Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art #27 has just been released by Flesk Publications and this is traditionally the time of year when the Call For Entries for Spectrum 28 would normally open for submissions.
But as we all know, 2020 has not been a
normal year for anyone…and we’re not out of it yet. As announced previously,
after seven great years as editor and publisher John Fleskes decided to step
away from Spectrum to pursue other projects and interests; as we began
work on transitioning the competition and book back to our leadership, the
pandemic simultaneously began to spread around the globe. Needless to say,
since March of 2020 COVID-19 has taken a toll on everyone
emotionally—particularly to those that have lost family or friends to the
virus—thrown a monkey wrench into logistics and planning, shuttered businesses,
cost millions of jobs, and had an enormously negative financial impact on the
world. And that of course all translates to a negative impact on the publishing
and entertainment industries, on the arts community, on the readers and fans—on
literally everyone who make Spectrum possible. Factor in social, civil,
and political upheavals and it’s safe to say that everybody has struggled or
been hurt or in some way experienced unhappiness in 2020 and it would be
tone-deaf for us to pretend otherwise.
With all that in mind, we believe the
responsible thing for us to do is to delay opening Spectrum 28 for
submissions until after the first of the year. A revised website is in the
works as well as updates to the social media platforms. Though we know everyone
has come to expect the Call For Entries to roll around at the same time each
year like clockwork, we’ve actually been talking with our Advisory Board for
some weeks about changing the dates (among other things) as a way to better serve
the arts community going forward: there will be more announcements forthcoming,
including our Call For Entries poster artist and jury.
Naturally Spectrum 27 and all the
previous in-print volumes will continue to be available from Flesk Publications
and to the book trade via Publishers Group West.
But in the mean time, if you read Tweets or
see social media reports or hear rumors to the contrary, please help us set
everyone straight: Spectrum’s not going away. Spectrum 28 will
happen. And it’s going to be more vibrant and as exciting than ever. To
paraphrase Mark Twain, any reports of Spectrum’s demise are greatly
exaggerated. Watch for the announcement and we’ll hope to see everyone’s work
when Spectrum 28 opens for entries. If you have any questions or
concerns, ask us: we’re not going anywhere.
Trust us.
Cathy Fenner & Arnie Fenner Directors/Spectrum Fantastic Art LLC
Spectrum 27 Call for Entries poster by Paul Sullivan
The complete list of artist names selected for inclusion into the twenty-seventh volume of Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art is now available!
These creators that work in every style and medium–both traditional and digital–represent the finest in the fantasy, horror, science fiction and the surreal genres from around the world. You will find top industry names who serve as the current definition of excellence and discover the rising stars who are being published for the first time.
Individual emails to those artists accepted will begin to go out this week. Full details regarding the next steps will be provided.
From everyone here at the Spectrum and Flesk offices, we would like to thank all of the artists who submitted to Spectrum 27. We couldn’t do what we do without your support. This includes putting out the Spectrum annual each year, organizing and running the Spectrum Fantastic Art Live event, putting on the Spectrum Awards Ceremony where we hand out the Spectrum awards, and making the artist feature videos that we post online. You have our most sincere gratitude. Thank you!
Spectrum 27 will be available from Flesk Publications in the fall of 2020 at your favorite comic and book store.
