InkTears Book Cover Artwork
a illustration project by InkTears

Brief updates

25-Aug-12 8:15 p.m. GMT

We have now added a page to our website that shows the style of art we are looking for. You can see that here: http://www.inktears.com/Inktears/Art.html

Just to be very clear, we are not looking for images to represent 'Ink-tears' we are looking for cover art to represent our short story collections, which will have different themes but will be largely literary fiction.

27-Aug-12 11:10 p.m. GMT

Thank you already to everyone who has submitted work so far - there have been some really great pieces, and even though many don't work for our specific project we are still enjoying viewing them - we have a talented collection of artists out there!

I just wanted to say please keep submitting, and apologies if it is taking 24 hours to get a response - I'm currently in Turkey for a business conference, so I'm getting very limited time each day to review the pictures, but will comment on everything you send.

3-Sep-12 8:51 a.m. GMT

Some tremendous entries coming in, very impressed! I did want to give some additional guidance on the theme though. We are looking for illustrations as cover images on literary short story collections. That means an adult theme (grown-up, not erotic), so less graphic-novel style and more fine-art illustration. As an example, one of our next books will be Kirigami by Lynne Voyce. The blurb for the book goes as follows:

This sensuous collection tells of the losses and betrayals of lives really lived. These stories explore the magical in the every day: a marriage is saved by taking the bed into the garden; a jazz fan revels in the reckless abandon of no strings attached sex; and a widow finds solace in the making of paper snow flakes. These stories are packed with epiphanies and hopeful endings.

Or here's another blurb from a forthcoming book called Burn Lines by Mark Wagstaff:

This is life beyond the streetlights - where a brother and sister’s playground is an empty, lethal railway; an archaeology team’s important find has something vital missing; and a convict on the run gets an unexpected welcome when she hides out with an old cellmate. Lovers, soldiers and shifty accountants jostle through the streets and nightmares of everyplace. A wily academic sees his certainties worn away by a manic researcher obsessed with facts, and in a remote village a man grieving for his mother is stranded on the limits of memory. Through hot days and misty nights, this is storytelling of warmth and truth to the grace and grime of life. A vivid, mesmeric voice from the literary underground.

In answer to one common question: we can and will award several prizes. The intention is to identify several illustrators who could be called upon to do multiple book covers. We'd like to establish a long-term partnership with several illustrators.

14-Sep-12 5:37 a.m. GMT

Thank you to everyone who entered our project. The results have been fantastic and far beyond our expectations. We have had to extend the date for a final decision on the winners, partly because of the sheer volume of entries, and because of the overall high quality (making it hard to judge), and also because the current deadline falls right in a period where I will be on a vacation in a region with no internet - unfortunate timing! I will be travelling for a little over a week, but will aim to get a decision communicated before the 21 Sep if possible.

I also want to take some guidance and feedback from our authors who will be represented by this art.

Thank you again for all of the entries, and I shall look forward to speaking with some of you again in the near future.

24-Sep-12 4:11 p.m. GMT

The final awards have been made now, but I would like to add a note to the creatives that did not get selected: first of all, the decision process was very close between the top 20 or so entries. Secondly, we did actually add an additional 250 dollars award so we had 5 winners, AND we asked CrowdSpring if it was possible to give a smaller award as an 'option' to use some of the additional entries at a later date. Unfortunately this is not possible but over the next week we will contact several creatives dIrectly (through CrowdSpring) with a view to keep their pictures on our files, and we will then contact the creative when we have a book that fits their art, and offer this via CrowdSpring in a private project with a 250 dollars value. So don't be disappointed if you didn't quite get an award (especially if you had a 4 or 5 star rated pic). We may still be in touch!

I would personally like to thank everyone who took part in this project. We had a tremendous response and the quality of the work was very high. Thank you.