the pepper project

Artgerm & Imaginary Friends Studios is proud to announce THE PEPPER PROJECT, the first artbook dedicated to the sexy and enigmatic muse, Pepper and her friend Wanda. The book will feature Artgerm’s Pepper pieces including many never before seen Pepper pieces specially created for this volume. The book will also feature some Pepper and Wanda art by some of the industry’s top artists as well as Pepper pieces done by fans and friends.

The volume will be presented with the well designed and premium quality printing that our studio has done including a standard paperback version and a Collectors hardcover version with lots of extras.

Pepper, that indescribable girl in red was created by Artgerm 5 years ago as a recurring subject for him to experiment with drawing and illustration styles. From Nagel-esque vectors to Ashley Wood-ish brush strokes to cartoony 2 dimensional peppers and photorealistic peppers, the range of possibilities continues to grow. As Artgerm continued to experiment, he noticed that Pepper had, in the process, gained a few fans who started doing their own Pepper pieces to express their own individual art styles. These fan variations were again as diverse as the fans themselves sometimes with the only common elements being Pepper’s fiery red palette, her headphones and nothing else!

In celebration of this, The Pepper Project will include some of the best Pepper artwork around by both Artgerm and the fans. Now – you too can be part of The Pepper Project collection (don’t worry, its free!)

That’s right- there is NO COST and NO LIMIT to enter artwork for The Pepper Project. You may submit as many different entries as you like and no entry fee is required. The artist of each published entry in The Pepper Project will receive one complimentary copy of the book and a few goodies (all shipping paid for by us of course).

All submissions should feature Pepper or Wanda with Pepper together. Images can be created in any form and medium- this includes 2D illustration, a comic strip/page, 3D render, photography, pictures of physical sculptors, cosplay or more! Be creative and express yourself with Pepper & Wanda! Please note all elements used in the submission should be originally created by the artist submitting! And if you need help, do feel free to collaborate with friends too. Remember we aren’t looking for people to necessarily stick to the original designs. Be creative and interpret Pepper and Wanda in a way and style of your own choosing!

The Pepper Project aims to celebrate artistic diversity and individual artistic styles. Don’t worry about sticking to Pepper’s design details nor about what she’s meant to be doing- its all about your interpretation!

It’s hard to pin down exactly what will strike a chord with the studio’s selection team. It could be a great idea, a wonderful pose, a technically impressive execution or just something surprising. The selection will be judged by artists from Imaginary Friends Studios including Stanley Lau / Artgerm (Co-Founder, Creative Director and Creator of Pepper), Kendrick Lim/ Kunkka (Co-Founder, Creator of Pepper’s friend, Wanda), Kai Lim / Ukitakumuki (Co-Founder, Art Director and Game Nut) and Edmund Shern (Co-Founder, President)

Artwork to be considered for The Pepper Projects needs to be submitted by 1st March 2008. Please remember to read the submission guidelines and electronic upload instructions before submitting work: Due to potential technical limitations, we encourage all artists to submit works as quickly as possible to avoid any last minute upload issues.

		How to Submit Artwork for Consideration You can only submit images electronically. Please read carefully below regarding the submission process & format of the images - as it is vital that you submit images with a good resolution.

		Copyright - IMPORTANT PLEASE READ Pepper and Wanda are copyright to Imaginary Friends Studios. Imaginary FS grants permission for artists to feature Pepper and Wanda in their images for the purposes of submission to this artbook. The person submitting should be the artist or have written permission from the copyright holder of the work. You may include other characters of your own creation but please do not include any characters in the artwork that you do not own. Unfortunately it means you can’t include Pepper dancing with Naruto or racing Sonic the Hedgehog etc. (unless of course you have permission from the copyright owners of Naruto- which would be really cool btw!) Please do not include backgrounds or additional image elements in your submission that you do not own or have permission to use in published artwork. This includes stock photography elements, fonts, someone else’s art. There is no problem in entering professional work that is really all yours. You must have written clearance from your 'client' to enter work if you are not the copyright holder of the work.

