An opportunity to have your work represented by Art Lab Agency

exactly.ai has partnered with Art Lab Agency to offer an exclusive opportunity to add your name to the Art Lab roster. With world renowned clients such as Team GB (Aquatics), The Wall Street Journal, Lancet, The Barbican Centre, Penguin Random House and Condé Nast, Art Lab Agency has built a reputation for representing some of the most exciting illustrators in the world.

Art Lab is embracing innovation to create new ways for illustrators to monetise their work while retaining creative ownership. By partnering with exactly.ai, Art Lab is offering their artists the chance to earn passive income from their unique styles.

For this open call Art Lab founder Anya Kuvarzina will curate a shortlist and select the final winner after the deadline. Models from the shortlist will be published on the exactly.ai marketplace, enabling artists to earn passive income from commercial licences. The winner will have their work promoted on the Art Lab homepage and social media, and have their style endorsed to their clients.

The styles

Art Lab approached us seeking to enhance their offering of styles which are in the highest demand by their clients. In particular, they highlighted three styles and provided these descriptions:

Line-art

For these styles we’re looking for simple black-and-white illustrations, with limited use of colour for highlights. A winning style will use simple lines to convey the emotion of their drawing.

The texture of the chosen style can vary, we are open to smooth, classic vector lines, line drawings with irregular weights and textured lines with breaks and imperfections. As long as simplicity is key to your communication we want to see your work!

Submitted images should focus on reusable assets of people, animals and objects focussing on individual, versatile elements e.g. single people or simple scenes such as a waiter carrying a tray.

We’re similarly open to a variety of shapes:

• Classic and realistic shapes with proper proportions.
• Commercial styles with slightly simplified shapes to convey moods.
• Grotesque shapes with distorted proportions (e.g. oversized hands or long legs).

Minimalist line with Accent Colours

This style, while driven by simple black-and-white lines feature colour or texture more prominently than line-art styles. Examples include filling empty space with colour, hatching or dots to add additional depth to the illustrations.

The same as line-art styles, both the shape and style of line can vary, but these styles should feature colour and texture more prominently.

Flat Monochrome

The other genre of styles we’re seeking for this open call are those which feature simple fills without textural highlights. Block cutouts and silhouettes which stand out as bold, simplistic forms.

Images in this style should feature bold shapes. Whether they’re abstract with jagged edges, or smoothed-off and rounded these silhouettes should pop when combined with coloured backgrounds and lettering.

Rules

For this competition we can only accept entries to creative commissions from models trained using your own images. We cannot accept models trained using AI-generated images or which intentionally copy other artists’ work.

How to Submit

1. Generate images with your model
2. When you like an image, press the “Competition” button on the top right corner of your screen
3. Choose frame with an image and press "Submit artwork"
4. You will see on a screen all images that you have submitted

While training a model on exactly.ai is a paid service, we want this competition to be open to everyone so we are offering a free month of an exactly.ai subscription to allow every artist to participate.

Training a model on your own artwork allows you to scale up output in order to serve more clients and experiment with your style, all while maintaining full control over your artwork as every model and all the images created with it belongs only to you.

How to claim your free month:

Steps from the video:

1. Sign-up or log-in to exactly.ai.
2. Click the orange "upgrade" button in the top right-hand corner of the workspace.
3. Select to either pay monthly or pay yearly with the toggle at the top. If the discount is applied to a monthly subscription, the promo code will cover the entire cost. If you choose a yearly subscription, the code will provide a discount equivalent to one month’s subscription price and you will be charged.
4. Find the "Private plus" plan and click "Subscribe to Private plus", this will allow you to create more models to test and submit your best-performing one.
5. Proceed to the checkout, you will have to attach a bank card to receive your free month but don't worry you will not be charged.
6. Click "Apply Promotion Code" under "Subtotal", type in ARTLAB and click "Apply".
7. Continue with the checkout as usual and click "Subscribe" you will not be charged.
8. You will now have 1000 credits applied to your account to train your model and apply to the competition, good luck!

This promo code is valid until 31 January and can only be used once per customer. You will need to cancel your subscription before it renews or you will be charged.

If it is your first time training an exactly.ai model take a look at our guide to make sure you get the best results.

We’re excited to see the models you train for this unique creative brief. Once you’ve created your artwork, submit via the link below. The selected artist will be chosen by Art Lab after the deadline.

Please share this open call throughout your networks and on social media!

Links for the artists featured on this page:

Pieces of connection by Dominik Korolczuk

Whimsy lines by Alisa Krasnikova

Graphite creatures by Liza Perelman

Orange world by Varvara Pivnyuk