HOW DO I EARN EXP FOR MY CHARACTER(S)?

You earn EXP by drawing or writing anything Whistler Crest related and submitting it to the gallery.
Shown below is a visual guide on what types of art are valued at.

As long as the details of a character are clear and they are easily identifiable, you can count a small figure for EXP.

Shaded Figures: +30 EXP (per figure)

NPC/Gift Characters: Add an additional 10 EXP on the usual count

Creatures:
+10 EXP for wild creatures
+25 EXP for masterlisted creatures (pets/companions)
Creatures may have the shaded figures bonus applied to them, but may not have the gift bonus applied to them.

Uncolored

Images should have at minimum flat colors to be counted for standard EXP (color palette challenges count as flat colors.) If they do not, they must be counted under one of these three uncolored options.

Sketch: 15 EXP total. This type of drawing must be a cleaned up, comprehensible drawing and can be uncolored and unlined. It must have at least a Medium Scenic background to count and receives no bonuses or additions.

Simple Lineart: 20 EXP total. This type of drawing must be a cleanly lined image and requires no color. It receives no bonuses or additions.

Complex Lineart: 25 EXP total. This type of drawing must be a cleanly lined image, includes a lot of lined detail, and must include a lined scenic background. It receives no bonuses or additions.

All three of these Uncolored EXP options are NOT additions and are only for use when your image is without flat colors.

BACKGROUNDS

Backgrounds are a very good way to earn EXP for your characters.

But how do you qualify your backgrounds?

Backgrounds are rated on complexity shown by the number of unique elements in the background. Elements are objects (trees, houses, rocks, etc.) or complex textures (bricks, cobblestone, detailed clouds) in the background.
What is a unique element?
An element is considered unique if it is clearly, visually distinct from other elements at a glance. This extends to elements that are technically the same thing - two trees, for example, may be counted as two unique elements so long as they are clearly different from each other at a glance - different branch configurations, a twisted trunk on one, etc - this is shown clearly in the examples below!
[image example of unique elements here]

Characters and creatures can count as unique elements, however…
If you are to count a creature or character as a background element, they will no longer receive visibility (bust, halfbody, fullbody), shading, gift, or creature EXP bonuses. If you count them as figures, they may not count toward your background element numbers.

Background Types

Abstract Background: +5 EXP
These are backgrounds that are not tangible, in world-locations, or do not have recognizable, defined elements (such as heavily blurred backgrounds) and do not require shading. These must have some level of detail and cannot be single color, single shape backgrounds, but can include gradients, shapes, hand drawn abstract textures, or complicated shapes of color.
Computer generated or stock photos do not count for EXP.

Simple Scenic Background: +10 EXP
These are backgrounds that have 1 unique element and are very basic. They do not require shading. They must depict your characters within some tangible in-world location.

Medium Scenic Background: +30 EXP
These are backgrounds that have at least 3 unique elements. They do not require shading. They must depict your characters within some tangible in-world location.

Complex Background: +55 EXP
These are backgrounds which are fully shaded and have at least 5 unique elements. Ideally, they should follow the principle of foreground, middle ground and background to create the illusion of depth within a scene.

When it comes to shading...

You should make sure that shading is consistent across the figure or the background, and is discernable at a glance.. Highlights are optional, but will add extra detailing within your submission. Using textures is allowed, however they shouldn't be used to replace shading or cover and image to such an extent that shading is obscured. You are free to use a variety of shading methods, from soft to cel to any others beyond.

Comics and Animation

Animations are counted for EXP per unique pose, with each unique pose being counted as if it was its own standalone image. The frame count should be listed in the description of the image. Simple animations (sticking out a tongue, blinking, simple head bobbing, etc.) count for the base amount of EXP. If you're unsure about an animation's EXP count, ask!
Comic pages are counted per unique panel for EXP. If you're unsure about a comic's EXP count, ask!

Real-Life Crafts: Ask Mods!

Birthdays

If you draw another member's character/s during that member’s birthday month, you can get double EXP for that art. You may only claim this bonus once a month.

Stories earn EXP at a rate of 0.2 EXP per word. In addition to this, there are a variety of bonuses that apply to writing.

NPC/Gift Characters: +10 EXP. They must be featured in at least two 5 sentence paragraphs in order to count.

Creatures: +5 EXP. They must be featured in at least two 5 sentence paragraphs in order to count.

Deuteragonist: +10 EXP for your story featuring a secondary protagonist. They must be present in at least 75% of the story.

Tritagonist: +5 EXP for your story featuring a tertiary protagonist. They must be present in at least 50% of the story

Full Cast: +10 EXP for your story featuring more than three of your own characters.

Environmental Description: +5 EXP if your story includes a detailed environmental description of at least 3 sentences.

Action Scene: +10 EXP if your story includes an action scene. The scene must be at least three 5 sentence paragraphs in length.

Many Scenes: +10 EXP if your story includes at least three separate scenes. The scenes must be at least three 5 sentence paragraphs in length.

Research: +5 EXP if you did at least 15 minutes of research while writing your story.

All but the NPC/Gift and Creature bonus are one bonus per story. All bonus toggles can be combined.

Should you be doing a collab there are a few key things to remember!

1) You both earn the same amount of EXP from the submission. You do NOT split the EXP gained.
For example, if you earn 300 EXP from your submission, you each earn 300 EXP (you do not split it into 150 EXP each).
2) Only one person should submit the image or writing to the website, as the piece will appear in everyone’s gallery. However, they must assure that all participants of the collaboration are listed when submitting to the gallery and that their roles in the collaboration are included.
3) If collaborating on writing, you may show who wrote each part via color coding or headers, or include each member’s roles (for things such as drafting, finishing, or any other role) when crediting them for the collaboration.

KEY THINGS TO REMEMBER:

• All characters start at level 0 with 0 EXP, including adopted ones.
  • EXP stacks, so you will continuously add to your total EXP gain per character.
  • Every 100 EXP your character will level up. So 100 EXP is level 1, 200 EXP is level 2, etc.
  • EXP prioritizes characters included. This means that, if your character is present in the submission, they will gain the EXP.
  If you include more than one of your characters in a submission you split the EXP between them.
  • If you draw a submission that does not include ANY of your characters (example: a gift for another member featuring their characters, or a drawing of an NPC) then you may split the EXP between all your characters however you'd like.

Babies do not have a level cap. Adults currently cap at level 50.

Counting Your EXP Example

Counting your EXP may seem daunting at first, but it's really just a matter of knowing the value of what you're drawing!

Here we see two characters in a detailed background. 

So you would count it like this:
+ 2 full bodies
+ Gift (one character belongs to another member)
+ Shading (2 characters)
+ Detailed background

30 + 10 + 55 + 60 = 155 EXP