Design Contest!

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The relationship of Magical Girls to the shojou genre is an extraordinary one that has early roots as old as Tezuka’s Princess Knight (1953). The genre which heavily features girls and women can be categorized by the addition of magic & creature sidekicks, female protagonists and the strong emphasis on relationships (especially sisterhood!) It is a subgenre that empowers, inspires and even challenges gender roles. Today that influence and love is seen and felt in everything from the newer generation of magical girl franchises like Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Mildred Louise’s Agents Of The Realm webcomic.

Black Nerd Problems is looking for a new t-shirt to add to our collection and we’d love to have one that incorporates that love of the magical girl and we’d like your help. We looking for a design, a logo of sorts that has that shoujo / anime style representation. In addition to the shojou/magical girl feel: we’re looking for something that adds to the spirit of Black Nerd Problems: making sure that diversity is promoted and appreciated.

In short: we are looking for WOC artists to create an image that represents both the magical girl and our vision of standing out of the crowd and loving all things nerd unapologetically. This logo/image will be featured on t-shirts and possibly other merchandise in the future.

Further Note: We’d like to take a stance similar to Joamette Gil and the folks running the Power & Magic: A Queer Witch Comics Anthology in that the submissions can come from all women of color, not just cisgender or single-gender women. Those who identify as Non-binary are encouraged to apply.

Starting Monday, May 29th, 2016, we are opening the contest up to artists to submit. The call for submissions officially closes June 30th which is the birthday of one very special magical girl: Tsukino Usagi aka Sailor Moon. The BNP family will choose a winner after the submission period is over.

Prize: $150, Choice of (1) Classic or Newer Black Nerd Problems T-shirt and a plug for your artwork using BNP’s platform.

What you should NOT submit: nudity, gore, extreme violent imagery or symbols. Ideally, if it’s NSFW, it’s won’t be appropriate for an entry. Rule of thumb: If you wouldn’t show it to middle school aged Kinomoto Sakura of Clamp’s Card Captor Sakura, then rethink your submission. No full paged comics or graphic novels here. Just a logo. One image.

Send submissions to: [email protected]

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UPDATE

Congrats to @sushicake2020, the winner of our Magical Girl Design Contest! Here’s her winning entry! Thank you to all that that entered! Thanks to all those who spread the word about the contest using the hashtags and RT’d, reposted and reblogged! Now available as a t-shirt and other apparel and goods here!