Bear Pit

Bear Pit #6 - Call for Contributions

miscomp — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 10:51:49 +0000

We’re looking for comics, illustration and other forms of sequential art for the SIXTH issue of our anthology zine, BEARPIT. Details as follows:

Theme: “Flight”

Deadline: Sunday 2nd June 2013

Format: The zine is in black and white, but greys will print out well. Max pages per submission is 6; minimum is 1.

Only one submission per contributor please.

Paper size: The zine will be printed on A5, and your artwork should fit within these dimensions (148 x 210mm). We would recommend drawing bigger and then scaling down to these dimensions if you can.

Contents: All contributions take the theme of Flight. Although we do emphasise the comic/sequential-art nature of Bear Pit Zines, any combination of words and pictures will be considered.
Finally, we are open to submissions from any and all, but we do ask that the contributor and/or their work retain some kind of connection to the city of Bristol.

Please send your submissions as (compressed) .tiff, .png or .psd at no less than 300 dpi to bearpitzines@gmail.com.

For more information on Bear Pit Zines, please visit: http://bearpitzines.tumblr.com/about

For more information on the zine itself, including the back catalogue, please visit: http://bearpitzines.tumblr.com/zine

emigennis: This week’s preview of the upcoming Hic &...

miscomp — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 00:09:08 +0000

emigennis:

This week’s preview of the upcoming Hic & Hoc anthology, Unknown Origins & Untimely Ends, comes from a story by Nick Souček and Simon Moreton. Nick and Simon work together often and go by the publishing moniker, Things In Panels. For our anthology, Nick wrote a story about Jerome of Sandy Cove, which Simon drew. His wispy lines and minimalist layouts are the perfect compliment to a story with so many obscured details.

Issue #6 Instigation Meet

miscomp — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 23:17:15 +0000

With issue #5 out and circulating, we’re now moving our attentions on to the next issue.

Please do come along to the King William (King Street, Bristol, UK) for 7:30pm on Tues the 5th of March to discuss the format and theme of the next issue. We’ll make these decisions together, and in the past has always been both constructive and fun. All are welcome, whether you’ve contributed before or not, and whether you even anticipate contributing to the next issue or not. And if you can’t make it, please do send across an email with any ideas of format and especially theme and we will voice them on your behalf.

Bear Pit #5 is back from the printers. Distro meet is on...

miscomp — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 13:53:07 +0000

Bear Pit #5 is back from the printers. Distro meet is on Friday, all are welcome.

What: Bear Pit Meet - Distribution of #5
Where: The Hatchet - http://goo.gl/maps/DQN6m
When: 7:30pm, Friday 8th Feb.

http://smoo.tumblr.com/post/41285017063/dont-give-up

miscomp — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 14:20:00 +0000

http://smoo.tumblr.com/post/41285017063/dont-give-up:

Excellent article by Bear Pit resident Simon M. of smoo comics.

Don’t give up.

“To put it frankly, it can be hard to tell if you’re bravely persevering in the face of others’ unfair discouragement of your art, or foolishly persevering in the face of others’ accurate assessment of your limited talents.”

When an article on the First/Second Books blog carrying statements like the one above surfaced online, it caused me no small amount of consternation.

Admittedly, on the surface, the article seemed to suggest that ‘if you want a route to market for your comics, and you want us as a publisher to be that route, realise that we have conditions which not everyone can meet’. If that was all there was to it, I’d say that might be fair enough. They have a market, and not everyone is right for it. Besides, comics have long been heterodox to the orthodoxy of the publishing industry, and the history of self-publishing, and small press start-ups suggests the big houses do not have to be some panacea to which we must all aspire. We can do this ourselves. We’ve been doing it ourselves in many ways, for many years.

Yet, explicit in this blog is something else. It’s explicit in the title and spelled out in the message of the text: and that is, that at some point, you need to succeed or you have to quit. No alternatives. And what is even more pernicious is that there appears to be only one route to success, and that is through a publisher:

“publishers are in a pretty good position to make this call [as to the merit of comics work]. We’re not perfect, as we’ve established, but we look at a lot of work, and we have a general sense of who has “it” and who doesn’t. Our livelihood depends on us making good calls here, so we invest a lot of time and effort into it.”

I think that could be a fair statement in many ways, adjoined as it is by an admission of fallibility, if the message was ‘your work isn’t right for us, but maybe try elsewhere?’. But in fact the message appears to be: “WE know best, and if WE don’t want you, and other publishers don’t want you, maybe you shouldn’t bother at all”. Take, for example, the author’s comments on factors influencing an artist’s decision to persevere or give up:

“What kind of reception are you getting from industry professionals? Note: this last one is only one factor out of many in the morass of variables that will influence your decision to stay in comics or to focus your energies elsewhere. But it’s an important one, if this industry professional does say so herself.”

It seems pretty bald, to me. Succeed (by a publisher’s terms) or give up.

But who holds the cards here? As Rob Davis pointed out on Twitter, a contract to publish is a mutual investment – you invest your work in the publisher, they invest their resources in you. At best, that should be a mutually beneficial relationship, and also a mutually DEPENDENT one. The publishers need us as much as we might need them.

