Mantle Lane Press
Book cover design: opportunity for illustrator or artist
Closing date for applications: 10/10/16.
Mantle Arts is looking for artists or illustrators to create cover images for our three latest, Mantle Lane Press pocket books. These are 105mm x 138mm, similar in size to the Penguin 60s range.
The three books are:
Night Swimming by Garrie Fletcher Gritty short stories with a dark urban tone, set in and around Birmingham, exploring themes of loss, renewal, turning points and geography. Read an extract here: ‘Night Swimming’ sample.
Kaleidoscope by Sarah Leavesley. A story with an unreliable narrator, suffering with depression and struggling to come to terms with the loss of her baby. The writing style is poetic and fragmented. Read an extract here: ‘Kaleidoscope’ sample.
A Far Cry by Mary Williams. A collection of stories about encounters with people in strange and faraway places, characterised by a sense of distance, strangeness, alienation and the wish to connect. Read an extract here: ‘A Far Cry’ sample.
We have no fixed idea of what the cover images should be like, but they should reflect and communicate some aspect of the content and atmosphere of the writing.
We would like to offer the cover designs to emerging artists, students, recent graduates, or artists not previously involved in book design. Artists based in the Midlands are particularly welcome to apply. This is offered as a development opportunity. We are paying a fee of £100 for each cover design.
How to Apply
Please send us:
1. One or more rough ideas for one of the covers.
We are likely to chose different artists for the three books, so you may wish to concentrate on the one that interests you most. Make sure it’s clear which book your roughs are for.
NOTE: Please don’t spend ages doing fully rendered artwork that we might not use. We don’t want to waste your time. It really should be just a rough sketch that communicates your idea effectively. Annotate the rough if it helps make it clear. The rough will be assessed in the context of your previous work.
We are happy to consider images in any medium or utilising any combination of media for the final cover. It must be an original work created for this opportunity, so please don’t suggest we use an existing piece of work. The cover artwork should either incorporate the title and author’s name or leave space for it to be overlaid during the design and layout process.
2. Some examples of previous relevant work. You can email images or send a link to an online gallery or website. Previous work is the most important thing in helping us come to a decision.
3. Your contact details: email address, phone number and postal address.
We prefer to receive applications via email. Please ensure the total size of attachments does not exceed two megabytes.
Email: matthew@mantlearts.org.uk
Postal address: Mantle Arts, Springboard Centre, Mantle Lane, Coalville, LE67 3DW
Closing date for applications: 10/10/16.
Final Artwork Specifications
Once we have selected the cover artists, the final artwork will need to be created to the following specifications.
The mock up below shows our standard cover layout. The cover size is 105mm wide x 138mm high, with a 3mm stripe on the spine edge. Final artwork should be created twice the size of the actual cover, so 204mm x 276mm.
BUT if the artwork goes to the edges of the cover, as in the mock up below, then allow an additional 6mm for bleed on the top, bottom and right hand side, in which case the artwork will be 210mm x 288mm
Title and author’s name can be part of the artwork or can be typeset at the layout stage; if the latter, then the cover image should include areas without too much detail to accommodate the text overlay. Exact size and position of text depends on the cover artwork but please bear in mind that text should not be placed close to the edges and should be large enough to be easily readable.
The final image can either be supplied as original artwork or in digital form as a 300dpi CMYK TIFF file.
