Cover Design Contest for
Skin Crawl by Chloe Spencer

SUBMISSION WINDOW: 5/1/26 - 7/1/26
TOP 3 ANNOUNCED: 8/1/26

DETAILS

UPDATE ON THIS DESIGN CALL
as of May 17th, 2026

Hey everyone, I wanted to make an update regarding the Skin Crawl cover design call.

After hearing concerns from artists/designers about the ethics behind spec work, I’ve decided to shift directions a bit moving forward. Honestly, the last thing I ever want to do is waste people’s time, talent, or creative energy.

Instead of asking for artwork submissions/design samples for the project itself, we’re now simply looking for human artists/designers who may be interested in potentially working on Chloe Spencer’s 2027 release Skin Crawl.

If interested, feel free to send:

• A link to your portfolio
• A very brief description of your process/style (digital art, studio art, photo manipulation, collage, mixed media, etc.)

For everyone who already submitted artwork for the original design call…thank you. Truly. There was some wildly talented work sent in, and I appreciate every single person who took the time to participate. You’re absolutely welcome to still send over your portfolio if you’d like us to see more of your work/style.

We are still asking for absolutely no AI usage at all in artwork/designs. Stock images are completely okay, we just ask that sources/licensing info be shared because of copyright reasons.

ALSO JUST TO BE FULLY CLEAR

Truborn Press does not own any artwork sent to us. We will never repost, reproduce, use, alter, reference, or move forward with anyone’s work without directly speaking to the artist/designer first. If we ever wanted to use artwork in any way, permission would be asked for first and a contract would be in place before anything moved forward.

And honestly, part of where this idea originally came from is me being an elder millennial and showing my age (haha). I still remember when KoRn did the fan cover design call for Issues back in 1999 and how exciting that felt as a fan and creative kid. That memory stuck with me for years, so the problematic side of spec work genuinely never crossed my mind.

I do sincerely appreciate the people who brought this to my attention and educated me on it instead of just assuming bad intentions. You all are insanely talented, and the last thing I’d ever want is for people to question where my heart was with this.

Appreciate the conversation and appreciate you all.

PAID WORK

Since this isn’t considered a standard contest anymore, we will discuss with the chosen artists/designers pay and contract work.

HOW TO SUBMIT

Send over:

• A link to your portfolio

• Your name (or how you want to be credited)

• Licensing info if you used any stock

• If you send a piece you worked on for this, 6×9 is a good size (in case it’s a premade you have in your vault that fits the requirements)

Email: truborn.submissions@gmail.com
Subject line: Skin Crawl Cover Contest Submission

A COUPLE OF QUICK NOTES

• If you are chosen as the main designer, your work will be used as the official 2027 published cover.

• Premades are welcomed if they meet our design requirements.

• We’ll reach out to you during our decision process and ask for more information if we think you are the best fit for this book design.

• You retain full ownership of any artwork, designs, and concepts you submit.

• During the whole process of the creation of this book, we will like to share designs on our social media accounts but if you prefer to NOT have your work shared by Truborn Press and/or the author, please let us know. There is absolutely no obligations or hard feelings if you choose not to participate. We will reach out and verify with you before posting anything.

We appreciate any and all entries.

Seriously….whether you go subtle or go all in, we want to see what you come up with.

Thank you all…
…don’t forget to embrace your strange.

xxx
Kristina
EIC & Owner Truborn Press

Do you have any questions?
Fill out the form below or reach out to us anywhere.

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