ALL ARTISTS WISHING TO SHOW THEIR WORK AT A WHC MUST BE JURIED

Artists who wish to participate in World Horror Convention Art Shows must submit their work for jurying prior to the convention in which they wish to show. Submission does NOT guarantee acceptance. Artwork should be of general interest to the horror/dark fantasy community*, and must display a reasonable degree of skill and ability. All traditional media are acceptable; unusual art forms, art that requires a power supply, art that is large/heavy, or art that may present a risk to WHC attendees will be considered and reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Acceptance into the Art Show puts the accepted artist under absolutely no obligation. If an accepted artist decides not to show, s/he may simply not register once the registration phase of a given convention begins. Artists need only be juried once**. Accepted artists are welcome to show at any World Horror Convention Art Show in the future.

3 WAYS TO SUBMIT YOUR ART
Please read these instructions thoroughly (including the footnotes) and submit your work accordingly. Submitting artists who fail to follow these simple instructions will not be considered.

1. Email a link to your images, web site or online gallery to Jill Bauman*** <<< THIS IS THE PREFERRED METHOD. Please make sure your links are accurate – dead links won’t be investigated.****
2. Email no less than 6 and no more than 10 image files to Jill Bauman.
   • Image files should be no larger than 600 pixels in width or height, 72 dpi, and should not exceed 150K each.
   • .GIF, .JPG, .TIF, .PNG, .PSD or .EPS files are acceptable.
   • Images may be sent in a .ZIP or .SIT file
   • MAC USERS: Make sure your files have the proper .XXX file extension
   • If you send a virus with your images, you will not be included in the show. So be careful.
3. If you need to send actual, physical examples of your work, email Jill Bauman for instructions.
4. Still not sure what you should do, or have questions? Email Jill Bauman and ask.

When sending email, please be sure to indicate the convention about which you are inquiring (World Horror Convention).

*You should already have a body of horror- or dark-themed work before sending a jury request. Sending a link to a gallery full of off-theme work with the promise that you plan to create something on-theme for the WHC Art Show isn’t acceptable. Show us – don’t tell us.

**Juried into a different convention? That’s great, but you still must be juried into the World Horror Convention Art Show your first time.

***Links to a social media account gallery (such as Facebook, MySpace, etc.) that require a login to view are not acceptable. Images should be on a publicly-accessible website or photo-sharing service like Flickr, Picasa or similar.

****If your online gallery consists of a wide variety of styles and genres, then you’ll need to send more specific links directly to the horror- or dark-themed work the jury should consider. The jurors don’t have time to hunt through your gallery and try to guess what they’re supposed to be looking at.

ART SHOW : SO YOU’VE BEEN JURIED AND ACCEPTED, or, YOU NEED TO UPDATE YOUR CONTACT INFO

Please complete the following information and email it to savage@worldhorrorconvention.com so that the WHS / WHC has your contact info:

• Your Name
• Your email address
• Your mailing address
• Your phone number
• Your website URL (if you have one)
• Please indicate whether you are a newly juried artist, or an already juried artist updating your information.
• 
  

ART SHOW : Attending the World Horror Convention as a Freelance Illustrator by Alan M. Clark

I was living in Nashville, Tennessee over fifteen years ago when the World Horror Convention was started in that city.  I’d hoped it would become as good a business meeting for the field of horror as the World Fantasy Convention is for the fantasy field.  While it is not as big as World Fantasy, it has not disappointed me.

As primarily a freelance illustrator, I go to the convention to display my work in the art show, maintain a visible presence in the horror community and make connections for new work.  I spend most of my spare time while at the convention hanging out in the art show.  I stand near my artwork and talk to people interested in it.  The fans have quite a lot to say and ask interesting questions.  Being there helps promote sales of my original paintings and drawings and prints since people are more interested in artwork if they know something of the mind and personality behind it.

This effort also helps me with the publishers, editors and art directors who come into the art show looking to see what’s new and meet the artists.  They like to be able to get to know the artists and assess their reliability as well as talent.

I attend the artist reception in the art show because this is for some attending the convention the only time they will get a chance to see it and so the turnout is usually very high.

The mass autograph session is also a good time to get to know people so I ask to be allowed table space for that.

