The New World Fantasy Award: What’s Next?

PICACIOworldfantasy

The World Fantasy Convention’s board of trustees has decided to evolve their award from a bust of H.P. Lovecraft (crafted by Gahan Wilson) to a brand-new, yet-undecided design. There’s been a ton of debate and reaction to this topic.

Bottom line: I applaud the WF board on their decision and I’m looking forward to what’s next for this award. So yeah — what IS next? Decisions, decisions…..

Here’s the thing — often, the key to making a good decision is first asking the right question.

We can all watch random people lobbing ideas and concepts, seeking answers for the award’s new design that best endorse their pet interests. You’ve probably already seen some. Not surprisingly, many of these ideas spring from a very Eurocentric view of fantasy that seems a bit tone-deaf to a shifting ethnic and cultural spectrum amongst audience and creators alike. Some advocate for a favorite fantasy form that makes them feel nostalgic — a dragon, an elf, a green man, for instance. Others advocate that the award should resemble a person that perhaps makes them feel comfortable, or reflects themselves.

These responses seem myopic and panicked, borne of an unspoken open question: “What should the award look like?”

If I were a decision maker in this process (and THANK GHOD, I’m not), I would offer that’s NOT the right question to ask right now, and thus, it’s no surprise that the answers so far are less than optimal. In fact, unless you’re a professional sculptor, you’re probably not the most qualified to find the ‘answer’. I’m not either. I’m a working professional illustrator and a storyteller who keeps trying to be a better artist every day, but I’m not a professional sculptor. And thus, I’m probably not as qualified to conceive and create this sculpture as an artist who does sculpt for a living. However, my job as an illustrator does require me to be a strong problem-solver, and that means knowing how to ask good questions.

Thus, here’s some brief advice I can offer the decision makers, and to all who share my interest in the future of this award:

1. THE FIRST QUESTION NEEDS TO BE THE RIGHT ONE. In this case, I would offer that the first question should not be, “Hey, World: what do you think this award should look like?” The first question should be, “Who are the best sculptors and who is the sculptor that can best elevate this award toward a new timeless icon? Who can carry this responsibility? Who can take us to a place we could not have imagined on our own?” The same respect that is given to a great novelist should be given to a great sculptor here.

The sculptor of this award needs to be an artist, first and foremost — someone who solves problems, conceives original thoughts, has unique insights, and visually communicates those thoughts, insights, emotions and intangibles into tangible form. If the plan is to take a straw poll of the most popular and familiar symbols and word pictures, or to concoct a preordained vision and then hire some poor sap to carefully sculpt to that prescription, then please hire a pharmacist, not a professional artist. However, the World Fantasy Award can do better than that, and I’m hoping it will. If I were a decision maker in this process, I would be sky-high excited about the amazing creative (and branding) opportunity ahead, and I would be vigorously searching for the right sculptor to cast a new icon, rather than casting a fishing line praying to hook an idea.

The making of this icon is the kind of job that visual artists are uniquely qualified to do. I most trust an artist to do this job of researching, idea-making, conceiving and creating a new visual icon — just as I most trust a surgeon to operate on me, or an architect to design a house, rather than the other way around.  This is a job for a visual artist who professionally sculpts, not a committee, not a straw poll of writers, readers, and historians. In short — the sculptor making the award should decide what the best idea is, what it looks like, and then present that form to the decision makers for them to decide if it’s ‘the one’.

The single most important question facing this award right now: “Who is that sculptor?”

In my opinion — asking this question, and doing the requisite selection work, is the key mission for the award’s decision makers.

2) CHOOSING THE SCULPTOR. Creating this award is a job –and wow, THAT’S an understatement! 😉 It should be a paid gig — probably a well-paid one considering the stakes, the importance of the result, and the rights involved. In contrast, an ‘open call for ideas’ that preys upon artists to generate work for free, even if they’re just sketches, would be ill-advised and bad PR, and I would advocate that no professional artist should answer that call and undercut their own livelihood. The ideas are the job, just as much as the final sculpt. I would caution against giving those ideas away publicly, even if it’s to drum up popular momentum. This isn’t a popular election, after all. It’s a job, and most of us are not official components of the job’s process.  Instead, I think the best thing that we can all do (decision makers, creators, and readers alike) is educate ourselves on the pool of working sculptors that are out there — and promote them.

a) If I was a decision maker, I would scour the last few years of SPECTRUM: THE BEST IN CONTEMPORARY FANTASTIC ART and the INFECTED BY ART annuals. I would research the last six or seven years of Chesley Award nominees in the Three-Dimensional category.

