“Once Upon a Time…” is Gurukitty Studios second Anthology, and you guessed right, it’s going to be a folk/Fairy Tale themed anthology.
If you participated in the Ghost Tales anthology, be aware that things are going to be slightly different this time round, so don’t assume anything at the moment.

The Theme:
The theme for “Once upon a time…” is obviously Fairy and Folk Tales. We chose this because when we did a public poll and it was one of the ones people voted most that they wanted to participate in, after ghost stories.

Here is the challenge though, we are all familiar with the mainstream typical stories such as Sleeping Beauty, Red Riding hood, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White and the other popular classics. They have been done over and over again and unless you have some masterfully twisted version of the very well known stories, there is no point in doing them again.

We want you to dig into lesser known or culturally relevant folk stories from various cultures from all over the world. We want folk stories from many different countries all in one book so people can see how different cultures influence the different types of story telling. You can tell a classic if you like, but you’d better tell it in a mind blowing way noone would ever predict or it’s not getting in this book.

Please be careful of copyright infringement and be sure you are taking the essence of the story and telling it in your own words. Also make sure the story is free from copyright (over 100 years old, public domain or author-less). Because these stories are often published, and re-told and published and re-published you need to make sure you are taking it from it’s original version and not someones adaption/publication.
Example, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is very different from the original story, if you used Disneys telling as your reference point, you are going to get yourself in legal trouble and us along with you. You will be required to sign a contract stating that you have researched this point and you will take sole responsibility for any infringements.

Specifications:
We are accepting 5-20 page completed short comics with the following specifications:
-Black and White (Greyscales/*Screentones[see note below])
-Your files must conform with the template (Download template)/Final page size should be have a 4.5″x7″ Live area and the trim should be 5″x7.5″ with the total page size being 5.5″X7.75″
- PNG or TIFF (LZW compresssions, IBM compatible)
-Pages must be fully lettered and ready to print, we wont be editing your artwork
- Rating will vary (G-18+), while we don’t want blatent pornography, we do know that fairy tales were originally targetted to adults and we do not intend to make this graphic novel safe for children. So we will be accepting stories that have the original contents (ie cannibalism, pregnancy, sexual references and violence) and references from the first editions. We aren’t looking for a pile of “Happily ever after” stories, but they are welcome as well.
Having said that, we will judge each story on a case by case basis, we will expect them to be tastefully or artfully done without making it pornography.

The finished graphic novel will have a final size of 5.5″X7.75″, this is commonly referred to as “Manga” sized books.

*Screentones are alright as long as you understand screentones in print and how they differ from the screen

Compensation:
As a participating artists you will be given 2 free copies of the completed book and will be offered future issues at wholesale for re-sale or gifting.
As this anthology is more a collaborative artist project, artists do not receive a share of profits sold by other artists or Gurukitty studios sales. If you wish to gain some financial benefits for yourself you need to sell your own copies of the book and you will keep 100% of the profits of your own sales. However, Gurukitty Studios will promote the locations where artists are selling this anthology as well as artists online shops. Gurukitty Studios will cover all costs and labor for preparing the book for publication apart for individual comic submissions which need to be submitted in compliance to the technical specifications.

Additional notes:
This anthology is going to be 5.5″X7.75″, perfect bound, in black and white with a full colour cover.
Teams or partnerships are welcome.
You may submit as many comics as you like but only be featured once.

Because we require you to sign a contract, you must be either over 18 years old, or have a legal guardian sign the contract if your submission is accepted.

 Submitting:
Deadline for Submissions is March 30, 2012
To submit to this anthology please send a JPG preview of all pages in a ZIP folder to submissions@gurukitty.com

If you have any questions, feel free to visit the post on Gurukitty.com and leave a comment.

Also, if you are a writer in search of an artist or vice versa, or want some partnerships we have a forum for you connect and meet
[link]