FAQ

CMYK literally means "cyan, magenta, yellow, and key." This refers to ink plates commonly used in color printing- including ours! It's a color profile you can adjust digitally compared to the (usually default) RGB and it's more limited than RGB since not all colors can be printed accurately. Commonly changed colors are neons, deep reds, deep purples, and certain blues.

Not all art programs can accurately convert to CMYK and if yours cannot, then don't worry about it. We will be checking every file we get and we will reach out to you if the conversion impacts your colors compared to your RGB file. That said, in Photoshop, it's nested under Image > Mode > "CMYK Color." In Procreate, there is a CMYK mode when you create your canvas. This limits your colors to only ones that appear in CMYK even though Procreate itself tends to fail to actually export files into CMYK. You can use this to check your colors and we can help you with your final conversion. Paint Tool SAI only supports RGB. In Clip Studio Paint, the conversion happens while exporting but you can see your colors in the CMYK profile nested under View > Colour Profile > Preview Setting, and picking a CMYK profile. In Krita, you can use the softproofing feature. The default shortcut is ctrl+y. This will show you what your piece will look like in CMYK and we can handle the actual conversion for you if you've checked your colors and you're satisfied with them in softproofing mode. Some Krita users in our books have used Photopea to convert to CMYK after finishing their art in Krita. Ibis Paint only supports RGB. In Medibang, the conversion also happens when exporting and it exports as a PSD. This is completely fine with us if you'd like to submit that instead of a JPG! Click the Options Menu (the gear icon) in the upper left corner of the canvas and select "Export." From there, select "PSD for Print(CMYK)" to export your canvas as a CMYK PSD file. In Firealpaca, go to the view tab, "Color Management Settings," and choose a CMYK profile to enable a soft proof. You can use this to check how your colors change and export in CMYK as a PSD, I believe.

We'll let everyone know as soon as it's cool to post your final piece- for page art inside books, this will be after books are shipping and arriving at doors. Before that, you're free to post cropped teasers of your art and works in progress! Just not final work yet. If you drew merch art for one of our projects, you're free to post the final piece in full when the shop listings are up in the store since it's visible in those listings. Just make sure you tag us and/or the applicable project account when you post so that we can share it too!

You will! We always ensure that. You'll get both a free physical copy and a digital copy. There are goalposts in terms of preorders for additional comps too- the first being that we will cover your shipping cost and the second being free additional merch if that's applicable to the project. In any case, don't place your order until we give you the go-ahead since you'll either be getting a free book code and only paying for shipping or you'll be getting instructions on how to get everything totally for free.

In a lot of cases, we'll make you one you can post if you'd like to after we format your work! Otherwise, you're free to post a screenshot/teaser section of your work- the first paragraph or so.

This depends on the project! If it's for-profit, the answer will always be feel free after the books are printed. If it's a charity book, it may not be the case.

Just the words! If the limit is 2500 words, you should be looking at the word count and making sure it's within that. You don't need to worry about the character count.

You can ask us for an extension via email, direct messaging a mod (we never mind), or, if you're in a corresponding Discord server, there's typically a channel called #questions where you can ask without it getting buried.

By the end of the night on whatever day is listed. For example, if a final art deadline is April 5, just make sure you submit before the morning of April 6. If there's a hard time deadline, we will note that specifically but in most cases it's just before the next morning so you don't need to worry about submitting late at night.

Once accepted, go ahead!

In our projects, the first deadline is a pitch sheet in Google Sheets that everyone will type their idea onto. This is so you can go through and see what everyone else is planning to do before you decide yourself- it ensures that artists' ideas are not too similar. If there are similar ideas, we will reach out to you if they need to be changed. However, this doesn't happen very often since everyone can see everyone else's ideas already and choose accordingly for themselves! If you're having trouble putting your idea down on the sheet, message a moderator with what you want to put down and we will help you out.

This depends on the writing piece that art is being made for, but it is usually a backgroundless PNG that will be inserted onto the page alongside the writing. Often, writers and artists will work together to agree on what would be the most appropriate to include as spot art. Here is an example from a past book:

Yes, and both should be drawn at different specifications! Make sure you're using the right guides/templates for each piece.

Always! Friend requesting us is also fine since sometimes that's needed in order to message.

For check-ins, it's completely fine to direct message it to a moderator or send it via email. If it's the final deadline and we need your art in full resolution, it's best to send it via email or Google Drive link to maintain the quality!