Artist Guide

Artists Requirements

The artwork must be tangibly inspired by the fanfiction.

The artwork includes characters as represented in the fanfiction, OR
The artwork depicts an interpretation of a scene from the fanfiction, OR
The artwork represents a high-level view of the fanfiction in entirety, for example, the kind of image that might be used for a book cover.

Things to Keep in Mind

Artists are asked to make an earnest effort to capture a vibe or scene of the fic, respect character descriptions, and collaborate with the writer on that content, within our sparing content guidelines. If an artist wishes to depict a Player Character/OC, they should depict the OC as the author describes them.

Bang works are not commissions. Artists are encouraged to follow their own inspiration as they read/discuss the fic, and are not required to illustrate specific scenes or characters. If you as an artist are wondering if a writer’s input is reasonable, please ask a mod!

You are not required to be a professional or experienced artist, but you are asked to put in an effort that you would be proud to attach your name to in a public forum. Polished does not necessarily mean “rendered” or “full-color”. You are expected to match the level of effort of a 25,000 word fic and match the quality of your overall portfolio of work.

The artwork must be wholly the creation of the artist, or a fully transformative piece incorporating elements of other artwork (ie, photobashing or collage). If the artist uses photobashing in the finished artwork, sampled images must be creative commons, public domain, or otherwise licensed for this use. Screenshots should not be used as total backgrounds.

Artists are welcome to create as much art as they wish. It is an effort above and beyond the requirements of this Bang. Artists and writers are only required to meet the minimum event guidelines for their respective pieces. Surpassing that minimum in your own piece does not change the expectation for your partner.

Event promo posts feature a single square crop of the artwork, with the full artwork featured below a readmore. If an artist creates multiple pieces, they must choose one (1) piece for the main square crop at the top of the post. Extra bonus pieces can be included under the readmore, in full.

If you begin the event as a Writer and also participate as an Artist, we ask that you respect the anonymity of the Pitches. Please do not de-anonymize writers/pitches to other prospective Artists; likewise, please do not share artists’ opinions or comments about pitches with other writers. You are expected to meet both Writer and Artist deadlines.

Secrecy is part of this event. To keep artist pitch ranking blind and fair, artists cannot know which pitch belongs to which writer prior to matching. After teams are formed, who is on each team can be shared, but work content is still a secret, to preserve the “Big Bang” surprise for the fandom at the end of the event. The artwork must not be shared on social media prior to the promo date assigned to your team.

Artists cannot share anything about their in-progress works, including non-specific allusions to the subject matter of the art piece, WIPs/sketches, or streaming progress, outside of the spaces indicated in the chart below.

Where is it okay to talk about my DABB work?

	Prior to Matching	After Matching
Direct Messages*
Secret Creator Channels
Anywhere in the DABB Discord
Anywhere Else

* In the spirit of the event, please do not DM about DABB works prior to matching with people that may participate as the opposite role.

Responsibilities as an Artist Participant

Artists agree to meet minimum checkpoint progress, and clearly communicate progress or setbacks to moderators and teammates.

All participants must follow the rules of the event. Artists must also:

Know check-in deadlines and submission windows.
Provide updates/WIPs to teammates at the same time as event check-ins (at minimum).
Select an appropriate hosting site for final artwork that won’t break/expire.
Know how to crop a 1:1 square image in the art/image software of your choice, or seek tutorials.
Make use of provided event resources and tutorials, as well as official documentation for other programs/platforms used during the event.

Deliverables and Due Dates

The full event timeline is available here.

Check-Ins will occur via forms sent to participants. Links to the forms will be available over email and in a dedicated event Discord channel. All forms will be open for several days, and the submission windows are listed below. After submission, keep an eye on your email – mods may send follow-ups after check-ins close.

Final deadlines are “End of Day” (EOD) anywhere in the world, meaning: EOD July 31 is when it is no longer July 31 anywhere in the world. Check what time EOD anywhere in the world is in your timezone here.

Interest Check: June 1-August 2

The interest check is optional and asks only for an email address. If completed, a link to the pitches website will be sent directly when ranking opens.

Pitch Ranking: August 3-10

At ranking, a website containing each writer’s anonymous pitch will be made available. Each pitch will have the following information about the fic:

Main Characters
Main Pairing
Side Characters
Background Pairings
Major Fandoms
Anticipated Rating
Estimated Final Word Count
Content Warnings & Additional Tags
Sexual Content Notification
Summary (2000 characters max)
✨New This Year✨ Anticipated Ending Tone
✨New This Year✨ Desired Collaboration Level
- ✨See the Pitches & Matching page for more info.

See Example Pitches Here!

After reviewing the available pitches, artists will submit a ranking form with the following information:

the top pitches they’d like to work with
- at minimum, artists will rank three fics; more rankings may be offered depending on the number of available pitches
an explanation of why they are interested in each pitch
- this is optional, but highly encouraged; if multiple artists rank the same pitch, the explanation may be used to decide the match
General Do Not Wants
if they are open to being matched on a Team of Three
if they are open to taking multiple assignments from the start
if they would like to be placed on a list of pinch hitters

Once the ranking form has closed, the mods will begin matching. Important, urgent communications may come to you via email.

