Feb 19, 2018 | news

We're Open to Artist Submissions

by Pablo Defendini

Starting today, and on an ongoing basis, Fireside is accepting illustration portfolio submissions. If you’re an artist, and would like to submit your portfolio for consideration, please fill out this form:

As Fireside’s art director, I keep a little ‘gallery’ of artists, and I’m always on the lookout for new talent. When I have a new story that I need to match up with an illustrator, I go through our gallery and pick someone whose style I think works with the story. But relying on just me as the single source of new artists to consider for Fireside is limiting in a few ways: for one thing, I’m only one person, and I wear many hats at Fireside. I can’t dedicate nearly as much time as full-time art directors can to trawling the internet, going to galleries, or attending cons in search of new talent. We’re better served if I spend more of my art direction time on working with the artists we do hire to develop the stunning pieces of art you see every month on our site.

But more importantly, while I keep an eye on the mainstream illustration world, I often miss out on seeing the work of artists from marginalized communities. And it’s not just me, either. As people have started noticing that we’re now also a market for illustrators, we’ve heard from artists from marginalized communities who feel like the illustration world is not a very inclusive place. At Fireside, we actively work to help increase inclusive representation in the stories we publish, and the artwork that goes with those stories shouldn’t be any different. So we’re opening up our portfolio submissions wide, and we especially want to extend an invitation to women, people of color, LGBTQIA people, disabled people, members of religious minorities, and people outside the United States to submit their portfolios.

Once we have your info, I’ll add it to our internal gallery, and if we come across a story that I think would be a good fit for your style, I’ll contact you to see if you’re interested in the job.

© 2018 Pablo Defendini

About the author

Pablo Defendini

Pablo Defendini is a designer and developer for hire, with a focus on editorial design for digital media. He helped launch Tor.com, before moving on to work for companies that sit in the overlap between publishing and technology, like Open Road Media and O’Reilly. Pablo was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, lives in New York City, and works with people all over the world.