Multi-Page Submissions

This could work if you could instead of publishing pieces one by one, publish a folder at once (and having ability to folder folders).

Or spam story submissions since you can put pictures into them, such as uploaded but unlisted drawings.

Publishing a folder of works at once would be interesting! Admittedly, I've since realized that multiple submissions can be edited at the same time, mitigating a lot of the hassle from posting submissions one-by-one. (Other sites would require the artist to go through the entire process for every single submission — select submission type, enter title, copy/paste description and edit next/prev page links, upload file, submit, repeat process for next page. It sucks.)

Still, having some way to limit submission flood and keep sequential works in one place would be great. I suppose if notifications could determine whether a single submission or a folder of submissions has been posted (or updated, for ongoing series), that would work out just as well.

Artstation does this too, which makes it very handy for submitting multiple views of the same 3d model, along with albedo/normal/roughness maps and embedding Marmoset Viewer files or video turnarouns.

This would be very nice, actually. When I do adult and general versions of an image, I usually have to decide which to post, because i don't like cluttering my gallery with duplicate images, even if they are slightly different.

I'd note that even InkBunny which supports multiple images per submission, doesn't support separate ratings and separate tags. As a result, I often see separate submissions even on IB.

Implementing full separation won't be easy...

someone els also brought this up but made a better explanation.

http://support.furrynetwork.com/topics/235-multi-page-submissions/

I just looked at Artstation and now I really want this feature, example: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/G6XBz & https://www.artstation.com/artwork/ENJxK

I really like the idea, since I draw a lot of story-sequences. Would be great to be able to have everything in 1 post, rather than needing to post 5 different pages in single posts.

Useful also for people who like making multiple variants of the same drawing (e.g. differently clothed versions of same pinup), or just want to bundle up multiple stages of the same one (e.g. sketch, ink, and colored versions all in same submission).

Pedobunny does this as well.

Oh lol. Never ended up using Inkbunny, but it's cool that they've got multi-page submissions as well. Doing a little reading, it seems they allow .zip upload for this very purpose (as well as for bulk uploads, but FN already has that figured out).

I always get customers wanting things with alternate versions drawn, it would be highly appreciated if I could just upload them in one submission as people will not and cannot bother looking through them if they see them. I definitely don't want to go through the trouble of making a flash for each one as well.

This would be fantastic for comics!
I know Tapastic does something like this where they stack the images (or rather, the pages) on top of eachother. Kinda like how Pixiv does it! It would definitely make submitting and reading story based art A LOT easier!

I too will make Safe and NSFW versions of one picture but do not like uploading multiple submissions for each as it feels spammy and cluttered. Having a toggle button between versions would be amazing.

I personally believe that the ultimate benefits of "grouped" submissions as a single item go beyond just the submission notification flood issue, even just as mentioned in the initial post. This is ideal for comics, for process pieces, or for multiple connected images in a "batch", like a series of sketches or quick commission pieces done during a stream, rather than loading them separately, or messily piecing them together into one big image.

I would say that a limit on how many images can go into a single submission makes a lot of sense, and it could be a reasonably small amount and still work for a lot of people, but it would certainly make things smoother and easier in a lot of cases.

I'd say it'd still be a valuable feature to consider! (And thank you for putting it under review!)

Using silent uploads as a work-around for avoiding submission flood (especially for multi-page works and related submissions) could actually introduce a problem: Followers obviously wouldn't receive notifications for the silent uploads, so the artist would then have to manually link each related submission in the description. This would introduce the same sort of copy-paste-description routine that plagues so many other creative community websites, and unfortunately any related submissions could just as easily go unnoticed. (especially for viewers on mobile, who may not scroll down to read the description — that is on the viewer, but it sucks for the artist!)

Taking the opportunity to expand on some thoughts since posting this thread, May mentioned another good case scenario: Many artists post alternate versions of images. Some common examples are images with PG and Mature variants, variants with and without text/SFX, or variants that a commissioner has requested. In this case, having the ability to keep all versions of an image in a single submission would be valuable to viewers as well as artists, especially when it comes to reducing gallery clutter.

