Membership Application
Anyone making comics in any capacity around the world, whether professional or casual, is invited to apply for membership.
Artists, writers, colorists, and letterers are all encouraged to join. This includes all genres and age ratings, from children’s graphic novels to erotic webtoons. You do not need to join us to work in comics- at the end of the day, we want everyone working in comics to benefit, member or not! But by joining, you can have a direct hand in shaping our industry.
If you are a publisher or in an acquiring editorial position at a publisher, we cannot offer you membership but encourage you to become a Volunteer instead!
Additional benefits to joining are:
- Access to a private forum and Discord server where you can work alongside and learn with other cartoonists.
- Apply to add your comic to our online curated catalogue.
- Access to special member-led lectures and panels.
- Read books, watch archived videos and documentaries, and find new reference folders in our online library.
- Exclusive benefits and discounts from companies and organizations who partner with us.
- Eligibility for promotional campaigns and access to an extensive marketing team and plan.
- Access to a members only newsletter with open calls, exclusive resources, and more!
Note: Membership doesn’t guarantee that your comic will be included in our online catalog or offered a promotional campaign. The Cooperative’s catalog and campaigns go through a vetting process that looks at the comics quality, subject matter, publishing schedules and more.
Membership has no fees but requires a minimum of activity once every 12 months. Some examples of ways to fulfill this requirement are: offering creative feedback, editing, proofreading, offering design assistance, writing promotional copy, seeking blurbs, sending out review copies, sending emails, helping with social media engagement, or participating in a committee activity. If it helps another member, then it counts!
The Cartoonist Cooperative reserves the right to reject applications for:
- Making comics with AI-generated images and/or involvement with NFTs.
- Content from the applicant or the applicant’s work that is openly bigoted.
- Intentionally causing trouble, rude behavior, or generally unprofessional conduct from the applicant online or offline.
- Conflict of interest between the applicant and current members of the cooperative.
This list is not all encompassing and there may be additional reasons as to why you’ve been rejected. If you’re rejected, you can reapply at any time.
Volunteer Application
Not a cartoonist but want to be involved in supporting the Cooperative? Then we invite you to become a volunteer!
Volunteers include those with no comics in their portfolio, publishers, acquiring editors and people with skills that would be useful to the Cooperative. Volunteers also have no activity requirements and can participate at their leisure. With access to our private community, you’ll be able to help cartoonists fight for better working conditions as well as create and promote their work!