So we can return to the idea that one route to market, through a publisher isn’t for everyone. But that doesn’t mean you should give up: the alternative independent music scenes of the 1970s, 80s and 90s didn’t ‘ask for permission’ from the big labels to do what they did: they just did it. And they made making and performing and recording and releasing music off the grid, viable.

And when it comes to art, my interest is not in ‘success’ but ‘honesty’. If work is ‘honest’, that and is less mediated by ‘what is expected’ and more by ‘what it feels right to the artist to do’ THAT produces work that is challenging and exciting. Develop it with a crayon and a post-it, or an iPad and a stylus, or a tree and a camera, or an app and a soundscape or whatever. Do it from your heart, not to please someone who claims to be an expert in what sells in one, changing market.

So don’t give up. Keep making. Be creative both in how you make work, and how you share it. Meet people. Talk to people. Think about new ways to get things out there. Think about why you do things; make art of any kind because it makes sense to do so. Never, ever be told you can’t do it.

Don’t expect a living, but at the same time, don’t let anyone deny you one because they have one view of the world and you have another. I think we all have to revise our expectations about what is owed to us in terms of a wage - perhaps you can’t make a living from being published like you could many years ago. But there are a lot of occupations – from technical to creative to administrative to intellectual – that don’t have the same models of ‘career’ anymore. We all have to strive to find our own way through and do the things that are important to us – as a day job, or a late at night after work job.

I’m not saying that that it’s right that making a living from art is challenging. I’m just saying if there is a solution, then it’ll come from us, and not them. So to end where we began: Don’t. Give. Up.

Extension to BPZ #5 Deadline - 20th January '13

miscomp — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 16:02:50 +0000

If you didn’t get a chance to submit to #5, here’s your chance. The deadline has been extended to Sunday the 20th of January!

All other information is the same as per here.

Bear Hugs!

Reminder: submissions to Bear Pit 5!

smoo — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 09:20:13 +0000

We’re looking for comics, illustration and other forms of sequential
art for the fifth issue of our anthology zine, BEARPIT. Details as
follows:

Theme: “Expedition”

Deadline: Thu 20th December

Format: The zine is in black and white. Max pages per submission, 6; minimum, 1.
Only one submission per contributor will be included.

Paper size: The zine will be printed at A5 (148 x 210mm). Your artwork
should fit to these dimensions.

Contents: All contributions that take the theme of Expedition.
Although we do emphasise the comic/sequential-art nature of Bear Pit
Zines, any combination of words and pictures will be considered.
Finally, we are open to submissions from any and all, but we do ask
that the contributor and/or their work retain some kind of connection
to the city of Bristol.

Please send your submissions as .tiff, .bmp or .psd at no less than
300 dpi to bearpitzines@gmail.com.

Photo

miscomp — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 13:45:01 +0100

Announcing the Bristol Comic and Zine Fair 2012

smoo — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 12:46:00 +0100

Bear Pit Zines presents…
Bristol Comic and Zine Fair
Downstairs at Cafe Kino.

Sunday 23rd September 2012.

12pm -6pm

The Bristol Comic and Zine Fair returns for a second year to celebrate the world of DIY publishing.

The Fair brings together brilliant artists, writers and makers from across Bristol and further afield for a one-day market. There’ll self-published zines, homemade comics, handmade books, alternative publications and all things in-between on offer.

Come along and meet creators, be inspired, and pick up great art and writing at affordable prices!

How to get a table

We are currently offering half tables (around 3 feet) to self-publishers, zine makers and comics artists. There will also be a communal table for makers with only one or two items to sell.

If you are interested in exhibiting at Bristol Comic and Zine fair, please email us with a brief statement about yourself and your work, and links to images or your website*.

The deadline for applications is 5pm Wednesday August 29th 2012

*please note that as space is limited we will not be able to guarantee all applicants a table space.

It’s back from the printers and ready for distribution. ...

miscomp — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 14:24:00 +0100

It’s back from the printers and ready for distribution. Yes, Bear Pit #4 is NOW AVAILABLE HERE.

Also, stay tuned for news regarding the upcoming 2nd Bear Pit Bristol Comix and Zine Fair in September!

smoo: I’ll be speaking at this event on Wednesday 8th August at...

miscomp — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 22:19:19 +0100

smoo:

I’ll be speaking at this event on Wednesday 8th August at Cafe Kino with many of my comics pals! Do come along. More info here.

hicandhoc: Announcing the first Hic & Hoc anthology, edited...

miscomp — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 12:08:57 +0100

hicandhoc:

Announcing the first Hic & Hoc anthology, edited by Emi Gennis! PLEASE REBLOG so we get lots of good submissions!

The Bear Pit Ball Keeps on Rolling

miscomp — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 13:28:00 +0100

The submissions are all in for issue #4, and we can’t wait to pull it all together and send it off to the printers. Plenty of great stuff in there, as always.

