Pre-order CBA vol 50 for Black Friday

We’re doing a 50% sale on books from CBK, Tusen Serier and Wormgod at Hybriden this weekend (Nov 27-29).

Use the coupon code blackfriday2020 when you place your order.

CBA vol 50 will be released in January, but you can pre-order it now, and it is included in the sale.

No theme, no limits, only members of the current and former editorial crew of CBA celebrating this anniversary issue by doing whichever comics they want!

Illustrated haiku poems! Vampires! Cyberpunk! Abstract patterns and ruminations on death! Working with the elderly and trying to find your husband in the realm of the dead! There’s also a seal.

Comics by: Sajan Rai [SE/UK], Gonzalo de las Heras [SE/ES], Allan Haverholm [DK/SE], Mattias Elftorp [SE], Susanne Johansson [SE], Leviathan [SE], Stefan Petrini [SE], Henrik Rogowski [SE]. Text: Mattias Elftorp [SE]. Illustration: Mattias Elftorp [SE], Gonzalo de las Heras [ES/SE]. Cover artist: Kinga Dukaj [SE].

NEDJEM & ORIGIN OF LIFE

CBK presents:
NEDJEM & ORIGIN OF LIFE
Two new digital exhibitions to keep social distancing while still being able to enjoy art!

Go here to find the exhibitrions:
NEDJEM | ORIGIN OF LIFE

Both exhibitions are open from Wednesday Nov 25 at 15:00
and will stay active for the foreseeable future.

As we’ve said before:
To celebrate the latest volumes of CBA, we invite you to see these two exhibitions of comics pages from the books. As we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic makes it difficult to show exhibitions in the usual way, so this time we’re making the exhibitions in digital form. Instead of meeting up at Hybriden to enjoy the art on the walls and mingle with wine and artists and other visitors, now you don’t even need to leave your home. Instead you can just visit the website and see them comfortably from your chair or couch or whatever you want to sit in. You can even drink your own wine and chat with friends on the internet at the same time, so it’s ALMOST like normal.

CBA and other books can be ordered from the Hybriden webshop.

Further information can be found when you go to the exhibitions, which are presented with support from Malmö Kulturnämnd.

Two digital exhibitions: Nedjem & Origin of Life

CBK presents:
NEDJEM & ORIGIN OF LIFE
Two new digital exhibitions to keep social distancing while still being able to enjoy art!

Where: hybriden.se (direct links will be available on this site for the opening)
When: Both exhibitions open Wednesday Nov 25 at 15:00
and will stay active for the foreseeable future

To celebrate the latest volumes of CBA, we invite you to see these two exhibitions of comics pages from the books. As we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic makes it difficult to show exhibitions in the usual way, so this time we’re making the exhibitions in digital form. Instead of meeting up at Hybriden to enjoy the art on the walls and mingle with wine and artists and other visitors, now you don’t even need to leave your home. Instead you can just visit the website and see them comfortably from your chair or couch or whatever you want to sit in. You can even drink your own wine and chat with friends on the internet at the same time, so it’s ALMOST like normal.

CBA and other books can be ordered from the Hybriden webshop.

Nedjem (CBA vol 48)
CBA vol 48 is about cats. Cats and the lifelong friendships we form with our furry friends. Bonds so strong and endearment so deep and ancient, it permeates our lives through time. You find cats in scary stories, in cute stories, they’re a sign of bad luck in some cultures and good luck in others, worshipped as deities or shunned like pests. Remnants of our relationships with the floofy furs are found not just all over the world, but all over the internet as well. Here’s our contribution to the Cat Library of Time.

Artists: Jonatan Rosén [SE], Henrik Rogowski [SE], Aiden Kvarnström [SE], Filip Kelava [HR], Alexandra Duma-Dancai [RO/SE], Ivana Filipović [RS/CA], Helena Menanda [SE], Ivana Armanini [HR], Mattias Elftorp [SE], Kinga Dukaj [SE].

Origin of Life (CBA vol 49)
Where were you born? Where are you from? When these questions are asked really what the person means often is, who are you?
In the new volume of CBA we want you to ask yourselves some questions. Who are humanity as a collective consciousness? Where do we come from? All these little specks of life in this big dark space of nothing, and for what?

