I've been off this site for a month or two, and I got back on today to find that my two pixel submissions, Gerry and Feeling Good had been taken down for this reason:

REASON: Give Credit where credit is due. If you use someone else's lineart or are inspired by someone elses work, remember to link back to them.

I'm confused about this because although I do photo trace, (which I belive is alright?) I pixeled both images entirely by hand, and I put a lot of work into them.

Several people commented and said that they had too many colors, looked like the photo too much, were blurry, looked like I had used photoreduction (which is what?), all of which I knew and accepted as criticism. But these didn't seem like a reason to remove the pictures.

Both of these pieces are entirely my own, including lineart, and they were inspired by the pictures I used, not someone else's work. Is photo tracing not allowed? I'm a beginner at pixeling so if that's not permitted, the fault is mine for not looking into it.

I was also under the impression that pixel artists of all skill levels were allowed to join and post their art. But from the sound of other's comments it seems that only highly talented and experienced artists are welcome. I don't wish to believe that, but if it's true I'd like to know.

Sorry, I was just confused by the whole thing and an explanation of any kind would be much appreciated.

- Maggie

Thank you. Well I know what it is now, and I can certainly testify that I did not do that. 

Thank you very much. :) I was just a little surprised by it, and the criticism provided by some was far from helpful and rather mean. But in the future I will definitely follow what you said and post reference pictures.