In the meantime we’re gearing up in our own ways for the Alternative Press fair in August, collectively as Bear Pit but also as our own comix personas. Somewhere closer to September we’re putting on another Comix/Zine Fair here in Bristol. We will put the word out when we’ve got a confirmed venue/date.

If you missed getting something in for issue #4, never fear. We’ll be putting out a call for submissions for the next issue in a couple of months.

Bear hugs

smoo: Here is the first page from my piece for Bear Pit #4. It...

miscomp — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 13:18:59 +0100

smoo:

Here is the first page from my piece for Bear Pit #4. It is four pages long.

Photo

miscomp — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 13:18:51 +0100

Bristol-based writer looking for comic artist

smoo — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:49:52 +0100

Bristol-based writer Daniel Humphry has been in touch and is looking for comics artists to illustrate some of his scripts. Here’s what Dan is after:

“I’ve a series of about 6-10 scripts for one page comic stories, to be submitted to major publishers for consideration in both anthologies and magazines. I’d be happy to work with more than one artist and I see this as a real opportunity to start collaborations with talented folk that could carry on to much larger projects down the line.

The stories themselves are darkly humorous, generally told over 5-8 panels, with a simple ‘slice-of-life’ construct and a twist at the end. One publisher likened them to the sketches in Chris Morris’ Jam series. Which made me blush. The type of art I’m looking for would have to reflect that, but nothing too obscure or overly fine-art, but simple black and white illustrations along the lines of a Clowes or Tomine. This is more to do with what is easy to pitch rather than personal taste.

I wouldn’t look to interfere with the artists too much after agreeing a style/layout either as I’m very much aware that the visuals are their expertise and not mine.
Finally, I’m only looking for serious parties as I have early interest from publishers and don’t want to be showing them lay outs one day and have the artist drop out the next. All experience levels are welcome though! With regards to remuneration, I’ll happily sign to a pre-agreed percentage split of any profits made from sold submissions.”

He’s looking to get started straight away, so if you’re interested, get in touch! He can be reached at: danhumphry at gmail dot com

Call for submissions: Bear Pit 4

smoo — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 14:45:00 +0100

We’re looking for comics, illustration and other forms of sequential art for the third issue of our anthology zine, BEARPIT. Details as follows:

Theme: “Other”

Deadline: Thursday 7th June

Format: The zine is in black and white. It will be reproduced on a laser (or risograph) printer, so don’t get too carried away with the greys if you can help it. Max pages per submission, 6; minimum, 1. Only one submission per contributor will be included.

Paper size: The zine will be printed at A5 (148 x 210mm). Your artwork should fit to these dimensions.

Contents: All contributions that take the theme of Other. Whilst this is fairly broad in some senses, through the conversations we had we wanted to suggest ‘other’ in the sense of terms such as ‘mirror’, ‘reflection’, ‘counterpart’ and ‘multiplicity’. Although we do emphasise the comic/sequential-art nature of Bear Pit Zines, any comibination of words and pictures will be considered. Finally, we are open to submissions from any and all, but we do ask that the contributor and/or their work retain some kind of connection to the city of Bristol.

Please send your submissions as .tiff, .bmp or .psd at no less than 300 dpi to bearpitzines@gmail.com.

Bear Pit zine #3 cover…Thanks to everyone who submitted....

island3 — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:50:19 +0000

Bear Pit zine #3 cover…Thanks to everyone who submitted. Should be ready to print shortly!

Bristol Comic and Zine Fair (the aftermath)

smoo — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 10:00:06 +0100

We held the inaugural Bristol Comic and Zine Fair at Start the Bus last month, and we just wanted to let you know it was a great success! We had very positive feedback from stallholders, makers, helpers, distributors, and punters (see reports from Smoo Comics, Bianca Soucek, and Terry Hooper). With anything like this there is room for improvement, and we’ll be streamlining our operations for the next event.

Our thanks go to the Start the Bus for their help and hosting, to Claire Carter for staffing the communal table and to everyone who helped spread the word or who came down and checked out what was going on.

If you’d like to find out information on the next fair, do get in touch.

BEARPIT ZINE #3 - Call For Submissions

miscomp — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:25:00 +0100

We’re looking for comics, illustration and other forms of sequential art for the third issue of our anthology zine, BEARPIT. Details as follows:

Theme: “Occupation”

Deadline: Thursday 15th December

Paper size: The zine will be printed at A5 (148 x 210mm). Your artwork should fit to these dimensions.

Contents: All contributions that take the theme of Occupation, however the term can be understood, as their starting point are warmly welcomed. Although we do emphasise the comic/sequential-art nature of Bear Pit Zines, any comibination of words and pictures will be considered. Finally, we are open to submissions from any and all, but we do ask that the contributor and/or their work retain some kind of connection to the city of Bristol.

Please send your submissions as .tiff, .bmp or .psd at no less than 300 dpi to bearpitzines@gmail.com.

Thanks to all who came to the meeting last week for their input into shaping the theme of this upcoming issue; it’s going to be a good one!

Happy drawing and/or writing!

Bear Pit Zines