Celsys Opens International Manga School Contest

Celsys, the developer behind the popular Clip Studio comic/manga creation software is again sponsoring an international art competition, with prizes including cash payouts, Wacom tablets and Clip Studio licenses.

To enter, visit the Clip Studio website here.

From the Press Release:

Starting in 2018 as a contest for European artists, the International Comic/Manga School Contest is now in its fourth year. Last year, the contest garnered over 750 strong entries from 825 participating schools in 69 countries and regions. The contest accepts entries regardless of language, so expects a wide variety of entries from many countries and regions. The contest, targeted at current students, is a rare opportunity for future professional comic artists to make contact early in their careers with media organizations around the world.

Charlie Adlard, known as the artist of “The Walking Dead” comic series, and popular webtoon artist Simone Ferriero, along with five other judges will select works that appeal to a worldwide audience as the winners. Professional creators and sponsors will give detailed critiques to help not only the winners, but also readers of the entries and their critiques, to improve their skills. The critiques from judges and sponsors in last year’s contest were very well received by the winners, with winners commenting that “the judges’ advice pointed out my shortcomings, but also gave me great confidence and courage” and that “the detailed feedback was very helpful in getting me to better understand my strengths and weaknesses.” This time, an online award ceremony is also planned, where the winners will receive words of encouragement and critiques directly from the judges.

The winning entries in the comic categories will be translated into English, French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, and Korean for readers all over the world to enjoy.

The theme for all categories is "Admiration":

Entries will be accepted for the following six categories.

Comic Category (Color)
An original color comic for all ages (8–16 pages, including cover). Aimed at American-style comic entries. 

Manga Category (Black-and-White/Color)
An original black-and-white or color manga for all ages (8–16 pages, including cover). Aimed at Japanese-style manga entries. 

Bande Dessinée Category (Color)
An original bande dessinée for all ages (8–16 pages, including cover).

Webtoon Category (Color)
An original webtoon for all ages (sized 800 x 40,000–72,000 pixels or a height 50–90x that of the width (max. 800 pixels width)).

Storyboard Category
A 4–8 page monochrome manga, comic or webtoon drawn according to the supplied storyboard text.

Illustration Category
An original color illustration for all ages - no size requirements.