Well, sort of. Actually most of the changes so far have been entirely in the back end, making it easier to add some of the features people have asked for.
I've gone through the effort of setting up a GitHub account for TranquilArt's code (though at the moment things are still pretty ugly) and added a number of feature requests to the issue tracker.
The biggest ones I want to work on are notifications for commissions (both artists getting applications and commissioners getting updates). I also want to add WIP and Finished links, so artists can directly link to in progress and finished pieces in galleries like Weasyl. I also hope to maybe reorganize the commission system so that it's a bit easier to navigate, but I need feedback from you all to know how you'd like to be able to use it.

At this point, the relaunch of TranquilArt.net is mostly complete! I still want to work on getting SSL working properly, but there's still some wonkiness with the server I need to look in to. It's not necessary for things to work, but more security is never a bad thing, especially when you all don't have to do anything beyond use a browser from this decade to use it!
Other than that I've gotten everything trimmed down and ready to go! There may be a few little things here and there that I've missed, so if you find anything be sure to let me know! Just shoot me a PM or reply here and I'll get on it right away!
Over the next year I certainly hope to be able to focus a lot more effort on the site. One of the biggest features I want to add is email notifications with the commission system. Of course this requires the commission system be a lot more fleshed out and useful before there's a good reason to be sending out emails.
So, here's to 2015!

When I said TranquilArt will be relaunched January 1st, I meant it would be opened by Jan 1st, 2015. I work that day, so I'll most likely be opening it just a little bit early by my time (and a lot early if you're on the Pacific). For most sane people that spend their new years with friends and family (read: not me) it'll be down on the 31st and up on the 1st.

I'll be closing it December 31st around noon CST to make backups, transfer everything, run all the upgrade scripts, and make sure it all completed successfully. It won't actually take 12 hours (or 11 hours) but I want to account for unforeseen problems.

Just in case, take a moment to go through and grab all your important info so you're not stuck if the site isn't ready in time!

The biggest thing is the new theme. I've been working on this way too long, and had to take a few shortcuts to just get it done for the launch. However, unless you're an HTML nut it should be fine for you :3

The next biggest thing is the fact that it's built on MyBB 1.8 instead of 1.6. The software itself has a few new features for users, as well as some nice stuff for the backend that make things easier for me.

The last big thing is the redesigned flow for managing commissions. Instead of two redundant lists, I've chopped it down to just one that lists all your commissions. There's now an "Add Commission" button at the very bottom, and in each individual commission there is now an "Edit Commission" button. I've also temporarily, practically removed the "Open for Commissions" part for now until I've figured out how to make it easier to use (though it's technically still there and accessible if you take the long twisty route).

I certainly hope you all enjoy the new redesigned Tranquilart!

So, everything is just about ready for the site relaunch. I have the logo waiting, and once I have that I'll need to push things around to accommodate it and some space for future advertisements, but even if I don't have those I will 100% for sure have the site relaunched as of January 1st, 2015.

I'm warning you all now, it'll be a bit of a shock for those that are used to what's currently around, but I hope that once the initial shock wears off you'll like it.

I'll be doing my best to polish things up until then.

I cheated a little to get the theme to the "presentable" stage, so at this point I'm like 85% done. I'm still waiting on a couple of things from other people, and I really want to get the profile page prettied up a bit more, but other than those everything else that I had to skimp on looks at least somewhat decent.

Having said that once the theme is up I will be making further changes as I improve the layout, so don't be too surprised if things move around a bit more. The theme is drastically different to what we have now. For one, it's dark text on a light background instead of this, and IMNSHO it looks far more professional and cohesive.

There are still a few kinks to work out of the new software, but most of those are out of my hands as they're in the base forum software TA is built on. Also, while I've made a few changes to our custom commission system I expect to make several more to make it easier to use for both artists and commissioners.

