Monthly Archives: June 2015

2015 Locus Award Winner!

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LOCUSAWARD2015I’m back home from Seattle, and I brought back the 2015 Locus Award in the Best Artist category. Wow. 🙂 I was nominated this year along with Michael Whelan, Jim Burns, Charles Vess, and Shaun Tan. That’s a helluva lineup and I have huge respect for all four of those artists. Winning the award is doubly gratifying because it’s an acknowledgement of the ongoing Loteria artwork that constituted a large part of my 2014 output. So THANK YOU, Locus Magazine Readers!! This is hugely appreciated.

Going forward, I’m excited to see where Michael is headed as a visual storyteller. I’m stoked to see where Charles is headed with his next illustrated book. Ditto Shaun. And note to self: I need to buy Jim’s 2014 art book from Titan.

Congrats to all of the winners and finalists in all of the categories!

* What a great moment to see Jay Lake’s daughter Bronwyn, as she accepted his Locus Award for Last Plane to Heaven winning Best Collection.

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* Congrats to Irene Gallo as Tor.com scored the award for Best Magazine. Well earned, Irene.

* Was great visiting with Brom as he accepted the award for Spectrum 21 (winner, Best Art Book).

* In fact, our Locus Awards banquet table racked up a fair share of hardware as Brom, Del Rey editor Michael Braff, and me were all seated with each other (as luck would have it). Michael ended up accepting for Joe Abercrombie’s TWO Locus Awards wins, as well as George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois’ win for Rogues, as Best Anthology.

* Really enjoyed visiting with Patty Garcia, Tor’s Director of Publicity (#Mexican@sFTW!!), Liz Gorinsky, Brooks Peck of the EMP, Jack Skillingstead, Daryl Gregory, Francesca Myman, Arley Sorg, Eileen Gunn, Leslie Howle, Adam Christopher, Ramez Naam, Duane Wilkins, and of course, Liza Groen Trombi, who made this whole endeavor come together (with Connie Willis emceeing the awards ceremony). I’m sure I’m forgetting a ton of people, but I want to say a huge thanks to all of the new friends made, and all who visited my table of Loteria merchandise. Special shoutout to Wilde Rover in Kirkland for hosting Loteria Fest on Thursday night and all who came and played (thanks to Brenda Cooper, Jan Greylorn, and of course, Teeny Ayento)!

In a year when we’ve seen science fiction/fantasy awards suffer tremendous abuse, both from without and within, there’s something extra-special about winning the Locus Award this year. It’s because the ballot of nominees felt more like an artful snapshot of excellent works and creators from the most recent calendar year, rather than a collage of vandalisms. This ballot and the winners are decided by science fiction / fantasy readers and art lovers. It’s a people’s award, open to all. I’m grateful and honored to be recognized within such a diverse, world-class gallery of talent, and it only inspires me to be better with my next works.

The 2015 Chesley Award Finalists!

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The Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists has announced this year’s Chesley Award finalists, and wow — I’m grateful and honored to be nominated for FOUR Chesleys! It’s a stellar list of art and amazing illustrators across all categories, and my thanks to ASFA voters for recognizing my work amongst such great company.

My nominated works are:

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Best Cover Illustration / Hardcover
John Picacio • ENDYMION by Dan Simmons
(for the Subterranean Press limited edition, December 2014)
Art Director: William K. Schafer

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Best Interior Illustration
John Picacio • Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza
(for the Tor.com story by Carrie Vaughn)
Art Director: Irene Gallo

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Best Product Illustration
John Picacio • ‘La Calavera’ Loteria Card
(for Lone Boy)

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Best Monochrome Work • Unpublished
John Picacio • ‘El Venado’
Medium: Graphite

Thank you to Irene and Bill for making two of these nominations possible. I’m also gratified to see that two artworks from my ongoing, creator-owned Loteria efforts — ‘La Calavera’ and ‘El Venado’ — are recognized this year. ‘Means the world to me. Thank you to Carrie Vaughn for writing a terrific Wild Cards story that inspired the art for Nuestra, and to George R. R. Martin for editing Wildcards, one of my favorite of all fiction universes. A mighty blast of Loteria karma to Leigh Bardugo — her Grisha Trilogy (and especially Shadow and Bone) is the waking dream that helped birth ‘El Venado’. I can’t wait for her new book, Six of Crows, releasing in late September.

The complete list of 2015 Chesley Award Finalists. Congrats, all!

Best Cover Illustration / Hardcover
Julie Dillon, Shadows Beneath: The Writing Excuses Anthology edited by Brandon Sanderson; Dragonsteel Entertainment, June 2014
Jon Foster, Zombie Baseball Beatdown by Paolo Bacigalupi; Subterranean Press, 2014
Todd Lockwood, The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan; Tor, March 2014
John Picacio, Endymion by Dan Simmons; Limited Edition, Subterranean Press, December 2014
Michael Whelan, Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson; Tor, March 2014

Best Cover Illustration – Paperback
John Harris, Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie; Orbit October 2014
Jon Sullivan, The Return of the Discounted Man by Mark Hodder; Pyr, July 2014
Raymond Swanland, The Lady by K.V. Johansen; Pyr, December 2014
Danielle Tunstall, Unseaming by Mike Allen; Antimatter Press, October 2014
Raoul Vitale, Nebula Awards Showcase 2014 edited by Kij Johnson; Prometheus/Pyr