Artists: Ana Biscaia [PT], Ivana Geček [HR], Mattias Elftorp [SE], Ivana Filipović [RS/CA], Henrik Rogowsk [SE], Leviathan [SE], Lisa Örtlund [SE].

The exhibitions are presented with support from Malmö Kulturnämnd.

Later deadline for vol 51!

We moved the deadline a bit for submissions to CBA vol 51: Underworld!

The new date is NOV 29

So if you hade something planned but there wasn’t enough time, you still have a chance to send us something!

Metelkova under attack!

We first met Stripburger when they visited Sweden in 2005, which gave us an entrance into the whole Balkan comics scene and it has been highly valuable for us as a cultural organisation and as publisher of an international comics anthology. Through this first meeting with Stripburger we made lots of important connections that last even today and has lead to us publishing several creators from the region in CBA over the years.

We always wanted to visit them at Metelkova to see everything that’s going on there, and we truly hope that will be possible also in the future.

But they are now under attack and are threatened with eviction.

Read more and sign their petition!

Non-governmental organizations in Slovenia are increasingly targeted by the government’s restrictive measures and hostile rhetoric. Leading the government, the radical right Slovenian Democratic Party and PM Janez Janša direct their hostility especially towards NGOs engaged in independent cultural production and defending human rights, media freedom and the environment. Legal and financial restrictions have been applied to them and the epidemic is used to justify such measures. The media, the judiciary and independent state bodies are also under attack.

The government has, for example, been blocking payments to film producers for a whole year, while the Ministry of Culture started changing the rules for the composition of commissions that decide on co-financing projects of non-governmental cultural organizations so that the Minister will have full control over the allocation of funds. Amid such developments, and in the circumstances of a dramatic second wave of the epidemic in the country, 18 non-government organizations were recently requested by the government (Ministry of Culture) to vacate their premises in the building at No. 6 Metelkova Street in Ljubljana, in which they have been operating since the mid-1990s.

Call for submissions: CBA vol 51

Call for submissions: comics and text articles for
CBA vol 51: Underworld

The Underworld exists in many forms: an invisible realm of all deceased, a torturous prison for sinners, whatever alien societies rule a ‘hollow earth’, as well as the non- mythological but equally weird organisms that really do scurry around below us. Less literally, it could imply unseen aspects of any organisation, or the darkest moments in an individual’s journey.

We’re looking for comic contributions, and articles exploring the theme of Underworld.

Main Editor: Sajan Rai
DEADLINE: Nov 15

—SUBMISSION GUIDELINES—
Please read and follow these guidelines:

Number of pages: We prefer comics that are about 5-30 pages, but any number is welcome.
Format: 20x26cm
Color: Color / Black and white
Language: English
File format: .TIF
Resolution: 1200 dpi line art or 300 dpi CMYK
Length (texts): A good size for a text is ca 7500 characters (including spaces), but it can also be longer or shorter.
Bleed: 5mm. Think you know how to handle bleed? Read this to make sure you know what we mean.
Within this space, there are no limits.

Delivery: We prefer download links that do NOT require us to login anywhere (wetransfer usually works fine, for example).
Request: Please don’t use Comic Sans. We don’t like it and will ask you to change to another font.
And again; Please check our guidelines for bleed.

Please send us high-resolution files from the start.
Include a short presentation text* about yourself, with one URL (if you have a website or similar).
Please ask us if you are unsure about formats, resolution, bleed, etc. We prefer stupid questions to bad files. And there are no stupid questions!

*Your presentation text should be approximately 500-700 characters in length. It should read more as an entertaining and informative bio and less as a CV. What you want to say about yourself is up to you, but it’s generally more interesting for our readers to know about your interests, who you are and what else you’ve published rather than where you’ve studied. We may edit it if needed to fit our format.

Send comics, questions, etc to: submissions(a)cbkcomics(.)com

 

What we are looking for is comics which rely on artistic ambitions and a will to experiment rather than what has been done a thousand times before. We want to expand the boundaries of what is possible to achieve in the comics medium. We are looking for the same thing in texts; articles, essays, exploratory texts, etc.

