Submission Guidelines that are specific to the Little Bag:

All stories and illustrations must fit the theme: Haunting stories based on folk tales, urban myths, personal hauntings, ghost stories passed down through generations, mythology, and/or legends. (Disclaimer: stories that appropriate cultural beliefs and legends by folks outside of that group without proper research/care will not be accepted.) Offer the spooky, the ghoulish, and the garish! Monsters, witches, ghosts, spirits and more! The moonless sky is the limit.

  • Page Limit for Comics: 1-6 pages

  • Page Limit for Illustration: one page or a spread

  • Please only use the colors Black, White, Gray and Red in your piece

  • Format: Must fit a 6 x 9 inch format. 

  • All files must be 300 DPI

  • Traditional art is great but poorly scanned art at 72 DPI will not be considered.

  • Feel free to use CMYK or RGB files, they should both be fine with the limited color palette, however, if you use different shades of red in an RGB file and you go on to print it, the print may look different than how it looks on the screen.

  • Will accept all sub genres: (Horror/Romance, Horror/Fantasy, Horror/Historical Fiction, etc.)

WARNINGS:

  • No Hate Crimes/Trauma Porn/Excessive and Meaningless Violence to Minorities, Sexual Trauma.

  • No AI.

DATES TO CONSIDER

  • Open Submission Period: July 29- October 7th (A full moon 🙂)

  • Release Date: October 21st, ten days before All Hallows Eve


Quick FAQ

Where will it be sold? It will be sold digitally on: https://gumroad.com/

What is the purpose? To create a fun small edition made in honor of my favorite holiday (Halloween) that will be sold for profit digitally to earn profit for the Oat Bag.

What accepted artists receive? A free digital copy and a free printable version of the micro full edition. Feel free to sell printed copies and keep all the profits for yourself! (Please do not sell digital copies. The digital copy will only be available for sale on the Oat Bag website in hopes of raising funds for future projects.)

What is the goal? I hope the funds from selling digital copies of this micro edition will make it possible to achieve more of The Oat Bag’s long term goals such as: paying artists a small sum, boosting social media posts, saving up for a future printed issue, and more!

What does this little bag desire? 

The bag desires haunting stories based on folk tales, urban myths, personal hauntings, ghost stories passed down through generations, mythology, and/or legends. (Disclaimer: stories that appropriate indigenous legends such as the Wendigo by non-indigenous creatives without proper research/care will not be accepted.) Offer to the bag the spooky, the ghoulish, and the garish! Monsters, witches, ghosts, spirits and more! The moonless sky is the limit.

How many stories will be accepted?

I am keeping this edition short so the number of accepted pieces will depend on how many pages it amounts to.  Roughly I am hoping to accept:

3-5 comics/visual poetry/story with illustrations 1-6 pages

3-5 stand-alone drawings