We typically only disable accounts due to a violation of our terms of service.
Why was my account disabled without warning?
ArtStation is provided as a free service for artists with the best intentions for a community that impacts many lives positively. We get a large volume of work being published and many issues that we have to deal with. Because of this, we have to treat violations of terms of service seriously. Unfortunately we do not have the time to contact each individual person to resolve violation issues - it is physically impossible for us to do so and there are people who are simply "trolls" who simple cannot be reasoned with.
If your account has been locked, you're welcome to contact us to resolve the issue.
Common reasons we lock accounts
Art theft
It is not ok for you to use someone else's copyrighted work as an underlay for you to paint over unless you have permission to do so.
Typically we find that naive artists will take someone else's artwork, and literally copy-paste it into their files and paint over it, change some colors, etc.
Doing this without permission is theft and a violation of terms of service. We can reinstate your account if you contact us to resolve the situation.
Pornography, Hentai and Erotic Artwork
ArtStation is not a place to publish pornography, hentai or any form of erotic content. Any explicit descriptions, links, displays of sexual organs or activities intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings are liable to be removed and accounts banned. Even with the mature content filter on, any erotic artwork is not tolerated and accounts are banned. There is no recourse for this - we will not respond to any accounts that are banned for publishing erotic content.
Aggregate accounts / Non-individual-artist accounts
ArtStation is first and foremost a portfolio website for artists and small/micro studios to promote themselves. It is not intended for users to create an "aggregate account" to post work from other users.
E.g. A plugin developer and uses ArtStation to publish work from artists who use the plugin, this is not allowed. We would much rather that you request the individual artists to publish work on their accounts and post a link/credit to your service.
E.g. a company that makes a texture library registers on ArtStation using the company name as their first name and last name, then publishes work from artists who use the texture library. This is not allowed and the account will be disabled. We would much rather that you request the individual artists to publish work on their accounts and post a link/credit to your service. If you, as an artist, created the textures yourself, you can use ArtStation to promote this and link to the texture library but your account itself must be an individual/personal account. You cannot name it the name of your texture library/company.
Company Promotional and Marketing accounts
ArtStation is a portfolio website for individual artists and small/micro studios (typically individual freelance) to host their portfolios. It is not intended for companies to create promotional accounts for products.
Artists with individual accounts are welcome to post their products, for example, tutorial videos. However, it is forbidden for companies to create company accounts and promote products on behalf of the company.
Posting unrelated content / photography
ArtStation is intended for media & entertainment art, covering illustration, concept art, matte painting, 3D modelling, design and animation, visual effects, etc. Take a look at the work that ArtStation features to get an idea of what kind of work is expected from the community.
Accounts posting unrelated content will be disabled.
Commonly, we lock accounts that post photography. We recommend 500px for a photography community.
Misusing the "Message" feature
The Message feature is specifically used for contacting artists about paid work-related opportunities. It is not for contacting users in general. Users who misuse this feature are banned.
Spammy & inflammatory comments
Comments are for leaving constructive feedback for artists. Users who abuse the commenting system by leaving inappropriate comments are banned. Users who abuse the commenting system by leaving spammy comments, e.g. "Great work! Btw check out ..... " are banned.
Fake account information
ArtStation is intended to be a professional network. Posting under clearly fake account information is grounds for banning at our discretion.