pixiv: "A place where drawing becomes more enjoyable"

[blkmage]

[SIZE="1"]「from 4jyo-han to everywhere」/「富岡二郎」[/SIZE]

Much (enough to be usable, but not all) of pixiv's interface is now in English, which means it's a fairly opportune time to introduce everyone to it.

What is pixiv?
pixiv is a Japanese online community focusing particularly on illustration. DeviantArt is probably the closest English analogue to pixiv, although the focus on illustration means that things like photography won't be found on pixiv.

What can you find on pixiv?
pixiv, like analogous Japanese online communities, is the nexus for otaku and related communities. In particular:

[SIZE="1"]「静雄無双」/「ス・タンリー」[/SIZE]

Fanart. There's a ton of fanart for a lot of stuff (but mostly anime/gaming and related things) new and old. Newer things will trend towards things that are current, but there's always the occasional super impressive nostalgic piece of art that shows up in the rankings.

[SIZE="1"]「モザイクロール」/「akka」[/SIZE]

Things on Nico Nico Douga. From what I can tell, the pixiv community and the Nico Nico Douga music community work fairly closely together. You'll often see a lot of PV and album art that's the work of artists on pixiv.

[SIZE="1"]「くるな」/「心太（ところてん）」[/SIZE]

Original art. The rankings are dominated by fanart, but there is a good number of simply good original art.

[SIZE="1"]「夜行創作」/「sime」[/SIZE]

Amateur and doujin artists, producing both fanart and original art. You'll see a lot of them putting up previews of their wares at the next big doujin convention.

[SIZE="1"]「逆風飛行」/「vofan」[/SIZE]

Professional artists. There are a fairly large number of professional illustrators, from mangaka to light novel illustrators.

How do I get started?
Since the basic navigation is all in English, the site is a lot easier to use. In order to view high-res illustrations, an artist's other works, and bookmarking features, you'll need to register an account. Unfortunately, this is a Japanese site, so most of the tags and comments will be in Japanese.

I've linked to my pixiv account in my sig so you can take a look at the illustrations I've bookmarked if you're interested in seeing more of the kind of stuff that's on pixiv.

[Rusty Claymore]

I think I could spend my life there... o.o I may just get me an account...

[Cadence]

I think that I currently waste more time on pixiv than any other website I visit. It is kind of addictive. It makes me wish I had even a small degree of talent in the visual arts. =)

Also, how long has the basic navigation of the site been in English? I didn't notice it until logging in a few days ago, and I was pretty shocked...has it been like this for a while, or is it a new feature?

[blkmage]

Yeah, the change happened within the last week, because a bunch of people on twitter were all like ENGLISH ON MY PIXIV MORE LIKELY THAN YOU THINK. Meanwhile, the pixiv iPhone app always had an English version, while their mobile version of the site is still in Japanese.

We should totally talk about awesome illustrations and artists in this thread. Like this awesome Pokemon 15th anniversary art which you will definitely need an account for, to view it in its full glory.

[Cadence]

Yeah, the change happened within the last week

Ah ha. Good to know.

Like this awesome Pokemon 15th anniversary art

Wow.

which you will definitely need an account for

Just wow.

to view it in its full glory.

WOW. *mind explodes*

[Wallachia]

I did not expect to find Pixiv mentioned here. I suppose it's fairly innocent enough off the bat but if you make an account, it's easy for somebody curious enough to find too much.

Should this be up here? I realize there's an option in the account settings to avoid certain things but unlike places like DeviantArt, atleast half of Pixiv's entire database of artwork is filled with pages and pages of every single idea imaginable. No holds barred.

Unlike other artwork-centric websites, they don't have rules as to what can and can't be put up, so long as the uploader drew it.

[ShiroiHikari]

I don't see what the big deal is. It's the internet, so I think most people know by now to be careful what you click on. If you think you might run into something you don't want to see, don't visit the site.

[Wallachia]

It's far too easy for underage members to develop unhealthy fetishes and interests since Pixiv is a fairly comfortable and safe website. I don't mean general kinds either but everything is present here in many different and wildly imaginable forms.

Should we really be linking to a website that lets members view things (example: hardcore hentai with lolicon) that may not be legal? It's like posting a link to a forum that, once you sign up, gives you access to hardcore fetish-eccentric pornography of all kinds without the risk of ruining your computer by scouring random websites on google. Sure it's a person's choice to look at what they want, but here especially it's a bad idea to encourage people to get comfortable with a place that's essentially a two-sided coin.

[Nate]

unhealthy fetishes and interests

Who defines what an unhealthy fetish/interest is?

Should we really be linking to a website that lets members view things that may not be legal?

Guess what? All fan art is technically illegal. In fact, know what? Did you get explicit written consent from Atlus and the Persona 3 creative team to use the likeness of their character as your avatar? That's illegal too, better change your avatar quick!

As far as content goes, they're drawings and the content of a drawing is not illegal by itself. Of course, that only holds in the US, dunno where you live.

EDIT: Canada apparently. Not sure of their laws regarding drawn content, actually.

[Wallachia]

Who defines what an unhealthy fetish/interest is?

I'd assume Guro, scat, cannibalism and things like that are.

Guess what? All fan art is technically illegal. In fact, know what? Did you get explicit written consent from Atlus and the Persona 3 creative team to use the likeness of their character as your avatar? That's illegal too, better change your avatar quick!

