Artist Application — Create With DNA

Calling artists, illustrators, painters, designers, and visual storytellers.

DNA Trading Company is building an original trading card game and connected fictional world from the ground up. As the project grows, we want meaningful collector artwork to come from real artists—including independent and community artists whose names and creative voices deserve to be part of the story.

Our first artist collaborations are intended to focus on a small core cast from the DNA Universe and may become artwork for premium collectible cards, limited releases, promotional pieces, displays, or other approved DNA projects. We are especially interested in artists who can bring a distinctive human point of view to character-driven collectible art.

Who should apply

You do not need to be a full-time professional or have trading-card experience. We care about originality, storytelling ability, reliability, and whether your style fits a particular piece. Traditional, digital, mixed-media, comic, fantasy, realism, stylized, graphic, and unconventional approaches are welcome.

Local and Mid-Missouri artists are strongly encouraged to apply, but the application is open to artists outside the area as well.

What we are looking for

  • Original character illustration and collectible-card artwork
  • Premium or showcase artwork for DNA Universe characters
  • Traditional artwork that can be professionally digitized for print
  • Digital illustration and mixed-media work
  • Artists interested in limited-edition collaborations and future DNA projects

How the process works

  1. Apply with your existing portfolio. We are not asking you to create unpaid speculative artwork for this application.
  2. DNA reviews for fit. Different characters and products may call for different artistic styles, so acceptance can be project-specific.
  3. If there is a match, we contact you with a project brief. Scope, deadlines, compensation, credit, deliverables, revisions, and permitted uses will be discussed before commissioned work begins.
  4. A separate written agreement controls the actual collaboration. Applying by itself does not transfer ownership of your artwork or automatically grant DNA commercial rights to it.

Artist application

Please use the contact form below. In the Comment/Message field, copy the questions below and answer as completely as you can:

  1. Artist or studio name:
  2. City and state:
  3. Portfolio link: Website, Behance, ArtStation, Google Drive portfolio, or another viewable link.
  4. Social links: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, or other art-focused profiles.
  5. Primary medium(s): Traditional, digital, mixed media, painting, drawing, photography/composite, 3D, graphic design, or other.
  6. Describe your style in a few sentences:
  7. What kinds of subjects do you most enjoy creating?
  8. Which DNA opportunities interest you? Character art, trading-card illustration, premium collector art, limited editions, promotional art, live/local events, or future world-building projects.
  9. Commission availability: Are you currently accepting paid commissioned work? What is your typical turnaround range?
  10. Typical pricing or project range: Optional at the application stage, but helpful for matching projects to artists.
  11. Anything else we should know about you or your work?

Before you submit

By submitting this application, you confirm that the portfolio and work you present are yours or that you have permission to present them. Please do not submit confidential material or artwork that infringes someone else’s copyright, trademark, likeness, or other rights.

Your application is not an IP assignment. DNA Trading Company may review the materials you voluntarily submit for the purpose of evaluating a potential collaboration, but commercial use of selected artwork will be governed by a separate written agreement. Compensation and rights will be agreed upon for each commissioned or licensed project before that work is used commercially.

Submitting an application does not guarantee selection, employment, representation, or a commission. We may keep your application on file for future projects if your style is not the right fit for the first release.

What matters to us

DNA is being built as a collectible universe with room for real people to leave a creative mark on it. We want the artist’s identity to matter. If your work becomes part of a DNA release, our goal is for the collaboration to feel like a real creative partnership—not anonymous filler artwork.

Ready to create with DNA? Complete the form below and include your portfolio link in your message.