Frequently asked questions

Account questions

How do I cancel or upgrade my subscription?

On desktop

  • Locate the Account Menu. It is your own username and icon at the top right of the site.
  • From the Account Menu, select "Billing"
  • You will be taken to the Billing and Account Info page. Your subscription information will be the first thing on this page, followed by colorful buttons for canceling or changing your subscription.

On mobile

  • Tap the 3 lines in the top right to open the main menu.
  • Tap the "plus" icon next to your own username in the main menu to open the your account sub-menu.
  • From the Account sub-menu you just opened, select "Billing"
  • You will be taken to the Billing and Account Info page. Your subscription information will be the first thing on this page, followed by colorful buttons for canceling or changing your subscription.

How do I use a gift code on my account?

On desktop

  • Locate the Account Menu. It is your own username and icon at the top right of the site.
  • From the Account Menu, select "Billing"
  • You will be taken to the Billing and Account Info page. Your subscription information will be the first thing on this page, followed by colorful buttons for canceling or changing your subscription.
  • In the "subscription information" box, click the "Enter membership gift code" button.
  • Enter your gift code and press "apply code"

On mobile

  • Tap the 3 lines in the top right to open the main menu.
  • Tap the "plus" icon next to your own username in the main menu to open the your account sub-menu.
  • From the Account sub-menu you just opened, select "Billing"
  • You will be taken to the Billing and Account Info page. Your subscription information will be the first thing on this page, followed by colorful buttons for canceling or changing your subscription.
  • In the "subscription information" box, click the "Enter membership gift code" button.
  • Enter your gift code and press "apply code"

If you are currently being billed for a subscription plan, you will not be able to see this button until you cancel the automatic billing. This is to prevent you from being double-billed for time.

Even after cancellation, your account will retain all membership time you have pre-paid for. Your membership gift code will extend this time if your subscription was a "full" membership. "Doodler" accounts will receive a smaller time credit when upgrading to full membership via a gift code.

How do I add an avatar/icon to my account?

There are two methods.

1: Go to your profile. Click "Edit profile" in the sidebar. Upload your desired image.

2. If you have not uploaded an icon to the site directly, we will attempt to obtain one from GRavatar (Globally Recognized Avatars). You can set one for your email address here: https://en.gravatar.com/ and it will not only appear on this site, but on thousands of sites where you log in with your email address. It may take up to 48 hours for our system to notice that you've added your first avatar to GRavatar -- please be patient.

I did not receive a verification email

If you’ve waited at least ten minutes and been sure to check your spam folder, please email us directly at customer-service@line-of-action.com for assistance. Make sure to write from the email address that you registered your account with, so we can look up and verify your account by hand.

How do I change my password?

Go to account settings (it's in the dropdown menu behind your avatar at the top of the page)

Enter a new password.

Click "Save"

Troubleshooting

I can't see the photos

Sorry you’re having this issue! This is a very rare problem. Here’s a few suggestions that have worked for others to fix the problem of the images not showing:

  • If you are logged in, visit this page to clear your on-site photo cache: https://line-of-action.com/user/cleartoolcaches
  • Make sure your browser is completely up to date — older browsers are more likely to have this problem, especially Internet Explorer (which is no longer supported by Microsoft!)
  • If you use plug-ins or browser extensions, disable all of them, then re-try using the tools. If the problem has gone away, re-enable each of your plugins/extensions one by one, and try using the tools after each one is re-enabled. When the tools break, you’ll know which plugin was causing the conflict!
  • Try a different browser – we generally recommend Chrome.

I did not receive a verification email

If you’ve waited at least ten minutes and been sure to check your spam folder, please email us directly at customer-service@line-of-action.com for assistance. Make sure to write from the email address that you registered your account with, so we can look up and verify your account by hand.

I'm having some other technical issue

I'd be happy to help you sort out your problem. You can either request help on our support forum, or contact me directly for assistance. Please note that I am an English speaker, and will have to rely on automatic translation tools if you write to me in a different language. This may impact our ability to understand each other.

Please include as many details as possible when describing your problem, including what you're trying to do, how you're trying to do it, and what happens when you try.

Reports that exclude these details and simply say "It won't let me ____" or "___ is broken" take much longer to resolve, as we'll need to ask a lot more questions to understand your problem before we can start working on it.

General questions

How do I find an image again that I particularly liked?

There’s currently no image directory available for easy browsing.

In the recent past, this was because the images used in the gesture drawing tools were provided by very generous photographers interested in helping to train fine artists. Some of them specified in the licensing agreement that their images were not to be displayed in any kind of archive. Out of respect for their artwork and their legal rights, we have complied and not added an image archive to the site.

However, we are now exploring multiple new methods of expanding our image library, and standardizing our image licensing agreements to make features like this more possible in future. Stay tuned for possible updates to this issue.

What are all the achievement badges? How do I get them?

There are 80+ achievement badges that you can unlock for your profile! We maintain a full list of LoA achievement badges here.

Badges are given out automatically, usually within seconds of the achievement being earned, though at times it can take up to twenty minutes.

Where can I find the images from a photo bundle I purchased?

You can practice using images ONLY from a purchased photo bundle using the "draw this now" button on the photo bundle page:

Or from the sidebar on the tool page, like this:

If you're also a full subscriber, you can create a new custom playlist based on any purchased photo bundle:

Once you've done that, you can reorder, remove and add photos as you see fit to your custom playlist, as per usual.

