*/It must be said that I did not write this guide. The reason why I am copying it here is because the site it was originally posted on is, unsavory. /*
Introduction to Pixiv
Pixiv is an image sharing site where artists upload their work. Images can be searched by tags, rated, and favourite’d.
Users can add friends to their own group like social networks, or bookmark people to “watch” their space. There are lots of nice works on Pixiv \, but to access them, you need to register for a free account.
Step 1 : Go to http://www.pixiv.net and click on the orange “Sign up now” button.
Step 2 : Fill in your email address, and click the button saying “入力完了”
Step 3 : A verification email will be sent. Open the email, and click the link in it to continue.
Step 4 : Now you’ll have to fill in your profile. This is the longest part.
pixiv ID: 3 to 32 characters long, alphanumeric characters, hyphens and underscores only. Uppercase characters will be converted to lowercase. You cannot begin or end the ID with hyphens or underscores.
パスワード (Password): 6 to 32 characters long. Fill in both with the same password.
ニックネーム (Nickname): The name others will see you as. 15 characters max.
HPアドレス (Homepage address)
For the next 5, there is a dropdown box on the right. First selection means “Everyone can see this information”, second means “Only people in MyPixiv can see this information” and third is “No one can see this information”
性別 (Gender): 男 (Male) or 女 (Female)
血液型 (Blood type): Straight forward.
住所 (Address): Last option, 海外 means Foreign (as in, not in Japan.)
誕生日 (Date of birth): Straight forward again.
職業 (Occupation): I’m not going to translate all of these, so you can choose the last one (Something else)
自己紹介 (Self introduction): Here you’ll HAVE to type in something to complete the registration.
Step 5 : Login with your pixiv ID and password.
*/More information you might be interested in but it is not necessary./*
Now when you go to http://www.pixiv.net/mypage.php you’ll see your home page. The first thing you’ll notice are some images in the middle of the page, under the heading “みんなの新着イラスト”. This is everyone’s newest artwork. Under these you’ll see もっと見る, which means “show more”, and you’ll be able to page through them.
On the right, you’ll see the top 3 images for the day, links to #4 to #10, and the same for the top 10 images of the week. Under each of these is the top #100 list. On the left, you’ll see your avatar, under this the list of people in your “MyPixiv”, and under this, a list of all the people you’ve bookmarked. If you click on your avatar, you’ll go to your profile, where you can change your avatar (画像の変更) and edit your profile.
On the search bar on the top right, you’ll be able to search for specific tags (in Japanese). If you change the option from タグ to タイトル・キャプション, it will search in image captions rather than tags. You can click on 人気のタグ for a list of tags. ランダム brings up a random selection of images, instead of most recent.
On the top left you’ll always see ホーム (Home), 友人を招待 (Invite a friend) and ログアウ (Logout).
When you click on an image, you’ll have a medium size version of the image in the middle, which you can click again to open the full size, the artist’s avatar on the left, with the following links under it:
プロフィールを見る – A link to their page/profile
お気に入りに追加 – Bookmark this user
マイピクに追加 – Add user to MyPixiv
When you try and bookmark a user, it will bring a dialog asking if you want everyone to be able to see this user in your bookmarked users list, and then a confirm button. If you try to add someone, you will have a box where you need to type a message to the person, followed by a confirm button.
Above the image will be the tags for it (blue links, with a red one to the right). Towards the top right, you can rate the image on a scale of 1 to 10. Pixiv keeps track of 閲覧数 (How many people viewed the image), 評価回数 (How many people voted), and 総合点 (Total score). To the left, you can see all the artist’s tags. If you click on them, it will bring images by the current artist with those tags.
The button right above the image to the right, このイラストをブックマークする, lets you bookmark an image. To view all the images you’ve bookmarked, when you’re on your home page, click on the button on top titled ブックマーク管理 (Usually the 4th one). Underneath the image theres a text box and button for adding comments.
Remember: You have to be logged in to see images or pages. You cannot hotlink them AFAIK. And don’t forget to add artist tags when you upload the images here.
And apologies for the wall of text :)
