🎨✏️ Ultimate Guide To Creature Suggestions

prairie • 10 June 2026 at 10:27 AM

𝗔 𝗚𝗨𝗜𝗗𝗘 𝗧𝗢: 𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘 𝗦𝗨𝗚𝗚𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦
by @prairie

So! You want to make a Creature Suggestion. Let's get into what all goes into them and the process of making one!
There are some guides set up by moderators already for your reference:
Official Disclaimers & Policies and 2011 How to Post
This is meant to be a in-depth one stop shop to give users a strong understanding to creature suggestions in general.

As a player since 2013, and an artist; creature suggestions always called to me. So I have a big passion for creature suggestions, artists, and official site artists of eggcave. I do have some insight to the pipeline of the official site artwork as a past site artist myself. So I am here to create some insight as a past/inactive EC artist, professional artist & animator, and creature suggester myself.


𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗦𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?
A creature suggestion is a concept you drew to present a creature you designed to become a official site creature!! Meaning if your suggestion is used, it will be on the site for you, and all users, to enjoy and collect! Pretty cool!
If your suggestion is used, you (and any collaborators) will receive one copy with a special mark on the creature to signify your contribution to EggCave.

𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗧𝗢 𝗠𝗔𝗞𝗘 𝗔 𝗦𝗨𝗚𝗚𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡
▪️ Have a concept in mind! "I'd like to see a creature based off of ___", "the site needs more animals like ___"- you're already on a great path!
▪️ Make a drawing of your idea, and keep it all within one image. Keeping images in one image file allows @Ian to easily download that image and ship it off to the official artists! Be sure your image is in a .gif, .png or .jpg format!
▪️ You do not technically need anything other than an image link in your topic.
▪️ Make your topic title clear and concise. Adding a theme is good if you are wanting to be for a specific genre (EX: summer, fall, christmas, new years, etc.)
▪️ If you are aiming for a particular month or holiday, try to put the suggestion topic up 2-3 months in advance!! This is because Ian and mods are keeping their eyes open for suggestions at all times, but artists need at least one month to create the official art.

𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗜 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?
Yes, of course!!
These types of suggestions, where two or more users work together to create a creature suggestion are called "Collaborations" (or Collabs for short).
➜ The only thing to keep in mind with collaborations is that if you or the other user only add a description to the suggestion; if the creature does not use the description made in the suggestion topic, credit will not be given and the user who made the suggested description will not get a copy of the creature upon creation. Only the artist(s) of the suggestion will.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗜 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗺𝘆 𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲?
The best way to keep a topic active is by sharing it with your friends to spread the word! If your topic has been inactive for a while, you can also simply 'bump' the thread by replying to if after some time saying something like "Just getting this topic active again! Would love feedback and thoughts!".
To help Mods find your creature suggestion, you can also use this hashtag: #creaturesuggestion This makes it easier for moderators to find suggestions VS having to comb through topics.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗜 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝘀𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀?
ALWAYS listen to feedback! Always challenge yourself. Ask yourself if this is a creature that would live in the World of EggCave, or is it just a typical dog. If you just have a dog; start to spruce it up a bit. Where would it live in Eggcave? What other creatures reside there?
They're all good starting points.


𝗦𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗜𝗦 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗜𝗣𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝗴𝗴𝗖𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀?
The Complete pipeline for suggestion to official creature on EggCave goes as follows:
𝟏.) You post your suggestion! Maybe you have a rad description on the topic as well. The image is in a URL to the drawing of the creature (with any additional stages)
𝟐.) @Ian sees your topic, and thinks to himself "You know what? This is pretty cool! I'd love to see this on our site!"
𝟑.) Ian will then take the image solely from your topic and save it to his computer. From there, he will create a official email to the artists he has to contact.
𝟒.) The official site artists (often freelancers who don't necessarily play EggCave) get the email with attached images. The information they receive is generally as follows for an example:
　　Theme: winter, christmas, snow, holiday cheer
　　Image Specs: png, 90x90 pixels, transparent BG
　　Payment: $$$$$
　　Deadline: November 20th (requests come 1 month advanced)
　　Attachments: that image you linked in your topic!
𝟓.) Your suggestion is officially released to EggCave and a copy of the creature is sent to your cove!! Congratulations!


‼️ 𝗜𝗠𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗧 𝗜𝗡𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗢 𝗞𝗡𝗢𝗪 ‼️

📢 Keep in mind that designs 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 from your suggested image vs official site artwork. If you are familiar with the production pipeline: think of your suggestion drawing as a pitch or concept art! Meaning, if you are very attached to a specific design or detail, you might need to be willing to compromise or rethink the suggestion.

📢 When a creature is made for EggCave, artists have to fit your suggestion's design into a 𝟵𝟬𝘅𝟵𝟬 (𝘀𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗲) 𝗯𝗼𝘅. So if your creature is a looooong snake or stretched out; they might have to reposition the creatures pose to make it work the best for the site's needs!

📢 As per the TOS, "user suggestions, upon submission, become property of Egg Cave and can be used in whatever way the Site sees fit." Meaning that once you hit Post Topic the creatures design is 𝗻𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗼𝘄𝗻. Meaning you cannot own it, sell it, or profit off of it so long as it is on the site.


If you have any questions or want advice, My DMs and Mail are always open!

merit • 22 hours ago

This seems really helpful! Thank you for putting it all together.