WARNING – this is a long post.
An old family friend (which means our parents were friends but he and I didn’t know each other very well) invited me to design a cover for a publication for the college where he is a professor. This is our emailed conversation (and I corrected a few grammatical errors so it isn’t verbatim-you are welcome, Professor Friend):
“I have enjoyed the CABINS OF WILSONIA book.
I would also like to know if you might be interested in doing the cover for the next issue of [unnamed university] JOURNAL.
I have edited this journal since 2006. It is published annually by [unnamed university] and is thematic, including a mix of scholarly articles, literary pieces; artwork and personal reflection — all peer-reviewed.
You can view back issues at:
[oops, he gave an email address here instead of a website link]
For each issue, I have asked local artists to do the cover with original art.
The theme for the 2021 issue is EARTH, AIR and WATER.
If you are interested, I would need something by mid-July.”
I responded:
“I’m glad to know you have enjoyed my book–thank you! If a picture is worth a thousand words, that book is about 265,000 words.
I’m interested in doing the cover – thank you for liking my work enough to ask.
Here are some questions:
1. Do I email someone at the address you put in your email in order to see back issues?
2. Is this a competition?
3. What is the image size needed? For publications, I make art to the right proportions, but larger because it all looks better reduced.
4. Is this a freebie?
5. Do I submit a sketch for approval before beginning?
I’ll probably have more questions. I almost always do.”
He replied:
“Your artwork is invited so there would be no competition. On occasion cover art contributors have provided more than one creation. Our editors do sign off on all of this but it is not peer reviewed like articles submitted.
I think that [accidental email address] is accessible to anyone even though we typically publish 250 hard copies for subscribers, etc.
It is true that the cover art created is a “freebie”, the only consolation being that your work will be publicized in a different way.
With reference to size, our hard copies are 6 by 9 inches.”
I wrote back:
“The link you sent does not take me to a website; instead, it opens up a new email message box.
In the many years of earning a living with my art, the promise of exposure has yet to generate any income-producing work. So, instead of creating something new, I will send you work that I already have. I have accumulated a large body of work and am happy to share with friends and often with strangers.
If you have any specific ideas in mind, let me know; it will help me narrow the selection for you. I’m guessing you lean more toward rivers than the ocean (water) and mountains rather than farming (earth). (We can forget about air because my work is far too literal for that one!)
The size of 6×9” doesn’t tell me if it is horizontal or vertical, but I imagine you have a graphic artist who can adapt the design of the cover to the direction of the art.”
Look how much time it takes just to clarify what is being requested for a freebie. University professors may know a truckload about their particular subject, but sometimes get handed tasks for which their degrees have not prepared them. I am enjoying our correspondence and do feel privileged to have been asked.
More will be revealed in the fullness of time.
2 Comments
So . . .
Did he respond to your last post? (If it’s a publication, I assume the image would need to be in portrait mode.)
Are you going to give them something out of your vast collection?
Will he ever figure out the difference between an email address and a website URL?
“Inquiring Minds Want to Know!”
Sharon, he doesn’t read my blog, and he hasn’t gotten me the link to see the examples from previous years. When I see what direction works best, I will go through my drawings and lend him a digital image that I will have prepared with Photoshop for them. He said that there is some automatic feature on his computer that generated the “link” and he’ll look into it.
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