to move forward without waffling or delay. Note: The story was translated to English in the Heavy Metal Summer '88 issue.

----> https://imgur.com/gallery/w1CbNC1 <----

As for Manara himself, there's so much to say that I'm not sure where to really begin. To me, he's without question a genius of human expression, pathos, and the mysteries of human nature. I'm sometimes a bit frustrated by the same-ness of his female characters, the lack of story structure, and the fact that there always seems to be an erotic context to his stories, but based on my experience with Italian BD, those seem to be fairly lukewarm complaints.

More on him here: https://www.lambiek.net/artists/m/manara.htm

These appear to be raw covers, in which you can still see marginal annotations.

[!](https://i.imgur.com/z9F32O5.jpeg) [!](https://i.imgur.com/unxrZHT.jpeg) [!](https://i.imgur.com/KqeELb9.jpeg)

Claudio Villa, Angelo Stano, Bruno Brindisi, Corrado Roi, and Claudio Castellini are all artists who worked on this surreal, noirish, long-running Italian horror series.

[!](https://i.imgur.com/jQpnAkr.jpeg) [!](https://i.imgur.com/ADIbsLr.jpeg) [!](https://i.imgur.com/eBaQXIg.jpeg)

I've read four of the 100-page books so far. An introduction, plus my thoughts are here.

[!](https://i.imgur.com/60nfbT1.jpeg) [!](https://i.imgur.com/EBM8UgD.jpeg) [!](https://i.imgur.com/lsVM79F.jpeg)

These pieces were found at a nice Tumblr blog which covers BD, manga, and animation genres.

The premise here is light as a feather-- a Dungeons & Dragons-type character is in a videogame setting, in which he's attempting to 'exit the game level,' presumably to take a nice rest. Frequently that involves attempting to rescue a princess along the way.

[!](https://i.imgur.com/jC9z3gu.jpeg) [!](https://i.imgur.com/8NE6PRk.jpeg) [!](https://i.imgur.com/YIIdLFB.jpeg)

Altho he's rather dwarfish in stature, the problem isn't the hero's energy, fierceness or ingenuity, but rather that something's always going wrong. And by 'going wrong,' I mean that he typically suffers all variety of gruesome deaths at the hands of the dungeon's traps. He, the princess, the endless stream of monsters-- just everyone.

[!](https://i.imgur.com/cGZVrMy.jpeg) [!](https://i.imgur.com/AHmoiz6.jpeg) [!](https://i.imgur.com/WzuO84i.jpeg)

Game Over is technically a spinoff series of Midam's (Michel Ledent of Belgium) Kid Paddle series for kids, but one hardly needs any backstory, even though the full albums (and there are over two dozen) tend to be bookended with Kid Paddle context. To be clear-- these are largely wordless comics that can be consumed in any language.

[!](https://i.imgur.com/UY6cLnv.jpeg) [!](https://i.imgur.com/S54zTgj.jpeg) [!](https://i.imgur.com/JOUYNF3.jpeg)

TBH, I fear that I'm always going to be a bit weirded out by this series, which combines light, kid-like, gaggish elements right next to total gore, in which the characters are seemingly ready to burst in to total pools of eyeballs, bones & blood given the slightest impetus. There's also the fact that the comics (to me, anyway) are \completely hit-or-miss, with a lot more duds than successes IMO. Still, it's a BD classic of sorts, and certainly worth a look as a BD hobbyist.

Btw, I see there's a big Imgur archive HERE, and happily, those seem to be a kind of 'best of' collection. Cheers.

These come from the sixth volume Le Noyé à deux têtes (the "Two-Headed Drowned Man," I believe). The series is by Jacques Tardi, as collected by Casterman. It ran from the ~70's to the 2000's.

I haven't read too much of this series myself, but really liked the color scheme, panel flow, and overall action/noirish aspects of these two pages.

[!](https://i.imgur.com/HSBlCYR.jpg)

> Tardi is one of the most important, versatile and influential French comic artists of all time. He invented an influential variation of Hergé's "Ligne Claire," but is first and foremost hailed as one of the masters of adult comics.