		Image Size - IMPORTANT PLEASE READ Image dimensions should be print resolution (as large as you can possibly render). Do not send in a low-resolution placeholder and ask us to get back to you, as we won't. A guideline is 2657 pixels wide and/or 3636 high, 300 DPI (portrait), or 3636 pixels wide and/or 2657 pixels high, 300 DPI (landscape). Your image aspect ratio and layout will dictate the final resolution. These are given as guidelines. To be safe, render images that are larger than these specified. DO NOT upsample your images to achieve higher resolution. If you cannot reach the desired full-page resolution, just send in what you have.

		Submission Package Each image must be saved in Jpeg (.jpg) format in highest quality setting and included in a zip file together with the Entry Form. Only one image & one Entry Form per zip file. Multiple entries must be uploaded in multiple, different zip files.

		How to send it Please attach your zip files and email to pepperproject@imaginaryfs.com

		Deadline for Entries (check carefully) All submissions must reach us and be uploaded by the Entry Deadline: Saturday March 1st 2008

		What if you do get in? We'll inform you by email if your work has been accepted for publication before printing.

		Image Preparation We are striving to make this publication feature the highest quality collection of art ever created. To do this we need you to submit the best quality images that you can make. Here are some general notes that may help you improve the quality of your images for print. 1. You should feel free to "hand edit" your images as much as you like. 3D renders should be viewed as if they were raw photographs -- they should be hand edited, colour corrected, sharpened, and edited to improve their quality as much as you can. 2. Monitor gamma and colour settings vary considerably. We will be reviewing all images on a standard system that is representative of most computer systems and is also optimised for print reproduction. We will be reviewing and preparing all images on a monitor with sRGB colour response and a gamma of 2.2. We have provided a monitor calibration image (Click HERE) to help you set up your monitor. You MUST display this image at 100% in a program that does NOT alter the gamma (not Photoshop). We have provided the image as a 100% quality JPG image so that you can view it in any web browser. You should adjust you monitor controls so that the difference between the solid and dithered areas are minimal. Ideally you should be able to make all the solid squares match the surrounds -- however this is not possible on most monitors in which case you should adjust your monitor so that most of the mid range is matched. You should sit back from the monitor and squint to blur your vision to best judge the match. You should do all adjustments on your monitor if you can. If you have a choice you should not adjust your graphics card gamma or any other software controls unless you have an ATI Raedon, NVIDIA FX or other card with FLOATING POINT display buffer. The reason for this is that there is just not enough resolution in 8 bits (24 bit RGB graphics buffer) to permit adjustment of gamma response without seriously degrading the shadow detail. 3. Do not convert your image to CMYK and do not over-sharpen it for print. We will be applying CMYK conversions and other filters that are optimal for the print process we have chosen. It is probable that we will be employing the most recent direct to plate and stochastic screen processes for printing. You should concentrate on providing images that look excellent on screen and let us perform the optimal preparation for print. 4. Please save the images in Jpeg (.jpg) format at Maximum quality setting

Q: Is entry free?

A: Entry is completely free (yeah we know you need to pay for submitting to other artbooks but that’s not for us!)

Q: What do Artists get in return?

A: Artists who have their works selected will not receive any royalties but instead will enjoy the following:

• Free entry submission with no limits on the number of entries means that everyone can enter.

• Featured artists are given a free copy of the book – with shipping completely on the house to anywhere in the world (plus a few other freebies when we figure those out)!

• Artists get to showcase their work and have fun!

• Imaginary’s Artbooks are seen by some of the leading members of the creative industry including recruiters and art directors!

• You get your art in print alongside some of your favorite artists – how cool is that?

Q: Can I send you a CD with all my images on it?

A: No. Please refer to the submission guidelines.

Q: Can I upload low resolution JPGs first, then if you accept my work, send you the high resolution artwork?

A: No. Please submit the full resolution image.

Q: I'm having trouble submitting artwork, who should I contact?

A: Email pepperproject@imaginaryfs.com for all enquiries.