I'm about 40% done with the theme. There are lots of nooks and crannies that one finds when doing this, and I'm sure I'll be missing a few. But I'm making progress (albeit slowly) and the main actual forum stuff is pretty close to done.

Next up on my to do list for the theme rework are the profile page, and the commission system itself. After that are various commonly used things like search, messaging, and similar features.

Once I've gotten all that down, I'll need to work out the upgrade path, to make sure things go quickly and smoothly. Then the upgrade.

I have a bunch of other little features I want to add, but getting the current system upgraded is my #1 priority.

Now that the forum software I based this site on has publicly released the latest major update I am in the process of upgrading the site. There are some big changes incoming!

First off, I've reworked the way the commissions lists are handled. Instead of having two slightly different lists that display things completely different ways, I'm combining them down to one list with the fancy color coding. As a result, I've added an edit button the the individual commission pages for artists to use to update said commission. Hopefully this will simplify things at least a little bit.

Second, and this is the part that's taking the longest, the new theme! I had to restart a couple of times due to major updates to the core software's structure, but now that the major version is finally stable I can work on the theme without worrying about things being yanked out from under me. Most likely to get things out ASAP I'll be just doing the main pages people use the most, then upgrading things as I get to the other pages.

There should not be any loss of information, but when I am finally ready to apply the upgrade I will need to take down the site for the duration of it. I will be giving plenty of advanced notice through as many channels as possible so just keep an eye out! It shouldn't take any more than a day at the most absolute worst case scenario and most likely will be done within an hour.

Yes, I know I haven't been as active around here as I should be, but I'm still alive, I swear! I've been working on the new theme a bit, which has gone through several revisions, and need to get the main logo part handed off to the artist so they can make it not-crappy.

I've updated the forum software, and will probably redo the profile plugin to be a little... better on the back end.

Right now my #1 priority is the theme, since the ugly get-it-working default theme is seriously hindering using the site IMO. It's gonna be really different though, so be prepared!

We have a lot in store for TranquilArt, and I can't wait to get everything put together and out for you all to use!

So, here's a general roadmap for the upcoming year:

My number one priority is going to be the theme. Many of the deterrents to using the site right now are due to poor usability, and with a new theme we're going to redesign and simplify the core software a whole bunch. I am also almost certainly going to be implementing different color schemes, so those of you that don't like the yellow-on-dark-purple we currently have can breathe a sigh of relief

After that, I will work on the ad system, so the site can become more self-sufficient. I'm aiming for a dollar a day to buy some banner space, but I'll probably start out at a quarter a day until the site grows enough to be worth a higher price. Ideally, it'll mostly be automated: you submit an ad, we check it over and approve it, and the system will automatically generate an invoice and once you pay it'll automatically put your ad up when you want it up. One nice thing about this is it means quick turnaround, and coupled with day-granular time slots, it's a lot more affordable and easy to put up ads only when you need them.

After both of those, I'll clean up the source code and open it up. Think you can fix that one bug? Take a gander through the code and find out! Get it fixed? Submit a pull request and help the whole community! I'll almost certainly be doing most of the coding, but I have no problem with getting help when I can!

Beyond those, it's basically just running down the To Do list as things get added. I do have a lot more in store than what's already in the To Do list, but I'll be doing those as the site grows and I see what all needs being done.

And with that, I bid you farewell and happy and prosperous new year!

Hello everyone, and welcome to TranquilArt! We are opening the site for public testing!

What exactly is TranquilArt anyway? Well, we're an art community built around the TranquilArt Commission Tracking System. Artists can keep track of their commissions, and even give registered users the ability to apply for commissions!

We hope to expand in the near future, but to do that we need people to make sure the site we already have is solid for the future!

When signing up, keep in mind things will definitely be changing a lot in the near future as we add features, fix bugs, and tidy up the place. I also recommend keeping another copy of all of the commissions you keep on the site for a while in case something breaks and things get deleted when they shouldn't be.

I certainly hope that you enjoy your stay, and that you find our service useful!