Unfortunately we cannot offer you any payment for participating. If we publish your submission you will receive 10 free copies of the issue. That’s all we can offer at this date. Hopefully you will find being in CBA an enjoyable experience. Naturally, copyright for your material will stay in your hands.

Also note that we are constantly overworked and there’s a great risk that we won’t get in touch in case your submission doesn’t make it into the current volume. We are sorry for this and will try to catch up as soon as things clear up (optimistically in 2021)…

CBA vol 48 + 49 coming soon

As you may have noticed, there’s a pandemic going on and everything is working a bit less smoothly than usual. One of the casualties is our publishing schedule, but soon now, we will finally be releasing two new issues: CBA vol 48: Nedjem and CBA vol 49: Origin of Life

CBA vol 48: Nedjem
60 pgs

CBA vol 48 is about cats. Cats and the lifelong friendships we form with our furry friends. Bonds so strong and endearment so deep and ancient, it permeates our lives through time. You find cats in scary stories, in cute stories, they’re a sign of bad luck in some cultures and good luck in others, worshipped as deities or shunned like pests. Remnants of our relationships with the floofy furs are found not just all over the world, but all over the internet as well.
Here’s our contribution to the Cat Library of Time.

Comics by: Jonatan Rosén [SE], Henrik Rogowski [SE], Aiden Kvarnström [SE], Filip Kelava [HR], Alexandra Duma-Dancai [RO/SE], Ivana Filipović [RS/CA], Helena Menanda [SE], Ivana Armanini [HR]. Texts: Joel Gordon [SE], Mattias Elftorp [SE]. Illustration: Mattias Elftorp [SE]. Cover artists & main editor: Kinga Dukaj [SE] (theme & original selection: Mattis Telin [SE]).

 

CBA vol 49: Origin of Life
80 pgs

Where were you born? Where are you from? When these questions are asked really what the person means often is, who are you?

In the new volume of CBA we want you to ask yourselves some questions. Who are humanity as a collective consciousness? Where do we come from? All these little specks of life in this big dark space of nothing, and for what?

Comics by: Ana Biscaia [PT], Ivana Geček [HR], Mattias Elftorp [SE], Ivana Filipović [RS/CA], Henrik Rogowsk [SE], Leviathan [SE]. Text & illustration: Lisa Örtlund [SE]. Cover artists & main editor: Lisa Örtlund [SE].

 

Check back here soon for release dates etc.

Some tips for comics creators in Corona times

These are hard times for everyone, not least self-publishing comics creators. But there are some ways for fans to support your work, both for physical books and for digital works online. Here are a few:

Fosfor
Fosfor is our very own non-profit zine distro, and a part of the Hybriden webshop. Our goal is to be a platform for comics creators who normally find it difficult to reach larger audiences and to strengthen the general culture of comics self-publishing. In the webshop, buyers can easily get an overview of a wide variety of comics. Sellers only need to fill out our form for their works to be posted on the site within a short while. After the first orders come in, we’ll ask you to send the first batch of actual products.
One important point is that Fosfor should not be seen as a service where you hand your stuff over to someone else who then sells it for profit. Rather see it as a place for shared exchange that everyone benefits from. When other creators share the link to Hybriden and Fosfor, it means that customers who go to the site for other reasons may also find your stuff while they’re there. Customers also don’t need to pay for postage from several different sources, but can get all their comics in one package, which means they’ll also save money.
All profits go back to the creators themselves, we only add a small sum to cover packaging and similar costs.

Digital Seriefestival
Mostly relevant if you’re a comics creator in Sweden. They’re allowing artists to post a ‘virtual table’ in a facebook group and for facebook users to browse their work and links. It goes live on the 10th April.

Patreon
Patreon is a great way for people so support you through a subscription service to your work. They can make monthly donations, and in return, you can offer exclusive rewards or perks for different price tiers. For instance, for $5 a month, someone could get access to blog posts about your artistic processes, $15 a month could give people access to a twitch stream of your work, maybe even tutorials etc.
There are lots of different approaches to it, and it’s a nice way to get consistent support from fans. Small monthly donations from multiple people can add up to helpful amounts.
Patreon takes 5% of your earnings.

