Hey guys! It’s been an exciting month here on Warrior Cats of the Forest. SunClan attacked DawnClan in the hopes of reclaiming the territory they had lost in the earlier battle, but were defeated again and have only now gathered enough strength to consider another attack. Please be sure to check up on the plot blog entry so you can help us plan out what’s going to happen and stay informed on already accepted ideas.

Many new members were accepted this past month as well, in order to keep the website a manageable size the registrations were closed for a time. They will be reopening on November 2nd, but it is possible they will remain open for only a few days so if you have any friends wanting to join, make sure they join as early as they can to insure they will make it in before registrations are closed again.

MoonClan currently as 105 cats, NightClan has 67, DawnClan has 93 and SunClan has 66. Please avoid making any new characters in MoonClan and DawnClan and put them instead in SunClan or NightClan. If possible, it would be great if you could move some of your current characters to the smaller clans as well, or focus on killing off your characters in larger clans or putting your unwanted characters of smaller clans up for adoption rather than killing them off.

This website has a bunch of talented artists, it’s really amazing to just look through the art pages and see all the fantastic work posted there nearly every day. Comments on the art pages are one of the main places of interaction on this website and while most of the discussion is great, feelings can still get hurt. Here are a few tips Sunken and I came up with for how to write great comments about someone’s work:

1. Try to find positive things to say about a piece before anything negative, depending on the artist, your relationship to them, and the environment it’s possible that a full critique would be inappropriate and it’s best to just say the good without making any suggestions. The old rule that if you can’t say anything nice, say nothing at all, applies.
2. Detailed and specific comments are great, say why you like a work not just that you think it’s cool. The colors, the shading, good proportions, an interesting style, expressiveness etc. there are ten thousand different things that a drawing can have good about it, pick a few and mention those specifically.
3. Avoid saying the same thing on every one of an artist’s works, if you love the way you do something in every drawing, be sure to add something else from time to time as well as mentioning that, or mention what exactly you like about that in each. For example, if you think someone has a really great eye for color say something like “I love the warm colors in this drawing, they make the scene look so intense!” Instead of a comment along the lines of “the colors are so cool!”
4. Don’t compare their work to the work of others. This can be in their style, in the design of their characters, or in anything else about their work. Artists put a lot of effort into their work, by comparing it to something else you are implying, if unintentionally, that their work is unoriginal or directs the attention away from their work.
5. Don’t compare the quality of one artist’s work to the quality of another’s. It is very hurtful towards the artist considered to be of less quality and puts the one seen to be of higher quality in a very awkward position where they cannot easily reply to the comment without insulting someone, be it their own work or the work of others. This includes comparing their work to your own, don’t beat yourself down. Remember, all artists have to start somewhere. Look at others work as inspiration for your own, not as discouragement.

These are just the tips Sunken and I came up with, we’d love to see what you guys think. Are there more you would like to add? Some you don’t agree with, or agree with only partially?

Ceremonies

MoonClan
Apprentices:
Cloverkit, Quailkit, Maplekit, Sweetkit, Emberkit, Adderkit, Littlekit, Meerkatkit, Frostkit, Fireflykit, Diamondkit, Burningkit, Quietkit, Scarkit, Honeykit, Komodokit, Crashingkit, Warriorkit, Dreamkit, Swankit: Early November
Sunkit, Foggykit, Earthkit, Halloweenkit: Mid November
Mudkit, Sorrelkit, Aprilkit, Fatekit, Falconkit, Tigerkit, Spottedkit, Weepingkit, Hallowkit, Waterkit: Late November

Warriors/Medicine Cat:
Rainpaw, Hushedpaw, Firepaw, Russetpaw, Stagpaw, Sapphirepaw, Twilightpaw, Swanpaw, Wolfpaw: Early November
Silverpaw, Nightmarepaw, Sunpaw, Bramblepaw, Duskpaw, Hopepaw: Late November

Elders: Emeraldflame

Deaths: Lichenstone

NightClan
Apprentices:
Nightmarekit, Lightningkit, Jasminekit, Mirekit, Bearkit: Early November
Tawnykit, Aleksander, Algernon, Ania: Mid November
Bleedingkit, Jaykit, Flarekit, Cherrykit, Creepykit, Battlekit, Silentkit, Wickedkit, Nightkit, Skykit, Blackkit, Ghostkit, Sunkit

Warriors/Medicine Cat:
Painpaw: Early November
Spiritpaw: Late November

Deaths: Carmen

DawnClan
Apprentices:
Rainkit, Moonkit, Silverkit, Autumnkit, Wolfkit, Wavekit, Flamingkit: Early November
Otterkit, Sapphirekit, Lightkit: Mid November
Flightkit, Snowkit, Drowningkit, Cherrykit: Late November

Warriors:
Nightpaw, Sparkpaw: Early November
Winterpaw, Spiritpaw, Shadowpaw, Riverpaw, Koipaw, Thawingpaw, Petalpaw: Mid November
Nightpaw: Late November

Elders: Bluestar, Flameheart, Stormspirit, Ottervoice, Silverfin

SunClan
Apprentices:
Meadowkit, Gentlekit, Bravekit, Silencekit, Firekit, Cougarkit: Early November
Windkit, Wildkit: Mid November

Warriors:
Gravepaw, Twistedpaw: Early November
Featherpaw, Griffinpaw, Lilacpaw: Mid November
Amberpaw, Smallpaw, Ryepaw, Smokepaw: Late November

Elders: Shadow, Swoopmask

Deaths: Palefur, Jaystreak