General- Customs are sometimes available in SoA for a fee; you get to choose everything about them, including species, gender, stage, colors, and patterns. Because each colorist opens their customs a little differently, please be sure to look at any rules they may have for their custom openings! They will probably vary from opening to opening. They will tell you where to post or send any winning custom forms. Custom openings can be tracked through the news in the main thread or by watching the Breedings and Customs subforum.
A massive customs thread opens every 6 months. They are usually held in March and September. These custom threads span the entire month and all able colorists participate.
Apart from regular customs, you may also get customs through breedings. Each breeding in the shop comes with two cub-only slots that may be used by the owners of the parents or gifted away to other people. You may only use a breeding slot once a month for regular cubs and once every three months for hybrids, so keep that in mind. (See the breeding section for more information.)
Lineart edits are available on regular lines, but only through special events hosted by colorists who can do edits. They will not always be available and have very strict guidelines. Please see these special event threads for specific information! Unique lineart is not available at all unless it is through a rare event.
Because people sometimes have trouble getting a particular custom, we will try to open low-luck slots when we can.
For customers that may not have quite enough gold to cover the cost of regular SoA, the shop has a charity mule that will sponsor quests and pay for customs. (Please visit this thread for more information!)
Remember, real life happens sometimes. If the colorist takes more than one month to complete your custom, the custom price is cut in half. Please try to pay in gold, unless the colorist indicates that they accept items as payment.
Related Information- You can no longer custom onto pridal lines except through breedings. You must get the permission of the parents' owners to do this, but please do not beg or harass anyone to get a slot. (See the breeding section for more information)
You can use regular customs to custom into a litter (on rogue OR pridal lineart) until the that litter grows for the first time. Once it reaches juvenile it is no longer eligible for customs.
Due to the fact we want to keep them relatively rare, and most of them can't be bred, hybrids are not available as customs except through breedings. (See the breeding section for more information)
You may get a cosplay of x character if it's not taken. We allow one version of each cosplay per species. The list of taken cosplays and their species can be found Here!.
God Customs- Gods are only available on lion lineart, but they may be customized to have traits of other species through their edits.
Before you can try for a god in customs, you must have your quest approved through the SoA Gods mule. (See the Gods section for more information.)
An individual may get a god once every six months via customs. (This counts for pet trades, but not breedings or gifts.)
If you want to have your god or goddess rebirthed, they must have existed for one year and have twenty complete roleplays. (Please note that once a god is rebirthed they are no longer related to their previous relatives. Their old image may be used for throwbacks to old relatives, but not the new one.)
If you want a mortal-to-god conversion, the mortal must have at least ten complete roleplays. If the god that is giving up their domain existed previously, they must obtain their mortal form via a separate custom slot. SoA that are given out by prides for pride plots and later die as part of that plot are not eligible for these conversions. (Please note that once a mortal is turned into a god they are no longer related to their previous relatives. Their old mortal image may be used for throwbacks to old relatives, but not the new god/dess one.)
Dos and Cans- Provide the colorist with a reference image if you're looking for something specific. Even the simplest MS paint doodle helps! Amy D has doodled up a free set of lines just for this purpose and they can be found here!
Make sure to be specific with what you want! Colorists are not mind readers, and will not redo a custom just because you want to check if 'x' color looks better than 'y' color with 'z' marking. Know what you want before ordering unless you plan on giving the colorist artistic liberty.
You may provide a colorist with a basic, general idea of what you want and let them do whatever they wish with it. However, you must understand that by giving the colorist artistic liberty you are accepting that the outcome might not be what you envisioned and you will have to deal with it if it comes to this. The colorist is not required to change their design or give you a refund if you choose this option - it is the risk of giving them artistic liberty.
Don'ts and Can'ts- Do not steal someone else's pet/character design from another shop/site (this includes deviantart and similar websites) and use them as references. If you did not create any of the art or concepts you are using, you must have permission to use them. If you trick us and we find out, we will not be pleased.
On the same lines, do not attempt to get a custom of a pet you own in another shop but did NOT design - please get permission from the person that designed it first (be it the other shop's colorist or someone else).
References for gods can no longer be made on traced god lines. Please use different lines!
Do not expect the colorist to hand over your custom until you've paid.