I participate in panel discussions at the convention.  In these discussions, a group of panelist, primarily horror professionals, is given a topic to discuss.  Some panels are how-to discussions, ranging from creative techniques to business tips, some are philosophically oriented with questions to be answered such as why we are interested in horror or what makes for effective horror.  Usually one of the panelist is given the job of moderator and the group proceeds to explore the topic, take questions from the audience and provide answers and hopefully an educational and entertaining experience.

Participation in these panels is always very educational for me as my fellow panelists are generally articulate and thoughtful.  Much of the conversation involves aspects of creative process that are integral to what I do, but until I started taking part in these discussions, I had never been in a position of needing to verbalize them coherently for an audience.  The act of putting my creative process into words has helped me to step back from the artwork and see it more objectively. This has not only solidified my approach to illustration and given me a clearer view of what I’m doing, but has also sharpened my ability to communicate my creative ideas and philosophies.  Now, when interviewed, I have more to say and I say it more concisely.  When providing text for my art book, I found that I had quite a lot to say about what I was doing and how I went about doing it.  This has also helped me answer the questions asked by the fans in the art shows.

The fans and professionals attending the World Horror Convention are by and large intelligent folks with good social skills, although I think the general public finds us to be a suspicious lot.

ART SHOW : Attending the World Horror Convention as a Freelance Illustrator, by Jill Bauman

If you are planning to attend the World Horror Convention and display your art in the art show, I hope to share some of my experiences with you and offer some advice.

I have been attending conventions for many years. In the past, most of conventions that I attended were Science Fiction/Fantasy conventions, a few of them Mystery conventions.

Horror writers and artists participated in these meetings, but really had no professional event of their own until 1991. That year,I received a call from Charlie Grant explaining that a group had begun setting up procedures and guidelines for the first World Horror Convention. Charlie asked if I would like to be involved in inviting and jurying artists for the art show and programming. I was also asked to be the “Artist Guest of Honor.” I was honored and of course, agreed.

Attending conventions takes some research and preparation. The world Horror Convention is in a different city each year, run by a different group, and so their information and rules can vary.  The first thing I do is learn about the convention either by writing for information or going online to the convention’s website. I look for the rules and guidelines. Unless you are a guest, there is a membership fee for the World Horror Convention that can range from $100.—$150. The later you wait to pay this fee, the higher it will be. I suggest finding out as much about the convention as possible from a past attendee.

Once I decide that I will attend and display my art, I inform the committee that I am available to participate in some of the programming such as panel discussions or workshops.  There is often a programming questionaire among the convention paperwork for this purpose or I find an e-mail link on their web site to notify the programming director of my interest in participating.

I carefully read the art show guidelines. I’ll note the cost per panel and the size of the art display panels. Some shows allow you to hang limited edition prints in the art show, others don’t. There is a commission on the sales of art and prints. Again, the rules and amounts vary from convention to convention.

I always want to make the best presentation I can. This means matting and framing the art. Once I know the size of the panels, I can calculate which and how many paintings I’ll be taking to the show. Having business cards or some hand-out is very helpful. Some artists make a small holder to place on their art panels.

There is usually a print shop in or near the art show. Sometimes there are restrictions as to the number of images you may enter in the print shop. There tend to be more restrictions when the space available is small.

There is paperwork for the art show that must be filled out, a control sheet which lists all the art, the prices, etc. Then each piece is given a paper tag filled with information specific to that artwork. These tags hang from the pieces in the art show to provide those viewing the show with information about the artwork and how it might be purchased.  The instructions for all this are provided in the paperwork.  Most conventions will have their art show paperwork available for download off their web sites. I read the rules to find out how to fill out the forms.

Which pieces of art I decide to include in my display often depends on where the convention is located. If I have to fly, I may want to mail some of the art and bring some that I can check-in with the airline. If I’m shipping art and prints home, I’ll have to make arrangements before I get to the convention with either the hotel or art show personnel. I have to remember to bring packing tape and labels to prepare the packages after taking down my art from the show. If I am driving to a convention, I’ll usually purchase more panels and display larger pieces.

Once I arrive at the convention, I spend several hours hanging my artwork. I find this to be an exciting time as I can renew old acquaintances and meet new artists. I learn a lot watching how other artists display their work. Once I’ve completed this task, the rest of the convention is filled with meeting people, seeing other artist’s work, making contacts, socializing, attending panel discussions and having lots of fun.