As far as content goes, they're drawings and the content of a drawing is not illegal by itself. Of course, that only holds in the US, dunno where you live.

EDIT: Canada apparently. Not sure of their laws regarding drawn content, actually.

I was not referring to fanart as being illegal.

Any Hentai or Ecchi containing lolicon is considered illegal in Canada and is present there.

[goldenspines]

After being a member of Pixiv for a while now, I have yet to run across anything worse than what I've seen on DA (with the filter on). Pixiv doesn't seem much more of a danger than anything other image/art site. But this is not to say people should not be cautious; on the contrary, there's a good side and a bad side to most every site. We should always use discretion when we are exploring the world wide web. This should be a given.

Should we really be linking to a website that lets members view things that may not be legal?

I am missing something here, I think. EDIT: Oops, posted too fast, you didn't mean fan art (which is illegal, as Nate mentioned, but there's fines lines about copyright stuff that is too complicated to get into here). What you mentioned is not illegal (in Japan and the US as far as I know, plus the site is Japanese). Is the best thing? No. Is it exactly was Pixiv is like? From my experience, no. In fact, I rarely see that sort of stuff on the site.

But if you are a member of Pixiv, Wallachia and you've continually run across the things you mentioned, then yes, a warning about the site (or any image site) is warranted. Or, people need to be educated about what search keywords to avoid.
On most image sites, it's usually not the best idea to use the "browse" feature too much if you're trying to stay away from certain things.


Otherwise, in response to the OP, Pixiv is one of the most extensive image sites I've seen with fan art as well as original art in the manga/anime style. It's also a nice resource for some fun crossover pictures of two or more different series.

Example:

[GRRR!!]/[く]

EDIT: Found it.

[Nate]

EDIT: I'm going to stop posting on these subjects though, it's off-topic and this thread should be focusing on the pictures and site, not moral debate. Just thought I'd say that I'm stopping myself before the mods tell me to stop.

EDIT 2: In fact I think I'll just go ahead and remove the rest of my post anyway, so nobody replies to it (hopefully) and this can get back to cool pictures on pixiv.

[Fish and Chips]

This thread actually reminded me I had a Pivix account.

It's been awhile, but I'm fairly certain the safety filter's set to auto, so unless you're deliberately browsing uncensored, you shouldn't run into anything.

I can't remember the artist on this, but I will find laters. D:

You'd best.

[Asuka Neko]

Oh wow, I wasn't aware they put English on it! I wanted to get an account for a long time, but I can't speak or read Japanese, so I couldn't! Thanks for telling me!!

[blkmage]

It's been awhile, but I'm fairly certain the safety filter's set to auto, so unless you're deliberately browsing uncensored, you shouldn't run into anything.

This. It's probably safer than, say, GIS.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

So I registered, and while it's great to be able to view the pictures in their full-sized glory, do you guys run any searches through a translator before looking for stuff, or what?

[blkmage]

Sometimes; I've gotten pretty good at recognizing/guessing things, and knowing a bit of hiragana/katakana definitely helps too.

[ShiroiHikari]

I know katakana and hiragana, so...yeah. If you don't know the kana for something you can always try looking on Wikipedia, usually they have it.

[Wallachia]

If you want translated tags, go here:
Pixiv Translation Plus
You'll need Firefox and the Greasemonkey add-on.

[blkmage]

Looking through the rankings is a really good way for finding popular illustrations, but another excellent way of finding good stuff is to follow artists that you like. Let's talk about those.

[SIZE="1"]Wonderful Dream[/SIZE]

VOFAN is one of the first illustrators I bothered to bookmark on pixiv and is still one of my absolute favourites. He's a Taiwanese illustrator who did the character design and illustration for Nisio Isin's Bakemonogatari light novels.

[SIZE="1"]Surprise[/SIZE]

His style is really unique. The colours and lighting are pretty vibrant, but I think it's the lack of outlines that really distinguishes his stuff.

[SIZE="1"]The Thorn Birds[/SIZE]


[SIZE="1"]Listen Carefully[/SIZE]


[SIZE="1"]aria[/SIZE]


[SIZE="1"]Encounter[/SIZE]


[SIZE="1"]Date[/SIZE]


[SIZE="1"]VOCOCO[/SIZE]


[SIZE="1"]Sunflower in Summer[/SIZE]


[SIZE="1"]Light feed[/SIZE]

[primetech]

Pixiv: What DeviantArt could have been. Although internationalization is usually a good thing, I seriously hope Americanizing it doesn't damage its mystic appeal as a quality, Japanese-exclusive site.

Just stirring the pot...

[ABlipinTime]

Pixiv: What DeviantArt could have been. Although internationalization is usually a good thing, I seriously hope Americanizing it doesn't damage its mystic appeal as a quality, Japanese-exclusive site.

Just stirring the pot...

I wouldn't call it mystic (or I just don't know what exactly you're referring to), but yeah, I agree: Americanizing tends to color over things.

DA's a good outlet for us Americans (although sadly there are a great number of people on that site don't seem to have appropriate taste (and by that I mean modest/civil/pleasant, e.g. from a link on the homepage: http://www.deviantart.com/#/d3g2k4s)). But this thread isn't about DA.

And now, a random post from pixiv:
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=3106738

[Nekomimi]

I love pixiv, they've got a great mix of lovely & crack there ;D