I’m a writer; apart from assembling book covers out of stock photos, I don’t art. But I do keep tabs on fiction magazines (mostly fantasy, horror, and science fiction) who are looking for cover artists and illustrators. Below are some of the many markets out there for artists. They’re looking for cover art, banner art, and illustrations; some take reprints, while some are looking to commission original work. For more information, click the magazine name–all links go to artist guidelines.

If you know of something that should be on the list, let me know. Good luck!

(WARNING: I’m not affiliated with any of the following markets, aside from being published in a few of them. I don’t keep very close tabs and can’t promise all the information below is up to date and correct. As when submitting fiction, always, ALWAYS read the guidelines on their website before clicking SEND.)

 

Analog

What they want:

We are interested in professional-level, mostly realistic work. Photographs are not normally used, but artists illustrating for us have worked with photos, using surrealistic effects.
The illustration must be able to visually interpret the story in such a way that it accurately represents the story, hooks the reader into reading it, and doesn’t give away the ending. The subject matter of the stories usually contain a wide range of things that you must be able to draw. We would like to see an ability to illustrate an entire scene; one that not only has a character or characters, but also has a detailed background. You must know anatomy, perspective, balance, and figure proportions. We are not a comic book company, so please don’t send samples of comics pages.

How to submit:

Send four to six samples of your best work. Do not send us your originals. Send only copies. They can be photocopies, stats, slides, transparencies, or tearsheets.

For either black and white interiors or color covers, you can use any medium. Many of our artists use pencil, pen & ink, airbrush, watercolor, scratchboard, etc. Electronic files are acceptable as long as it is in Mac format, eps or tiff, but please send a disk – DO NOT E-MAIL THE FILES!

Please include a self-addressed stamped, business-sized envelope for a response, or a large one if you want your samples returned to you.

Apex Magazine

What they want:

We offer $60 for digital reprint rights for cover art.

How to submit:

If you’d like for your art to be considered for Apex Magazine please send an email to lesley@apex-magazine.com that includes a link to your online gallery. We do not commission original work for the magazine, only preexisting art.

Ares Magazine

What they want:

We need cover and interior art. We can work with most media — oils, 3D, Photoshop — but we are particular with respect to the subject matter. See the genre list, below. If we know what game title and theme we wish to use for the next issue, we’ll post it so you can provide submissions in line with what we seek.

How to submit:

Please eMail all submissions to submissions@ossgames.com.

Bards and Sages Quarterly

What they want:

Cover Art: Art should tell a story in its own right, and not just be a character sketch. While artists may submit a low resolution file for consideration, we will need a 300 dpi or better file for publication.  We will consider reprints of images that have not previously appeared as cover art elsewhere.

How to submit:

Artwork can be either black and white or full color, and should be submitted as a jpg, png, or tiff file attachment. Art should be sized for 8″ x 10″ page (full bleed). $25 plus one copy of the print journal

Bete Noire

What they want:

At this time, we are only accepting interior artwork.  It must be your original work and in black and white only, no color artwork will be accepted for the interior of the magazine. And it should go without saying that the artwork should be dark in nature.  However, we cannot accept anything with graphic nudity or sex.  Dark humor is always an interest to us, so if you have a comic of dark humor send it along as long as it’s no more than six frames. We are also accepting black and white photographs for the interior of the magazine.  All photos must be original and dark, but again, just like the artwork we cannot accept anything with graphic nudity or sex.

How to submit:

All artwork needs to be in JPEG format and attached to the email.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies

What they want:

We only buy a few pieces of artwork a year, so we don’t take submissions of artwork. But we are interested in names of artists and links to their portfolios, so that when we are ready to buy art, we can check out their work.

How to submit:

If you’re an artist and would like us to put your name on our list to check out the next time we’re looking for artwork, please take a look at our past Cover Art, to see what sort of artwork we like (usually landscapes or vistas of fantastical-looking places). Then feel free to send us your information using our Contact page, and include links to a couple of your pieces that you feel might show the sort of vibe we’re looking for.