A
Mattias Adolfsson Alex Alice Marie Alice Sam Araya Steve Argyle Tommy Arnold
B
Daren Bader Anna and Elena Balbusso Wylie Beckert Ed Binkley Steven Russell Black Michael Blank Paul Bonner Zoltan Boros Bruce Brenneise Brom Laurie Brom Alan Brown Thomas Buchanan Dmitry Burmak Wesley Burt Chris Buzelli
C
DJ Cacouault Rovina Cai James Cain Thomas Campi Bill Carman Milivoj Ceran Lynn Chen Zhiying Chen Ian Jun Wei Chiew Frank Cho Heonhwa Choe Yongjae Choi Jehan Choo Waiji Choo Dan Chudzinski Hilary Clarcq J.A.W. Cooper
D
Daarken Jessica Dalva Galen Dara Bastien Lecouffe Deharme Julien Delval Jie Deng Eric Deschamps Peter de Seve Laura Diehl Daxue Ding Anna Dittmann Daniel Dociu Terry Dodson Hope Doe Dan dos Santos Allen Douglas Adam S. Doyle Chris Dunn
E
Jesper Ejsing Micah Epstein
F
Diego Fernandez Thomas Fluharty Owen Freeman
G
Shaun Gentry Justin Gerard Annie Stegg Gerard Donato Giancola Gary Gianni Cory Godbey Nicholas Gregory Chuck Grieb Oleg Gritsak James Gurney Scott Gustafson Breanna Guthrie Arturo Gutierrez
H
Brian Haberlin Leesha Hannigan Wang Hao Alex Herrerias Ben Hill Sija Hong Alex Horley John Howe Te Hu Steven Hughes Risa Hulett Robert Hunt
I
Alina Ivanchenko
J
Tyler Jacobson
He Jie (Mona)
Romain Jouandeau
K
Jim and Ruth Keegan Edward Kinsella Tatsuro Kiuchi Ki Kline Bartosz Kosowski Sebastian Kowoll Maxim Kozhevnikov Thomas Kuebler Tami Kuo
L
Mathieu Lauffray Elizabeth Leggett Vanessa Lemen Shuxing Li Yangtian Li Kan Liu Jonah Lobe John Loren Travis Louie Ashly Lovett Howard Lyon
M
Felipe Machado Greg Manchess Finnian MacManus Michael MacRae Michael Manomivibul Patrick Masson Michihiro Matsuoka Ben Mauro Iain McCaig Chris McGrath Seb McKinnon Tara McPherson Miranda Meeks Petar Meseldzija Brynn Metheney Brett Mich Aaron Miller Mike Miller Christel Morvan Jason Mowry Reiko Murakami Sean Murray
N
John Nadeau Mark A. Nelson Daniel Newman Cliff Nielsen Tran Nguyen
O
Tim O’Brien Michael Avon Oeming James Ortega Pernille Orum
P
John Jude Palencar David Palumbo Dustin Panzino Andy Park Amirah Patel Angi Pauly Liam Peters John Picacio Lucas Pina Alessandra Pisano Colin Poole Kristine Poole Marc Potts April Prime Tim Probert Vincent Proce Magdalena Proszowska
Q
Wu Qinghao Queen Studios
R
Andrea Radeck Chris Rahn Henrique Rainha Omar Rayyan Red Nose Studio Rob Rey Wayne Reynolds Tooba Rezaei Olena Richards Paolo Rivera Virginie Ropars Feifei Ruan Steve Rude Greg Ruth Grzegorz Rutkowski James Ryman Entei Ryu
S
Karl Deen Sanders Leonardo Santamaria Mauro Santini Axel Sauerwald Steven Saunders Chris Seaman Arantza Sestayo Claudya Schmidt Cynthia Sheppard Allen Song Baiheng Song Dug Stanat Chase Stone William Stout Yuko Shimizu
T
Shaun Tan John Tedrick Thom Tenery Agnieszka Trojanowska
V
Olivier Villoingt Thomas von Kummant Timothy Von Rueden Johannes Voss
W
Sam Weber Jan Wessbecher Sam White Allen Williams Erica Williams Jeremy Wilson Bayard Wu Esther Wu
Y Lixin Yin Leif Yu
Z
Amir Zand James Zaraam Enzhe Zhao Fan Zhang David Zhou Daniel Zrom
The jury for Spectrum 27: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art has nominated the top five artworks in eight categories for consideration for either a silver and gold award. Judges Alice A. Carter, Craig Elliott, Anthony Francisco, Courtney Granner, Forest Rogers and Chie Yoshii debated the merits of hundreds of pieces of art before finalizing this list on Saturday, February 8, 2020 at the Flesk Publications offices in Santa Cruz, California.