And on the topic of gallery clutter, for artists who post comics and other sequential works: On top of gallery clutter, a thumbnail can spoil a story. Having to post submissions for each page means having to manage thumbnails for each page, and managing thumbnails for a large number of pages just to prevent spoiling the reader can be a tedious job. Keeping multiple pages within a single submission can help prevent both issues (24 pages but only one thumbnail? Score), and it helps ensure that new readers will always start from the first page.

It's not the notification spam it's for, it's for bundling multiple items that belong "together".

Yes, it would still be needed.

The difference between having a multi-page submission (Pixiv has a good example of such a system) or having to make a new folder for each such submission is huge, not only in the frontend but also the backend.

Whether or not people would have these pages announced or not is completely beside the point.

I'm concerned about what this would do for traffic metrics / visibility of comics. I for one wouldn't be pleased working on a project for months, to upload it and have it perform as well as something that takes 1/40th my time and effort.

I think this would be great for those multiple images that are like, a clean version, a version with an internal, and a version with semen all over it.

But I don't think this is a good solution for comics.

I'm also concerned about how tagging would work for something like this, if one chose to upload a comic in this fashion. Do you tag everything from every page to the single submission?

I don't know about this.

Like, just the simple marketing / visibility bump you get from ongoing faves on multiple pages on a comic makes this a really unattractive idea if the users could only fave the single submission :S

Speaking on visibility... This does depend on your audience and outreach, but I believe FN's "Promote" function would do a great deal of good for visibility as well? I thought Promote was supposed to be kind of an analog to Twitter's Retweet or Tumblr's Reblog functions, but correct me if I'm wrong here. (If not, it'd be great to have something like that on FN. It'd give everyone an easy way to share/boost works by peers)

So, here's a couple examples from Pixiv, to show how multi-page submissions generally function for comics (no login required, just close the "register today!!!" box to continue):

• The first half of a short comic (promo for artdecademonthly, tagged R-18 but no explicit content)
• A very large set of sequential images (a sort of storyboard fan-adaptation for another webcomic)

Both submissions feature general tags that are most likely to catch anyone searching for them (comic, furry, and variations upon these tags), plus themes and content (AD simply tagged his comic as original works, while Koi tagged the original webcomic's name).

Beyond this, you could tag a comic submission with genres and settings (sci-fi, midwest), general content tags/warnings, or general interests that the comic targets (sports, robots, explicit content, etc). If you're running a larger series of comics (or posting your comic in parts), you could tag the comic's name as well. Comic tags don't need to be a complete laundry list of the entire submission's contents, they only need to cover key aspects.

Some artists post one or two pages a week, some opt to post several pages once or twice a month, and some are comfortable waiting until a comic's completion to release an entire issue's worth of pages all at once. All methods are valid. It all comes down to what you as an artist are most comfortable doing, and what works best for you and your projects.

Man, I wish I could edit my initial post! Had a couple people confuse this as being heavily about sequential works, and I feel I should clarify.

I strongly believe having the ability to post several tightly-related images in a single submission is beneficial to artists and viewers alike. Whether it's illustration, photography, 3D works, or crafts, it's a feature that offers a lot of flexibility as to how we present and view works.

Astolpho mentioned technical renders for 3D models (these are frequently posted on ArtStation), and I know we've got some professional and industry artists in the community, modellers and painters alike. This is all part of being able to share the process of creation with viewers and peers.

Crafts (currently under review!) is another big area — I've seen craft artists compile several photos of a piece into a single image, and it gets the job done, but I've also seen many instances where alternate views will be posted as separate submissions, or as a link in the description to a Tumblr photoset. Likewise, performers may want to show off their costumes and photo-shoots, toy makers may want to share patterns with their submissions, etc.

I'm gonna cut myself off here, my comments here are already way too long. I'm just offering more examples because I believe it's a great feature that many western art communities have neglected to implement for whatever reason. As social sites have offered the ability to share multiple images per post, I see an opportunity for FN to capitalize on this for its community, and offer a degree of flexibility that most other sites lack.

