We held our usual cover submission contest for the One Upon a Time Anthology cover, we got one wrap around cover and two regular cover submissions. We decided against a public vote this time as last time it ended up just being a popularity contest to see who could send the most friends over. Having said that, feel free to comment on this post and share your thoughts about each cover possibility.

Here are the submissions

Wrap around Submission by L.M. Silva

Front Cover Submission by Jason Hart

Front Cover Submission by LeEtta Schmidt

SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW CLOSED

Once Upon a Time…

There was a little anthology project, where lots of different artists put their work together to make a graphic novel.  But there was a problem, their little anthology didn’t have a cover. This is sad news for a book, it’s like a human with no face.

So, the creators of the Anthology decided there would be a great competition in the land and that’s how they would choose the cover.

Along came the guidelines:

Anyone can enter, even if you didn’t  submit or get accepted  to the anthology.  You can also submit as many as you like.

Leave appropriate room for a title graphic/ Logo

Obviously, no copyrighted characters, designs or logos.

Read the original anthology submission information to get an idea of what the anthology will contain
Please avoid the cliche fairytale imagery from Aesop’s Fables and the like, the entries are from all over the world and we have some really varied folk tale ideas and we don’t want people to think they will be seeing the common classics in this book, because they won’t.

Must be in full colour, traditional or Digital, doesn’t matter. Remember it’s the cover to the book, and people judge a book by its cover(believe it or not), so it should be attractive and enticing.

The finished graphic novel will have a final size of 5.5″X7.75″, this is commonly referred to as “Manga” sized books

The accepted entry will be required to sign the same contract as other participating artists.

Your file must conform with the template (Download template)

PNG or TIFF (LZW compresssions, IBM compatible)

Submissions must be received by April 30,2012  SUBMISSIONS NOW CLOSED!
please send a JPG preview to submissions@gurukitty.com

The winning cover artist will receive 1 free copy of the Anthology, and be able to buy future issues at Artist Pricing + sh.

Other than that, just a few things to say to tie up any unforeseen complications/issues:

If we do not feel that any of the submissions are appropriate to the anthology we will not pick a winner and go with our “Plan B”.

We will be holding some public voting, however the public votes are not the only factor. To be frank and Honest, they tend to be more popularity contests than legitimate choices, and we want the best cover, not the most popular artist who has more friends to tell about the voting.

As this anthology is more a collaborative artist project, artists do not receive a share of profits sold by other artists or Gurukitty studios sales. If you wish to gain some financial benefits for yourself you need to sell your own copies of the book and you will keep 100% of the profits of your own sales. However, Gurukitty Studios will promote the locations where artists are selling this anthology as well as artists online shops. Gurukitty Studios will cover all costs and labor for preparing the book for publication apart for individual comic submissions which need to be submitted in compliance to the technical specifications.

Have you gotten your Ghost Tales copy in the mail or at a convention? Send us your shots of you with your copy of Ghost Tales for us to post on our site and we’ll send you a coupon code for the Gurukitty Shop.

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“Once Upon a Time…” is our second Anthology, and you guessed right, it’s going to be a folk/Fairy Tale themed anthology.
If you participated in the Ghost Tales anthology, be aware that things are going to be slightly different this time round, so don’t assume anything at the moment.

The Theme:
The theme for “Once upon a time…” is obviously Fairy and Folk Tales. We chose this because when we did a public poll and it was one of the ones people voted most that they wanted to participate in, after ghost stories.

Here is the challenge though, we are all familiar with the mainstream typical stories such as Sleeping Beauty, Red Riding hood, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White and the other popular classics. They have been done over and over again and unless you have some masterfully twisted version of the very well known stories, there is no point in doing them again.

We want you to dig into lesser known or culturally relevant folk stories from various cultures from all over the world. We want folk stories from many different countries all in one book so people can see how different cultures influence the different types of story telling. You can tell a classic if you like, but you’d better tell it in a mind blowing way noone would ever predict or it’s not getting in this book.

Please be careful of copyright infringement and be sure you are taking the essence of the story and telling it in your own words. Also make sure the story is free from copyright (over 100 years old, public domain or author-less). Because these stories are often published, and re-told and published and re-published you need to make sure you are taking it from it’s original version and not someones adaption/publication.
Example, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is very different from the original story, if you used Disneys telling as your reference point, you are going to get yourself in legal trouble and us along with you. You will be required to sign a contract stating that you have researched this point and you will take sole responsibility for any infringements.

Specifications:
We are accepting 5-20 page completed short comics with the following specifications:
-Black and White (Greyscales/*Screentones[see note below])
-Your files must conform with the template (Download template)/Final page size should be have a 4.5″x7″ Live area and the trim should be 5″x7.5″ with the total page size being 5.5″X7.75″
- PNG or TIFF (LZW compresssions, IBM compatible)
-Pages must be fully lettered and ready to print, we wont be editing your artwork
- Rating will vary (G-18+), while we don’t want blatent pornography, we do know that fairy tales were originally targetted to adults and we do not intend to make this graphic novel safe for children. So we will be accepting stories that have the original contents (ie cannibalism, pregnancy, sexual references and violence) and references from the first editions. We aren’t looking for a pile of “Happily ever after” stories, but they are welcome as well.
Having said that, we will judge each story on a case by case basis, we will expect them to be tastefully or artfully done without making it pornography.

