OFFICIAL Top Cow Talent Hunt 2015 Discussion Thread

[Brian83]

Given that there's a good amount of scripts to choose from, I'm sticking to what will work with my style best and going for the Witchblade one since I'm more familiar with those characters anyway. Having said such, that particular sample script is 21 pages long. From here until the deadline that's more than ample enough time to crank out 21 pages of pencils....which is roughly a full comic anyway. But if I chose that particular script, will ALL 21 pages need to be penciled and submitted?.... or will a portion/maybe half of that will suffice? Everything else seems pretty clear I just wanted to know so I wont be disqualified or looked over.

Yes. Submit all 21 pages of it. But let's just say things in your life kinda slow you down or get in the way and you're approaching the deadline, I would still submit anyway if you didn't complete all 21 pages

[Stampy]

Hey there, I'm new to the CBR forum. If any penciller is looking for an inker for their submissions to the Top Cow Talent hunt, I've got a Dropbox link below with a pdf. document with my ink samples. If anyone likes what they see and would be interested in a collaboration, email me.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/liz0bshewv...0inks.pdf?dl=0

[Arju]

Hello to all , I'm a new entry .

For pencillers : I have afraid to did not understand how many pages we have to draw for the contest if 1 compleate script or just some pages from one of them, ( and ìf, how many)

Thank you!

[ertitomontana]

Hi,

Sorry to insist on this point but then I can submit the sequential art of the script "ARTIFACTS Chapter 6" that it have only 6 pages?

Thanks

[astrakhan]

Can I just say kudos to Top Cow for releasing a Witchblade guidebook the day the talent search link went live? I know nothing about the Top Cow universe to be honest, but I'm a writer who'd like to give it a shot, so that Case Files issue and the Top Cow bible should hopefully be enough to give me a head start.

[afrankjr]

Hi Matt,

This will be my third Talent Hunt. One thing I've been very curious about is continuity; have the winners' submissions chronologically fit in the timelines of their respective books? Or have their submissions just earned them the opportunity to write a new issue within the timeline? I've been trying to kind of balance the two, and I'm not sure which way to lean continuity-wise, between timeline-sensitive and completely isolated.

Thanks for any answer you can give.

[Samy Stop]

Hi everyone
How much pages pencillers have to draw ?

[Arden Belfry]

Thank you Top Cow and CBR, this is a great opportunity.

[Bevan]

According to the pdf (click the link in the article to download) we can use any character; past, present or future.

Yes, I did notice that part. My question was not about what characters we can use but whether there were any restrictions with regards to the plot and flow of the story. Talent Hunt 2013 had very particular guidelines on what sort of story we should tell, while this one does not appear to have any guidelines about the story (outside of what characters we can use). I just wanted to double-check if that were true and that I hadn't missed anything important.

[mhawkins]

The pdf doesn't specify how many sequential pages should be submitted by artists. Is there a specific amount or range?

8 pages minimum of sequential work. That was in the PDF might have been cropped out, sorry about that.

Matt

[mhawkins]

I am very confused about this as well. In fact, I understand how to submit a comic script..so if I wanted to submit for writing I am all set, that is all well explained. Unfortunately, I wanted to submit as an artist/penciller and after reading the rules I still have no idea what I am supposed to be doing? I cannot open any of the samples scripts. Can anyone let me know what to use? I tried using Adobe and Windows Doc and neither worked. Am I supposed to pick one of these scripts to draw from? Do I just make up my own Witchblade story and draw that? And do I have to include the script I wrote? Very confused and I have no idea how to start this at all. How many pages??

Yes, artists need to work from one of the provided sample scripts. The sole exception is if an artist teams up with a writer FOR the Talent Hunt and they illustrate 8 pages of that Talent Hunt script. If this is done, both need to submit together and both submissions should indicate that this is what was done.

[mhawkins]

Hi everyone
How much pages pencillers have to draw ?

8 pages of sequential art

[mhawkins]

Yes. Submit all 21 pages of it. But let's just say things in your life kinda slow you down or get in the way and you're approaching the deadline, I would still submit anyway if you didn't complete all 21 pages

Again, sorry this got dropped out of the PDF but it's a minimum of 8 pages. That's roughly a page and a half a month.

[mhawkins]

I used an existing historical character last year, but yeah, I've taken it to mean that you can create a new past or future bearer... they just need to be the bearer of an existing Artifact.

The main reason that new characters were discouraged last year (and again this year) is because Top Cow would assume the rights to the character. And this is something a new creator might not be aware of or want. And, obviously, Top Cow doesn't want creators claiming that their characters have been stolen. This is why it has been made so clear.

Personally, I wouldn't use any characters that I've previously created and want to hold onto. But I would create a new character if I came up with one for a story set in the Top Cow Universe that demanded that a new character be created. I wouldn't be worried about Top Cow having the rights to such a character because I would've created said character for the Top Cow Universe.



I think they are referring to characters like Batman here. Like, say, if you were to write a Darkness/Batman crossover. That wouldn't be allowed. The stories need to be based on these characters (and by these 'characters' they mean bearers of the Artifacts, pre-existing or newly created), not other existing properties or entirely new properties.

So, you can create a new character if they are the bearer of an Artifact or a cyborg existing alongside Cyber Force but not an entirely new concept.

That would be my interpretation, anyway.



It says it's a twenty-two page script (although, this usually results in more actual pages being written as part of a word document).

I don't know if we're allowed multiple entries or not this year, although it has been allowed in previous years. If you're referring to a single entry, they'll only want the final finished document. Only submit it once, if you're unsure and think you might want to rewrite it, wait until the deadline to submit.

The Talent Hunt will run 10/15/14 to 03/15/15 (or 15/10/14 to 15/03/15, if you're British like I am ). That means we have until the 15th of March next year.

This was added as a response to people asking me why they could NOT create new characters. In the first year we specifically forbade it because why give away your own creations? You can't use characters from other companies. Our preference would be you use the existing characters. I added this last year specifically by request. I would not do it. No way I'd create new characters for a company on a pure work-for-hire basis, but that's me. Some people don't care. I just want it to be clear that if someone DOES create a new bearer for the Witchblade and that person DOES win then they are giving Top Cow that character as part of the rules of the contest. I think the language might have been me trying to be too clear which made it confusing. Sorry about that.

[mhawkins]

I will be on here probably 3-4 times a week between now and the end of the contest (5 months). I'm new to the boards so I'm not sure if there is an email system within it, but I may not check that right away so post here and Ryan or I will find it. I'm not sure yet what Ryan Cady's log in is, but he'll chime in. Thanks all for participating and good luck!