In fact, to all who are commenting via social media and campaigning for ideas — the best thing we can do to further this process is advocate for sculptor(s) that we think are best suited for the job — and try to articulate why. Shift your energy from firing shots in the dark about pet concepts, and instead boost the visibility of worthy sculptors. Link to their websites and their social media. Share some of your favorite images of their work.

b) Again, putting myself in a decision maker’s shoes — I would ask myself, “What are the questions that best lead me to the right sculptor for this job?” Here are a few questions that might help along the way:

• Does the sculptor’s work largely represent their own imagination or does it represent someone else’s?

• Does the sculptor’s work surprise? Does it invent? Does the sculptor’s work have a history of making forms and icons that haven’t quite been seen like that before?

• Does the sculptor’s work have the ability to be universal, or does it seem to reflect a limited cultural and ethnic viewpoint? Can this sculptor create an icon with a large enough ideological umbrella to not just include the world, but embrace it and elevate it?

• Does the sculptor’s work show the ability to problem-solve a variety of contexts? Is their work all literal? Is it all abstract? Is that artist capable of expressing within both realms? Does the sculptor’s approach to the job propagate his or her own brand more than it creates a unique brand for the award?

• Does the sculptor design their own work and then have someone ELSE cast it? Or does the sculptor design AND cast their own work from start to finish? This may be a very important production question for the board as they narrow down their sculptor choices.

3) BUILDING THE BEAST. I think once the decision makers have chosen their sculptor, I suggest that the next most important mission is shaping an environment where the artist is free to propose original ideas, problem-solve, and sculpt the final award, shielded from preordained ideas and agendas. This isn’t just what’s good for the sculptor. It’s about getting the most value from the artist during the course of the process. What comes out of the sculptor’s head is as important as what comes out of his or her hands. The sculptor will probably want to dialogue with the board as the process evolves, and that will likely be one of the most crucial parts of the whole endeavor.

This is brave new frontier. This is what artists live for. My sincere best wishes to the sculptor selected for this job and to the decision makers involved, and in closing, I’ll offer a few sculptor suggestions for consideration for this job. What are yours?

VINCENT VILLAFRANCA:

VINCENTVILLAFRANCA

If this decision were in my hands, this would be the sculptor I would choose. His work consistently innovates. It invents. It can be literal. It can be abstract. It can be both. He has the restless imagination that searches for new ideas and forms that elevate. He has experience dealing with the pressure of awards-making, having designed one of the most celebrated trophy bases in Hugo Awards history. He creates his own work from start to finish — from birthing the idea to final bronze, casting everything himself.

VIRGINIE ROPARS:

VIRGINIEHer ethereal and haunting work seems to own the Spectrum annual’s 3D category every year.

THE SHIFLETT BROTHERS:

SHIFLETTSThese guys do stunning work. Master creature makers.

CHARLES VESS:

The Barter Green in Abingdon, VA

He’s a four-time World Fantasy Award winner. He’s designed small sculptures and big ones. If he’s selected to sculpt the new one, and wins a fifth World Fantasy Award, would he get to award himself with his own sculpture? 🙂

Those are a few thoughts. Please share your own. Brainstorm. Explore. Discover. Share. Who would you like to see sculpt the new World Fantasy Award?

2015 Locus Award Winner!

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.

JAYLAKEFTW

* 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!

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:

ENDYMIONpicacio800
Best Cover Illustration / Hardcover
John Picacio • ENDYMION by Dan Simmons
(for the Subterranean Press limited edition, December 2014)
Art Director: William K. Schafer

NUESTRApicacio800
Best Interior Illustration
John Picacio • Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza
(for the Tor.com story by Carrie Vaughn)
Art Director: Irene Gallo

CALAVERApicacio800
Best Product Illustration
John Picacio • ‘La Calavera’ Loteria Card
(for Lone Boy)

VENADOpicacio800
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!

2015 LOCUS AWARD FINALIST!

2015 LOCUS AWARD FINALISTS (Artist). Clockwise from top left: Charles Vess, Shaun Tan, Jim Burns, John Picacio, Michael Whelan.

2015 LOCUS AWARD FINALISTS. Clockwise, top left: Charles Vess, Shaun Tan, Jim Burns, John Picacio, Michael Whelan.

Congratulations to this year’s Locus Award Finalists! And wow, what an amazing list it is, across all categories. In a year marked by heated controversy for sf/f awards, this nominations list is especially notable and remarkable.