The finished graphic novel will have a final size of 5.5″X7.75″, this is commonly referred to as “Manga” sized books.

*Screentones are alright as long as you understand screentones in print and how they differ from the screen

Compensation:
As a participating artists you will be given 2 free copies of the completed book and will be offered future issues at wholesale +SH (“Artist Pricing” we will call it) for re-sale or gifting.
As this anthology is more a collaborative artist project, artists do not receive a share of profits sold by other artists or Gurukitty studios sales. If you wish to gain some financial benefits for yourself you need to sell your own copies of the book and you will keep 100% of the profits of your own sales. However, Gurukitty Studios will promote the locations where artists are selling this anthology as well as artists online shops. Gurukitty Studios will cover all costs and labor for preparing the book for publication apart for individual comic submissions which need to be submitted in compliance to the technical specifications.

Additional notes:
This anthology is going to be 5.5″X7.75″, perfect bound, in black and white with a full colour cover.
Teams or partnerships are welcome.
You may submit as many comics as you like but only be featured once.

Because we require you to sign a contract, you must be either over 18 years old, or have a legal guardian sign the contract if your submission is accepted.

 Submitting:
Deadline for Submissions is March 30, 2012
To submit to this anthology please send a JPG preview of all pages in a ZIP folder to submissions@gurukitty.com

If you have any questions, feel free to comment on this post.

Also, if you are a writer in search of an artist or vice versa, or want some partnerships we have a forum for you connect and meet.

Ghost Tales

Ghost Tales is now available in the Gurukitty Studios Online shop, as well as through some of the artists (listed below).

Ghost Tales
$15.00
Manga Sized Trade Paperback
Black & White
Page Count: 184

Included works:

Underwater by def
Halloween Snack by Crystal Jayme
A weekend at 17 Mcrae by Christopher Cirillo
Engkanto by Lindsy Silva & Aileen Balucanag
Without by Kate Hayward
Arthur by Scott Smith
Gift from Below by Timothy Sparvero
Corpse Door by Kris Sayer
Revenge of the Ghost Spider by Reetta Linjama
The Bushrangers Treasure by Owen Heitmann
Ninth Life by Liz Young & Matt Jordan
Ghosts in the Capital – Story by Bevan Thomas, Art by Jayleen Weaver & Dianne Esson
Rules for Ghosts by Jeri Weaver
Hip Haunting by Amy Sloan
Manos-De-Lava by Kim Glennie
Little Mouse by Chev Kamie

Sample Pages:

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Conflagration is a Series of comics and a graphic novel project following the story of Victor and his family as they struggle to hold onto the life they’ve built in thier village that has surprising magic. The comic project will have an animated trailer (hopefully). This Project was previously listed as an animated project but due to lack of Voice actors, and assistance the project could not take off in that form.

The Series will be broken into chapters. Some chapters will be available onlineto read, as well as to purchase, while the main story, Conflagration will be available for purchase only. The story is currently being re-written in a comic script format, and to be broken into the 3 groups.

Embers – Graphic Novel/Web comic

Embers is the Indroduction comic in the Conflagration series of novels. Embers Is the story of Gerard, Victor and Demi after thier village is destroyed in a great war and they seek a new beginning.

Embers will be available to read online as well as in the shop as a comic book.

Conflagration – Graphic Novel

Conflagration is the main graphic novel in this series. After a devastating volcano destroys the advanced City of Praveen, The small farming community of the Agouti Tribe, come to their aide, despite the conflicts between the people. But the past that these community share threatens to tear their alliance apart.

Conflagration will be available for purchase in the shop as a graphic novel

Kindling – Graphic Novel/web comic

Kindling is a series of smaller stories based around the other characters of the series and how they came to be a part of thier communities.

Kindling will be available to read online as well as in the shop as comic books.

There is no immediate work being done on Conflagration until Hello, Albertosaurus is completed. I do however create a lot of art work related to the story and work is done intermittently until full production begins.

The agouti Village is a small farming community located near the main river in the lower corner of a large sheltered crater. Thier location means that they have some of the rich volcanic soil, but more importantly access to a large source of water, unlike the Praveen, who’s location near the base of a large active volcano gives them rich soil, their village is only supplied with a small stream for water. The Agouti village is made up of many cultures who have all come together to create a peaceful community in a rich and magical location.

The Praveen clan of people live in a fairly modern society. Their houses are made of stone and plaster, and they adorn their homes with tapestries and other expensive items depending on their social class. Most of the upper class villagers don’t do any farming, and rely on the market for their food. The lower class people all live on farms and provide the richer people with food and tax money. The community is generally peaceful and quiet. They enjoy a rich and abundant lifestyle.

There is also clans of woodland people and mountain people. More information on them in the Future.

This is probably the most complete the trailer will ever get, unfortunately. But I still think it’s pretty neat as it is.

Daqueran has now been fully migrated to it’s new home!

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