Best Cover Illustration – Magazine
Julie Dillon Analog April 2014
Matt Dixon, Clarkesworld #90 March 2014
Wayne Haag, Interzone #253 July/August 2014
Patrick Jones, Analog March 2014
Jae Lee, Batman/Superman #14 DC Comics October 2014
Peter Mohrbacher, Lightspeed #48 May 2014
Dan Dos Santos, Serenity: Leaves on the Wind #3 Dark Horse, March 2014

Best Interior Illustration
Anna Balbusso and Elena Balbusso, “Ekaterina and the Firebird” by Abra Staffin-Wiebe; Tor.com, January 2014
Galen Dara, “A City of Its Tentacles” by Rose Lemberg; Lackinton’s #1 February 2014
Julie Dillon, Imagined Realms: Book 1 July/August; Kickstarter December 2014
Scott Gustafson, Classic Bedtime Stories; Artisan, September 2014
Karla Ortiz, “The Walking Stick Forest” by Anna Tambour; Tor.com May 2014
John Picacio, Nuestra Senora de la Esperanza; Tor.com October 2014

Best Gaming Related Illustration
Noah Bradley, Drown in Sorrow Magic card, Born of the Gods; WotC, Feb. 2014
Eric Deschamps, Ephara, God of Polis Magic card, Born of the Gods; WotC, Feb. 2014
Michael Komarck, D&D The Rise of Tiamat; WotC, Oct. 2014
Peter Mohrbacher, Pharika, God of Affliction Magic card, Journey into Nyx; WotC, May 2014
Karla Ortiz, Ghoulcaller Gisa Magic card, Commander 2014; WotC, Nov. 2014
Chris Rahn, Ajani the Steadfast Magic card, 2015 Core Set; WotC, July 2014

Best Product Illustration
Frank Cho & Brandon Peterson, Fast Food New York ComicCon 2014 art print
Donato Giancola, George R.R. Martin Song of Ice and Fire 2015 calendar Bantam, 2014
Patrick Jones, Conan The Conquered Illuxcon promotional art
John Picacio, La Calavera Loteria card Lone Boy
Raymond Swanland, One with the Light Limited Edition Giclee on canvas Acme Archives 2014

Best Color Work – Unpublished
Linda Adair, Dragonsbride oil
Michael C. Hayes, Alegretto oils
Reiko Murakami, Giving Name Photoshop
Mark Poole, Omens oils
Dorian Vallejo, Crossing oil on canvas
Annie Stegg Gerard, The Lady of Lorien oil on linen

Best Monochrome Work – Unpublished
Kristina Carroll, “Dragonslayer” charcoal
Sean Murray, “Gateway: The Storkfriars” graphite
John Picacio, El Venado, graphite
Olivier Villoingt, “The Soul of War” graphite & acrylic
Allen Williams, “Sphynx” graphite
Rebecca Yanovskaya, “Wisdom” ink & mixed media

Best Three-Dimensional Art
Dan Chudzinski, The Mudpuppy, resin & mixed media
David Meng, Sun Wukong, the Monkey King
Michael Parkes, Meditation, bronze
Forest Rogers, A Fish from Versailles, Kato polyclay
Virginie Ropars, Morrigan, polymer clay & mixed media
Vincent Villafranca, Modernity’s Squeaky Child, bronze & steel

Best Art Director
Lou Anders, Pyr
Shelly Bond, DC/Vertigo Comics
Irene Gallo, Tor & Tor.com
Jeremy Jarvis, Wizards of the Coast
Lauren Panepinto, Orbit Books

Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award
Kinuko Craft
John Harris
Gregory Manchess
Iain McCaig

The awards ceremony will be held at the 73rd World Science Fiction Convention in Spokane, WA on August 19-23, 2015.  If you’re an ASFA member, make sure your dues are up-to-date! You have until June 30th at 11:45pm (East Coast time) to submit your final ballot. (NOTE: The final ballot is accessed with the “VOTING” tab in the red toolbar at the top.) If you’re not currently an ASFA member, join! It only costs a measly $35 and you gain full voting privileges.

I’ll be in Spokane for Worldcon. Congrats again to all of the nominees!

Austin, TX: Winter Is Coming!

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'The Others'. Detail from the limited-edition A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE print art by John Picacio.

‘The Others’. Detail from the limited-edition A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE print art by John Picacio.

And so is Loteria! 🙂 Alright, Austin — so I know the temps are hitting 90 degrees right now, and it definitely doesn’t feel like winter. That’s for sure.

So where are my Austin-area Game of Thrones fans? You out there? If you’re glued to every episode like I am, then you know that the series finale is coming soon! BREAKING NEWS: I’ll be appearing in Austin the day before on Saturday, June 13th to talk about the show with fellow fans at Dragon’s Lair (2438 W. Anderson Lane), and I’ll have some of my limited-edition A Song of Ice and Fire prints at special prices for you.

In addition, you’ll have a chance to score my all-new Loteria Grande cards and posters too, and some lucky Dragon’s Lair customers are going to win cool prizes when we play the game of Loteria together that day! Never played Loteria? It’s easy. Think Mexican Bingo. Totally fun. Totally addictive. And it’s the best of times. For all who grew up playing this traditional game of chance with their family and friends (as I did), gather your homies (and any friends who love card games and tarot cards) and come play with me at Dragon’s Lair on Saturday the 13th. Let’s pack the house!

See you there from 12noon to 4pm, Austin!!

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