Spectrum winners announced!

Run over to the the Spectrum site! There you can see all the award winners, plus get an inside look at the judging process.

I’m sorry I couldn't catch all the names from the video so here I’ll just say and extra congrats to award-winning friends:
Sam Weber X2!
Donato Giancola
Chris Buzelli
Omar Rayyan
Eric Fortune
Eric Orchard
Daniel Docui
Michael Deas
Ed Binkley
Craig Elliot
Scott Gustafson

And a congrats to all the artists that participated.

Spectrum entries due January 22nd

My annual “ease back to work” ritual: Start combing over the past year’s work to submit to Spectrum.

Deadline Jan 22nd.
Submission information here.

Spectrum Exhbition

Spectrum Exhibition
September 1st -- October 17th
128 East 63rd Street, NY, NY
Free!

More photos from the reception here.

Last Friday night was the opening reception for the second Spectrum Exhibition at the Museum of American Illustration at the Society of Illustrators. The Spectrum annuals have arguably become the standard of science fiction and fantasy art over the past decade and a half. Over a hundred works of art selected from the last four editions of Spectrum are on display through October 17th.

The fun part of curating the exhibit is pouring over each volume and debating the merits of each and every image. The heartbreak is not be able to include everything we felt worthy -- space limitations meant having to exclude excellent work, much of it by dear friends. What we hope to have on display is a small taste of the breadth and of richness of genre art, including John Howe, John Jude Palencar, Phil Hale, Kinuko Craft, Andrew Jones, Yuko Shimizu, Rebecca Guay, Tony DiTerlizzi, Donato Giancola, Michael Whelan, Jon Foster, Rick Berry...and a hundred others.

The reception was, in a word, a blast! Artists and industry peoples came in from all over the states and across the pond. (Special props to California -- the Golden State must have weighed more than a few pounds lighter last weekend.) The party started at 6:00 and was going strong till midnight. It was a great opportunity to meet new contacts and to connect with old friends I normally only see within the chaos of ComicCon. A huge thanks to all the participating artists. Our lives would be a touch duller without their visions and to see them in the original is an immeasurable treat.

Greg Manchess, Cathy and Arnie Fenner, Arkady Roytman and I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Society of Illustrators staff. Not only for opening their doors to the us, but for doing all of the un-fun parts while we sat back and handed wish-lists over (rarely on-time, at that) and constantly raising the bar on all aspects of the exhibit.

The doors are open Tuesday through Saturday, after work hours on Tuesdays. And it's free! Stop in, take a look at the show and see all the other events the Society has to offer: life drawing sessions, lectures, networking, workshops, and a permanent collection of 2,000 paintings from the likes of Rockwell, Schaeffer, Cornwell, Wyeth, Fuchs, Pyle.

Cathy and Arnie Fenner preview the Spectrum Exhibition

Cathy and Arnie Fenner, the creators and editors of the Spectrum Annual, came into town last night to get a preview of the Spectrum Exhibition. We had a great dinner with the Society of Illustrators' director, Anelle Miller, exhibition coordinator, Kate Fiertag, and president, Dennis Dittrich. (Thanks guys, it was an awesome night.)

Artists are flying in from all corners. Excitement is building...can't wait for the opening reception tonight. Pictures to come. (Lots and lots of pictures, I'm sure.)

Spectrum Exhibition 2 hanging.

Apologies for the crappy pictures. I only had my point-and-shoot camera which only sorta/kinda/sometimes likes to focus. (You'd think it would appreciate trips to the beach, but it really doesn't seem to.) Anyway...

Some pictures at the Society, hanging the Spectrum Exhibition 2.

The second Spectrum Exhibition is poised to open at the Museum of American Illustration at the Society of Illustrators. Selection from Spectrum annuals 12-15 will be on display from September 1st - October 17. Opening reception September 11th. Paintings from John Howe, Julie Bell, Boris Vallejo, Leo and Diane Dillon, Phil Hale, Charles Vess, Donato, John Jude Palencar, Kinuko Craft,Michael Whelan, Brom, Rick Bery, Greg Manchess, Rebecca Guay, Sam Weber, Brad Holland, Yuko Shimizu, Stephan Martiniere, Tony Deterlizzi, and many others will be on display.

Leukemia Society fundraiser in memory of Dave Stevens.

