- Reading With Pictures Submission – Alien Concepts
December ’09: Amanda and I contract a design firm to put together this very website and are hard at work on story and art for The Blind Eye. Of course, we were also looking for any opportunities to get our work seen as well. As I’ve explained before, our first efforts at publication were submissions to DC Comics’ Zuda website, so I frequented their comics threads and message boards. On the morning of December 15, I was perusing those same boards and came across a post by an aspiring writer looking for an artist to craft a submission to an upcoming anthology project for a new non-profit organization called Reading With Pictures. I followed the link to check out the submission guidelines for the project and saw that it was an open submissions situation requiring only a story synopsis, some sample images and basic information regarding page count, title, creator names, etc….and it was all due…December 15. Yeah, the SAME DAY!
Reading With Pictures Submission - Planet Concepts
So, pack it in, right? Forget it, right? Nah…no way. I was at work when I found this…checking Zuda on a break…yeah, that’s the ticket. And I immediately had to go to a meeting, but not before I shot an email to Reading With Pictures Executive Director, Josh Elder, inquiring about submitting. I did my part at the meeting and immediately started outlining the story I wanted to tell for the Reading With Pictures Anthology. The focus of the submissions was to be on learning, so, given my childhood fascination with astronomy, I made that the central theme of the story and wrapped it in the cozy confines of mentoring relationships. I wanted to show learning as passed from wise elders to inexperienced young in a variety of settings, at least a couple of them fantastical. The synopsis literally came together in minutes on scrap paper in that meeting, and I emailed a copy to Amanda at lunch to see if she wanted to take it on. Only a few minutes later, I received an email from Josh encouraging us to submit!
Reading With Pictures - Student & Professor Concepts
Reading With Pictures Final Art - Alien Starship
Always up for an artistic challenge, Amanda eagerly agreed, even when I told her we’d need sample images by that same afternoon. We discussed specifics of the sketches by phone as she drove home from work, and the actual drawings took her less than two hours. I’ve posted them here, so check’em out! With those done, we organized the synopsis and sketches and sent it all to Josh. He soon got back to us with a tentative acceptance, pending viewing of Amanda’s sequential art. A few pages of The Blind Eye later, and we were approved for inclusion in the Reading With Pictures Anthology Vol. 1!
Reading With Pictures Final Art - Planets
Reading With Pictures has already reached its minimum fundraising goal for publication of the Anthology, but more funds are needed to ensure that extra copies of the book are available for general sale by the organization. Please visit the fundraising site Kickstarter and pledge to pre-order YOUR copy of the Reading With Pictures Anthology Vol. 1! For a donation of as little as $5, you can get a copy of the entire, 192-page book (digital for $5 but available in soft- and hard-cover for just a little more). OWN A COPY OF OUR FIRST PUBLISHED WORK – Light’s Speed! We’ll sign it! We’ll read it to you aloud! We’ll act out the parts! Support this wonderful non-profit and own a piece of history! And please send a message to Josh Elder on Kickstarter letting him know that you’re pledging at the recommendation of Kevin and Amanda!