> Recurring themes in his productive oeuvre are the early 20th century - particularly World War I -, steampunk, detective stories, and the underworld of the city. His signature series 'Les Extraordinaires Aventures d'Adèle Blanc-Sec' follows a feisty female private investigator in 1910-20s Paris. --Lambiek

As an Elvis fan and singer this one hurt, but it was just too funny not to share. 😅

> Pieter De Poortere is a Belgian comic artist, children's book illustrator, graphic artist and animator, most famous for his internationally succesful pantomime comic "Boerke," about the mishaps of a generally unlucky moustached farmer. The series combines an innocent-looking graphic style with pitch black comedy. De Poortere is also known for his large crowd paintings. He is part of the new wave of the Flemish humorists, together with Kim Duchateau (see the EGN+ index for samples of Esther Verkest), Jeroom, Bart Schoofs and Nix. --Lambiek, with Johnny's edits

What's also nice is that his comics are largely wordless, so the original Dutch / Flemish collections are usually fine no matter the reader's native tongue(s).

Lots more de Poortere info and comics samples here: https://www.lambiek.net/artists/d/de-poortere-pieter.htm

Swarte has always been someone who tickled me, with his beautifully clean, mad, pleasing designs. For now, this will have to serve as a minor introduction to his work.

> Joost Swarte is a Dutch graphic designer, illustrator and architect, and one of the most famous Dutch comic artists internationally, even though he has not made that many actual comics. Most of his better known series, like Jopo de Pojo, Anton Makassar and Katoen en Pinbal (1972-1979), were made in the 1970s. Afterwards he became far better known as an illustrator and architect. > > Swarte is not just a follower of the "Clear Line" tradition of Hergé and Edgar P. Jacobs, but is actually the very person who coined and popularised the phrase "Ligne Claire". > > !! > > Swarte draws in a very calculated, technically-precise style with much attention to bright colours and elegant design work. Swarte is additionally (co-)initiator of magazines Modern Papier and Scratches, as well as the festival Stripdagen Haarlem, and the Hergé Museum in Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium. > > --Lambiek, with edits & additions by Johnny

More here, with samples: https://www.lambiek.net/artists/s/swarte1.htm

A theft 17 centuries in the making!

Well, this is in fact Albert Uderzo's fun tribute to the famous painting from 1632, from the series Astérix, specifically tome 19, Asterix and the Soothsayer (1972), made during the classic period when René Goscinny was still alive and plotting the series. I seem to recall that there's a couple more direct tribute pieces like this across the series.

.

Oh... right, The Raft of the Medusa one certainly comes to mind:

[!](https://i.imgur.com/zLPodyz.jpg)

Barbe Rouge, in his shock, is punning on the name of the famous painting, exclaiming "I'm stunned!"

[!](https://i.imgur.com/R79Bm0j.jpeg)

[!](https://i.imgur.com/2eUBBoa.jpeg)

[!](https://i.imgur.com/CJPUbpE.jpeg)

I thought this was morbidly fun post for Halloween, and note the drole Henry Kissinger character.

This little story was originally published in the mid-to-late 70's, and later included in the Memories trade paper back (Humanoids, 2005). Bilal is known for such works as the Nikopol Trilogy, Légendes d'Aujourd'hui, and Partie de chasse. I was going to say Serbia's Enki Bilal, but...

> Bilal was born in Belgrade to a Czech mother and a Bosnian Muslim father. When he was five years old, his father managed to emigrate to Paris. Enki and the rest of the family followed four years later. Bilal has no sense of belonging to any ethnic group and religion, nor is he obsessed with soil and roots. He said in one interview: 'I feel Bosnian by my father's origin, a Serb by my place of birth and a Croat by my relationship with childhood friends, not to mention there's my Czech half'. --WP

First of all, huge, honking credit to u/MadDroog, who I believe took these shots using books from his personal collection. The main point is to show the original American editions and then how they looked in the French magazine.

