~* Special Relationship *~

Hello everyone! I hope you're all having a good weekend (and maybe getting ready for Sweethearts Week XD). Just a few notes-

-As of now, the 2011 USxUK Secret Santa archive is COMPLETE. If you have not seen your gift yet, please check out the post and it should be linked there. Even if you dropped, you still may have a gift, so please do check. A member noticed that about 1/3 of the gifts don't yet have replies from their recipient, and we'd really like to remedy that. Please let your Santa know that you appreciate their hard work. IF YOU COMPLETED A GIFT AND THERE IS NOT A GIFT IN THERE FOR YOU, PLEASE LET ME KNOW IMMEDIATELY.

CHECK OUT THE ARCHIVE HERE!

-I have had a couple of people ask me about the 2012 Short Story Collection that I mentioned a few months ago. It was supposed to start in January and end at the beginning of May, but because of other projects running a bit late, I'm going to start it up in late February or March and end it in June. Look out for that. :)

-Lastly, remember that we ARE taking preorders for a possible reprint of the calendar. I need to have at least forty copies sold to do a reprint, which I do not have yet. I promise you that the calendar is gorgeous and totally worth it, so do consider ordering one HERE.

Thanks a lot for reading!
-haro

All of the calendars from the preorder have been shipped out. If you ordered one of the extra calendars and paid me before Thursday, yours has also been shipped out. If you paid me after that, it will be shipped out tomorrow or whenever you do pay. Those of you that live in the U.S., many of you have received your calendars already. If you haven't, they SHOULD arrive tomorrow or Saturday.

This calendar would not have been remotely possible without the twenty-five amazing artists that contributed to it as well as the talented crew who created the calendar layout. I can't thank them all enough for participating in this project. All of their works turned out so beautifully. ♥

As such, we decided to put up an...



ARTIST SQUEE POST!

Once you have your calendar, feel free to come to this post and give the artists the mad props they deserve. You are welcome and encouraged to comment on as many pieces of art and artists as possible, or you can also just leave a few general comments. To the artists who participated in the calendar; you are also welcome to comment here. I hope to see lots of love for our brilliant artists!

-haro

Hello everyone! I hope you're all having a great holiday season.

Our archive post is not yet up to date, but MOST of the fanworks have been posted. Right now we're just waiting for some pinch hits to be posted. Please look through the 2011 Secret Santa tag and check for your gift if you haven't already. Remember that your Santa worked hard on their gift for you, so please drop them a comment. And if there is no gift for you yet, don't fret. Everyone will receive a gift by the time this is over.

Remember that if you are writing a chapter fic or drawing a fancomic, it must be finished by the thirty-first. Time zone is irrelevant to me, so don't worry about that.

-What if I can't finish my chapter fic in time? You must have a fanwork completed in time. If you absolutely cannot finish your chapter fic in time, then please post something that's complete- whether it's a piece of art or a oneshot using one of your recipient's other prompts.

All pinch hits that have been sent out must be posted by the end of January first. Again, time zone is irrelevant. If I send you a pinch hit after today, the due date will be adjusted accordingly (i.e. I'm not going to send you a pinch hit on the thirty-first and ask you to post it by the first of course).

P.S.- The calendars are here! They look beautiful. I'll be sending most of them out tomorrow and the rest out on Thursday.

-haro

Hey everyone! Here's a reminder that the USxUK calendar preorders close TOMORROW. Preorders must be sent in by Wednesday November thirtieth, so please order as soon as you can. I'm not terribly picky about timezones, so don't worry if you get it in past midnight CST my timezone. I won't be tallying up and everything until later on Thursday.

q) I got my preorder in on time, but my payment got sent a bit late.
a) Not a huge deal. If you send me payment on the first, I'll still accept it. I cannot accept any payment after the first though unless you have made arrangements with me.

q) I sent you payment. Did you get it?
a) Unless you ordered within the last day, I have sent you a reminder email if I have yet to receive payment from you. That being said, please reply and let me know when you do send payment. That makes it much easier. :)



Remember that the calendar would also make a great gift! ♥

Announcing...

We had about one hundred and fifty of you vote. It took quite some time to calculate the results, but here they are. There were SO MANY amazing artists. I wish that we could have accepted all of you. Please don't be discouraged if you weren't accepted. You're still great, and there will be many more projects for you to participate in in the future. There is such an outstanding amount of talent in this community, and we love it. ♥


( And the winners are... )

ALL ACCEPTED ARTISTS: Please watch for an invite to usxukcalendar. This is just a community we set up so we don't clog this community with reminders and information posts for the artists. Please join this community and add it to your friends list. If you go here and do not see an invite, let me know and I'll get you one ASAP. If you do not have an lj account, please check your email for an email from me. Once you've done that, go to wait for me to make my first post. There you will find the month you have been assigned, and I'd also like if all artists could check in there.

