Fanime Artbook Available in Artist Alley!

[Keys]

Do you have a general idea what the envisioned size, form factor, binding, and price range is?

[BunofGovt]

I'm in support of this.

How about self-portraits from staff?

[Usaku]

Hi, everyone, sorry its taken me a bit to get back here and reply. Thanks for all your feedback! To address some things:

I like the idea of taking some fan submissions, but as I'm sure the response would be huge and space is limited, I think it might be a good idea to have a contest for a fan section, where Fanime artists and board members would choose their favorites.. and maybe we can have a page of art grid, like many Japanese magazines have for their fanart. I'll have to pitch it and discuss the logistics with my higher ups! But there are also legal issues such as compensation, et-cetera, which realistically wouldn't have money to give prizes for everyone. Maybe to the top three. But it's really something I'd have to discuss.

As far as Fanime photos, we really want to keep this illustration and character focused, and there are a lot of legal issues with publishing photographs of people; generally you have to get release forms from every individual who appears, and this would be logistically difficult. Some publications don't, but Fanime believes on cooperating with the full extent of the law, and its better to make sure everyone's rights are protected. However, the fanclub on DeviantArt accepts event photo submissions for its favorites gallery, so by all means head over to fanimecon.deviantart.com and share the photos you may have uploaded to DA!

Some people have expressed some concerns about the cost of the project. This is a special project and would not significantly take away from our guests or programming activities. It's a very limited run, maybe only 250 or 500 copies. Also rest assured, being a fan myself who collects many artbooks, I want to keep the price reasonable so the most fans have means to purchase it. Lets just say it'll be likely cheaper than most artbooks you can by at Kinokuniya. ;]

We're shooting for around eighty pages, hardback with dust jacket, size A4 (a bit larger than letter size). The artists who are currently on staff will be contributing profiles and self-portraits, and we will also have one, maybe two omake manga chapters featuring the Fanime mascots.

There will be a section for concept sketches and character details as well. :}

[lyricaldanichan]

This would be awesome !  Also the art contest on who gets into the book is a good idea too.

[ToshiX]

I'm totally down with this idea

[Althena]

Since pages are going to be A4 size, would that suggest that it will be a full color book, or will it have the potential manga in black and white?
Here is a suggestion if you decide to include artwork that was part of a competition... You could compensate the fans who are able to get into the book by offering them the book for free. That way it isn't just the top three if you choose five artworks would would win something. This would cause the competition to not be about whose art is the best of the best for a cash prize,  but rather.. 'this art communicates well for Fanime as a representation of its attendees and the ideas of Fanime.' Since art can be subjective.
Then you don't need to worry about some sort of a competition. 'Winning artworks will be included in an official publication, and the artists will receive a copy of the Fanime 15th Anniversary art book for free.'


Either way, this would be really interesting. As long as it was well executed, I would purchase this book.

[Jerry]

Sounds like almost a reunion, year book, and a commemortive collection of the history of Fanime all in one thing.
Neat.  ;D

Sounds awesome and I wish you and whoever else works on this project to be a big succuess! :D

Hard to believe its been that long (15 years) already. ..
dont get me started with the "Back in my day" rant- where there wasnt anime sections in my video (back on VHS, LD = Laser Disc, and etc etc. ) and it wasnt as main stream as it is today...

You kids and your luck. :P

[Nyxyin]

'this art communicates well for Fanime as a representation of its attendees and the ideas of Fanime.'

I like this a lot.

You kids and your luck. :P

Just remember to pat yourself on the back when you say that.  Everybody with a "Back in my day" story helped make this happen.  The enthusiasm, dedication, and efforts of the all the long-time anime fans helped give today's kids all this "luck".

Between what Althena and Jerry said, I want this art book even more.

[lyricaldanichan]

I really would like to contribute, hopefully there will be more information soon.

[ewu]

I really would like to contribute, hopefully there will be more information soon.

I still think that this idea was originally a collection of the productions of Fanime's Art Pool. I think contributions from the fan community is a great idea but I don't know about the availible resources.....Artist alley may be a good place to too though.....