Black Static

What they want:

We are always happy to hear from artists wanting to illustrate stories and/or supply cover art.

How to submit:

Send us a portfolio through the post that we can keep on file, or use this website’s contact form to point us to your website or gallery.

Cemetery Dance

What they want:

We solicit all our cover and interior artwork directly.

How to submit:

Query first with samples. At this time, Art Director Mindy Jarusek would prefer to receive and view artwork samples and submissions online, if possible. Please do not send LARGE attachments. Links to your website, online samples, or a web-based portfolio would be best. If you must send attachments, please email first for our requirements. For all artwork related questions and submissions, please contact art@cemeterydance.com and Mindy will reply if she’s interested in seeing more. Thank you.

Cicada

What they want:

Cicada seeks talented artists who are making thoughtful (or flippant), beautiful (or unsettling), exuberant (or quiet) comics, zines, visual poems, sequential graphic narratives, or any other work in image and/or text. We commission original stories from a brief pitch, and give developmental feedback through the production process.

How to submit:

We’re always looking for new artists! If you’re interested in sharing your portfolio with us, email cicada@cricketmedia.com.

Cricket Media:

What they want:

Illustrations are by assignment only.

Before submitting, be sure to familiarize yourself with our magazines.  Sample copies are available for viewing at the Cricket Media Store where you can also purchase a current issue. Issues are also available at many local libraries.

How to submit:

PLEASE DO NOT send original artwork. Send postcards, promotional brochures, or color photocopies. Be sure that each sample is marked with your name, address, phone number and website or blog. Art submissions will not be returned.

The Dark

What they want:

We purchase pre-existing pieces of art and rarely commission original art for covers.

How to submit:

Submit an inquiry along with samples (preferably a link to an online gallery).

Drabblecast

What they want:

The Drabblecast is a vibrant art market, with more than 300 original pieces generated. Lay your eyes upon the maddening scope as you scroll through back episodes. All styles, media, and skill levels will be considered.

How to submit:

To donate your talents and join our art core, contact art director Bo Kaier at bo@drabblecast.org and express your intention. A portfolio link or some work samples will help Bo pair you with a story.

Expanded Horizons

What they want:

We are looking for high-quality artwork that furthers the mission of the magazine.  Please read our general fiction submissions guidelines, as those apply here too. All work should be speculative fiction themed. We are also interested in artwork that illustrates existing stories available on our site. If you decide to illustrate a story, please mention the story title in your e-mail.

How to submit:

The files should use one of the three standard web image formats: JPG, GIF or PNG, saved at 72 dpi.  Please do not submit more than three pieces at one time. If the total filesize is over 2 MB, do not send the files in e-mail – use a free web-based filesending service or some alternate method. (Ask us if you need assistance.)

Fantasy Scroll Magazine

What they want:

We are looking for interesting art that complements the type of stories we publish: speculative in the science fiction, fantasy, or horror genres. We publish four times a year so we need four covers and a few images for each issue.

Since we publish speculative fiction, your art should be a match to the stories we like. We are talking about robots and dragons, castles and spaceships, swords and lasers. Anything goes; the weirder the better.

How to submit:

We have a dedicated art submission form that you can use.

Future Science Fiction Digest

What they want:

We’re seeking non-exclusive rights for high-quality art to be used as issue covers. We’re also asking for the rights to use issue cover art to produce promotional items such as bookmarks and banners as well as to display the partial crop of the image at the top of the issue’s web page. We pay $200 per image.

How to submit:

If you wish your artwork to be considered please reach out via email or social media and provide a link to your gallery.

Heroic Fantasy Quarterly

What they want:

HFQ is looking for quality banner art to accompany each new issue. Please review art from the past two issues to see the style we prefer. Image dimensions should be approximately 850 x 250 pixels.

