Ronin Warriors
Yoroiden Samurai Troopers

Hello Ronin Warriors/Yoroiden Samurai Trooper fans!

First newsletter for the month of February, and I'm late sending it out. Whoops! Can you believe we're just two months away (a mere 8 weeks!)? Let's get to the much anticipated survey results and what they mean:

1. The Cover Survey Results.
2. Next Steps.
3. One of the Contest Rules.

1. The Cover Survey Results

It's a screenshot, so if it's a little hard to read, the breakdown is written out below.

“What do you think we should do for our Fanzine's Cover Page?”

• 55% = Public Contest of new submissions
• 35% = Private Contest
• 5% = No Contest
• 5% = Public contest including regular submissions

“If it were a contest, who gets to vote?”

• 70% = Public Vote
• 10% = Private Vote
• 10% = No Vote (organizer decides)
• 10% = Other Idea

2. Next Steps

The official announcement for the cover contest will be in the next newsletter, which will address the templates, specs, and rules. All this info will also be added to the site for reference, so please look forward to it!

What do I mean by templates? Over this week, I'll create some basic cover layouts that will show areas where title and info text could overlap an illustration. The goal is, that by creating a few templates, participants will have flexibility to design with a preferred layout in mind. Ideally, it'll mean harmonious cover designs instead of artwork fighting with text for dominance (I'm looking at you, mainstream superhero comicbook covers!).

Since all of you are already participants in the zine itself, you get a bit of a head start since you now know that it'll be a public contest with a public vote. Here's a little additional info to help you get going early:

• Size art at 11"x14", portrait layout.
• Set it at a minimum of 300dpi with a CMYK color setting.
• Deadline will be the same as all submissions.

It's very similar to the general art submission guidelines, but the key difference is the size and the soon-to-arrive corresponding templates. The idea with the larger size is to allow some additional wiggle room for final layout and give contestants more space to add detail.

Official info coming soon!

3. One of the Contest Rules

Since this is going to be a public contest comprised of submissions separate from internal art, there's one rule that I'll be instituting as the organizer: anyone submitting work for the cover must also have submitted a piece for the inside of the book.

Why this rule? Because I'd really hate to see a contestant submit an entry for the sole purpose of getting on a zine cover. There are a lot of amazing artists who do wonderful fanart, but they also admit that they do some of it to cash in on the popularity of the series rather than because they are a fan themselves. I have nothing against that business model or thinking, but for our zine, I really want the contestants to be participating from a place of love for the series, as a fan, just like all of us are. It's my hope that by having this condition to the cover contest, that we can have a fanzine that truly encompasses our enduring love for this anime, from the front all the way to the back cover.

In summary:

• Public contest for the fanzine cover with submissions being a separate entry from an additional internal piece.
• Offical templates, specs, and rules will be provided by the next newsletter.
• Cover contestants will be required to be submitting a separate piece to the zine itself.

Feel free to reply to this email if you have any questions. Countdown 8 weeks!

Submission Deadline: April 1^st, 2018, 11:59PM EST.

Your privacy is important to us. Please send a message to this email with the subject, "unsubscribe me" if you no longer wish to receive emails from us.

Disclaimer: By submitting art or writing to the fanzine project, submitter is stating they have created said works of art or writing themselves and have not stolen or plagiarized another's fan works. If a submission is found to have been submitted by a party other than the original creator, the submission will no longer be eligible to be included in the project.

Submitter also understands that submitting their work automatically gives permission to the ronin warriors fanzine project to publish said work. The submitter still holds all rights and ownership of said work and may publish the work themselves in print or online as they see fit.

It is not the intention of the project to receive any monetary compensation by the staff or submitters. All involvement in the project is voluntary and the final product is meant to be sold at cost to fans, staff members, and those who have submitted works.

©2018 Emily Wing