[Usaku]

Hi guys! We're still ironing out the details of this as things got pretty crazy over the holidays. Hopefully after this weekend we will have more solid details.

Althena: The book will be full color, yes, with a black and white section for a doujinshi/omake style chapter. As for prizes, yes, I was never considering a cash or goods prize, only a copy of the book and a credit, maybe a fan profile. Forseeably we could probably award three full books. Any more than that might be difficult, as the staff artists will also be receiving free books, the run is very limited and Fanime will be making very little from them. Printing books is expensive, but we also want to keep the price low so fans can actually afford them. :}

Ewu is right; Mainly this is a compilation of Fanime's official artwork thus far. I feel that a special section for fanart would be appropriate and I will move to get that included. It wouldn't be FANime without the fans, afterall. :}

[ewu]

Art Alley is thinking of something that may involve fan art/art alley artists too, but we still need to get budget approval for that....*sigh* times are hard

[lyricaldanichan]

Art Alley is thinking of something that may involve fan art/art alley artists too, but we still need to get budget approval for that....*sigh* times are hard

Perhaps do pre-orders, if there is going to be a charge for it. It helps for getting things started especially if there is no "official" budget.

[ewu]

its a totally diff idea, but a cool idea. If it comes to fruition, you will hear more about it.

[Usaku]

Major Update!

Hello, everyone! Firstly, I want to thank everyone who has expressed interest here and contributed their thoughtfulness and suggestions! In the interests in staying true to our motto, "By Fans, For Fans," we feel we should create more of a doujinshi-style artbook that includes not only Fanime artwork archives and comics, but fan art as well!

By creating a doujinshi-style book, we are able to keep costs low so that more fans can purchase copies at a reasonable price. Finances are tight for everyone, including Fanime, which is why we want to make sure we don't pass astronomical printing prices onto our fans!  Additionally, we feel that a nice paperback book would feel more home-grown, as is Fanime itself. We know a hardback pretty would be delicious, and certainly our fans are worth it! However, we decided that being able to shave $15 from the cover price would make an important difference!

We got budget approved and now we're ready to make this thing happen!

Details
So here are the new details on the book! Please disregard the old information.

Content
Chronicles the artwork produced by Fanime's Artist Pool over the last 5 years! We're hoping to include to short manga chapters from two of our staff artists as well as a sketch/work in progress gallery. But, we also decided thanks to the input of many fans, that it wouldn't be a proper Fanime book if we didn't have fan contributions! See below for information on the contest.

Size/Specs
A4, 8.264inx11.694in. Paperback, perfect-bound with a full color cover and full color interior pages (except manga in black and white). Page Count TBD, at least 68 pages.

Cost
$20 (subject to change, but not likely to)

Editions are limited! The first pressing will only run 250 copies. It is not yet known whether Fanime will pursue a second run as we are doing this as a special celebration of our 15th year. If they are snapped up quickly, we may consider printing more. If not, we will continue to sell them until they are gone and that will be it.

About the Contest

By popular demand, we will hold a fanart contest! However, it will be slightly unconventional. There will not be a traditional ranking of 1st, 2nd, 3rd. There will be three winners in the following categories: Artist Pool Favorite, Staff Favorite and Fan Favorite! Each of the three winning pieces will be printed on a full page and the artist will receive one free copy of the artbook, signed by the artist staff (and maybe even sketched in, if you ask nicely!). There will also be a gallery of runners up that will be printed in the book in much smaller spaces, similar to fanart sections of magazines. Unfortunately, the runners up will not be elligible to receive free copies of the book, but will be able to be recognized for their hardwork by being printed and seen by hundreds of fans!

Fans will have until Friday, March 13th, 2009 to submit their pieces! That's just under one month, folks. It may seem soon, but we need to get the selection process underway so we can get the book to print in April.

Rules/Details
1) Deadline: 11:59PM, Pacific Time, March 13, 2009. NO ENTRIES SUBMITTED AFTER THIS DATE WILL BE ACCEPTED.

