TFN Seeking Cover Artists....

[persephone_kore]

OK, so I'm basically posting an ad. Please put up with me.

The TFN Fanfic Archive tries to get cover art done for each of the fics it archives. This is sometimes the bottleneck to getting an accepted fic put up, since a lot of writers -- especially those who are less involved in the sociable side of fandom -- either don't know any authors or feel awkward about... well... asking someone to read their fic and create something that's basically to make the story look better instead of to be admired all on its own. Or, you know, paid for -- though I suppose maybe some people commission their covers.

So, there's a mailing list where artists who don't mind doing an occasional cover art can sign up, and requests can go out to it to be (potentially) picked up by anyone who gets the message. Artists, people who can edit stuff together from the multimedia section, all are welcome. And we're hoping to get more artists to join, since currently there can be quite a wait.

Actually, I signed up myself, though I don't know how much use I'll be.

Comments

[murasaki99.livejournal.com]

Cool! For some reason I never thought TFN did fanfiction archives. Is that a (relatively) new thing?

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

I guess it depends on relative to what. They started it in 2001. I've been a reviewer (as in, peer review -- sorta -- for publication, not as in feedback) since February. They're a bit strict on content (for instance, no crossovers, including "Earth references") and try to be on quality, in part because TFN's public enough that they don't want the site in general to get in trouble over anything relating to the fic.

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

--Does that reaction mean you're considering doing the occasional cover art? Because we'd have some very lucky authors in that case. *grin*

I could :)

[murasaki99.livejournal.com]

I just wandered over to have a look. Whoa, the art looks like the stuff you'd see on book-covers. My work tends to be a bit more comic/manga-ish, not sure if it would be a good fit?

Heh, do they take fanfic already illustrated? I'm thinking of Dark
Black and Promise and Potential.

I've got so much on my plate, I'm reluctant to volunteer for a lot of stuff I may not be able to deliver, but that said, if you see something I might be able to help with in terms of a cover, let me know. :)

Re: I could :)

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

I don't know how many of them you ended up looking at, but the styles of the covers do vary quite a bit. We've got actual new-drawn artwork as well as stuff patched together from screencaps, comic book art, photos, the Clone Wars cartoon, and probably a variety of other stuff. Your artwork might be a little unusual, but, ah... in a good way, because you can actually draw. *grin* I definitely think it would be suitable.

I understand illustrations within the story are permitted, yes.

I definitely wouldn't want you to overload or take on too many obligations. I should note that we average less than half a dozen new stories archived per month, and some of our more prolific authors seem to either do their own artwork or have standing arrangements for it. (And yet it's still a bottleneck, yes.) So the cover art mailing list seems to be relatively low traffic, and I stress that it definitely does not constitute an obligation to sign on for any of the requests that may come through. (I'm not entirely sure anybody but the Archive editors can tell you're on there unless you post, come to think of it.)

All that said, if you'd rather have me forward things that look like they might be up your alley, I'd be happy to do that instead. :)

[carbonelle.livejournal.com]

I went to the site but couldn't figure out how to sign up. Any suggestions?

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

*blinks* *goes to log out and look around* Okay, if you click to log in (near the upper left) it will offer you the option of registering. Once you register with a contributor account, then you have the opportunity to sign up for the mailing lists.

Why we don't have a nice obvious "Register" link I really don't know.