Help us to support young artists and produce an exciting publication that showcases a new generation of Scottish artists to the world. 

Since we started Out of the Blueprint 5 years ago, we’ve worked with over 200 young artists from across Scotland. From our hometown of Leith, to Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen and beyond, we’ve been blown away by the talent, creativity and perseverance we’ve seen from comic-creators, illustrators and visual artists. 

So far we’ve supported them with their individual projects, helping them to self-publish their own zines, comics and artwork. Now it’s time to take it to the next level and immortalise their work in book form!

We’ve hand-picked 20 of these brilliant artists to collaborate on a compendium of comics. Featuring everything from narrative illustration to genre-bending artwork, this book will be a vital and vibrant snapshot of contemporary Scottish creativity. 

We need your help to bring this project to life!

The artists

Our vision is to bring these artists together into one big, beautiful book. WALK, DON’T WALK will be riso-printed, perfect-bound and packed with 150 pages of glorious artwork, with up to 8 pages of content from each individual artist. We want to produce a really exciting and unexpected publication that showcases a new generation of Scottish artists to the world.

Why do we need your help? 

We’ve been planning this publication for over a year now. Initially we’d hoped to self-fund this project through income raised from our social enterprise. Like a lot of small businesses, we closed our doors from April-June this year, so our income has been reduced significantly. Since opening again in July, we’ve been focussing our efforts on free printing for essential services to help our community get back on its feet. 

We need your help to bridge the gap and bring this book to life.

Where will your support go? 

Our main goal of this project is putting money in the pockets of our young artists. We believe their work is important, worthwhile – and worth paying fairly for. Over 50% of all funds raised will go directly to the artists involved. The remaining proceeds will cover the cost of paper, inks, binding and distribution. 

Why a book?

We believe in the power of print. Riso-print is a vibrant, tactile medium that really makes the most of our artists’ work. In a time when everything seems to be moving online, we want to create a tangible, beautiful physical object that lends legitimacy to the brilliant work our young artists are creating. 

It’s important to us that we leave the world in a better state than we found it. We will print the book ourselves in our Leith studio using the risograph print process. Riso is a Japanese stencil duplicator that’s incredibly eco friendly. It’s energy-efficient, using 90% less energy than photocopying. The book will be printed on 100% recycled paper, using non-toxic soy inks. No trees will be harmed in the making of this book!

Why now?

This year we’re marking our 5th Birthday! It’s a strange time to be celebrating, but we think it’s important to look forward with optimism and do what we can to support a new generation of artists. This book is our way of capturing this moment in time and offering a bright, colourful and hopeful view of the future. 

Join us in helping Scotland’s artists to keep creating. 

Thank you!