Hey guys!

I hope this is the right place to post this! :) I also want to point out, I'm not advertising my own thing - just trying to pass on an opportunity to other interested artists. Networking, y'know!

Spectrum are looking for entries for their latest book, which is (as far as I can tell) a fairly top-of-the-range artbook based around the themes of fantasy, sci-fi, horror and surreal. Accepted work will get published and get the artist a lot of recognition in the art community, and quality of submissions is very high. The deadline for entries is 25th January 2008. The quality and subject matter here strikes me as being similar as books such as Exotique, although for Spectrum 15 any media or style of working is acceptable (not just digital art).

You can find out more information here: http://www.spectrumfantasticart.com

Downsides - you do have to pay to enter ($20 for one entry, $40 for five related entries), and as far as I can tell, I don't think they're paying the artists who get accepted. This isn't unheard of, btw - there are several publishers do this sort of thing, and it was fairly common practice at uni (I studied art) for final year students to submit their work to all sorts of coffee-table books like this. This doesn't mean it's easy to get in - they still only publish the cream of the crop - rather, it's something of an honour to get in, and people (publishers, pros, people in the industary) tend to think highly of these competitive books. The upside is, $20 is a very small price to pay to get your art out to the right people, and to start to build a real name for yourself in the community.

This isn't really designed for comic artists, I don't think - but it says any way of working is acceptable, and I'm sure there are other artists other than myself on this site who make work outside of comics! ;) So I just thought, in the name of networking, I should share this opportunity with you. I'm probably going to be entering myself, but I need to have a think about the ideal work to submit first!

Soudns cool.