ecampus blog

Let’s talk publication.

If the first thing to come to your mind after reading the previous sentence is purely literary publication, then get ready to have your knowledge expanded. While it’s true that many literary arts magazines focus on prose or poetry, there are still many others in need of your artistic skills. This post’s focus will be on that side of the literary arts magazine world, though many of the links you’ll find will also provide information on guidelines for written work, if that’s of interest to you.

So what is a literary arts magazine? In simple terms, it’s a publication, either online or in print, that takes submissions from people. Some can be restricted to a certain area or school, while others allow people all over the world to submit their work. Some have set themes, like environmentalism or southern living, themes that change with each new issue (a Fall issue might have a Halloween theme, to put it simply), while others have no theme at all and simply ask for your best work.

In short, the world of literary arts magazines is vast, and offers a wide variety of opportunities for writers and artists to publish their work. The trouble is, of course, finding the right opportunities for you.

The simple act of a Google search, while not all-encompassing, certainly gives you a good start. But like many thing we’ve talked about in this blog before, the more specific, the better. And what could be more specific than a large database of literary magazines?

Newpages is, for all intents and purposes, your best bet in finding compatible magazines to send your work to. The database contains information on all sorts of magazines, from general purpose ones to alternative ones that deal with very specific themes. The great thing about this website, besides the sheer number of magazines to look through, is that it gives you more detailed descriptions of each magazine when you click on their names. It’s an easy and convenient way to check if a magazine is the right fit for your work, or, if you’re really smart about it, if you can easily make your work fit the magazine.

But not everything can be perfect. Newpages, unfortunately, is geared a lot more towards written work. The magazines themselves can have opportunities for artwork, but you won’t be able to search for those specific magazines without scrolling through all the entries. Tedious perhaps, but our advice is to simple do a word search for ‘art.’ Newpages makes a point of listing the kinds of works each magazine takes, so the word search should yield most, if not all, of the relevant results.

Of particular note to photography majors is the fact that many of these descriptions make a point to list photography separate from the term ‘art’ for some reason. So make sure to keep that in mind when doing a word search on the website.

So you’ve been to Newpages and you’ve found some magazines that will accept the work you have. Whether it’s prose, poetry, art or anything else, you’re now at a position where you can take the plunge and share with the world the fruits of your labor at SCAD, and get yourself some sweet, sweet recognition. Except you’re still not exactly ready.

You have to research those magazines a little more and find out what format they’re published in, and if it works for you.

One of the most important things you’ll likely find yourself debating is to go with an online magazine or a print one. Each option has its pros and cons.

Online magazines are generally easier to work with. Because the people in charge are already working in a digital environment, they’ll be more likely to accept submissions through email or other forms of digital submission. This saves you some money in shipping and makes it less likely that you’ll lose your work in the shuffle of submissions.

Of course, online magazines tend to be newer publications as well. There’s nothing wrong with starting out being published in a new magazine, but it’s easy for online magazines to come and go. Worst case scenario, you might find yourself linking to a publication in your resume or portfolio that either no longer exists or is obviously abandoned. For that reason alone, many people choose to go for print publications.

As advanced as the literary arts magazine world has had to become, print publications still hold a certain allure. Something about holding a physical copy of your work is just attractive to those who create art, and we’re sure SCAD students are no exception. And, to tell the truth, the fact that your work was printed in a physical magazine still carries a lot of weight, professionally.

Unfortunately, print publications are less likely to accept digital submissions, which means you’ll have to make a copy of your work and send it through snail mail. Depending on the size and weight of your submission, it could get a little pricey. Still, it’s a great opportunity to get noticed and a great resume item, so there’s no harm in going this route if you can afford to.

But what sort of magazines should you be looking to? We’ve come up with two examples of typical literary arts magazines.

First is Oxford American. This magazine deals mainly with writing and art that touches on subjects of the American South. Their submission guidelines are  fairly open, especially for art submissions. There’s opportunities for photography, illustration, and fine art. Want even more reason to give this magazine a shot? The editor of Oxford American recently visited SCAD Savannah and remarked that he was always impressed with work from SCAD students.