In honor of Dave Stevens, the Society of Illustrators and Spectrum have come together to help raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. A portion of the proceeds from the Spectrum Exhibition will be donated to the Society's "Light the Night Walk" team.

To join our team or donate money, please visit: Society's Light the Night Walk Team.

(You do not have to live in New York to participate in the walk. Click on “find local walks” to find the event nearest you.)

Funds raised through Light the Night Walk support the work of hundreds of the world’s leading researchers in their fight for better therapies and cures for leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma.

"[Dave Stevens] was enormously talented, an artist whose Rocketeer series reminded everyone how good comics could be, a creator whose work literally sparkled with personality....I don't think I ever knew him quite as well as he probably knew me (and I believe many of his friends would say the same thing), but I do know that I miss him." -- Arnie Fenner, co-founder of Spectrum, co-editor of Brush with Passion: The Art and Life of Dave Stevens

Art Out Loud 6: Demos with James Gurney, Charles Vess, Sam Weber, Donato, and Greg Manchess

It's been too long since the last Art Out Loud painting demo, making us doubly excited to announce Art Out Loud 6.

Five artists will be painting and answering questions simultaneously within the Society of Illustrators' Hall of Fame gallery. If you get there early, the Spectrum exhibit will be on display in the main gallery from noon - 4:00.

The line up is awesome with a great array of painting styles. These guys are not just the top artists in the field but they are also incredibly giving and eager to share what they have earned over the years. Stop by and bug them with all the questions you can think of.

James Gurney
Sam Weber
Charles Vess
Donato Giancola
Greg Manchess

Art Out Loud 6
Saturday September 12th
1:00 -- 5:00pm
Society of Illustrators
128 East 63rd Street, NY NY
$10 students, $20 members, $25 non-members
Refreshments included
RSVP kevin@societyillustrators.org / 212 838 2560

Warning: Space is very limited and tickets are cheap. Buy tickets in advance, all previous Art Out Louds have sold out.

[Write-up of previous Art Out Loud: Jim Bennet, Gary Kelley, and Greg Manchess]

Spectrum Exhibition Opening Reception

I'll wrote more about this soon but for those in the area that want to go, tickets are sure to go fast.

Go to the Society of Illustrators site for tickets and details.

Filling in the gaps.

If you are at Comic Con, there will be a series of three demos at the Spectrum booth #4503

Donato Giancola

Thursday 1 - 2:00

Rick Berry

Friday 1:30-2:30

Greg Manchess

Saturday 1:30 - 2:30

Greg started the "Princess of Mars" painting above at the Illustration Master Class -- he'll be tackling the monster, so to speak, for this demo.

Spectrum 17 poster, very punny.

Arnie Fenner just sent me a look at Paolo Rivera's Spectrum 17 Call for Entries poster. Be sure to click to see the enlarged, and very funny, version.

I think The Drop Shadow is my favorite....or is it Darth Mahl?

Deadline is January 23rd, 2010...plenty of time to create (or in my case: ask other people to create) a few more masterpieces.

The full Spectrum list...

...is up.

Congrats to all!

Spectrum 16 Award Winners

Spectrum, the most anticipated art annual in the genre, just finished judging their 16th edition on a snowy Saturday in Kansas City. Award winners (listed below) were announced, via video with Donato Giancola, on Spectrum's website on the day of the judging. The directors, Cathy and Arnie Fenner are currently compiling all of the participating artists. Spectrum 16 will be available October 2009. Check out their website for a look at all the award winning artworks and photos of the judging process.

Congrats to the award winners and all the artist that entered!

ADVERTISING

Gold: Ryohei Hase
"Go Forard and Forward" for Fightstar/Raw Power Management

Silver: Yuko Shimizu
"Little Red Polka Dots and Other Stories" for Microsoft UltimatePC

BOOK

Gold: Petar Meseldzija
"The Legend of Steel Bashaw"for Zmaj, Novi Sad

Silver: Jean-Baptiste Monge
"Dunlee Darnan" for Au Bord des Continents...

COMICS

Gold: Jon Foster
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer #14" for Dark Horse Comics

Silver: Aleksi Briclot
"Annihilation: Conquest #5" for Marvel Entertainment, Inc.

