• Submitting Custom Poses and Room Backgrounds
You can customize your avatar by uploading your own “poses” to your account. Once they are uploaded, you can use them in the chat so you can move around, express emotion, and interact with other users. You can also upload custom backgrounds to create your own chatroom.
Before uploading your own artwork, please read and take into account the following rules and guidelines.

• Copyright
The most important rule above all others: do not upload artwork unless you have permission to do so. Uploading artwork without permission is art theft, and will not be tolerated. Here on Serenity we want to protect the rights of artists, and we expect all of our users to do the same.
Art theft includes: tracing someone else’s artwork, using artwork without paying the artist for its use or receiving their consent to use it, taking artwork off of websites without permission from the copyright holder, and uploading a photograph or clip-art…
The best way to prove you have permission is to provide a link to where you found the art; photobucket is not an acceptable source unless its from the PosePro album. Any art uploaded without a link may be rejected.
Please note: it is especially wrongful to try to sell or profit off of any artwork that is not your own creation. In short, if you didn’t create the image yourself— make sure whoever did create the image has given you full permission to use it here on Serenity, and only sell artwork that you made yourself.
Artwork that is uploaded without permission will be rejected by our Art Team; if any stolen artwork is accepted and then later reported as art theft, it will be removed from the user’s account once it has been proven stolen. Art theft is serious and could get you banned from the chat. If you are unsure about whether you can use certain artwork on the chat, or have seen that your own artwork is being used without your permission on the chat, contact an Art Team member and they will help sort it out with you. When reporting art theft, we recommend you take a screenshot of the incident to show the Art Team and provide any information about the original source/artist of the image that you have.
Contacting the Art Team: here is a list of our Art Team members, send them a PM on the forums or in the chat if you need assistance. You can also reach them through the Admin email: Serenity.Chatlands@gmail.com

• Creating or Obtaining Avatars
To create your own avatars, or “poses”, all you need is a little creativity and a digital art program. There are links to free art programs, step-by-step guides to creating your own avatars, and lots of helpful information in our Art Services forum.
If you are not so artistically inclined, you can always upload Freebies (avatars you can use at no cost), Premades (avatars that you can buy), or Customs (avatars that you have paid an artist to create uniquely for you).
If you are trying to find poses or need help creating your own, check the Art section of our Forums.

• File and Image Specifications
Your avatars must be .GIF or .PNG files with a transparent background. Image size must be under 350×350 pixels and 100kb. Please try to keep your avatars clear and easy to see and understand— remove any stray pixels or lines, keep the edges of the pose clean or put an outline around the outside edges of the pose, and resize your poses properly so they do not appear pixellated, distorted, squashed or stretched. If your uploaded avatar does not follow these specifications, it will be rejected.
Here is a tutorial to help you get your avatars chat-ready.

• What Your Avatar Can and Cannot be
It can be…

It cannot be…

Please note: any avatars found to violate these restrictions will be rejected during art review or removed from your account. Repeated attempts to upload inappropriate avatars after receiving warnings from the Art Team may result in restrictions being placed on your account.

• Size Chart
Our size chart is a guideline so you can have your avatar be proportionate to the backgrounds and objects in the chat, and appear realistically sized next to other avatars. Please check your avatar to make sure it is sized correctly before uploading.

• Creating or Obtaining Private Room Backgrounds
Subscribed users can create their own private chatrooms with customized backgrounds. If you are artistically inclined, you can draw your own background either with a digital art program or by scanning a traditionally drawn image to your computer. You can also find premade backgrounds available for free or for sale in our Art Forums, there you can also commission an artist to make you a unique background in exchange for Deltas or money.
To upload your own private chatroom, click Hideaways on the map screen and click “my rooms.”

• What Your Private Room Backgrounds Can and Cannot Be
All private rooms are reviewed by the Art Team before they become available for use. Custom backgrounds must be .GIF, .PNG, or .JPG files and smaller than 256KB (262144 bytes). Certain types of rooms are not allowed, please follow these guidelines when submitting room backgrounds:

They can be…

a digital or traditional illustration, a 3D design, or photograph. 

any sort of setting… indoor, outdoor, outer space, anywhere!

a color, a pattern, a rainbow, or any sort of abstract image.

written or typed words, as long as nothing vulgar or offensive is written.

They cannot be…

overtly sexually themed or containing imagery that is pornographic in nature. 

depicting anything that might be construed as racist, bigoted, or hateful toward others. this includes gestures and symbols.

too graphic or disturbing in subject matter or depiction, such as references to suicide, self-harm, illegal activities, or graphic violence. (again, the Art Team will let you know if your artwork is crossing the line)

stolen or traced from another artist or uploaded without permission (see Art Theft)