Great Works of Literature: Saturday Morning Toons

[Edit: My original idea was this focus narrowly on "Great Works of Literature With Ponies" after the style of MLP:FIM, but I've decided to expand it to other fandoms. Any cartoon you like, Scooby Doo, Adventure Time, Gravity Falls, Batman TAS, it's all up for grabs. Also, I originally wrote that I would only accept public domain books, out of copyright concerns, but I've decided to expand it to include more recent books, like Hunger Games Harry Potter, and LOTR. The only condition is you must NOT use any copyrighted images as reference, including posters, photos, and still frames from movies. As long as you meet that requirement, I think we are well within the bounds of fair use.]



Dear Fan Artists of the Internet,

TL; DNR version:

Draw an illustration of a public domain book with the cartoon characters of your choice, with the option of having your drawing included in an independent zine made by me.

Your drawing WILL NOT be rejected if you meet these four requirements:
1. You have to illustrate a book, without referencing any copyrighted images.
2. The characters are doing something which actually happened in the book (Please tell me what the book is and what chapter or page number the scene occurs in.)
3. You have to include characters from an existing cartoon, and they should somehow be recognizable as characters from a specific franchise. (i.e. a generic "anime" style is not accepted, but the style of "Naruto" or "Dragon ball" or "One Piece" is accepted. You can choose obscure characters. I just need to be able to tell by looking who each character is supposed to be.)
4. It is is scanned at 300 dpi or larger. You can draw smaller than 8.5" x 11", but I don't want excessive pixelation.

You are allowed to:
1. Use digital or traditional tools, so long as DRAWING is part of your creative process (e.g. don't use Pony Creator to do an MLP submission)
2. Reference and/or trace public domain book illustrations and photographs.
3. Choose the degree to which characters either look like their book counterparts or their Saturday Morning Cartoon counterparts.

You are encouraged, but not required to:
1. Push yourself beyond your comfort zone in drawing (don't like detailed backgrounds? Include one. Don't like hands? Draw a scene where hands are important to the action).
2. Include accurate clothing, objects, geography, and other details from the original setting of the book's world.
3. Be inventive in how you combine characters.

You must send it to me by:
1. Uploading it here and allowing me to download it.
OR
2. Sending me the file through this email: joshthecartoonguy@gmail.com with the subject header RE: Literature with Cartoons.

You are giving me permission to:
1. Print an independent zine with your drawing included (send me the info you want to credit you, real name, internet name, website, etc.)
2. Sell this Zine at the 2015 Milwaukee Zine fest, or another zine vest, (I'm only selling at the cost to make it.).

In return, you get:
1. A free copy of the zine, lovingly printed and put together with my own two hands, mailed to you.
2. The satisfaction of being an artistic bad ass.
3. Your work in a kicking, indie zine along with other fan artists.

Original, long version:

I am an art student and aspiring professional cartoonist. I have an idea for a project, but the scope of the idea is too big for me to illustrate on my own, which is why I'm inviting you to submit a drawing to this project. The theme is "Great Works of Literature Illustrated by Your Favorite Saturday Morning Cartoons."

My plan is to print an edition of a zine with these drawings to bring with me to the Milwaukee Zine Festival, 2015. For full disclosure, I am planning on printing and selling multiple zines, but only at about $1 apiece, just to offset the cost of paper and ink and time putting them together. In other words, I'm not planning to profit off your work.

If you submit a drawing to this collaborative zine, I can send you a copy of the zine, which I print and put together on my own, as a thank you.

Submissions are open to artists of any style and skill level. The degree to which the characters stay true to the original show's style, is up to you, the artist. (e.g. Whether animal characters are humanized or not, whether they keep certain identifying props or costumes, etc.)

You can illustrate a recent book so long as you do not reference any copyrighted images (So a Harry Potter movie poster is copyrighted and you CANNOT use it.)

This edition of the zine will be printed in black and white on 8.5" x 11" copy paper. You can work in color of course, but be aware that if color is essential to understanding who is who, that will be lost in the final product. (If this takes off, I may print in color in future.)

Of course, the theme of this project means you should be referencing a book, so if there are costumes and locations, please consider drawing from the author's descriptions, original illustrations, and historical photographs. Even better, if you trace original public domain illustrations, it would be legal, and in fact highly encouraged.