In contrast to Oxford American’s longstanding reputation and years in publication, Paper Darts is a very new literary arts magazine. With only three issues published so far, it’s one of those publications that seeks out fresh talent and exciting new styles of art and writing. This is the kind of young publication that’s safe to start out with. It’s got a few issues under its belt, and the website design shows care and professionalism in all its details. What better way to start your career as a recognized artist and showcase your talent?

It’s a crazy business, publishing. There’s a lot of research involved, and it can be daunting your first time out. But for those of you interested in taking your hard-earned SCAD experience and using it to create a buzz for yourself, it’s a very lucrative step.

By Carlos Serrano, editor-in-chief, Myriad

Big things are happening at SCAD Myriad. For those of you not in the know, Myriad is eLearning’s student dispatch. It’s not a straight newspaper like Savannah’s District or Atlanta’s Connector, it’s something different, something that stands out. Over the past academic year, we’ve worked to make Myriad a stronger online outlet of information and interesting articles for the eLearning community, and our hard work is paying off.

Of course, that hard work comes from many different people, not just us here at the eLearning office. Our current staff of writers works hard to deliver a constant stream of quality content that deals with a variety of different subjects. Thanks to them Myriad has articles on subjects such as technology, historic preservation related to music and advice on using eLearning resources to their full potential. That’s not even mentioning the field reports from a student currently interning at Disney.

Yes, although we may be a small group at the moment, we’re nothing if not spirited and focused.

What really sets Myriad apart, however, is a willingness to include members of the eLearning community in all capacities. Besides our main staff of writers, we welcome ideas from any and all students. Whether you’re a designer, writer, both or something else entirely, we’ll listen to your ideas and give you a place to express yourself.

Ultimately, that has been the secret to Myriad’s growth this past year. What started off as a small, slowly-updated website has steadily become more active and focused. Our early posts, while informative and well-written, focused almost entirely on entertainment. A popular subject, to be fair, but it wasn’t indicative of the true variety (or, myriad, if you will) of interests that SCAD students can have.

Thankfully, our push to recruit more writers worked. The new subjects that these new writers talk about, which I mentioned briefly before, offer a wider range of subjects that begin to paint a clearer picture of SCAD students.

But we’re not going to rest on our laurels. Myriad still has a lot of potential for growth, and we aim to take advantage of that potential with every opportunity we have available. In the coming year, we’ll be pushing for more artists and writers with varied interests. We want to open the door for SCAD’s talented art and design students to showcase their work and put it out there for people to see. In particular, we’ll focus on getting visual artists. There will be opportunities for everything from weekly comic strips to editorial cartoons and everything in between.

Of course, writing will still play a major part in Myriad’s focus, but with a concentrated recruitment drive for artists, we’ll be able to explore new avenues of expression that will allow for a more open and inclusive forum for eLearning students. That, in essence, is Myriad’s ultimate goal. We hope you’ll join us for the ride.

If you’d like to become a regular contributor to Myriad, send an email to myriad@scad.edu. We’ll help you think of ideas if you’re unsure, but if you already have some, feel free to let us know.

Continuing our coverage of summer/end of the year-related posts, this week we’ll be covering a valuable school resource available during the summer. As you probably have guessed by now, thanks to the title, we’re talking about Lynda.com.

Even if this happens to be your first quarter, there’s a good chance you’ve heard about Lynda.com from one of your professors. Depending on your major, you might have heard about it from all of them. The quick description you’ll usually hear is that Lynda.com offers tutorials for various software programs like Photoshop, Flash, etc.

While that is definitely a part of it, there’s a lot more to it. Keeping some of these things in mind during the break, and using them, can do nothing but help you in the long run.

We’ve mentioned briefly the software tutorials available on Lynda.com, so for now we’ll leave them be. It’s safe to assume they’re the most familiar aspects of the website to students. Instead, we’ll start with a Lynda resource that is a little more obscure: documentaries.

It’s true, Lynda.com has documentaries available for instant streaming. And this isn’t just one or two of them, we’re talking about 52 documentaries ranging from 15 minutes to 1 hour in length. A large majority of these are closed captioned and they all focus on the art field in some way.

Documentaries on Lynda generally fall into two categories: those that focus on a particular artist or company, and those that focus on a broader subject of the art world. The great thing about both kinds of documentaries, is that they focus on people and subjects that have value to your education.