Hugely grateful and honored to be amongst the five finalists in the Artist category, along with the stellar talents of Jim Burns, Shaun Tan, Charles Vess, and Michael Whelan. I admire all four of these artists and where they’ve taken their careers lately, so thank you, Locus Magazine voters. Very appreciated.

Good luck to all! 🙂

Here’s the rundown:

The Locus Science Fiction Foundation has announced the top five finalists in each category of the 2015 Locus Awards.

Winners will be announced during the Locus Awards Weekend in Seattle WA, June 26-28, 2015; Connie Willis will MC the awards ceremony. Additional weekend events include author readings with Willis and Daryl Gregory; a kickoff Clarion West party honoring first week instructor Andy Duncan, Clarion West supporters, awards weekend ticket holders, and special guests; panels with leading authors; an autograph session with books available for sale thanks to University Book Store; and a lunch banquet with the annual Hawai’ian shirt contest, all followed by a Locus party on Saturday night.

SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

FANTASY NOVEL

YOUNG ADULT BOOK

FIRST NOVEL

NOVELLA

NOVELETTE

  • “Tough Times All Over”, Joe Abercrombie (Rogues)
  • “The Hand Is Quicker”, Elizabeth Bear (The Book of Silverberg)
  • “Memorials”, Aliette de Bodard (Asimov’s 1/14)
  • “The Jar of Water”, Ursula K. Le Guin (Tin House #62)
  • “A Year and a Day in Old Theradane”, Scott Lynch (Rogues)

SHORT STORY

ANTHOLOGY

COLLECTION

MAGAZINE

  • Asimov’s
  • Clarkesworld
  • F&SF
  • Lightspeed
  • Tor.com

PUBLISHER

  • Angry Robot
  • Orbit
  • Small Beer
  • Subterranean
  • Tor

EDITOR

  • John Joseph Adams
  • Ellen Datlow
  • Gardner Dozois
  • Jonathan Strahan
  • Ann & Jeff VanderMeer

ARTIST

  • Jim Burns
  • John Picacio
  • Shaun Tan
  • Charles Vess
  • Michael Whelan

NON-FICTION

ART BOOK

For more information about the Seattle event and for Locus Awards and Locus Workshop ticketing, please visit the 2015 Locus Awards Information Page.

‘El Mundo’: SPECTRUM 22 Selection!

ELMUNDOgrandeFRONT

Hooray — my Loteria Grande card art for “El Mundo” has been selected for the Institutional category for Spectrum 22: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art!

I’m especially pleased to see this piece make the annual because “El Mundo” is my first official artwork featuring my daughter. Every time she spots the piece, she says, “There I am!”

She was thrilled when she heard the news last night, and I was too. Thanks, Spectrum jurors!

Hugo Nomination Time: Pro Tips For Artists

Artwork for Loteria Grande Cards by John Picacio. (Lone Boy / 2014)

Artwork for Loteria Grande Cards by John Picacio. (Lone Boy / 2014)

The Hugo nomination voting period ends this Tuesday, March 10th at 23:59 Pacific Time. So if you’re like me, and you haven’t voted yet — get those nomination ballots in!

For all of my fellow illustrators and artists out there, I want to offer a few suggestions for being considered in the Professional and Fan Artist Hugo categories.

1) DATES!

I’m not talking about hooking up. I’m talking about making it known when your artwork was published. For Hugo Award consideration, this is a tiny thing that’s really big. Why? Because only work that was first published or appeared in the calendar year of 2014 is eligible. So, for instance, right now, I’m trying to figure out my nominations in the Artist categories and if I don’t know when an artist’s work was published or first appeared, it makes it very hard to nominate them. The solution: Make these dates readily available on your websites and your blogs along with your posted works. For example, I solved that one by grouping the illustrations on my website by year published. Like this: Here are some of my selected eligible works for 2014 awards consideration. It keeps it simple, ya know?

If you have questions about dates, here’s the Hugo rules language pertaining to this:

“In general, works first published or appearing in calendar year 2014 are eligible for the Hugo Award. Works previously published in languages other than English but first published in English in 2014 are eligible. Works previously published outside of the USA but first published in the USA in 2014 are eligible. Medium of publication is irrelevant: works published or appearing online are considered the same as if published in hard-copy form or shown on television or in theaters, including film festivals. Works published in multiple parts, such as serialized stories including graphic works, are eligible if their final part appeared in 2014. Detailed rules for the Hugo Award are contained in Article 3 of the World Science Fiction Society’s constitution.”