2) Content: Your fanart must be an illustration or drawing featuring at least one of Fanime's five mascots: Amber, Becky, Candy, Damien and/or Elliot. http://fanimecon.deviantart.com/art/Fanime-Character-Sheet-113001063. Sorry, no photography or writing allowed; this is strictly an illustration-based project.

3)The characters can be featured in any theme from the last five years (Urban/College Students, Cyberpunk Gothic & Lolita, Space Odyssey, Feudal Japan or Music/J-rock) OR you may come up with any situation or theme of your choice, within good reason.

4)Absolutely NO hentai, yaoi or yuri! Anything of an exaggerated sexual nature will be declined. We have a wide range of attendee ages in our audience of which we have to be considerate. Romantic situations are welcome, of any gender pairing, but please keep it PG. (For the record, Amber/Damien and Elliot/Candy are considered "canon" in the Fanime universe.. aka in the artist pool's brains. LOL)

5) Media: Any media, traditional or digital, color or black and white, is accepted, so long as the file you submit meets our requirements.

6) File Submission:
- You MUST submit a CMYK digital file or scan of 300 dpi or higher
- File size should be 8.514in x 11.944in. This is bigger than the book size to allow for trimming during the printing process.
- Vertical orientation preferred but not required. If you have a neat idea for a landscape, square or oval design, go for it, but make sure your piece is at least 8.514in wide.
- All art should be sent to [email protected]. Please avoid sending attachments larger than 5MB! We may not receive them! Use a free file hosting service such as YouSendIt.com or MegaUpload, and send us a link.

7) Info to be published with your artwork if it wins:
Title of the Piece: (Optional)
Name you would like published: (Required!)
Age: (Optional)
Location: (Optional)
Website or DeviantArt URL: (Optional)

8) Info we need for legal and logistical purposes (will NOT be shared with anyone!)
Your Legal Name:
Your Age:
Your Address:
Your Contact Number:
Your Contact E-mail:

9) Agreement: By submitting your work you certify the following:
- Fanime has permission to reprint your work as part of the "Fanime 15th Anniversary Artbook" without compensation other than outlined in the prizes section.
- Artwork becomes property of FanimeCon, as all characters are copyright FanimeCon, however FanimeCon will NOT use your artwork in any profitable projects outside this artbook. As artists ourselves, we respect artists rights.
- You are over the age of 18 OR you have received parental permission to participate.
- The artwork is 100% your creation! Copying or tracing is prohibited. All members of the artist team are active on DeviantArt. We all love anime genre's across the gamut. Don't think we won't know.
- You are not and never have been part of the FanimeCon artist staff.

10) Winners for each category will be chosen by vote. Artist Pool will vote on their favorite, Staff Pick votes will be held at a staff meeting. Depending on the number of entries, the Fan Favorite category will be isolated into 10-20 finalists on which fans can vote. Final voting will be held via poll on this forum.

Please feel free to post with any questions!

[Barnes]

Cost
$20 (subject to change, but not likely to)

Thank you! I'm so ready to buy it then.

But where specifically will it be sold during Fanime?
Dealers Room booth? Info booth? Artist Alley booth?

[Usaku]

Cost
$20 (subject to change, but not likely to)

Thank you! I'm so ready to buy it then.

But where specifically will it be sold during Fanime?
Dealers Room booth? Info booth? Artist Alley booth?

Dealer's Room. :} There's usually a table that sells Fanime merch (except the main t-shirts) and serves kind of as the Dealer's Infobooth. It will likely be sold there.

[Usaku]

Hey guys, the deadline has been pushed back to April 3. :}

[Usaku]

Just a note, everyone! There are only 5 days left to enter the contest! You can find a list of the entries so far on fanimecon.deviantart.com. :)

[otakuya]

When and where will the arebooks be available for purchase? The DA site says Artist Alley and this thread says Dealers. I'd like to know so I don't miss the chance to buy one