Keep being the awesome community members you all are!
-haro

EDIT: One more order of business. I have had a couple of members request that I reveal the name of all auditioning artists. If you do not wish for me to reveal your name, please send me a PM and let me know, and I'll leave you out of the reveal.

Hello everyone! Just a reminder that our artist auditions for the calendar are still going on. Right now we have forty-one auditions. We got about fifty last time, so here's hoping for some more before the auditions close.

One thing- I don't have a livejournal. Can I still audition?
Yes, you can. But you cannot vote. If you wish to vote for the artists when voting opens, you will need to create an account.

READ ABOUT THE CALENDAR AND SUBMIT YOUR AUDITION HERE~!

Auditions close just a little more than a day from now (about 25 hours), at midnight CST. I cannot wait any longer than that, because I'll be going out of town just a little more than twenty-four hours later. I've got to get the voting post up and ready before I leave.

Lastly, if you have any questions, feel free to ask in reply to the audition post (or you can just PM me with them). Thank you and good luck!

-haro

Okay, this is the last mod post of the night. XD For 2011, we put together our first ever USxUK calendar. It was a huge success, and we sold almost 130 copies of it. This year, we're going to do the same thing for 2012!

Last year we started off quite late, the calendar not really kicking into gear until November, but this year that won't be the case. The artists will have more time to complete their work, and preorders will be closed and the calendars ordered by the first of December. The calendar will be 8 1/2x11 inches when closed, and it should run about fourteen dollars (this was the price last year). You can see an image of last year's calendars here to get an idea.

Here is the audition post. Please read it carefully! If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

First and foremost, I had a few people ask me this last year, so I figured I'd get it out of the way:

Why auditions?

If I were just running this calendar myself, yes I could easily go and pick twenty-five of my favorite USxUK artists and ask them if they'd like to participate. But I'm not. This is a community project, and as such we feel it is fairest for the featured artists to be chosen by the members of the community. You all will be in charge of voting on and selecting the featured artists, because it is a calendar for all of you. I hope the audition process won't discourage anyone from participating. *^^*

This is what you'll need to provide:

-Name. Self explanatory.

-Email Address. The comments are screened, so you don't need to space it or anything. Just write it as is. It makes it easier for me to send emails.

-Do you have a website/deviantart/art journal? You may link this here if you wish, but it is not required.

-Please provide three samples of art. At least one sample must be Hetalia art (preferably OF America and England, although that is not necessary), and at least one sample must be a full color piece. Please choose art that you feel shows your skill! The art you complete to be featured in the calendar must be G-PG (kissing, cuddling, shirtlessness, etc are fine. But nothing risque), but you can use higher rated art for your samples. R-18 is fine for the audition. I would prefer you not use a piece you used in your audition last year, if you auditioned, but if it's absolutely necessary because you don't have three new pieces, that's fine. Also, pieces do not have to be drawn in 2011. They can be older if you wish. If you were in the calendar last year, do not use the piece you drew for it.

-Months you would be most interested in? Please list the THREE months you'd be most interested in drawing for, in order of preference. If you'd like to do the cover you can list that as one of your three as well. The piece you draw if accepted must be themed for whichever month you are assigned. It can be a holiday (i.e. a Halloween image for October), something associated with the month (i.e. April showers), or just something that fits the season (i.e. curling up because it's cold outside). You could even use a historical event as your backdrop. It's up to you! You're welcome to get creative as well. And no you don't need to tell me here what you have in mind right now. Just list the months. I will try my hardest to get everyone one of their preferred months, but I cannot promise it. If you were involved in the calendar last year, please do not list the month you ended up drawing for. We don't want the same person to be in charge of the same month two years in a row.

You will have two months to complete your art. I will send out your assignments by September tenth if you have been accepted, and you must get them in by November tenth. If you are accepted, you will also be invited to a community I've set up for the project. I've made this so I don't have to clog this community with announcements for the artists. All information- such as necessary dimensions for the piece (so it fits the calendar) and other specifics, will be posted there. ^^

TWENTY-FIVE ARTISTS will be accepted. Thirteen artists will be providing large-sized images (twelve months and a cover), and twelve artists will be in charge of smaller images, which will be featured in the corner of the 'months.'

AUDITIONS MUST BE IN BY TUESDAY AUGUST 30TH AT MIDNIGHT CST. This gives you two weeks, so if you wish to do something new for the audition, you do have some time. The voting post will go up on the 31st of August.

Lastly, feel free to link this to artists you think might be interested. There's always a chance they won't see this post, after all!

And authors, I know I mentioned a writing project. We'll be posting about that a bit later. We might not get to it until after Labor Day (US), but it will be up within the next few weeks (the deadlines on that one will be later, so don't worry).

COMMENTS ARE SCREENED.

Ready? Now fill out the form!

<font size="-2"> <b>-Name.</b> <b>-Email Address.</b> <b>-Do you have a website/deviantart/art journal?</b> <b>-Please provide three samples of art.</b> <b>-Months you would be most interested in?</b> </font>

-haro

All accepted artists will receive a free calendar.