Established in 1993 by Cathy and Arnie Fenner, the first Spectrum annual appeared in 1994 from Underwood Books; for over a quarter of a century it has attracted participants from around the world and has set the standards for excellence in fantasy and science fiction art. John Fleskes became the Director and Publisher of Spectrum in 2014 with volume 21.
The recipients will be announced at the Spectrum 27 Awards Ceremony that will be held at the Grand Ballroom of the Kansas City Convention Center in Kansas City, MO on Friday evening, March 20, 2020. The 2020 Spectrum Grand Master Award honoree will also be announced during the ceremony.
Congratulations to all of the artists who have been nominated!
This text only list is followed by the list that includes the art.
ADVERTISING CATEGORY
Anna and Elena Balbusso Twins – The Magic Flute Backstage Brom – Lilith Bartosz Kosowski – The Shining Alessandra Pisano – The Part You Throw Away Bayard Wu – Fighting in the Harpy Nest
BOOK CATEGORY
Sam Araya – Arthur Jermyn Rovina Cai – Ivywood Dan dos Santos – Penric’s Progress Sija Hong – The Three Lords of Shambhala Yuko Shimizu – The Wind Up Bird Chronicle
COMIC CATEGORY
Thomas Campi – L’éveil, page 25 Jessica Dalva – The Dollhouse Family #1 Tim Probert – Lightfall 1: Walk in the Woods Claudya Schmidt – Myre: Flora Leif Yu – Rainforest
CONCEPT ART CATEGORY
Ian Jun Wei Chiew – Island Woodblock Te Hu – la Marcarena Finnian MacManus – Xulith Andy Park – Captain Marvel Binary Powers Concept Design Tooth Wu – Devourer of Ghosts
DIMENSIONAL CATEGORY
Michihiro Matsuoka – Philosopher From The Past Coelacanth Lucas Pina – Guardian of the Forest Colin and Kristine Poole – Spinner of Dreams Dug Stanat – Space Madness David Zhou – Harpy
EDITORIAL CATEGORY
Sam Araya – The Forest Yell Galen Dara – Many Hearted Dog Angi Pauly – Blue Moon Harvest Red Nose Studio – Truth, Lies & Uncertainty: Truth Tooba Rezaei – Blue Hope
INSTITUTIONAL CATEGORY
Tyler Jacobson – The Broken Sword/Throne of Eldraine Iain McCaig – Claim the Firstborn Mike Miller – Quest John Jude Palencar – The Stranger: The Seventh Faith Chase Stone – Tymaret Chosen From Death
UNPUBLISHED CATEGORY
Diego Fernandez – 492 Axel Sauerwald – Ascent Jan Wessbecher – Celsius 13: Junkyard Crew Allen Williams – Armaros Daniel Zrom – The Spoon Thief
ADVERTISING CATEGORY
Anna and Elena Balbusso Twins – The Magic Flute Backstage Brom – Lilith Bartosz Kosowski – The Shining Alessandra Pisano – The Part You Throw Away Bayard Wu – Fighting in the Harpy Nest
BOOK CATEGORY
Sam Araya – Arthur Jermyn Rovina Cai – Ivywood Dan dos Santos – Penric’s Progress Sija Hong – The three Lords of Shambhala Yuko Shimizu – The Wind Up Bird Chronicle
COMIC CATEGORY
Thomas Campi – Page 25 Jessica Dalva – The Dollhouse Family #1 Tim Probert – Lightfall 1: Walk in the Woods Claudya Schmidt – Myre: Flora Leif Yu – Rainforest
CONCEPT ART CATEGORY
Ian Jun Wei Chiew – Island Woodblock Te Hu – la MarcarenaFinnian MacManus – Xulith Andy Park – Captain Marvel Binary Powers Concept Design Tooth Wu – Devourer of Ghosts
DIMENSIONAL CATEGORY
Michihiro Matsuoka – Philosopher From The Past CoelacanthLucas Pina – Guardian of the Forest Colin and Kristine Poole – Spinner of Dreams Dug Stanat – Space Madness David Zhou – Harpy
EDITORIAL CATEGORY
Sam Araya – The Forest Yell Galen Dara – Many Hearted Dog Angi Pauly – Blue Moon Harvest Red Nose Studio – Truth, Lies & Uncertainty: Truth Tooba Rezaei – Blue Hope
INSTITUTIONAL CATEGORY
Tyler Jacobson – The Broken Sword/Throne of Eldraine Iain McCaig – Claim the Firstborn Mike Miller – Quest John Jude Palencar – The Stranger: The Seventh Faith Chase Stone – Tymaret Chosen From Death
UNPUBLISHED CATEGORY
Diego Fernandez – 492 Axel Sauerwald – Ascent Jan Wessbecher – Celsius 13: Junkyard Crew Allen Williams – Armaros Daniel Zrom – The Spoon Thief
Congratulations again to all of the Spectrum 27 nominations!