We may reach out to artists to gauge interest in a fic they did not originally rank. However, we will not show you a pitch that includes your DNWs.
We may clarify entries on your form.

Team Formation & First Contact: August 16-23

Upon matching, Writers and Artists will be connected over email. From there, teams should decide what platform is best for their communication, and establish how often they would like to hear from their partner. Please keep in mind our privacy recommendations.

In the event that there are more artist sign ups than writers, all fics will enter a lottery for the chance to receive a second artist match (forming a Team of Three). In this event, a Team of Three consists of two artists and one writer. This is different from one artist working on two pitches.

Artists should receive the latest draft of their writer’s fic no later than August 23rd as a starting point for brainstorming. It can be any length (7500 words minimum) and in any condition. If this deadline passes and your teammate has not responded OR the draft you receive is less than 7500 words, contact the mods.

Teammates must be in contact with one another by August 23. If this deadline passes and a teammate has made no response, contact the mods. We will check-in to make sure your partner is okay - this does not get them in trouble, and helps everyone stay on track!

While your partnership is not necessarily anonymous, your work should not be shared/streamed publicly until the whole fic/art combo is posted on the reveal day!

Team Collaboration: August 16-October 31

Communication should be frequent, and absences/silences should be communicated to Bang partners ahead of time if possible. If Artists encounter significant setbacks, they must communicate their progress & needs to their Writer partner(s) & to the moderators of the event.

Artists and Writers should especially communicate to each other if an extension, or a default, is required. Life happens! If you or a partner must drop out of the event, please see the section on defaults & extensions.

Teams of Three: Artists on teams of three may choose to brainstorm with their other Artist partner in a “triangle” of inspiration, but some artists may only wish to discuss inspiration with their Writer (a “V” with the Writer as the vertex). Please communicate your wishes clearly! Writers should work equally with their Artist partners, as the Artist’s preference allows.

Soft Check-In: August 23-September 1

Preliminary art must be submitted to the moderators at first check in via a form. “Preliminary art” is very loosely defined. We are checking to see that you have thought about where you might take your art piece. Artists should confirm that they have discussed some ideas with their teammate.

Acceptable submissions include:

A messy thumbnail
A very rough sketch
A written description of the planned art piece
Actual WIP

Progress Check-In: September 10-13

Art must be submitted to the moderators via a form. We want to see that you have begun work on your piece beyond the very initial steps. This check in is very loosely defined. Artists should confirm that they have shared their WIP with their teammate.

Major Check-In: October 12-16

Current WIP must be submitted to the moderators via a form. Your piece should be nearing completion, but if there is a lot of work to go, that’s fine. This check in is very loosely defined and we are looking for development since your previous check-in. Artists should confirm that they have shared their WIP with their teammate.

If we are concerned you may not finish your piece on time, we will discuss your progress, upcoming availability, and what support (extension, pinch hit, etc.) may be required going forward.

Team Submission: October 18-31

Please check the Submission guide for exact requirements, tutorials, important links, and submission steps.

The artist must provide a direct embed link to the artwork, hosted on an approved hosting site, to their writer and specify how the artist would like to be credited. Artists must provide information for the official Event Tumblr Promo Post alongside their team’s work.

You are NOT required to post the artwork to the AO3 collection by itself as its own work, though you may choose to. Please see these guides to posting images within fics on AO3.

The Art

The art must be provided to the writer in two forms.

Full Artwork:

a direct hyperlink to the full artwork ending in .jpg or .png from an approved hosting site
at a size that will not be blurry when placed in a tumblr post
at a size that will not lag when loading in an embed

Square Crop Preview:

a direct hyperlink to a 1:1 ratio (square) cropped section/portion of the artwork ending in .jpg or .png from an approved hosting site
a sfw section of the artwork
at a size that will not be blurry when placed in a tumblr post
at a size that will not lag when loading in an embed

Artists should tell their Writer how they would like to be credited in the AO3 author’s note (i.e., name, social media handle, links, etc.). If the final credit on AO3 does not match what you indicated, please contact the mods.

The Promotional Material

One representative from each team must submit the material for the Tumblr promo post. Decide your team representative ahead of time and make sure your team has all the material gathered before submission. The requirements are detailed on the Submissions page.

Of Note: the mods have commissioned special banners for the Event Tumblr Promo Posts. These will be artistic and stylized, but contain the names of the fic, the author, and the artist. You can find prior examples of the event banners here and here.

Multiple options will be given for each team to choose from, and that choice will be specified on the Event Tumblr Promo Post submission form. These banners will be included in the official event promo post. However, once your promo post has gone live on the DABB blog, you are free to package and format and share your work as you please.

✨New This Year✨ The full banners will be shared prior to final submissions!