Joyous Kwanzaa. Yuletide Greetings. Happy Holidays.
Joyeux Noël. Feliz Navidad. Seasons Greetings.
Warm winter greetings, my Whimsies!
I want to wish all those who celebrate a very Merry Christmas! Wherever you are and however you celebrate, I hope it’s full of love and joy.
Read on for an exclusive giveaway, information about our Boxing Day Sale, and more!
I can’t believe it’s the end of the year already! In many ways, it feels like 2022 has flown by… but there were moments that seemed to drag on and on too. 2022 was such a monumental year for Whimsical – we published not one but TWO new authors (McKenzie Catron and Megan McCullough). We also signed on two additional authors whose books will be published in 2023! Into the Churn by Hayley Reese Chow will be releasing in April, and a Sleeping Beauty retelling that I’m co-authoring with Bryn Shutt which will hopefully be releasing later in the year. Also Mckenzie Catron’s second book in the Numina series will be coming late 2023 as well!
Whimsical has been blessed with special editions this year too! At long last, readers finally have the FaeCrate special edition of The Rightful Bearer in their hands! (I hope it was worth the wait and you enjoy the conclusion to Dain and Sable’s trilogy.) We were also honoured to have Unplugged Book Box release special editions of A Daughter of the Trolls and We Could Be Villains!
In celebration of Christmas and all the goodness of this year, and as a special exclusive treat to my newsletter and blog followers, we’re going to give away 1 copy of each Unplugged special edition PLUS one of the VERY limited physical ARCs of Into the Churn! This is only for newsletter and blog subscribers, so your chances of winning are higher. Be sure to click the link below and complete the short form to enter! Winners will be drawn on Boxing Day (December 26th).
ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE!
And speaking of Boxing Day…
We’re having a sale!
From December 26th – 31st, you can save 25% off the entire shop with code BOXINGWEEK. This includes the preorder for Into the Churn! Most sales don’t include pre-orders, so take advantage of this limited time offer while it’s available!
We’ll also have some leftover fine art prints from the old manufacturer that will be 50% off (price already reduced and cannot be combined with sale discount code). These are limited and many have only 1 or 2 left in stock.
The artwork itself is not being discontinued, so don’t panic! We’re just clearing out the old paper style since we have a new manufacturer in the US for fine art prints.
We are also now offering slightly imperfect books for sale at a discount in the shop! These are perfectly readable copies that might have incorrect finishes or minor dings/scratches on the cover or spine.
While I’m celebrating the joyous season of Christmas, I do want to address something that is weighing heavily on my heart. The rise of AI “ART”. I get that creating AI images is probably fun, who doesn’t want instant art, or selfies turned into idealistic portraits for less than $10? But apps like Lensa, Midjourney, Artbreeder, and more, are NOT above board. The creators scrape the internet, stealing the original, copyrighted art and photos of human creators, then they feed those images (without consent) into their program and use them as the basis for their AI generators. They do this without the consent of the artists, and without any compensation. It is theft, plain and simple, and users of these apps are making these thieves, big tech, even richer. This is detrimentally harmful to the artists in countless ways, but especially to the livelihood of those, like me, who rely on their craft to put food on the table.
Whimsical Illustration has a strong #NoToAIArt stance, and we wanted to help in a small way by supporting and showcasing some true hardworking HUMAN artists and shops. Please consider shopping small this holiday season and supporting some these small businesses.
Top Left: Merle Hunt (@merlemade_tales)
Top Right: Kinko White (@kinko_white)
Bottom Right: Iridescent Fairytale (@iridescentfairytale)
Bottom Left: The Nubivagant Cabinet (@thenubivagantcabinet – owned and operated by Cat, one of Whimsical’s very own reps!)
Another initiative Whimsical is taking to help combat the rise of AI art is to create a database of human artists, which will be linked to our website. It is a place where artists can be featured and interested clients/customers can view the database to find and support real life artists.
DATABASE is at the link below and there is a form within the post to join up if you’re an artist.
JOIN HERE!
VIEW ARTIST DATA BASE HERE!
If you’re an indie author, we’re also creating a database for you to join as well! AI presents a problem for everyone in the arts, not just artists. Please consider joining our network of indie authors by clicking the button below and completing the form!