Spectrum 27 Call for Entries poster art by Paul Sullivan
This is an invitation to all professional and student artists, art directors, publishers and artists’ representatives to submit entries to the 27th Annual Spectrum International Competition for Fantastic Art. All artworks in all media embracing the themes of science fiction, fantasy, horror and the surreal are eligible. Fantastic art can be subtle or obvious, traditional or off-the-wall, painted, sculpted, done digitally or photographed: There is no unacceptable way to create art, and there are no set rules that say one piece qualifies while another does not. Imagination and skill are what matters. Work chosen by the jury will be printed in full color in the Spectrum annual, the peer-selected “best of the year” collection for the fantastic arts. Click here to submit.
The Spectrum27 Call for Entries Poster was created by the
renowned artist, Paul Sullivan.
To join our mailing list to receive your complimentary poster, please click here.
The Spectrum 27 jury is comprised of a six member panel of some of the most exceptional artists and educators working in the industry today consisting of Alice A. Carter, Craig Elliott, Anthony Francisco, Courtney Granner, Forest Rogers, and Chie Yoshii. Find out more about the Spectrum 27 jury here.
Clockwise from upper left: Alice A. Carter, Courtney Granner, Craig Elliott, Chie Yoshii, Forest Rogers, and Anthony Francisco.
“I’m delighted to bring such an esteemed group together,” shares John Fleskes.
“Alice Carter and Courtney Granner have mentored and guided thousands of
students through the San Jose State University’s award-winning
Animation/Illustration program that they co-founded. Craig Elliott has had a
hand in designing many of the most popular animated films from the last 20
years for companies such as Disney and DreamWorks, as well as being a
remarkably well-rounded artist and craftsman. His teaching credentials are
equally impressive. Then, we are pleased to have Anthony Francisco join us, who
is the Senior Visual Development Concept Illustrator at Marvel Studios. Anthony
created Baby Groot and the costumes for the Dora Milaje (Okoye and Nakia) for Black
Panther. We are honored to have Forest Rogers, who is one of the most
admired sculptures in the surreal and fantastic arts genres. Finally, we are
fortunate to have Chie Yoshii join the jury, who’s gorgeous paintings have long
been featured within the pages of Spectrum. We’re are grateful to have this admired
group of artists to select the works for inclusion into Spectrum 27.”
For over twenty-six years the Spectrum annual has been a showcase for the
best and brightest creators of fantastic art from around the globe: it serves
as an invaluable resource book for art directors, art buyers, publishers and
agents world-wide. Our purpose and singular agenda is the promotion of the art and
artists. We believe that Spectrum functions as a cost-efficient promotional
forum and provides a bridge between creator, client, and aficionado as well.
Spectrum is all about facilitating opportunities for creators, about growing
the audience for imaginative work in all its forms, without pretension and
without prejudice.
