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Sci-fi, fantasy, comics, games and all that stuff

OH!CON art gallery and competition

Want to show off your sci-fi, fantasy, game and comic artwork? The OH!CON gallery is now open for entries!

Artwork submitted for the gallery will be displayed at OH!CON. As in previous years, there’ll be recognition for the best pieces in the following categories:

  • Artists aged 11 or under
  • Artists aged 12 to 17
  • Artists aged 18 or over

Entries for the gallery will be judged by some of this year's fabulous guests, so it's a great way to get your work seen by industry professionals. There’ll also be a people’s choice award given to the artwork chosen by attendees as their favourite on the day.

The new prize for best comic strip

EXTRA FOR THIS YEAR!

As so many of this year's guests write and draw comics, we’re offering an extra prize for the best comic or comic strip submitted to the gallery (across all ages). Any artwork that tells a story using 3 or more frames will be eligible. It can be a complete story or an extract from a longer one (you can submit up to 4 pages maximum). You can use any art style (traditional, manga, realistic, stick figure, or something else entirely) and tell any type of of story (funny, serious, heroic, whatever). We'll judge on how well the pictures and words combine to tell a story. If it surprises us or makes us laugh, gasp, or cry, that'll probably score points too.

How to send us your artwork

Anyone living in the Outer Hebrides or attending OH!CON 2026 can submit artwork for the gallery. It is as simple as emailing it to us along with a few details. Here's what you need to do:

  • Read the gallery guidelines. These'll tell you what we're looking for and what we don't allow.
  • You can submit up to 4 illustrations or pages.
  • Email your artwork to us as high quality jpg or pdf – one page or illustration per file, please. 
  • Include your name, your age and the title of each piece of artwork (if applicable). We'll display your name and the title next to your artwork.  If you create your artwork under a different name than your own, make sure to tell us so we display the right name in the gallery!
  • If you have a website or social media channel for your artwork, include the details and we'll put those next to your artwork too.
  • If you don't want to be considered for a prize, make sure to mention that.
  • Send your submission to: beammeup@ohcon.info 
  • We'll send you a confirmation email so you know your artwork has reached us. This may take a few days, so don't panic if you don't hear from us immediately.
  • We'll print your artwork.  We usually reduce large artwork to A4 (297mm x 210mm) when printing it so that we can display as many artists as possible. We’ll try to print your artwork at the highest quality we can, but we can’t guarantee that the reproduction will be perfect (colours in particular can be difficult to match exactly from screen to print).

If you can’t submit your artwork by email or if you prefer to supply your own printouts for the gallery, get in touch with us at beammeup@ohcon.info and we'll sort something out for you.

Closing date for submissions

Make sure your submission reaches us before 5pm, Friday 25th September 2026. Anything received after this probably won't make it into OH!CON.

Gallery guidelines

What you can send us

  • Your artwork must be sci-fi, fantasy, comic or games-related. We're pretty loose as to what this means, but we'll definitely draw the line at paintings of fruit bowls or sunsets over the sea (unless it's superhero fruit or alien sunsets).
  • It can be a standalone illustration or a comic. Remember—there is an extra prize this year for the best comic submitted.
  • You can create it in any medium—pencils, pens, Photoshop, CGI, whatever, but you'll need to send it to us digitally.  If your original is on paper, you'll need to scan or photograph it.
  • It must be all your own work.

What we're not accepting

We're not accepting AI-generated artwork. See the helpful notes at the bottom of this page for more information about using AI.

OH!CON is a family event, so your artwork must be suitable for that audience. We don’t want to stomp all over your creativity, but in broad terms this means:

  • No graphic violence
  • No nudity/sexual imagery 
  • No swearing (if your artwork includes speech bubbles or other wording)

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, our decision is final on what is too bloody, too fleshy or too potty-mouthed. Harsh, we know, but that’s the rule. If you’re not sure if your work will be suitable, send us a sample or tell us what you’re thinking and we’ll help.

Tips to help us display your artwork at its best

We'll try to print out your artwork at the highest quality we can. Here are some things that can help.

  • For good quality printing, your artwork (or the photo of your artwork) should have a resolution of at least 150dpi (300dpi is better). This means that for an A4  page, it should measure at least 1240x1754 pixels (2480x3508 pixels is better). For A3 page, 1754 x 2480 pixels (3508 x 4961 pixels is better). If this technical mumbo jumbo means nothing to you, get in touch and we'll try to help.
  • There's always a bit of colour variation between what you see on screen and on paper. Very vivid colours may not print quite as bright as they appear on screen. Very subtle changes in colour may not be as noticeable when printed. We'll try to match as close as we can, but do keep this in mind. 
  • Some things such as luminous and dayglo colours, glitter, metallic or reflective materials won't look the same when printed. If you're not sure if the materials you want to use will print well, let us know what you're thinking and we'll tell you whether it'll work or not.
  • Very dark artwork doesn't always print well. Batman at the bottom of a coal mine may sound like a way cool idea, but do think about including some lights in the scene otherwise it'll be really difficult to tell what it is once it has been printed.

Other questions

Nope – as long as you created the artwork, you can submit it. It doesn't matter if it is new or old, created just for OH!CON or for something else altogether.

Okay, the short answer is that you can use AI powered tools that assist you, but you can't use AI to generate your artwork.

The OH!CON gallery is intended to be a showcase for artists to display their skill and talent. We're old school. We like pencil-squeezers and people with mad Photoshop skills. 

So, what we're not accepting is artwork that has been generated by typing a prompt or uploading a rough sketch to an AI tool. We know a lot of people use these tools – and that's fine for lots of other situations – but it's not what we're looking for to include in the OH!CON gallery.

If you are using software that includes AI assistance (for example, to resize elements without losing quality or to remove backgrounds) that's okay - as long as it is you that is creating the artwork.

Absolutely, you can!

Yes, you can!

Ooh. Interesting question. We haven't accepted these before, but get in touch and tell us what you have and we'll see what we can do.

What? No, definitely not! Everyone can submit artwork for the gallery.

We're only accepting digital submissions for the gallery. No originals - sorry! But you could either scan your artwork or take a photo of it and send that to us instead.

If you have non-digital artwork that you want to photograph to send to us, then you can use most digital cameras, including phones, to capture it. Here are some tips for a good result:

  • Take the photo in strong daylight – dim lighting can dull the colours of your artwork.
  • Avoid photographing it in direct sunlight – this can make the light areas of your artwork appear too bright and washed out.
  • Check that there aren't any shadows across your artwork – make sure nothing is between the light and the artwork.
  • Point your camera straight at the artwork (as parallel to the paper as you can). You don't have to be exact, but if you take the photo at an odd angle, it'll look odd when it is printed.
  • If your camera has a quality setting, choose the highest quality.
  • Check the photo before you email it to us. Is it in in focus? Have you got all of the artwork in the shot (nothing clipped off the edges)? Do the colours look right?  Are the blacks dark enough? Are the whites bright enough? Great! Send it to us!

We're limiting submissions to 4 per person so that everyone has a chance to display work. If you submit more, let us know which are your favourites or if you are happy for us to choose. If there is space on the day, we may display extra pieces, but we're not promising anything!

Not this year, but if you're an artist and want to come to OH!CON to display your artwork, meet fans and chat about your work, we'd love to have you in future. Get in touch with us at beammeup@ohcon.info.