I agree with your clarification, chicago. Having this functionality for images with alternate versions (i often have commissions with / without an internal panel, and with / without fluids) would definitely be useful, and save on gallery clutter

Like multiple photos of the same sculpture from different angles to show it off properly. I don't think people really want them to be separate submissions normally unless they really want feedback/likes on the photo rather than the sculpture.

I feel like I'm part of why people think its just for comics too. Sorry about that!

The only reason I focused on comics is because that's what I'd probably use it for. I'm not a fan of having to paste giant pieces together so people don't have to click on a new page every time, and I personally don't like having to click on several pages myself, preferring to just load one page, like with pixiv.

But yes, I agree this would be great for process work and image sets as well. I personally don't care to click on several versions of an image and rather see it in one spot. If your worried about tagging or blacklisting, there could always be an option to mark one of the images in the set as mature so it has the warning while the others still show?

That said, I imagine a feature like this would work a lot like the stories/written feature works, since stories support images. If this wasn't implemented I could see people using the stories feature for this sort of thing instead. Which would be ok for comics but I guess would be up to you guys if you wanted that feature used like that for non-comic works.

I had literally just started working on a comic when I submitted this thread, so lol that might've had a part in stirring up confusion. Got too many comics on the mind.

If your worried about tagging or blacklisting, there could always be an option to mark one of the images in the set as mature so it has the warning while the others still show?

Yeahh, thought about this! Content warnings for explicit content could be very useful. No idea how it could work without adding complexity to the upload process though, or if it'd be better to leave this to the current tags system.

That said, I imagine a feature like this would work a lot like the stories/written feature works, since stories support images. If this wasn't implemented I could see people using the stories feature for this sort of thing instead. Which would be ok for comics but I guess would be up to you guys if you wanted that feature used like that for non-comic works.

I hadn't considered this at all, and I really like it. The clean layout that the Stories feature uses makes it perfect for comics and other sequential works — I could see that working basically like comics on Taptastic, like you mentioned earlier. There's also a feature planned which would compliment this perfectly: Series, perfect for chaining comic chapters/parts together, making it even easier for readers.

However, treating this as an expansion for the Stores feature could leave other non-comic/non-sequential submissions in the dust, or possibly cause confusion if they're permitted to make use of it as well.

Another alternative that could be interesting: Maybe the Collections feature could be expanded upon to provide a Stories-like viewer, with all collected submissions appearing in an uninterrupted stream of submissions. Kinda like a small and curated timeline. (Allow for submissions from other artists to be included in a collection with their permission, for collaborative works?)

FN could then allow artists to post a collection like any other submission:

• Followers get a notification for new collections
• The collection as a whole could be promoted, favorited, and commented on
• Collection appears in the user's gallery with everything else (upload a custom thumbnail, allow the collection to have a PG or Mature rating and tags, use a "Collection" icon to differentiate it from single submissions)

I have the same concern as Athari; whether or not you'd still be able to give separate ratings for the alternate versions within the same submissions, since adult and non-adult versions seem to be very common.

There's already a thread for this and with lots of votes :3 https://support.furrynetwork.com/topics/235-multi-page-submissions/

Merged, thanks!

As a vector artist, I'm able to make multiple, mildly-different versions of a single image pretty easily, and do so quite regularly - even if it's as simple as turning off a dialogue layer or adding a transparent copy of the character vector.

Inkbunny supports multiple files per submission and below are some examples of how freely I make use of it (note that guests can enable Adult Content without making an account):

https://inkbunny.net/submissionview.php?id=1072244 (NSFW: Alternate genders, text optional)

https://inkbunny.net/submissionview.php?id=1323175 (NSFW: different levels of endowment)

https://inkbunny.net/submissionview.php?id=1339766 (NSFW: multiple states of dress, alternate characters)

While some artists may also choose to use this system for comics, I don't find that as suitable - comics can and should be updated regularly in separate submissions, whereas multiple variations of a single image do not warrant many separate uploads.