Thanks to everyone for your continued support of Spectrum! Please let us
know if you have any questions.
Spectrum 26 Call for Entries poster art (detail) by Tyler Jacobson
The complete list of artist names selected for inclusion into the twenty-sixth volume of Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art is now available!
The five member jury selected over 600 works works by 335 artists that will make up Spectrum
26. These creators that work in every style and medium–both traditional
and digital–represent the finest in the fantasy, horror, science
fiction and the surreal genres from around the world. You will find top
industry names who serve as the current definition of excellence and
discover the rising stars who are being published for the first time.
Individual emails to those artists accepted will begin to go out this
week. Full details regarding the next steps will be provided.
From everyone here at the Spectrum and Flesk offices, we would like to thank all of the artists who submitted to Spectrum 26. We couldn’t do what we do without your support. This includes putting out the Spectrum
annual each year, organizing and running the Spectrum Fantastic Art
Live event, putting on the Spectrum Awards Ceremony where we hand out
the Spectrum awards, and making the artist feature videos that we post
online. You have our most sincere gratitude. Thank you!
A
Rob Alexander
Sara Alfageeh
Alex Alice
Evan Amundsen
Eren Arik
Tommy Arnold
Fian Arroyo
B
Daren Bader
Kathryn Beesley
Douglas Bell
Julie Bell
Steve Belledin
Julie Benbassat
Audrey Benjaminsen
Ed Binkley
Steven Russell Black
Chelsea Blecha
Jori Bolton
Paul Bonner
Zoltan Boros
Noah Bradley
Andy Brase
David Brasgalla
Bruce Brenneise
Brom
Lane Brown
Thomas Haller Buchanan
Christopher Burdett
Kirt Burdick
Wesley Burt
Chris Buzelli
C
Rovina Cai
Thomas Campi
Antonio JavierCaparo
Bill Carman
Kai Carpenter
Allan-Diego Carrasco
Robert Carter
Leslie Casilli
Clint Cearley
Milivoj Ceran
Sidharth Chaturvedi
Lynn Chen
Marcos Chin
Frank Cho
Yongjae Choi
Jehan Choo
Dylan Choonhachat
Alex Chow
Dan Chudzinski
Christina Chung
Sebastian Ciaffaglione
Hasani Claxton
Miguel Co
J.A.W. Cooper
Matthew J. Corcoran
Stephanie Cost
D
Sarah Dahlinger
Jessica Dalva
Paul Davidson
Olivia De Berardinis
Andrea De Dominicis
Peter de Steve
Bastien Lecouffe Deharme
Julien Delval
Kring Demetrio
Jieyu Deng
Luc Desmarchelier
Mark Dewes
Peter Diamond
Anna Dittmann
Daniel Dociu
Andrew Domachowski
Dan dos Santos
Allen Douglas
Pierre Droal
Chris Dunn
Crystal Fae
Rita Fei
Lyli Feng
Diego Fernandez
Fesbra
Thomas Fluharty
Jessica Fong
Jon Foster
G
Cosimo Galluzzi
Reinier Gamboa
Su Gao
Axel Rangel Garcia
Caroline Gariba
Shaun Gentry
Annie Stegg Gerard
Justin Gerard
Donato Giancola
Lamnho Giang
Gary Gianni
E. M. Gist
Anke Gladnick
Cory Godbey
Kevin Zamir Goeke
Oleksiy Golovchenko
Lucas Graciano
David Greco
Nicholas Gregory
Julia Griffin
James Gurney
Scott Gustafson
H
Mary Haasdyk
Brian Haberlin
Marie-Alice Harel
Dwayne Harris
Michael C. Hayes
Alex Herrerias
Stephen Hickman
Cleonique Hilsaca
Michael Hirshon
Alexandra Hodgson
Sijia Hong
John Howe
Limei Z. Hshieh
Te Hu
Lu Hua
Robert Hunt
Lake Hurwitz
I
Frazer Irving
J
Tyler Jacobson Mate Jako He Jie (Mona) Jaime Jones Romain Jouandeau
K
Will Kalkanis
MinJung Kang
KARAKTER Design Studio
Gomesh Karnchanapayap
Sam Keiser
