DargonZine Graphic Artists' FAQ
Contents:
- Does DargonZine need original artwork? What for?
- How will I be compensated for my artwork?
- What are DargonZine's copyright policies regarding artwork?
- How do I begin submitting art to DargonZine?
- Two to four weeks isn't much time; how can I get more lead time?
- What are you specifically looking for in terms of story illustrations?
- What other guidelines do you suggest to ensure my work is successful?
- Should artwork be submitted electronically or manually?
- What graphic file formats do you support?
- How should I transmit my artwork to the editor?
- Will my artwork be modified prior to publication?
- Does DargonZine need original artwork? What for?
DargonZine has two primary uses for original artwork: story illustrations and Web site graphics. Story illustrations are typically small colored drawings which portray a meaningful item or scene in the story they accompany. Web site graphics range from typical banners and navigation icons to maps and other information graphics. Potential future directions include original issue "cover art", as well as depictions of popular characters and things for their "glossary" entries.
Back to Contents- How will I be compensated for my artwork?
DargonZine is the result of a collaboration of artists (writers as well as graphic artists) whose only compensation is the experience and expertise they develop by practising their craft. All work is done on a pro bono basis. We do not offer financial compensation to our writers, nor to those individuals who contribute artwork. However, you do retain all rights to further use of your work, as outlined below.
Each person who has material (either textual or graphical) published in DargonZine has the right to maintain a "bio" page on the magazine's Web site. We hope that this kind of exposure is of benefit to you as an aspiring artist.
Back to Contents- What are DargonZine copyright policies regarding artwork?
If you submit artwork for inclusion on the DargonZine site, the work must either be free of copyright, or you must be the copyright holder. Please do not submit art which has been appropriated from other sources.
Remember that by putting any artwork in a publicly-accessible area on the Internet, you are effectively resigning control over that artwork. Although you retain your copyright, there is no way to prohibit users from copying and using your artwork for their own purposes, including reusing it and even selling it themselves. As fellow artists who are in the same position, we acknowledge that such behavior is illegal and immoral, but there's no mechanism stopping such acts.
Once submitted to DargonZine, we retain the right to use your artwork for any noncommercial purpose related directly to DargonZine (e.g. to display on our Web site or put on freely-distributed CD-ROMs containing DargonZine material). We also retain the right to modify your artwork as necessary for the above purposes (see below). Other than our rights to use and present your image within Dargon-related ventures, you retain all rights regarding your artwork.
The masthead of every issue contains a copyright note indicating that contributing artists retain the copyright on their art, that users cannot duplicate your art without your consent unless it is for the purpose of duplicating whole DargonZine issues, and that distributing any Dargon-related work for profit is forbidden.
Back to Contents- How do I begin submitting art to DargonZine?
The first thing you need to do is notify the editor, Liam Donahue, that you are interested in becoming a contributing artist for DargonZine. You will then be added to the list of artists who are kept in the loop regarding DargonZine's needs.
For Web graphics, there is currently no fixed process. Art is solicited on an ad hoc basis.
For story illustrations, you will be sent an early draft of each issue. You will then have between two to four weeks to prepare any artwork for the issue. What and how much you choose to contribute are up to you. During this time you should make the editor aware of what material you intend to submit.
The deadline for illustrations is one week prior to the issue's distribution -- the same time as the "pre-issue ping" mailing; however, the earlier you send your artwork, the earlier it can be integrated with the draft version of the issue. Once your art is received, it will be laid out and placed in the draft issue, and you will be able to see how it looks prior to publication. Artwork which is received later than the pre-issue deadline will be used only at the editor's discretion.
Back to Contents- Two to four weeks isn't much time; how can I get more lead time?
It is possible for contributing artists to subscribe to Dargon-L, the email forum which our writers use to coordinate and develop stories. While this would get you earlier exposure to upcoming stories, this isn't usually recommended due to the large volume of other mail (critiques, brainstorming, and preliminary drafts) being sent through Dargon-L which wouldn't directly pertain to your role as graphic artist.
Back to Contents- What are you specifically looking for in terms of story illustrations?
Story illustrations are typically small colored drawings which portray a meaningful item or scene in the story they accompany. As such, the first rule is that your image needs to be pertinent to the story, and depict something related to the theme, characters, places, or events portrayed therein.
The second rule is that these images need to be relatively small, both in terms of physical display size as well as disk storage. In general, these images should be neither wider nor higher than about 300 to 350 pixels on a side.
Correctly sizing graphics and selecting formats and color depth which result in an illustration which meets these requirements can be difficult. If you wish, you can compose your art with no regard to display or disk size, and leave the sizing issues to the discretion of the editor. Bear in mind that by doing this, you're giving up some control over the final appearance of your image.
Story illustrations usually appear on the right-hand margin, with text flowing around them. Design with this in mind.
We usually do not include captions with our illustrations, although sometimes the title of the story may appear within the graphic itself. You may include or exclude this at your discretion, but we discourage you from including hand-drawn text, as it compares unfavorably with text which has been computer-generated.
Back to Contents- What other guidelines do you suggest to ensure my work is successful?
Where easily accomplished (read: use your judgement), use the 215-color browser-safe palette in creating line art. While most users should have computers which can handle thousands of colors, there are a minority whose machines are forced to dither down to 215 colors within their Web browser.
Whether composing art on the computer or by hand, compose on a tan background if at all possible, and use that as the eventual transparent color. This will ensure that gradated edges such as drop shadows flow evenly from your graphic to the parchment image that the DargonZine Web site uses as a background. Composing on a white background will ensure that your images have unsightly artifacts when displayed on a parchment background. We specifically recommend using the RGB background color R=239 G=222 B=181, as this produces optimal results.
Back to Contents- Should artwork be submitted electronically or manually?
All artwork must be submitted electronically, and you are responsible for making your artwork available to us in electronic form. If you are not composing your artwork electronically, it is your responsibility to scan or convert your artwork into an appropriate electronic file format, although we can provide suggestions on how to achieve the best results for artwork being submitted to DargonZine.
Back to Contents- What graphic file formats do you support?
Line art should be submitted in GIF or JPG format. Continuous tone artwork should be submitted in JPG format. These are the only two formats we support. GIFs should be in GIF89 format, and may use interlacing and transparency (the latter is strongly recommended to break up the rectangular form of computer graphics). JPGs should *NOT* be interlaced at this time. Please do not submit artwork in BMP, PNG, TIF, PSD, or any other graphic file formats.
Back to Contents- How should I transmit my artwork to the editor?
E-mail works fine. Send the artwork to dargon@dargonzine.org.
Under no circumstances should graphic files be emailed to the Dargon-L list.
Back to Contents- Will my artwork be modified prior to publication?
It is *very* likely that your art will be post-processed before seeing print in DargonZine. Art could be cropped, made partially transparent, resized, color-reduced/dithered, or altered to increase sharpness or vividness. All attempts will be made to retain the integrity of and enhance the original image but the final appearance of your art on the pages of the DargonZine Web site is ultimately at the discretion of the editor.
The best way to ensure that your images are not altered is by adhering to the suggestions in this document and staying in touch with the editor to learn the specific reasons why he might alter a given work.
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