Visual Media
We are open to a broad range of visual media, including photography, painting, drawing, pen and ink, engraving, printmaking, stamps, maps, illuminated borders, calligraphic work, and other traditional or culturally specific forms.
Digital work is welcome when it reflects the principles above. This includes digital brushes and linework that draw upon traditional visual languages, as well as immersive matte paintings with a strong sense of place and cultural or aesthetic specificity.
We are particularly interested in cinematic and atmospheric photography, richly textured illustration, cartographic and scientific imagery, traditional printmaking, and artwork that is fully committed to its particular visual language.
All submitted artwork must be human-made. We do not accept AI-generated imagery.
We are drawn to the physical world: dust, rain, wind, snow, water, mud, blood, stone, fire, fog.
Visual Tenets
1. Atmosphere
Fog, rain, smoke, dust, snow, mist. Dramatic or unusual light. Silence, tension, anticipation. Images that linger emotionally.
2. Materiality
Stone, wood, rust, paper, leather, cloth. Fire, water, ice, earth. Age, weathering and imperfection. Texture that can almost be felt through the page. Grain, artifacts, stains and organic color.
3. Sense of Place
Specific cultures and landscapes, real or imagined. Architecture rooted in history. Geography with identity. Local objects and visual traditions. Images that could not have been made “anywhere.”
4. Discovery
Images that invite questions rather than answer them. Hidden stories, forgotten places, unfamiliar rituals and unexpected perspectives.
5. Scale
Vast landscapes. Small figures against enormous environments. Ancient structures, oceans, mountains, deserts and forests.
6. Human Presence
People engaged with the world: work, travel, exploration, craftsmanship, survival, pilgrimage, warfare, ritual, and daily life.
7. Timelessness
We favor images relatively free from contemporary visual clutter: corporate branding, advertising, disposable consumer objects and fashionable visual trends. Images should feel timeless or removed from contemporary commercial culture.
8. Cinematic Composition
Strong silhouettes, layered depth, dramatic skies, natural framing, negative space, controlled color and intentional shadow. Images that could almost be frames from a film.
9. Mythic Potential
Images that hint at something larger: history, folklore, exploration, philosophy, conquest, pilgrimage, frontiers, civilizations or forgotten knowledge. Not fantasy for its own sake, but imagery connected to enduring human stories.
10. Visual Density
Ornament, maps, manuscripts, forests, borders, calligraphy, architecture, machinery, clothing, weather, texture and symbols. Even simple compositions can contain layers of information and discovery.
11. Commitment to Style
We value work that fully inhabits its visual language. Whether an engraving, oil painting, photograph, digital illustration, map, or calligraphic work, the image should feel deliberate and particular rather than generically “artistic.”
How Artwork is Published
New World is a quarterly, book-format print journal. Volumes are planned at approximately 7 × 10 inches and 250–400 pages, with dedicated full-color reproduction for selected photography and illustration.
Artwork may be published as a full page or spread, as part of a sequence or portfolio, or alongside fiction and nonfiction where the work has a natural editorial relationship.
We are primarily interested in existing, unpublished work rather than commissioning new artwork. All submissions are considered editorially, and submission does not guarantee publication.
Selected artists receive an honorarium and retain copyright to their work. Artists also receive one complimentary copy of the volume in which their work appears. Specific publication rights and terms are agreed upon before publication.
Initial Consideration
You do not need to submit print-resolution files for initial consideration. A portfolio link or web-resolution samples are sufficient. We will request reproduction-quality files from selected contributors.
Work submitted for Volume I does not need to fit The Stars. If we believe a piece is better suited to a future volume, we may ask to hold it for consideration later.
Visual work does not need to accompany a written piece. Photography and illustration may be selected as independent editorial contributions and given their own space within a volume.
Rights
Artists retain copyright to their work. New World does not purchase or assume ownership of submitted or selected artwork.
We welcome both unpublished work and existing work that has previously appeared in an artist's portfolio, website, or social media. We are particularly interested in work that has not previously received substantial editorial or commercial publication.
For selected work, New World acquires worldwide publication rights, as well as the perpetual right to reproduce the work as part of future reprints and editions of the volume in which it originally appears.
New World also receives the right to reproduce selected work for the purpose of advertising, promoting, and publicizing the journal and the volume in which the work appears, including through our website, social media, email, press materials, and other promotional materials.
After first publication, artists remain free to publish, reproduce, sell, license, or otherwise use their work as they wish.
What to Send
- A short note about the kind of visual work you make
- A portfolio link or 1–10 relevant samples
- Any specific connection to New World, Volume I, or a future themed volume
- Any existing, unpublished work you would like us to consider for publication
These are not commissioned assignments. Artists are invited to submit existing work for editorial consideration. Selected work is published in exchange for an honorarium, and artists retain copyright.
Artist Inquiries
Artists are invited to submit existing work for editorial consideration.
Email: contribute@readnewworld.com