And yes, that's certainly Robert Crumb's notorious Fritz the Cat on issue 15's cover, but you can indeed catch a glimpse of Corben's story in the lower right teaser.

[!image](https://i.imgur.com/QHZ0Gvu.jpeg)

Evidently to cut down on costs, the magazine used a simple color scheme throughout, and in Corben's case, colored his B&amp;W art themselves with, let's say it-- less than ideal results. :P

[!image](https://i.imgur.com/M8cbN55.jpeg)

So we have both Crumb and Corben seemingly popular in France by at least the early 1970's. I'll see if I can find some issues to see who else might have been included from 'non-BD' countries.

[!image](https://i.imgur.com/GNDoBHf.jpeg)

In terms of Corben's work, I find it just amazing. It's full of life, and drawn with a loving tenderness you rarely see in comics. The art was usually absurdly intricate, but even when slightly-rushed, Corben saw -forms- in a way that few other comics artists did. Probably not surprising really, as he had a degree in fine arts and first started working as an animator. I'm also sad to say that he passed away recently at 80yo due to heart surgery. RIP to an utterly unique legend.

As an upcoming treat, I think in a day or two I'm going to post a 13-page chapter from his Denz saga, even though it's American-produced. The art is ridiculously, utterly unique, and here's a sample page:

[!image](https://i.imgur.com/KRE5BsL.jpeg)

Fernando de Felipe is a Spanish university professor, born in Zaragoza in 1965 . He also works as a film and television scriptwriter, in addition to having been a major Euro cartoonist of the late-80's &amp; early-90's. [more]

I was originally exposed to the "Basil Headstone" series in 1996, through the American version of Métal hurlant magazine, i.e. "Heavy Metal." As far as I can tell, there were five total "Headstone" stories published to the American market, but there may have been more published to the Euro market, I believe through "Comix Internacional" (Toutain).

-------> HERE is the full story. &lt;-------

Personally, I felt this introduction story was one of the best of the stories, nicely illustrating what a complete lunatic the host was. This also reminded me a bit of UK genius' Pat Mills stuff, such as Requiem, Chevalier Vampire. Others have commented that in terms of the color palette, they're reminded of Richard Corben, Andrea Pazienza, and Matthias Schultheiss. (credit to u/ShiDiWen &amp; u/LondonFroggy)

Why this community?

Good question. 😅 Well okay, in some regions (I'm thinking Japan and the USA), BD might be kind of unknown, but around the world, I assure you, they're quite popular, and in fact go back all the way to the 20's - 30's era (more HERE). Indeed, one of the earliest BD's, Tintin, was turned in to a major motion picture in America, Indiana Jones-style, made by director Steven Spielberg in 2011.

Now, while BD might be the 'core' of European comics, Franco-Belgian comics are only part of the whole Euro comics experience. For example, there's British (Pat Mills, Bryan Talbot, Alan Moore), Spanish (Paco Roca, Segura y Ortiz), Italian (Fior, Manara, Pratt, Crepax, Bonelli), German (Mawil, Schultheiss), Polish (Rosiński & Makuszynski), Dutch (Kolk, Wit, Kuijpers, Seele) and many other terrific Euro comics creators worth a look. Not to mention, plenty of great creators working in similar spirit from around the world, such as Richard Corben from the States, Alejandro Jodorowsky from Chile, and Breccia, Noé, Giménez, Varela &amp; Carlos Nine from Argentina.

So to sum up-- this sub/community strives to represent an excellent, all-locations body of BD-style work, starting in Europe, but not always well-represented across other comics sites.

Can you recommend some good bandes dessinées to me?

Sure. There's a nice, descriptive Library of Congress list HERE, and I'll shamelessly link to r/bandedessinee's additional collections THERE. Personally, I can add on with my roundups of artists who worked on great works HERE, and post-apoc themed series THERE. Also, most of the 'mini-review' and 'sampler' posts we make in this sub are meant to highlight the better stuff, so please check those out HERE. Finally, I can certainly recommend the excellent, thoughtful, short-form reviews by u/Titus_Bird THERE, and the interesting, page-length reviews by Augie De Blieck, who's been writing in-depth articles about BD for decades now, over at Pipeline Comics.

