I'm John W. Sheldon, and I'm an illustrator. I specialize in the science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and cyberpunk genres. The (un)COMMON ADVENTURE GALLERY is my ongoing project to create a collection of free, high-quality illustrations for independent authors and small publishers to use. While I will create the majority of these illustrations, I hope to use your contributions to hire other artists and increase the variety of styles available in the gallery.

What Can You Expect?

I’ll be creating illustrations in all of the genres mentioned above, using a wide variety of techniques. I’ll be working in media including vector-based digital media, colored pencils, paints, intaglio printing techniques, and many more. Illustrations will be full color, black and white, or limited palette as determined by the subject and the medium.

All images will be available for download as high-resolution uncompressed TIFF files in addition to more internet-friendly formats like JPG and PNG. New images for the Gallery will range from 6x9 inches to 9x12 inches at 300dpi. Once certain funding goals are met, image size and resolution will increase.

 

Who Can Use It, and How?

Every piece in the gallery will be licensed under the CC-BY license, so that authors, publishers, and anyone else can take and use these illustrations for any purpose they want - even commercial publication. Works can be used as-is, cropped, edited, or incorporated partially or wholly into other works. All you have to do is credit the original illustrator and mention the license. (A mention of this project would also be appreciated, but isn't necessary.)

Why Contribute?

Your contributions help in several ways.

• They allow me to focus on the project. With these contributions, I can afford to turn down other work and spend more time making free art for the community.
• They help me pay other artists to contribute to the project. With your help, I can provide a wider variety of art styles by getting other illustrators to participate - and pay them a fair rate for their work.
• They can give you a voice in what concepts I develop into finished illustrations, which other artists I invite to participate, and even what creative brief I send them.

Check out the reward levels below for more information about what you can get from your contributions.

You’ll only be charged when I release an original illustration, and never more than twice a month. You will not be charged when other artists contribute to the gallery.