Priscilla Kim
Edward Kinsella III
Nic Klein
Chris Knight
Fernanders Koak Chan Sam
Julian Kok
Paul Komoda
Alex Konstad
Michael Kontraros
Valentin Kopetzki
Bartosz Kosowski
Konstantin Marinov Kostadinov
Maxim Kozhevnikov
Svetlana Kudakova
Guido Kuip
Sudarshan Kumar
Anita Kunz
Eelis Kyttanen
L
Luis Lasahido
Mathieu Lauffray
Ronan LE FUR a.k.a DOFRESH
G-host Lee
Doug Lefler
Elizabeth Leggett
Vanessa Lemen
Andrew Leung
Meagan Lillich
Carlyn Lim
Jason Liu
Todd Lockwood
Loopydave
John Loren
Yoann Lossel
Travis Louie
Jeffrey Alan Love
Ashly Lovett
Howard Lyon
M
Lawrence MacDougall
MAD
Elliot Mallon
Greg Manchess
Qiuxin Mao
Victor Marin
Matteo Marjoram
James Martin
Juan Pablo Corredor Martinez
Patrick Masson
Victor Maury
Iain McCaig
Seb Mckinnon
Tara McPherson
Miranda Meeks
Gustavo Mendonca
Eddie Mendoza
Petar Meseldzija
Brett Mich
Victor Adame Minguez
Danny Moll
Ivan Montoya
Allen Morris
Sarah Morris
Jason Mowry
Iris Muddy
Meris Mullaley
Reiko Murakami
Scott Murphy
Sean Andrew Murray
Muhammad Mustafa
N
David Auden Nash
Alexandru Negoita
Greg Newbold
Mark Newman
Yin Shian Ng
Victo Ngai
Tran Nguyen
Terese Nielsen
Irina Nordsol
O
Tim O’Brien
Takeshi Oga
Ben Oliver
Yuta Onoda
Gal Or
P
Roberto Ribeiro Padula
JJ Palencar
David Palumbo
Ryan Pancoast
Dustin Panzino
Richard Pellegrino
Lucas Pina Penichet
Eric Pfeiffer
Ismael Pinteno
Alessandra Pisano
Colin Poole
John Powell
Brian Pratt
George Pratt
Luisa J. Preissler
Jeff Preston
Theo Prins
Q
Shan Qiao
QueenStudios
R
Andrea Radeck
Chris Rahn
Henrique Rainha
Chris Rallis
S. W. Rand
Omar Rayyan
Corinne Reid
Rob Rey
Wayne Reynolds
Brad Rigney
Aaron Riley
Pablo Rivera
Zack Rock
Virginie Ropars
Jakub Rozalski
Feifei Ruan
Steve Rude
Tim Von Rueden
Shawn E. Russell
Greg Ruth
Oliver Ryan
James Ryman
S
Leonardo Santamaria
Dominick Saponaro
Rafael Sarmento
Phil Saunders
Christopher Schenck
Paul Scheruebel
Mark Schultz
Audre Schutte ‘Charamath’
Danny Schwartz
David R. Seeley
Arantza Sestayo
Cynthia Sheppard
Yuko Shimizu
Jessica Shirley
Kaysha Siemens
Douglas Stanat
John Stanko
Stephen Stark
Matthew Stewart
Alex Stone
Chase Stone
William Stout
Paul Sullivan
T
Shaun Tan
Stacy Tang
Abe Taraky
Ken Taylor
John Tedrick
Thom Tenery
Kyriakos Theodossiou
Andrew Theophilopoulos
Allison Theus
Viktor Titov
Paul Tobin
Anthony Trujillo
V
Gavin Gray Valentine
Francis Vallejo
Randy Vargas
Svetlin Velinov
Erin Vest
Armando Veve
Beatriz Martin Vidal
Magali Villeneuve
Johannes Voss
W
David Wachter
Yiyi Wang
Zhengyi Wang
Tatsang Wang
Marisa Ware
Jonathan Way$hak
Owen William Weber
Sam Weber
David Thorn Wenzel
Taylor Wessling
Sam White
Allen Williams
Jeremy Wilson
Stijn Windig
Rob Wood
Sam Woodfin
Ben Wootten
Bayard Wu
X
Zi Xu
Y
Joy Yang
Kieran Yanner
Lixin Yin
Chieh Ying Yu
Z
Mark Zahaczewsky Eytan Zana Amir Zand Luye Zhang Aaron Zonka
This is an invitation to all professional and student artists, art directors, publishers and artists’ representatives to submit entries to the 26th Annual Spectrum International Competition for Fantastic Art. All artworks in all media embracing the themes of science fiction, fantasy, horror and the surreal are eligible. Fantastic art can be subtle or obvious, traditional or off-the-wall, painted, sculpted, done digitally or photographed: There is no unacceptable way to create art, and there are no set rules that say one piece qualifies while another does not. Imagination and skill are what matters. Work chosen by the jury will be printed in full color in the Spectrum annual, the peer-selected “best of the year” collection for the fantastic arts. Click here to submit.