Where can I pick up such comics, both in physical and digital format?

In the States, I've been pleased to see over the years how many bookstores and libraries have started carrying graphic novels, of which there will usually be a healthy BD subsection. Many libraries also feature an 'online lending' ebook service, through which one can read graphic novels via Kindle, tablet, etc. For example, in my area there's both Libby and Hoopla, which link through my library card. Check out your local services!

As for purchasable ebooks online, there are many options, but I'll need to research this further to build a good list; stand by! (note to self: what about Izneo, Europe Comics for starters?

Hey! In terms of mainly-Euro options, let's go with this set of recommendations for now, once again from our helpful, badass friend u/Titus_Bird, with u/goug: Amazone.es, Lireka, Rakuten, Momox, AbeBooks, FNac and Giver Joseph. (source)

And our colleagues: https://www.reddit.com/r/bandedessinee/comments/1dya327/hey_rbandedessinee_lets_make_a_list_of_the_best/

When was this community founded? (and why?)

That would be August 1st, 2023, and it was in direct response to Reddit's owners famously abusing its mods, content creators and app developers (complete coverage of that in a comment below). At that point, looking around the 'Fediverse,' I couldn't find a BD community, so I decided to get the ball rolling on Lemmy.

Can I contribute here, such as by making posts?

Certainly! I try to do my best, along with my Mœby-lovin' buddy "Nacktmull," but there's so much to cover in Euro comics that we could always use more contributions, such as news, samples of comics pages &amp; art, and reviews.

Tips for posting-- 1) I strongly recommend including an image at the top of your post, which gets turned in to a thumbnail for browsing purposes. This helps people quickly engage with your content.; 2) When including significant text in the body of the post, it can help to refer to such text in the topic title, for example by saying "(see notes)." Otherwise, people might assume you're just sharing an image, react to it, then scroll on.

What about NSFW content?

Our policies directly flow from Lemm.ee's #4 rule, "no pornography." That's the single-most important thing to keep in mind, and the following is meant to help guide the sharing of non-pornographic, NSFW content:

1. When sharing explicit content (genitalia, extreme gore, disturbing themes, etc) in the thumbnail / lead image-- please use the official tag (via the lower-left posting button). This will result in the image thumbnail being blurred out and a red "NSFW" tag appearing to warn browsers.

2. If the lead image is milder in nature (e.g. light nudity, dark themes), or when explicit content is shared in the body (not the lead image) of the post, it's okay to simply add “[NSFW]” or "[mature]" to the title of the post, as appropriate.

3. Clarifying the "[NSFW]" text in a title will almost always help. For example, one might say "NSFW-- physical trauma" or "borderline NSFW" or whatever makes good sense.

The point of the above is to help prevent users from accidentally clicking something they wouldn't want to see due to being at work, having specific sensitivities, etc. We feel that's just good netiquette, and in the spirit of what this instance (site/server) is aiming for. So that's that. Feel free to use your own judgement in these things, but if the post is reported, we mods may need to take action. Thank you! 😮‍💨

What about sharing my own content here?

To be clear-- the focus of this community is to post news, reviews, content &amp; pictures by established BD and 'Euro+' creators. That said, we also feel it important to encourage amateur artists, whoever &amp; wherever they may be. To this end, our current policy is to allow any sort of post you like promoting your own sketches, ideas, finished art, and WIP's ONCE per month. We also recommend 'making it a good one,' showing as much of your stuff as possible, like in a 'roundup' post with multiple content.

In the meantime, may we also recommend these three communities in which homegrown artists are encouraged to share their work and get helpful feedback-- 1) Watercolors ([email protected]), 2) Art ([email protected]), 3) Drawing ([email protected]).

--Johnny & Nacktmull