How to submit:

If you’d like us to consider your work please email a link to the website where your art is displayed.

InterGalactic Medicine Show

What they want:

All illustrations and artwork in IGMS are by assignment. If you wish to be considered for art assignments, we would like to be shown samples of your work.

How to submit:

After filling out our submission form , you will be asked either to send us a .zip file containing .jpg files showing your work in black and white or color, or provide us with a link to your website, where we can see free and easily accessible samples of your art at a size that lets us see details of your technique.

Kaleidotrope

What they want:

We are looking for primarily full-color illustrations to serve as cover art. In addition, we occasionally feature both color and black-and-white sketches, comics, cartoons, photography, loose odds and ends that might also fit elsewhere. Elsewhere is typically with the Horoscopes, so typically humorous, though that’s not a rule set in stone. We currently do not commission new cover artwork or pieces to appear with individual stories and poems.

How to submit:

If you would like to share a link to your online gallery, please do so, preferably indicating art that you would like us to consider.

On Spec

What they want:

We accept submissions from Canadians and non-Canadians. We accept both existing art and proposals. Note that if you’re sending in a sketch for a proposal, we still require an example of your colour work. Please include ONLY pre-existing works in colour as we print the cover in colour. Include your website–we can take a look of other examples of your work. We pay $400 for cover art (both pre-existing and original), plus $50 for interior art. The artist owns their artwork–we only license the artwork as part of the front cover and interior of an issue. Our cover dimensions are 5.25 width by 8 height in inches (note that images can be scaled down to a similar ratio). We incorporate the following: the On Spec logo, price and other information in an upper corner and the contributor’s names.

How to submit:

We only accept JPG files through Submittables. If we feel your work fits as a cover, we will contact you to discuss using an existing artwork OR commissioning an original for the magazine.

Persistent Visions:

What they want:

Persistent Visions is looking for illustrators to provide art to complement our stories.

How to submit:

If you would like to be considered, send an email to our art editor. Please include a link to your portfolio, your typical turnaround time for a single-page full-color illustration, and your rate.

Strange Horizons

What they want:

Beginning in January of 2014, Strange Horizons will run artwork with one story each month. This artwork will be commissioned or selected by the fiction editors to accompany the story’s tone and content.

How to submit:

If you would like to be considered as a potential artist for Strange Horizons, please send a link to your portfolio and/or up to 3 example image files (as links or attached as .png or .jpg, not more than 1000×1000 pixels) to art@strangehorizons.com.

Turn to Ash

What they want:

Turn To Ash is a horror fiction zine. I’m looking for submissions of short fiction and black and white artwork.

How to submit:

Artwork subs can be made in whatever file format works best for the artist. If we agree on printing your artwork in Turn To Ash, we’ll work out the best way to get print-ready files into my hands.  All submissions can be addressed to “Ben”, “Benjamin”, “Editor”, or “hey, you”.

Uncanny Magazine

What they want:

Uncanny pays $100 for reprint art.

How to submit:

Please feel free to email art queries to uncannymagazine [at] gmail [dot] com with a link to your portfolio.

Vitality

What they want:

We generally pay $35 for single images, and $75 per short story illustrated, which involves 2-3 full-page images, and some smaller incidental drawings to decorate the pages. Higher amounts will be offered for especially detailed illustration projects. If an illustration is chosen to also act as the cover of an issue, you will receive an additional $15. For an idea of how we illustrate our stories, you can look at our free minizine, though we now require all illustrations to be in color.

How to submit:

To apply to be an illustrator, please submit 1-5 pieces that best display your style and talent, as well as links to your portfolio or website where your work can be found.

 

Want to learn how to send out your short fiction to magazines like a pro? Check out my Total Beginner’s Guide to Submitting Short Fiction for Publication.

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Or check out the book I assembled with my sister Megan Engelhardt, Wolves and Witches: a Fairy Tale Collection