Artist Positions
If you are interested in being a guest artist for Starspun Lit, please read the following guidelines
The Position
As a guest artist, you will be tasked with reading one accepted story for publication and creating at least 3 small illustrations to go along with the plot (we will assign specifics based on the story). The illustrations must accurately capture the feel of the story and be vibrant. You may utilize any style or medium you wish, but know that we particularly like a more cartoon-realistic approach that's still heavily rooted in fantasy (think animated films).
Once we assign your story, you must complete your illustration(s) within two weeks so we can publish the art and the story simultaneously on our website according to our schedule. The sooner you complete your art, however, the better it is for us!
If we think you are a good fit for our magazine and we are in need of more illustrators, we may invite you to join our team. You must illustrate one story first (as a sort of trial run) in order to be invited.
At this time, we are unfortunately unable to pay our artists, but we hope to change this in the future.
How to Apply
If you would like to be a guest artist, complete the following steps:
Curate a portfolio of 3-5 fantasy illustrations that accurately capture your preferred style or your range of style (it's your choice which approach you go for!)
Craft a brief cover letter detailing your biography and any relevant awards for art you have received. If we have previously accepted you as a guest artist, let us know!
Paste the cover letter into the body of an email to submissions@starspunlit.org (submissions AT starspunlit DOT org). Type "ART PORTFOLIO" in the subject line.
Attach your portfolio as either one attachment with different pages for each illustration (pdf, .doc, or .docx) or separate image attachments (JPG, JPEG, or PNG)
Submit!
Starspun Lit will NOT consider any work created, developed, or assisted with the use of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT or DALL·E beyond basic grammar checking or prompt generation. Attempting to submit AI-assisted works may result in being banned from submitting works in the future.
Responses
You should hear back from us within 3 weeks. If it has been 1 month with no response, please follow up with us at query@starspunlit.org (query AT starspunlit DOT org).
If we choose not to accept you as a guest artist at this time, you are welcome to submit a new portfolio in 3 months provided that you do not repeat more than 2 illustrations in your new portfolio. We want to see your new work! We will also provide feedback where applicable on what we would like to see more of or differently.
If accepted, first of all, congratulations! Second, you will be added to our queue of guest artists and as soon as we have a story available for you, we will send it over. Let us know if you have any conflicts that will inhibit you from completing the illustrations in time and we will keep you on hold on the list until you are next available.