CONCEPT ART

Gold Daniel Dociu
"Mole Tunnels" for ArenaNet/Guildwars

Silver: Kekai Kotaki
"Snow Battle" for ArenaNet/Guildwars

DIMENSIONAL

Gold: Akhito
"Elegant Medusa"

Silver: David Meng
"Satyr's Head"

EDITORIAL

Gold: Craig Elliott
"Damali Richards" for Devil's Candy Store

Silver:
Nate Van Dyke
"Pool Hall Brawl"
Juxtapoz Magazine

INSTITUTIONAL

Gold: James Gurney
"Song In the Garden" for Maison D'Ailleurs

Silver: Jaime Jones:
Wizards of the Coast

UNPUBLISHED

Gold: Jeremy Enecio
"Koi"

Silver: David Laub
"She's Back"

Spectrum Exhibition 2 Judging

Curating the second Spectrum Exhibition has begun in earnest. The exhibit will be a selection of original paintings and sculptures from Spectrums 12-15 on display at the Museum of American Illustration at the Society of Illustrators September 1 -- October 17th.

So far, the process has been to go through each edition and tag anything we want a second look at....which was a lot of artwork, much more than we could fit in the galleries. Then we took a knife to the books (yes, horrifying, but a couple books had to make the ultimate sacrifice for the good of show) so we could stack each artist's work into piles. Then heartbreaking part began -- taking 1600 images and choosing just 15o(ish) out of them.

It's been a difficult process of constant reevaluation. In fact, judging this exhibit has been harder than the first, even though the first covered more than twice as many editions. The industry has become more varied and vibrant than ever before. The books have become longer (including adding a new section for concept art) and the quality-bar keeps getting raised. Nonetheless, we've got it down to just under 200 at this point...a few more tweaks and we'll have the exhibit down to a manageable level.

The schedule calls for our wish-list to be done by late February, which doesn't mean that that's what the show will be, exactly -- there will be paintings that have been sold off, artists we can't reach, some that are too fragile to ship, and in one case the painting was crushed (along with an entire east side building) by a large crane, but by and large, it should start to take shape over the next handful of months.

Here are a some shots from the first exhibit, including the first Art Out Loud.

We have marked two days throughout the run of the show for events: demos, panel discussions, whatever we can think f. If any one has suggestions, don't be shy.

Spectrum Deadline,January 234rd

A friendly reminder, Spectrum deadline is January 23rd. Save the Fenners a few gray hairs and get your entries in on time, and make those judges work hard.

Spectrum 16 Call for Entries has begun.

The power of Twitter: I heard about this from @richardsolomon before anywhere else.

Spectrum has been teasing the Peter de Seve poster for a while and, like everything Peter does, it's a beaut. Spectrum 16 is now pen to accept entries. I enjoy a number of the various annuals but to my mind, this is he one I couldn't live without.

Spectrum 16 Call for Entries
Deadline: January 23rd.

Arnie and Cathy Fenner podcast on SidebarNation

The creators of Spectrum speak!

Spectrum Announces Jury

Spectrum 16 jury will be:

• Donato Giancola
  
• Kevin Brimmer
  
• Dave Dorman
  
• Adam Hughes
  
• Bob Self

Spectrum shows off Peter de Seve sketches for Call for Entries 16.

I just Twittered this but I think those of you on RSS feed are not receiving those posts in the right hand column? (Don't worry, you are not missing much -- only a quarter of it is art and illustration related.)

Cathy and Arnie Fenner are showing two sketches from Peter de Seve for their Spectrum 16 Cal for Entries, along with instructions on how to get on the mailing list. They are teasing us by not saying which sketch was chosen...and I'm glad I am not the art dircetor that had to choose. Peter, without question, does some of the wittiest and charming illustrations around.

Wallpaper: Dave Seeley and Joe DeVito

Just in case you thought all wallpapers were going to be of 12 year old girls....

Dave Seeley's cool militaristic stylings and, in celebration of the Tor.com/Spectrum collab at ComicCon, Joe DeVito's awesome Spectrum logo painting.

Free on Tor.com.

Tor.com & Spectrum Hearts Rick Berry, Jon Foster, Greg Manchess, and Stephan Martiniere

Tor.com and Spectrum are working together to host a series of painting demos at San Diego Comic Con. The details may tweak a bit between then and now, but I was itching to spread the word so, here's scoop:

Spectrum Booth #4503

Thursday, 3:00 - 4:30
Jon Foster

Friday, 3:00 – 4:30
Rick Berry

Saturday, 3:00 – 4:30
Stephan Martiniere
(Creature development)

Sunday, 11:00 – 12:30
Greg Manchess