Remember that purchasing new photo bundles in our study store directly supports the model/photographer in the photos :)

In addition, any photo bundle you have purchased will automatically be part of the image rotation in the tool you purchased it for. The store page where you purchase the bundle will tell you which tool this is. Just start up your practice session and the bundle will be mixed in with the other images!

Why don’t you have a wider diversity in ethnicity and body types?

Most of the current images were provided by generous photographers. Although we have curated the selection, trying to prune out poor quality images or poses with no educational value, we only have what was offered to us. Young, skinny and white made up the vast majority of the images we were sent — however, we agree that this is something that needs to be corrected, and are working toward commissioning our own photo collections to rectify the situation.

I want to use your gesture tools on my livestream/record my drawing progress, am I allowed to do this?

You’re more than welcome to use our tools during your livestreams or recordings. We would really appreciate a link back to Line of Action so that other people will be able to use our tools as well!

How do I contribute photos to the tools?

It's easy! While logged in, go to the Submit Photos page.

For more information on our policies about photo submissions and the photographer profit sharing program, see here, or see our photo submissions FAQ page.

How do I become a live art model?

Sorry, we're not able to answer this question for you. Here is a page that might have some insight: How to Become An Artist's Model by Kelly Borsheim

How do I apply to model for you?

We aren't currently taking applications from models. However, if you have existing photos you own the rights to that you'd like to submit, we may be able to take those!

Do you have an app? Will you have an app? You should make an app.

Thanks for the suggestion! It's a popular one. For the time being, we've gone out of our way to make the website as mobile and tablet friendly as possible, and will continue those efforts in the hopes that most of the features you'd want in an app can actually be obtained through the one site.

We recommend you bookmark the site on your device "desktop" so that you can access it with one tap, like any other app.

If the reason you're suggesting this is because you'd like to be able to practice without a wifi/data connection, we hear you. Resource constraints and the photograph licensing agreements we have with a few of our most prolific photographers make producing a "real" app a challenging proposition, but we'll continue to explore potential solutions.

Can I use your images as references for a drawing class assignment?

If it’s okay with your teacher, it’s okay with us!

Can I use the images in the gesture tools as references for images I plan to sell?

Short answer: Maybe.

Long answer: Most of the images displayed by the gesture tools have been provided on loan by very generous photographers, professional and amateur alike, who have an interest in training fine artists. In offering their images, many of them specified that they were to be for educational use within the tool itself, and not to be reused for any other purpose. That means that we have use rights for a very particular case, but do not own the commercial rights and thus cannot give you permission to use all of the images shown in the practice tools in work you plan to sell.

Most of our images link back to the original photographer’s website or portfolio in the top left of the tool. If you are interested in a particular image, you may want to consider following the link and contacting the photographer directly. Some will have the answer to this question posted prominently on their site.

Can I post the images I created with the gesture tools on other websites?

Yes, you can! You may upload your drawings on other sites such as DeviantArt, Tumblr, Imgur, or any other website where you showcase your work or request critique, as long as you do not sell the images you created with our tools. We would really appreciate a link back to Line of Action so that other people will be able to use our tools as well!

If you post the images you draw to Facebook and @lineofaction, we might feature your work on our facebook page, too! Make sure you have the post set to public if you'd like to be featured.

Forum questions

How do I post images on the forums?

If you have a full or doodler membership, the easiest way is to upload your drawing to your sketchbook. The shortcode that you need to post the image on the forums or in comments around the site will be shown on the drawing's page.

It will look something like this:

[img]119[/img]


If you want to post an image that is hosted elsewhere, such as on an image upload service like Imgur, Photobucket, Imageshack, tinypic, Imagesafe, or another, then you will need the direct link to the image. Only links ending in .png, .jpg or .gif will work.

That means that a link like this won't work to embed an image: https://imgur.com/gallery/q0O8G

But this one would work: https://i.imgur.com/beASDB9.jpg

Note the .jpg at the end of the link! This means it is a link to an image, rather than to an entire webpage.

Once you have a url for your external image, use the img shortcode to embed the image on our forums:

[img]http://yourimageurlhere.com/img.png[/img]

Remember, if you aren't linking to an image from your Line of Action sketchbook, make sure that the link ends in a valid image filename, like .png, .gif or .jpg

Subscription questions

How do I cancel or upgrade my subscription?

On desktop

  • Locate the Account Menu. It is your own username and icon at the top right of the site.
  • From the Account Menu, select "Billing"
  • You will be taken to the Billing and Account Info page. Your subscription information will be the first thing on this page, followed by colorful buttons for canceling or changing your subscription.

On mobile

  • Tap the 3 lines in the top right to open the main menu.
  • Tap the "plus" icon next to your own username in the main menu to open the your account sub-menu.
  • From the Account sub-menu you just opened, select "Billing"
  • You will be taken to the Billing and Account Info page. Your subscription information will be the first thing on this page, followed by colorful buttons for canceling or changing your subscription.

What if I wish to purchase membership time, but do not want to sign up for automatic rebilling?

You can purchase 1-12 months of Full or Doodler access time without signing up to have your card automatically rebilled by using the Pay As You Go option.

Can I subscribe using Paypal or Alipay?

You can purchase 1-12 months of "Pay As You Go" Full or Doodler access time with PayPal and Alipay. However, we do not currently offer automatic rebilling with these payment platforms.

Student or educator discounts

Yes! We offer a 33% discount on full access to students or educators. All you need is a student/teacher ID card or other proof of class registration from a high school, university, or other learning establishment. Please see our student id submission form for more details.

Was your question not answered here? If you’re looking for specific advice or feedback on your drawing practice/career, ask in the forums. If you have a technical issue, contact us directly.