working away on the zine — for real this time

gotta love those weeks of high energy and little sleep!  i’ve worked my ever-lovin’ arse off on the altered bits mixed media art zine and have managed to design 49 pages in the past week.  all i have left is fill a couple of blank spots (you may be able to help here — see below), finish the absolutely amazing artist interview (have all the info, just have to lay it out), add artist bios in the back, then complete an article that you will LOVE and ADORE (it’s not by me — but one of the pages appear to have been lost during my computer crap-out last february when i lost all the pages i’d already designed, blah, blah.  i will fix this or contact the amazing artist who submitted it… but i’m not telling you who it’s by ’cause surprises are good).

(above is a tiny little peek at one of my pieces in the zine… category: artful retelling of history)

so, here’s the deal.  due to many things, such as my inability to properly count, someone silly submitting a piece to two different categories and me trying to add it to both before realizing the error, and my OCD-like need to have all new category sections starting on the right side of the page, there is still a bit of room.  not a lot, but a bit.  if you would like to submit super late for consideration of the zine, please do so by wednesday 10/24 at 9 PM (USA — PST).  i will need: high res photo(s) of you piece(s), your bio, your URL to site or blog, your location and an optional write-up on the piece(s).  and title of piece.  you can submit up to 3 pieces per person however space is HUGELY limited.  email to hi (at) altered bits (dot) com.

this is what’s left:

one half page (portrait orientation) in cabinet of curiosities
one full or two half pages in artful retelling of history
one half page (landscape orientation) in handmade/altered books and book pages (journal pages allowed as well)
tattered and torn is full unless i get two pieces i die over and must include — it would be a pain in my arse, but potentially worth it

i am also working on the tallest handmade book in the world project but i’m too ADD to talk about it right now — very focused on the zine.  i have not forgotten about it and now that school’s back in, art groups are back on.  super exciting news to share, etc.  but soon… this is zine time!  🙂

if all goes all planned, this zine WILL be ready for the holidays to but as gifts, etc.  also, i’ll be giving away at least one to one of the contributors and probably another to a non-contributor.  we’ll see once we get there (gotta save my pennies for little man’s holiday gifts first, hah).

UPDATE (about an hour later):

there is now only half a page in handmade/altered books and pages/journal pages
and half a page in cabinet of curiosities

re-announcing the altered bits print zine

re-announcing, the altered bits print zine! 

i’ve gotten lots of emails stating that i haven’t posted info about the zine on my blog other than the themes so yeps, i’m a huge jackass.  apparently i’ve just spewed off a bunch of empty promises to post about it… so now i’m officially pulling my head out and posting the info for those who are new to my zine or wish to get additional information.

after going through the suggestion and voting process, we came up with four themes for issue two of the altered bits zine.  the themes are as follows:

cabinet of curiosities ( i’m actually working on a piece for this category today.)
tattered and torn (i’ve gotten the most submissions for this category so far.)
an artful retelling of history (this was my choice, so of course i’m quite excited — love the merging of art and history!)
handmade & altered books and pages (this is a super fun one too!)

feel free to interpret each of these categories as you please and use your imagination.  EACH ARTIST CAN SUBMIT UP TO THREE PIECES.

here is a peek at some of the submissions so far.  i’ve muted the color a bit so i don’t give everything away.  i promise you’ll still want to see the zine in the real.  it’s going to be gorgeous!!

the deadline for submissions 21 December, 2011.  i have had to extend this a bit due to all of the recent chaos in my life… so hopefully this will work for everyone.  if you need an extension, please let me know and i may be able to work something out, though i cannot make any promises just yet.

what you must submit to be eligible for inclusion:

• send high resolution photos of your art piece (or photography), at least 300 dpi, no smaller than 6 inches on the shortest edge (at 300 dpi, 6″ = 1800 pixels).  please attach to email rather than inserting into body (some email programs shrink files when you do that).
• indicate which category you are submitting each piece to so i don’t put it in the wrong place.
• PLEASE don’t send small photos.  use name files like this so i’m not confused: lastname_firstname-artpiecename.jpg (you can send jpgs, pngs, tiffs — no gifs or bitmaps — those don’t work for print).
• a short bio in odt, txt, rtf, doc or pdf format.  please DO NOT SEND DOCX files — i can’t open them and don’t want to buy ms word.
• the url to your  website or blog
• optional: a short write-up about your piece and/or your inspiration (these will be space permitting)

what you need to keep in mind:

• kind of a no-brainer but i’ll say it anyway just in case: do not submit anything with copyright restrictions.  for example, don’t use egon schiele’s “standing nude young girl” in a collage or whatnot — i don’t publish copyrighted content as that could ruin it for all of the responsible participants.
• please ensure all of your images are royalty free or have commons licenses.  there are great places to get images like that (flickr commons, wikipedia commons, etc.).