You don’t need anything more than the publication year. If you include the publication month that’s even shinier, but not necessary unless you’re talking about a venue that appears in periodical form.

If your work is sitting out there right now with no publication data, and you don’t have time to overhaul your website, don’t panic. Do a Tumblr post, blog post or some sort of consolidated online summary somewhere (more on that in minute) where you can point and say, “Here’s all of my eligible stuff!”

2) VISIBILITY

Ah, yes. How do you get the word out about your work? I might as well be trying to answer the meaning of life. Simple question. Tough one to answer, or at the very least, a tough one to do well even when you know the answer.

In general, letting your audience know that your work is eligible at the beginning of the Hugo nomination voting period (sometime back in January) and at the end of it (which is right now!) is a very good idea. Maybe a sporadic reminder or two within the voting period but that’s about it. I think we all have varying channels of media that we operate upon (blogs, DeviantArt, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Ello, carrier pigeons) and my advice is to spread out your reminders over those channels across different time intervals, during the course of a voting period. I think it’s OK to hit all of them with reminders at the beginning and end, but in general, distribute the word evenly so that your people in one media pocket don’t get spammed and feel like you’re hammering them like a nail.

3) DON’T CAMPAIGN

I know. Considering what I said in #2, this is a toughie. You’ll see other industry figures saying “vote for me” but don’t take the bait. It’s not the way to do this.

Pro Tip: Don’t use the phrase “vote for me”. Wash that one out of your system. Flush it. Gone.

Try using a phrase like, “Here are some of my eligible works for your Hugo Awards consideration.” It’s a better way. You’re making your work visible but you’re not panhandling. Voters don’t look kindly on overt public campaigning, and even though I see some industry folks becoming more aggressive with overtures for votes, you win by letting your art do the talking. That’s the advantage that visual creators have over word creators when awards season arrives. Our art can do the talking in one soul-moving glance, whereas people have to read a writer’s work to vote for them, and that takes more time investment.

Remember — you’re a Jedi.

Use the Force.

In your pictures you must trust. <Insert your Yoda voice here.>

FINAL WORDS

Go forth. Let the world know your work is eligible. Let ME know your work is eligible! I want to know!

And speaking of that — I have a nomination ballot to fill out. Pronto. So do a lot of other voters too! Artists — please feel free to post links to your work in the comments section below. Don’t look around, waiting for someone else to do it first. JUST DO IT. And if you’re a fan of an artist who has eligible work for Hugo Awards consideration, then feel free to post links to that artist’s eligible work.

Good luck, everyone!

THREE IBA3 Jury Selections!

Great start to 2015! Three of my 2014 artworks have been jury-selected for the forthcoming Infected By Art 3 Annual, including two that were “Unanimous Selections”! Very grateful to be included in this book with some AMAZING artists!

Wanna see all of the art that was jury-selected for the book? Here you go. Congrats to all of these creators — some truly inspiring work here!

Special shoutout to all of the Grand Prize Winners! Way to go, all!

My three selected works are:

"El Mundo" / Loteria artwork © John Picacio.

“El Mundo” / Loteria artwork © John Picacio.

"La Calavera" / Loteria artwork © John Picacio.

“La Calavera” / Loteria artwork © John Picacio.

"El Corazon" / Loteria artwork © John Picacio.

“El Corazon” / Loteria artwork © John Picacio.

All three of these are from my Loteria series, and that makes the news even more gratifying. “El Mundo” and “La Calavera” were voted “Unanimous Selection”.

Thank you to the jurors: Donato Giancola, Rebecca Guay, Greg Hildebrandt, and Jon Schindehette! And thank you, IBA — grateful and honored to be included.

Selected 2014 Published Works

PICACIO2014Here’s an abbreviated one-stop gallery of selected highlights from my 2014 published works, including cover illustrations, interiors, and product artworks.

http://www.johnpicacio.com/portfolio/2014/index.html

The awards nomination season is here again (Hugos, Chesleys, World Fantasy Awards, etc.). When voting, it helps to know which works from a creator are eligible for which awards categories. If you wish to reference this list for future deliberation and sharing, I hope it proves helpful!

I invite all of my fellow authors, illustrators, sculptors, visual artists, art directors, editors, and bloggers to add links to YOUR eligible bodies of work for this year’s various awards in the Comments. This is your chance to remind voters that you’re in the running. Best of luck, all!