The Spectrum 26 Call for Entries Poster was created by the renowned artist, Tyler Jacobson.
To join our mailing list to receive your complimentary poster, please click here.
The Spectrum 26 jury is comprised of a five member panel of some of the most exceptional artists working in the industry today consisting of Kei Acedera, Wesley Burt, Bobby Chiu, Edward Kinsella III, and Colin and Kristine Poole. Find out more about the Spectrum 26 jury here
“It is an honor to assemble such a prestigious group of artists for the Spectrum 26 jury,” shares John Fleskes. “I greatly admire the art that these six individuals have created during their careers. I also have a high regard for the educational opportunities that they have provided to others while giving back to the community. I look forward to bringing them together to view the call for entries submissions in February 2019.”
For over twenty-five years the Spectrum annual has been a showcase for the best and brightest creators of fantastic art from around the globe: it serves as an invaluable resource book for art directors, art buyers, publishers and agents world-wide. Our purpose and singular agenda is the promotion of the art and artists. We believe that Spectrum functions as a cost-efficient promotional forum and provides a bridge between creator, client, and aficionado as well. Spectrum is all about facilitating opportunities for creators, about growing the audience for imaginative work in all its forms, without pretension and without prejudice.
Thanks to everyone for your continued support of Spectrum! Please let us know if you have any questions.
The Spectrum 25 judging event was held on February 24, 2018 at the Flesk Publications offices in Santa Cruz, CA. We were joined by the exceptional industry talents consisting of Terry Dodson, Tyler Jacobson, Tran Nguyen, Karla Ortiz and Chuck Pyle who spent the full day reviewing the Spectrum Call for Entries submissions. The group got along exceptional well as they made their anonymous votes followed by the group discussion to select the nominations for special recognition.
I had the pleasure of interviewing four of the judges. I hope you enjoy them along with a video highlight from the day.
This is an invitation to all professional and student artists, art directors, publishers and artists’ representatives to submit entries to the 26th Annual Spectrum International Competition for Fantastic Art. All artworks in all media embracing the themes of science fiction, fantasy, horror and the surreal are eligible. Fantastic art can be subtle or obvious, traditional or off-the-wall, painted, sculpted, done digitally or photographed: There is no unacceptable way to create art, and there are no set rules that say one piece qualifies while another does not. Imagination and skill are what matters. Work chosen by the jury will be printed in full color in the Spectrum annual, the peer-selected “best of the year” collection for the fantastic arts. Click here to submit.
The Spectrum26 Call for Entries Poster was created by the renowned artist, Tyler Jacobson.
