The Process in detail:
Before actually starting a new ArtGrok Artwork entry (AA), you need to think about the artwork you want to share on the ArtGrok site. (See "step-by-step" process below for the actual steps of the on-screen process once you have your thoughts in order.)
There are three areas of thinking and information you need to be ready for, in order to create an AA entry:
Regarding item 1, if your proposed AA entry is clearly a Product-design entry, or a Decorative work, the answer to simple. Item 1 is settled, and you can proceed to item 3.
If your proposed entry belongs to one of the traditional ‘fine” art-categories – painting, sculpture, novel, poem, building, play, movie, opera, etc., you have to decide how to answer the fundamental question regarding any theme existing in an artwork. This is not always easy, since it is not a common practice for most people to think about what the underlying meaning is of an artwork. We are good at experiencing the meaning, and the emotions, but often have a hard time naming that meaning clearly. For guidance on deciding whether a work is Thematic or Experiential, you can refer to three sources on ArtGrok and one outside source:
Look at ArtGrok Artworks (AA) that are already listed on ArtGrok and read some of the descriptions and reasons for each item being in either the Thematic or Experiential category.
The help file: "How Art is Organized on ArtGrok"
When an AA entry is started there, if you scroll down to the "Theme" field, you will see a group of examples for specific artworks that may help you get the right approach to identifying the theme of the artwork you are working on.
You can read two articles that do a great job of showing how this is done: Getting More Enjoyment from Art You Love by Dianne Durante in The Objective Standard Summer 2006, available at www.theobjectivestandard.com as a back issue for purchase. Or in Ms. Durante’s How to Analyze and Appreciate Paintings from the same journal.
Once you have reached some clarity about the theme, the next introspective effort is needed to name the actual overall emotion(s) that the artwork projects. This is what is called the sense-of-life emotion, the all-encompassing emotion that is integral to the artwork and expresses what the creator thinks and feels about the world -- his worldview. Examples of sense-of-life emotions can be seen either by looking at other entries in ArtGrok, or by looking at the examples on the AA entry form.
STEP-BY-STEP process on-screen:
From the ArtGrok four-part screen that appears, make the initial three choices:
Select which basic art-type the individual work belongs to (Thematic, Experiential, Decorative, or Product-design)
Within one of those four types, which art-category your proposed artwork belongs to (for example, choosing “Thematic”, you might then choose “Musical Arts”)
From the flyout menu of the category chosen, click on which subcategory it belongs to (for example, Thematic > Musical Arts > Vocal-songs).
That set of three choices takes you to a new screen: the ArtGrok Artwork entry form.
Start filling out the form. Though many of the fields are common to all artworks, there are special fields that are unique to the choice you made (since, for example, a movie or musical work will have a duration, but not dimensions, as a sculpture or building or automobile would have).
Finalizing your AA entry:
When you are ready to send the entry to ArtGrok for review and publishing, you should locate the section called "Status of ArtGrok Artwork Entry". It is about 2/3rds of the way down the form, above the "media" and "image" sections. There you will find a "moderator review" button. Choose that button, and if you have any comments or questions for the moderator, enter them in the field. Choose save for one last time.
This will change your AA Entry into one that is now sent to the moderator. An email will go to the moderator and usually within a day the entry will either be published or an email will come back to you with comments, questions, etc. before publication.
If during your entry efforts, you can't figure out one or more items, but you have most of the form entered, you can always send the entry to the ArtGrok moderator and tell him/her that you are in doubt or stumped about some aspect of the entry.
While you are waiting for any answers the moderator might have, you can always go back into the AA entry and add or modify items if you learn more, or think of further items relating to this artwork. You will find on the home page an entry on the left "Manage Draft Entries" which will give you a list of any drafts you are working on, or have sent to the moderators.