Illustoria Call for Comics Submissions 2024
Deadline to submit: Wednesday, May 1, 2024 at 11:59 pm PST.

Hello from Illustoria! We are a triannual art and storytelling print magazine for creative kids and their grown-ups. Packed with stories, comics, DIY projects, and interviews orbiting a central theme—our magazine aims to ignite curiosity and a creative response.

We are excited to open this call for submissions to meet more artists who make comics and widen the pool of creatives we work with. Out of this call, we will also commission artists to create short memoir comics for our upcoming Issue 25: Comics, where paneled narrative storytelling will take over nearly every page of the magazine.

By “comics,” we mean narrative and paneled artwork. Comics in all mediums will be considered: digital, analog, even sculptural and photographic. The more unusual and unique, the better! Please familiarize yourself with Illustoria’s style to see whether your work is an editorial fit before submitting. We are a print magazine for readers who are primarily six to twelve years old. This is a call for artists ages 18 and up. However, we often post calls for kid art, so please stay tuned in the future for that.

Selected artists will either:

Be commissioned to create a short memoir comic strip for Illustoria’s Issue 25.
Be kept on file for inclusion in a future issue.

We will hold more calls for submissions in the future, so if your artwork does not meet these criteria, please stay tuned. Unfortunately, we will not have time to review artwork that does not meet the requirements below.

Details:

Pre-existing comics drawn in all mediums are welcome for this call for submissions. You do not need to create new work to submit.
All artists published in Illustoria are compensated. Compensation is decided according to scope, length, and complexity. It is important to us that all artists are paid equitably and reasonably, according to our resources. All fees will be discussed and approved by the artist before work begins.

To submit to this call for submissions please:

Attach three JPG/JPEG files of past work. Make sure at least one of your submissions is a comic (that is, panel-format storytelling) so we can get a sense of your style.
Include your website.
Include your Instagram handle (if you have one).
Include “Call for Comics” in the subject line of the email, sent to illustoria@mcsweeneys.net.

Guidelines:

Please attach your work as JPG or JPEG. Do not include PDFs, PNGs, TIFFs, or other file attachments.
Please include your examples as attachments. Do not include your files as inline images.
Please make sure at least one of your examples is a comic (that is, artwork with panel-format storytelling) so we can get a sense of your style.
Please attach exactly three examples of your work. We are small staff and unfortunately will not have the time to review more than this.
Please do not email inquiring about the status of your entry. We are a small staff and will respond to all entries by Tuesday, May 21, 2024.
Please do not send questions via Instagram comment or DM, as we do not check these inboxes as frequently. Send questions with the subject line “Question” to illustoria@mcsweeneys.net, and we will respond as soon as we can.

FAQ:

What do you mean by “comics”?
By “comics,” we mean narrative and paneled artwork. As mentioned earlier, comics in all mediums will be considered. The more unusual and unique, the better!
How old do you need to be to submit?
This is a call for artists ages 18 and up. However, we often post calls for kid art, so please stay tuned in the future for that.
Do I need to create new work for this call for submissions?
Not at all. We are receiving past examples of work. Once artists are chosen for publication, we will work with them to commission or reprint artwork.
I am not a comics artist, can I still submit?
While you do not need to be a comics artist specifically, we ask that artists submit at least one example of past comics art to determine whether they might be a good fit for this opportunity.

We will hold more calls for submissions in the future, so if your artwork does not meet these criteria, please stay tuned. Unfortunately, we will not have time to review artwork that does not meet this criteria.
What will happen with artists whose work is not chosen?
If your work is not chosen for this feature, we will keep it on file for future opportunities.
Is there a language requirement for the submissions?
For this call, we are asking for submissions in English; thank you.
What is Illustoria?
Illustoria is a triannual art and storytelling print magazine for creative kids and their grown-ups. Our audience includes readers six to twelve years old and up. Packed with stories, comics, DIY projects, and interviews orbiting a central theme—this magazine aims to ignite curiosity and a creative response. Feel free to follow us on Instagram. Subscriptions and issues 9–22 can be found here. Issues 6–9 can be found here.
How much will an artist get paid for their work to be published?
We offer compensation according to scope, length, and complexity. All fees will be discussed and approved by the artist before work begins.