Take for example the documentary on Italian artist and designer Simone Legno. Creator of the popular tokidoki clothing brand and designs, his documentary focuses on character design in Adobe Illustrator. Not only do you get a glimpse into the artistic process of an established, successful artist, you also get an insight into how that artist uses the same software you are more than likely using in your classes.

This one-two punch of information gives you the advantage of knowing what goes in the mind of a successful artist, while also picking his brain, figuratively of course, for the best techniques to use when developing your own character designs. And all of this in a quick and easily accessible video format. If your summer happens to be particularly busy, this is arguably the most efficient and least time-consuming resource available at Lynda. Try having one on while you work, inspiration may strike you depending on what you watch.

But, let’s say you’re looking to have a more hands-on summer. Maybe you’re looking to work on something new, something different from an art-related program. Well, Lynda is still a valuable source, believe it or not. See, not only does Lynda offer design tutorials, it also offers plenty of business-related ones. Thinking of brushing up on your branding/self-marketing skills? Maybe you’d like to know more about how to work social media to your advantage? Or would you prefer to just go over some Microsoft Word functions to create a better resume? All of these options, and more, are available through Lynda’s “Business” subsection.

Don’t let the word “business” throw you off. There isn’t any stuffy or dry language here. It’s just a collection of tutorials made with a design focus in mind, so the language will be familiar and accessible. And, if you could spend your summer doing even something small to increase your business sense, is that really so bad? Your bank account will thank you in due time.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Lynda without the opportunity to learn more about design software like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. Here, finally, we come to some familiar territory. But don’t rest on your laurels, this section of Lynda is just as important to keep in mind during your summer as the last two sections. Whether you’re searching through a broad subject like “Photography” or looking for help in programs b a specific company like Adobe, Lynda.com remains one of the best resources. Plus, since you’re a student, it’s all free. What better way to learn while saving money from any summer job/regular job/freelancing you might have?

In all likelihood, you’ll have a busy summer. However, part of the beauty of Lynda.com is that the resources available aren’t time consuming. The documentaries are relaxed due to their nature as something you watch and the tutorials are separated into small sections that you can go back to at your will. It’s easy to fit time in your schedule for them, and we recommend it, because knowledge can only help your career.

The time has come, the ecampus blog said, to speak of many things. Specifically, things relating to graduation. Yes, while it feels like the quarter just barely started, in reality we’re recently past midterms and its time to consider what to do for this very important ceremony.

First, congratulations on graduating! While there’s no doubt it’s been hard work getting to this stage, you should feel proud that you’ve stuck to it and are now almost at the end. In order to make things a little easier for you, we’ve compiled some of the most important information you need to know for graduation.

Good news is, there’s going to be a small party. As we mentioned in an earlier post, SCAD eLearning will host a graduation celebration on Friday June 1, from 4 to 6 p.m. EST. The party will be held at Pulaski Square, just outside of the eLearning offices.

You’ll be able to relax after a hard day spent at graduation rehearsal, as well as meet and greet faculty, staff and other eLearning students. It’ll be a good opportunity for some last minute networking, for those business-oriented among you.

Need more of a reason to stop by the party? Well, it’s also the place to go in order to pick up your tickets to the graduation ceremony. If you’ve received approval from your graduation auditor (which, at this point, it should be a given) then you can stop by and pick up four tickets for the 9 a.m. Presidential Conferment of Degrees and six tickets for the Presentation of Degree ceremony.

The former ceremony will include every graduating student, so expect large crowds and help your guests plan accordingly. The presentation of degrees will be split into two groups. One group will go at 1 p.m., the other at 4 p.m.  While this means there will be less of a crowd, you should still advise your guests to arrive at an early time.

But of course, that’s not all. Right after the eLearning graduation celebration, you can take a short walk down to Forsyth Park, where the annual New Alumni Concert will be held. Starting at 7 p.m., the concert will feature Grace Potter and the Nocturnals as well as JJ Grey and Mofro. We’re not very hip to the new jive these days, but a quick search shows that you won’t want to miss it.

Some of these announcements may not be new, but it’s worth refreshing them every now and then. You’ve worked hard for this day, why not make sure you know everything you have to know in order to make it as fun and stress-free as possible?

For more information on graduation, visit the SCAD Graduation blog at http://blog.scad.edu/graduation/