Ko-Fi
Not all the supporters of your work will be able to pitch in a monthly amount – and ko-fi is a bit like a tip jar where people can give you a one-off payment of $3 to show their support. It’s worth mentioning that Ko-Fi does also feature a monthly-tip system like Patreon, and for paid membership ($6 a month) you can sell commissions on your page.
Ko-fi takes 0% of your donations, but only registers payments through PayPal (which takes 2.9% + $0.30) or Stripe (which takes 2.75%).

Big Cartel
Is an online shop which allows you to have 5 items up at any time for free. These don’t necessarily have to be physical items – you could put digital commissions up on here.
Big Cartel does not charge any commission – but like Ko-Fi it only registers payments through either PayPal (which takes 2.9% + $0.30) or Stripe (which takes 2.75%).

Gumroad
Gumroad is quite a popular way of distributing E-comics, for people to buy and download as PDFs.
For a free account, Gumroad charges 8.5% + $0.30 per sale.

Setting all of these up can be a bit daunting, but most of them offer helpful advice on setting up your pages – and it’s always worth doing some quick research of your own on what kind of ways other artists are using them. Cross-referencing these can be useful when figuring out how you can best use them to your own advantage.

Some ideas for information helpful to convey:
-Pricing tiers based on sketch, inks, and coloured works.
-Charging extra for drawing a background.
-Pricing based on how much of a character you draw – the head, a bust, the torso, or the full figure.
-Remember to charge per character you draw per piece!
-It’s also worth putting your own terms and conditions for your commissions so that people know what to expect and to filter out any requests that you don’t feel comfortable with.

Digital Commissions
When selling digital commissions – it can be helpful to create a clear graphic illustrating the different pricings you have. Having an image (or up to four) to show this means you can post it on multiple platforms (instagram, twitter, facebook, mastodon, tumblr, etc).

Good luck, and stay healthy!

Call for submissions: CBA vol 49

Call for submissions: comics and text articles for
CBA vol 49: Origin of life

Where were you born? Where are you from? When these questions are asked really what the person means often is, who are you?

In the new volume of CBA we want you to ask yourselves some questions. Who are humanity as a collective consciousness? Where do we come from? All these little specks of life in this big dark space of nothing, and for what?

The theme Origin of life means vast possibilities to explore in art and comics, from religious interpretations to philosophy to strict scientific research. Challenge our current beliefs, make something fun and interesting, or something entirely else. We’re looking forward to seeing your comics!

Main Editor: Lisa Örtlund
NEW DEADLINE: May 15

—SUBMISSION GUIDELINES—
Please read and follow these guidelines:
Number of pages: We prefer comics that are about 5-30 pages, but any number is welcome.
Format: 20x26cm
Color: Color / Black and white
Language: English
File format: .TIF
Resolution: 1200 dpi line art or 300 dpi CMYK
Length (texts): A good size for a text is ca 7500 characters (including spaces), but it can also be longer or shorter.
Bleed: 5mm. Think you know how to handle bleed? Read this to make sure you know what we mean.
Within this space, there are no limits.

Delivery: We prefer download links that do NOT require us to login anywhere (wetransfer usually works fine, for example).
Request: Please don’t use Comic Sans. We don’t like it and will ask you to change to another font.
And again; Please check our guidelines for bleed.

Please send us high-resolution files from the start.
Include a short presentation text about yourself, with one URL (if you have a website or similar).
Please ask us if you are unsure about formats, resolution, bleed, etc. We prefer stupid questions to bad files. And there are no stupid questions!

Unfortunately we cannot offer you any payment for participating. If we publish your submission you will receive 10 free copies of the issue. That’s all we can offer at this time. Hopefully you will find being in CBA an enjoyable experience. Naturally, copyright for your material stays with you.

–ARTICLES AND COMICS GENERAL GUIDELINES–
What we are looking for is comics which rely on artistic ambitions and a will to experiment rather than what has been done a thousand times before. We want to expand the boundaries of what is possible to achieve in the comics medium. We are looking for the same thing in texts; articles, essays, exploratory texts, etc. Use your imagination, and have fun! : – )

Send your comics to: submissions [at] cbkcomics [dot] com

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