Scott Gustafson’s painting for the Spectrum 25 Call For Entries poster.

The deadline for entries to Spectrum 25: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art is coming up January 25th. There are always questions about Spectrum, the hows and whys and benefits (some of which I’ve addressed here in the past on Muddy Colors); Director John Fleskes recently posted some straight forward suggestions and I thought I’d share them.

A few Spectrum Submissions Tips!

Thank you to everyone who has submitted to Spectrum 25 so far! We’re grateful to you for being a part of Spectrum.
I’d like to offer some tips that can help all of us to make for a smoother process.

1. When mailing in entries, please do not waste your money on expedited services such as overnight mail. As long as it is postmarked by the deadline you are fine.

2. Please do not require us to sign for mailed packages. What happens is that the post office makes us pick them up at their main office. It takes an hour to go downtown, find parking, wait in line, and to get back to the office–just to sign for your package. It could take me a week or more to find the time to do this, so please no registered mail.

3. This will be the last year for print entries. Your chances of being recognized by the jury are equal regardless of if you submit digital or as a print. You’ll save a lot of time packaging and money from shipping by submitting online. Give it a shot! Call us if you would like help. (Note, new Spectrum website will be built immediately after the deadline to improve the process for Spectrum 26.)

4. Please remember to name your art file with your name and art title. When you submit a .jpg with the name art-fileSPECTRUM.jpg we have no way to confirm that it is yours, or which piece of art that it is. artist-name-art-title.jpg is perfect and helps us!

5. Any questions? Call us or email us. We’re happy to help.

6. Do you have copyright approval? We’ve caught a few entries submitted to the Unpublished category that feature licensed/trademarked characters that do not have permission from the owners. We can not accept fan art of Batman, Wolverine, or Wonder Woman–for example. Unless the art was commissioned by the owners, then most likely you will not get approval. We respect the rights of the creators and owners and value our relationships with them.

Thank you!

—John Fleskes

You can read some previous suggestions about participating in Spectrum here and here. And, of course, you can acquaint yourselves with the jury here. Good luck everyone!