To join our mailing list to receive your complimentary poster, please click here.
The Spectrum 26 jury is comprised of a five member panel of some of the most exceptional artists working in the industry today consisting of Kei Acedera, Wesley Burt, Bobby Chiu, Edward Kinsella III, and Colin and Kristine Poole. Find out more about the Spectrum 26 jury here
“It is an honor to assemble such a prestigious group of artists for the Spectrum 26 jury,” shares John Fleskes. “I greatly admire the art that these six individuals have created during their careers. I also have a high regard for the educational opportunities that they have provided to others while giving back to the community. I look forward to bringing them together to view the call for entries submissions in February 2019.”
For over twenty-five years the Spectrum annual has been a showcase for the best and brightest creators of fantastic art from around the globe: it serves as an invaluable resource book for art directors, art buyers, publishers and agents world-wide. Our purpose and singular agenda is the promotion of the art and artists. We believe that Spectrum functions as a cost-efficient promotional forum and provides a bridge between creator, client, and aficionado as well. Spectrum is all about facilitating opportunities for creators, about growing the audience for imaginative work in all its forms, without pretension and without prejudice.
Thanks to everyone for your continued support of Spectrum! Please let us know if you have any questions.
The Spectrum 26 Call for Entries opens on October 15th! Join our mailing list to receive a poster.
Over the next two weeks we will be sharing Spectrum news daily on our Facebook and Instagram accounts. We will reveal who the Spectrum 26 jury is and the artist who made the latest call for entries poster. We will share videos that include a Spectrum 25 book flip through and interviews with the jury. The Spectrum 25 artist copies will arrive at our warehouse in the middle of October. More news will be coming about Spectrum Fantastic Art Live and the Spectrum 26 award ceremony that is happening next spring.
There are a few ways to stay updated. You can follow us on social media and join our email newsletter. Additionally, you can provide us with your mailing address and we will mail you a complimentary Spectrum Call for Entries poster (U.S. addresses only). If you are already on our list, but have moved, you can use this link to provide us with your most current address.
Here’s the link to sign up:
The Spectrum 25 awards. Backstage, moments before the ceremony began. Designed by J. Anthony Kosar, and made by him and the Kosart Effects team.
For 25 years Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art has been celebrating imaginative works by creators from around the world. During a ceremony in Los Angeles, California on Saturday, May 5, 2018, the celebration continued with the presentation of Gold and Silver Awards for exemplary art in eight categories: Advertising, Book, Comics, Concept Art, Dimensional, Editorial, Institutional, and Unpublished. The ceremony was held in the historic Brookledge Theater and presided over by Spectrum’s Director and publisher, John Fleskes. Presenters included such luminaries of the art community as Alina Chau, Craig Elliott, Te Hu, Tim O’Brien, Iain McCaig, Brynn Metheney, Karla Ortiz, Colin and Kristine Poole, William Stout, Paul Sullivan. Spectrum co-founder Arnie Fenner introduced a memorial video devoted to the creatives who had passed away in the previous year. Bob Self served as the master of ceremonies during the evening.
Congratulations to all of the awards recipients!
Spectrum 2018 Grand Master
Claire Wendling
Spectrum 2018 Rising Star
Miranda Meeks
Advertising
Gold Award
Greg Ruth Moonrise
Silver Award
Laurel Blechman ComicBase 2018
Book
Gold Award Victo Ngai Serving Fish
Silver Award
Petar Meseldžija The Old Man and the Forest
Comic
Gold Award
Alex Alice Castle in the Stars book 2 pages 60-61
Silver Award
Gary Gianni Hellboy: Into the Silent Sea page 11
Concept Art
Gold Award
Wangjie Li Battlefield Scene
Silver Award
Anthony Francisco Okoye and Nakia the Dora Milaje
Dimensional
Gold Award
Forest Rogers Octopoid Descending
Silver Award
Jessica Dalva I’ll Need Entire Cities to Replace You