when it will be published:

i will be working on layout and design over the winter holidays and the start of the new year.  i’m shooting to have this published and ready to order by late february or march.  i’ll keep you posted though — if you sign up for notifications on my blog, you’ll be insta-enlightened when i post about it.

extra bits:

if you are interested in submitting an article or tutorial, let me know — i’ve never included one before but think it could possibly be fun to have one in each issue here on out.  if you are interested in advertising in the zine, go to my website to find the rates and info that i will be soon posting: http://alteredbits.com/artzine.php (or email me)

send everything to hi [at] altered bits [dot] com.

thank you so much, friends and fellow artists.  if you haven’t submitted yet and you plan to, i cannot wait to see!!!

last call for art submissions: altered bits zine

okay folks, the holidays are over and we’ve gotten passed OWOH and all the lovey valentine stuff so i thought i would put out one last reminder for the next altered bits zine.  above you can see a few tiny peeks at some of the art that has been submitted so far (if you don’t see yours above, don’t fret — only so many could fit).  **oh, i interrupt myself here**  IF YOU SUBMITTED SOMETHING AND I HAVE NOT RESPONDED, PLEASE LET ME KNOW ASAP AND RESUBMIT AS I’VE HAD A FUNKY SPAM PROBLEM LATELY. i will be taking submissions though the end of the month for the following categories:

notorious: use your imagination and get creative.  this was a fantastically cool topic suggestion by our lovely friend kerin gale of remnants of olde.

letters and symbols: this seems to be a popular topic indeed!

general gallery: if your piece doesn’t fit in the above categories, please feel free to submit to the general gallery in the middle of the zine.  space here is limited and is filling up.

you will find more info and rules for submission on the altered bits website.  limit three submissions per person, email to hi at altered bits dot com, include piece title(s), artist bio, location, url to blog or website (or both), super hi res, etc. — all the info is on the site under “submission guidelines”.

IF YOU HAVE NOT SUBMITTED A PIECE yet but plan to, please shoot me an email so i can try to save a spot for you as space is somewhat limited, but only if you’re for sure going to submit.  or leave a comment here.  that’s easier maybe.

the previous zines have been digital, but this one will be print.  you can see past issues here if you have not yet seen them:

anatomically altered |  odd numbers |  black and white

if you have any questions after reading through the site, please let me know.  i’m so excited for this and can’t wait to see our very first art zine in print.  woohooo!  there is also going to be a super extra special artist spotlight in the zine (all zines to come, actually) as well as other fun stuff.

oh, and to answer a question that has been emailed to me a few times, the things i mostly accept for the zine are any mixed media art, altered art, handmade books, assemblages, some jewelry, collage, art dolls, paintings, fiber art — mostly anything mixed media.  i’m not 100% opposed to it but i don’t typically do photography unless it’s quite unique.

potentially offensive off note (please skip if you’re easily bothered by… anything).   i NEVER will publish porn, thank you very much, mister x.  (got a submission saying “i’ll pay you to publish this” but, uh… nope, sorry.  i love vintage erotica and such, no problem, but close-up modern day penetration shots aren’t going to work for me, sorry dude.)

(now i should really go work on my zine piece!!  i always almost forget that part as i get SOOOO into the design aspect of things.)

UPDATE:

i think i wasn’t totally clear (based upon a few emails i got last night/this morning).  the deadline for submissions is next friday, february 25th, BUT if you can’t have it done and will let me know by the 25th, i can tentatively save a spot for you and give you a tiny extension to the following friday (3/4).  layout and design takes forever and a half so there will still be a bit of time.  then i’ll give myself a couple of weeks+ to get it all purdy and nice before it’s off to press.  sorry i wasn’t more clear.  i’m sleepy and brain dead a lot lately.

call for entries update and some new books

so, i was insane to put the zine submissions deadline in december… at this rate i won’t even get anything done for it and that would be no bueno.  if you’re not sure what i’m talking about, see my previous post about the altered bits zine.

new deadline is january 28, 2011.  if you wish to play in the zine, please have submissions to me by then, instead of the previous mentioned december 20th.  between the holidays, gift making, a couple art fairs, two exhibits and other arty obligations, this will work way better for me and probably for you too.

in the past couple of weeks, i’ve made a zillion mini books (having been having heaps of fun inventing new binding methods — see two of them above), a series of new anatomical collages, more journals, some cuffs, and lots of other things — i’ve been quiet in blogland but that’s so not the case on the home-front.  lots of art and news to share soon when i have a wee bit more time.  and soon, i’ll post peeks of lisa j’s book i’m working on for the pulp collab (i started in on it a few weeks ago but didn’t touch it again until last night).

happy sunday!