Call for Artists: Abstractions II

UPDATE May 8, 2018: This call has completed. Thanks to everyone who helped spread the word.

Code & Supply is looking for artists to create imagery for the second edition of Abstractions; our multi-discipline software conference. Abstractions II — to be held in August 2019 — will use this imagery to design its website, attendee materials, venue decorations, and advertising.

Art was very important to the first edition of Abstractions. It set a tone for the entire event. That tone was built into our art with imagery that created a sense of exploration, creativity, and community. It also set an expectation of quality. When attendees saw the work we were already putting into the conference, they knew they could expect great things from the event itself.

Making Art Central to a Software Conference

The Call

For Abstractions II, we are putting out a public call for artists instead of contacting one directly. We hope this will expand the candidates list beyond our immediate network. We also hope that doing this call publicly will give an equal opportunity to both established illustrators and new talent that has yet to be given their platform.

We intend to use this art in a similar way to the first Abstractions conference. The selected candidate will create a poster that will be used to advertise the conference. From this poster, we will decide which elements can be used for things like hotel key cards, conference t-shirts, social media, event decorations, and more.

We hired a second artist to create a venue map inspired by the conference art and decorated our venue based on the poster.

Hotel Key (left) and a typical social media template (right) using design elements from the poster

What We Need

The final product must be delivered digitally in a way that elements of the illustration can be used individually across our different media. For example: if there are characters in your piece, they should be created on separate Photoshop layers so they may be taken out and used individually. This additional work will be done by our graphic designers.

Themes and Inspiration

We will trust and value the artist’s experience for a lot of the creative decisions in our projects. In the past, we have provided provide thematic preferences and inspirational material.

We think it is important to help potential submitters understand what the conference is about. We do have artists within our community, but expect many submissions from outsiders that have never been to a software conference. Below is a recap video of the first Abstractions that shows the atmosphere and explains some of what we were striving to create.

Abstractions (2016) Recap Video

Beyond the atmosphere of the first Abstractions, we hope to create a poster that communicates certain feelings. We want community, inclusion, curiosity, and excitement to be central feelings to the final result.

While our first poster had a theme mixing nature and technology, this is not necessary. Neither is it discouraged. Similarly, the same colors from our first conference are not a requirement nor discouraged.

Propose Your Treatment

All submissions should be sent by email to art@abstractions.io.

All submissions should include:

• low-fidelity sketch of the poster
• suggested color themes
• basic concepts explained
• commission price and terms
• timeline for drafts, iterations, and completion
• your contact info

Excited to add some art to this world with you. If you have questions about anything in this article, email the address above.