If you are confident enough that you would like to draw a scene from a book not depicted in an existing illustration, I just ask that you depict an actual scene from the book (in other words don't draw a lineup of all the characters unless there is a scene in the book where they actually all line up). I'd also ask that you submit a drawing, as opposed to something from the pony creator. Digital tools are fine, so long as drawing is part of your process of creation.

So, to make it clear, your drawing WILL be included if you meet these three requirements:
1. You have to illustrate a book (do not draw from copyrighted images)
2. The characters are doing something which happened in the book (If they are saying something, it should be dialogue from the book).
3. it is scanned at 300 dpi or larger. You can draw smaller than 8.5" x 11", but I don't want excessive pixelation.

(If you don't have access to a scanner at home, check your local school or library. I'll take jpegs or pngs.)

Of course, there is plenty of opportunity for humor and creativity in how you present it. Think that a particular character from the show could work great as a book character (like how I portrayed Charles' Dicken's "Maggie" as a dead-ringer for Derpy Hooves)? But there is no pressure to write an original gag. There is also no limits on skill level. This is an open invitation to pros, hobbyists, and newbies.

Q&A
What's the deadline?
For now, I'm going to say June 2015. That'll give me part of the summer to put the zines together before the Zine fest.

Q&A
What happens the zine doesn't get made?
If I get as few as 8 drawings total, including mine, I WILL make this zine. I'm shooting for about 30, and if I get more than anticipated, I might break it into multiple issues (this would mean there would be a delay in you getting your free zine, as I'd be publishing them on a first come, first serve basis. But if the idea takes off, I'll be happy to continue making new issues with new drawings). If for some reason I am struck by lightning or don't get enough for one issue, I will not use your drawing for anything else. The only thing I plan to use your drawing for is this independent zine.

Q&A
What happens if I change my mind and don't want my drawing included anymore?
By sending me your drawing, you're giving me permission to make an edition of zines. If you message me and tell me you do not want your drawing included anymore, I will remove your drawing from all future prints of the zine. If I have already printed some by the time you message me, I will try to sell these to make up for the cost of printing them, but there will be no new zines printed with your drawings. I will also be very sad, as your drawing will be so awesome and sorely missed.

Q&A
How and when will you send my free copies to me?
They will be sent as completed. Include your mailing address in the email or da note you send me.

Q&A
What about mature content?
If you meet the three requirements above, you are good. If the author of the public domain book describes a scene with violence or other mature content in the book, you can illustrate it. You can't submit something with mature content that they didn't actually write about (so if the mature content is "off screen" in the book, it should be "off screen" in your drawing).

Q&A
How will I be credited?
However you want. I will include name, username, email, website, or other contact info that you want included in the zine (Either on the page itself or in an index page).

Q&A
How can I submit it?
You can NOTE me through deviantART with a link to a download. If you submit to deviantART, allow me to download the full size original file.
If not on deviantART, you can email me through joshthecartoonguy@gmail.com. Include the subject RE:Literature with Ponies in the header so I won't lose it in other junk email. If it is too large to attach, you can send me a link to dropbox, googledrive, or another filesharing site.

Q&A
So, you're making money selling these zines?
Kind of. Factoring in the cost of supplies, travel and labor, I'll be lucky to break even, and I don't intend to charge any more for these zines than it costs me personally to make them. But I'm planning to go to this event to share my comic art and I'd love to include a zine based off this idea. I enjoy collaborations and I'm willing to put in a lot of time and energy to make this idea a reality.

Q&A
Wow! You poor sap! Anyway we can support you?
Aw, you're so sweet. Well, you can donate points via deviantART, buy a print of something you like out of my gallery, support me via paypal by sending a donation to Joshua.Duncan@cune.org. I'm working on setting up my Patreon account (it's still got some of my really old stuff on there, so don't laugh mercilessly at me for too long): www.patreon.com/joshthecartoon….

Q&A
Can I come to this zine fest?
I'd love to see you there! They are currently planning the one for next year. I'll share updates here as I get prepared to go myself. If it gets cancelled or postponed, I'll find another zine fest to go to. milwaukeezinefest.org/2014/

Q&A
I want to draw something, but which book should I do? How do I know if something is public domain or copyrighted?